Unit11 Getting There is Half the Fun
Vocabulary Task
Answers/Script
A I paid for first-class tickets in advance. But I ended up in second-class with no air conditioning. I really felt I had been cheated.
B Just after the plane took off, we had engine trouble. The pilot had to perform an emergency landing. But we made it down safely in the end.
C When we were driving across the country my friend kept getting lost. One time we got stranded in a little town in the middle of nowhere. It was the last straw for me. I got tired of stopping and asking for directions all the time.
Listening Task
1) First Listening
Answers
1. They got lost.
2. One of them pushed a cow.
3. She reserved a sleeping berth.
4. Her friends made fun of her.
2) Second Listening
Answers
1.getting lost
2. misunderstanding a custom
3. not getting what you paid for
4. feeling embarrassed
Script
1. My best friend and I were driving from New York to Seattle, and we got lost in Nebraska, way out in the middle of nowhere. We saw a farmer fixing his fence, so we stopped and asked him how to get to the highway to Denver.
“You don’t wanna go to Denver,” he said.”
“ I know,” I answered. “Actually, we’re going to Seattle…”
“You don’t wanna go there, either,” the farmer said. Seattle, and finally the farmer gave us directions—like, you know, “Go past the old apple tree and take the left fork” and stuff like that. And we really didn’t understand what he was saying. But we thanked him, and as we were getting back in the car, he shouted, “But you don’t wanna go there.”
2. My friend and I were in India, staying at a guesthouse in Varanasi, which is a holy city on the Ganges River. The only way to get from our guesthouse to the main road was a bunch of narrow little pathways. There were a few cows standing in the middle of the path, and you had t turn sideways and slip past them, but my friend pushed a cow out of the way , and immediately this Indian man came running out into the road and started yelling at us. Then we realized that these were sacred cows, and we weren’t supposed to touch them.
3. Did I tell you about the worst train ride I ever had? I had reserved a sleeping berth on an overnight train from Rome going to Amsterdam. When I got on , there Rome going to Amsterdam. When I got on , there was a guy sitting in my seat. I said, “Excuse me, but this is my seat.” He said something in Italian, which I don’t understand, and then he looked away. He didn’t move , I went and got the conductor and showed him my ticket, and you know what he did? He said, “ So, find another seat somewhere else.” I couldn’t believe it! But what could I do? I ended up sitting the whole way in a second-class car with no air conditioning.
4. The first time I ever flew abroad, I was with 3 friend from college, and we were al standing in line, and I went up to the counter first and the agent said, “Are you traveling alone? You’re not traveling with your parents?” I was shocked because I never thought I looked like I was 10 years old or something. But then my friends started laughing and shouting out, “Yeah, we’re her parents, we’re her parents.” I was so embarrassed! But after I showed my passport, it was all okay.
Real World Listening
Predict
Answers
The travel agent squirted ketchup all over Randy because he became angry and yelled at her.
Get the main idea
Answers
1. Tim and Randy go t the travel agency.
2. A van pulls up.
3. Tim and Randy don’t get on the van.
4. Randy gets angry at the travel agent.
5. Randy demands a taxi ride.
6. The woman squirts ketchup on Randy.
7. Tim and Randy get on the van.
8. They arrive at the bus terminal.
9. Randy regrets his behavior.
Script
Sue: Randy, what’s going on in this picture? It looks like you have blood all over your shirt.
Randy: No, that’s not blood. It’s ketchup.
Sue: Ketchup? What happened?
Randy: This happened when Tim and I were traveling around Asia. We were in Bangkok.
Sue: Yeah…
Randy: …and we had reservations to catch an overnight bus to Chiang Mai.
Sue: Yeah.
Randy: And we were waiting at a king of restaurant that was sort of a travel agency…and we went early, but the bus didn’t come, and I was getting kind of worried.
Sue: Yeah…but what’s that got to do with ketchup?
Randy: So, I was beginning to wonder if we’d been cheated, because we’d already paid for our tickets in advance.
Sue: Right.
Randy: Then, finally, a van pulled up , and we thought, no , this is not the bus…but then everyone else who was waiting pushed right past us and jumped in , and, bam!—just like that, the van drove away. And then this sweet little Thai woman, who was the tickets, came up to us.
Sue: Yeah, and …
Randy: …and she said, “Why you no get on?” And Tim was like, “ That wasn’t the bus, was it?” “Only one, why you not get on?” And I didn’t know she was talking about…
Sue: So what happened?
Randy: Well, the travel agent jus shrugged and turned and went inside her shop. Neither of us could believe it. I started to get really angry , like we’d been cheated, and now it’s dark and we’re stranded in this little restaurant…
Sue: Oh, no…
Randy: I followed her inside, I started arguing. I told her, “We paid for the bus. You didn’t tell us to look for a van. Now you have to get us a taxi to Chiang Mai. Now.” And I started pointing at the clock. I think that was the last straw for the woman, because she started shouting. “You no go. You no go Chiang Mai!” She grabbed a ketchup bottle off the table you know, one of those plastic squirt ketchup bottles, and she squirted ketchup at me!
Sue: No! She didn’t!
Randy: Yeah! She did. And then she threw the bottle at me. And Tim snapped the picture. Just then the same van pulled up and the woman said, “Now you go.”
Sue: So you got on the van.
Randy: Yeah, we ended up at the bus terminal, where this big, air-conditioned tour bus was waiting to go to Chiang Mai. And all the people who had pushed ahead of us earlier were there, waiting to leave. I felt SO stupid for getting angry at the woman and making such a fool of myself.
Sue: You must have felt terrible.
Randy: Yeah, I wished there was some way I could go back and apologize to her. I realized that I have to be more patient, especially when I’m in another country. |