I’m at university, but my brother is
still at school.
My father’s seventy next week, but he
still plays tennis.
Do you still work at the bank?
9.2
tune
in / listen carefully
JulietJ Well,
here’s a picture of our new house.
N Oh,
the house!
J Mmm.
N Yeah.
J It's
lovely, isn’t it?
N It
is. How long have you lived there now?
J Erm,
nearly four months.
N Oh,
right.
J Yeah.
N Has
it changed the way you live?
J Very
much so, yes, well, we’ve got a garden now, so yeah, that means that we can have
barbecues and outdoor activities, erm, and also, we’ve got just so much more
space, we can have friends round for dinner, and people can come and stay as
well if they want.
N Oh,
right. What, you’ve got a, a spare room?
J Yeah.
N That’s
great.
J Yeah,
it’s lovely.
SoniaS Have
you seen this photo? It’s my new puppy.
J Oh,
isn’t he lovely? Oh, what a cutie! How long have you had it?
S Oh,
hmm, four months now.
J Hmm.
And what’s his name?
S His
name’s Rocky, and it’s changed my life.
J How,
how’s that?
S Well,
I have to get up early of course now to take him for a walk (hmm) before I go
to work, but that way, I get a lot of exercise, which is great, and I meet
people, too.
J Hmm.
Yes.
S But
I can’t just go away for the weekend. I have to make plans and think about it,
make sure someone can feed him and take him out.
J Hmm.
9.3
listening challenge
D Hey!
Is this your car?
S Yup!!
D Wow!
Have you had it long?
S No,
no, couple of months. It’s great, isn’t it?
D So
now you drive to work?
S Yup!
No more public transport, no more waiting for buses.
D Yes,
but it must be expensive.
S Yes,
but I can go out when I like, (hmm) come home when I like. I’ve got really
interested in cars now.
D Have
you?
S Yeah,
I buy car magazines, I watch car TV programmes.
D Really?
S I
never did that before.
9.4
Right, then, first of all, on
the ground floor, there’s the hall, with a toilet just behind the door, and the
stairs on the left.
Then, on the right, it’s got
a living room at the front of the house, and behind that, a dining room.
And then, at the end of the
hall, there’s a kitchen with the doors that open out onto a very nice patio,
and beyond that, there’s the garden.
Going upstairs to the
landing, there are the three bedrooms on the first floor, and a bathroom at the
front of the house.
One interesting thing is that
the bedroom at the back of the house has got a balcony which looks out onto the
patio and garden.
Oh, one other thing, it’s got a garage
at the side of the house.
9.5
N So,
Mary, have you lived in many different places, then?
M Yes,
yes, I have, a few, erm, well, when I was a child, er, I lived in, in
Wiltshire, in, in a beautiful house, (ah) in the country (hmm) and erm , I
lived there until I was 17, and then I went to university, er, where I lived in
a student house, and that was for about three years.
N Oh,
right, OK.
M Erm,
that was very different, you know, full of young people, very dirty, always
lots of people coming and going, very noisy (hmm), and er, after that,
I, er, when I, when I graduated, I went to live in Barcelona, er, I worked there
for a while, and erm, there, I er, I had this wonderful villa, really
close to the beach,
N Hmm,
nice.
M and
erm, I shared that with, with another teacher, we were, we were teaching
English (yeah) out there, erm, and that’s in fact where I met my,
my husband, erm , and er, we moved back to England together and got married,
and erm, and then decided to settle in, in Oxford, and we bought a lovely
little flat there with a, with a garden, gorgeous garden.
N So
how long have you been there, then?
M Er,
about four years, erm, but in fact, we’re going to have to move soon, because
I’m having a baby in the spring, (oh) and er, well, obviously we’re going to
need more space, (hmm, hmm) so, erm, yeah, that’s our plan.
