Vocabulary Task
Script and Answers
1. A: Hi, Liz, I heard you’ve just moved into a new apartment. How do you like it?
B: Oh, wonderful. It’s very spacious.
A: Congratulations! But look at mine, there is no room to swing a cat in it.
B: Anyway, it is better than covering yourself with the moon. I bet you will get your ideal house sooner or later.
2. A: Here we are, John. It’s my crash pad in this city.
B: It looks cozy and comfortable.
A: Yes, it is an old house but it has a touch of class.
B: Good, I think we will have a good dream tonight after the long journey.
3. A: Rose, how do you like the house?
B: I had my eyes on it since I first saw it.
A: I like it too. So let’s take it.
B: Oh, it’s so wonderful. We shall have a roof over our heads.
4. A: I visited Steve last week. He is now living in a jerry-built cabin only with a lousy mattress and a shaky table in it.
B: Oh, really? What’s wrong with him?
A: He couldn’t pay his mortgage.
B: Poor Steve, let’s do something to help him.
5. A: Goodness, Joe, your house has taken on a new look.
B: The room decorations have been jazzed up recently.
A: No wonder everything looks so bright and shiny.
B: Thank you. Why not sit down and have a cup of coffee?
Listening Task
2. Listening Activity
1) First Listening
Answers
1. However, some students are not very realistic in their expectations of homestay experiences. When describing their dream homestay, they talk about their homestay “mums” attending to their needs because they pay good money to be looked after. They also expect their homestay family to be pleasant and happy all the time so they need never feel unhappy and lonely.
2. A homestay is not like staying in a hotel or hostel, where service workers are paid to be courteous and cheerful in order to make guests feel at home. Although students pay for their board and lodging, it is wrong to expect the homestay family to serve guests the same way hostels and hotels do. Homestay hosts provide this service for social or cultural reasons rather than to make money.
2) Second Listening
Answers
1. In a homestay family, an international student is a member of the family, not a customer who is "king” or always right. You can’t order room service or throw wet towels and dirty clothes around.
2. As a homestay guest, you need to be independent and to develop your own interests rather than depend on your hosts to keep you happy and entertained.
3. You can’t always expect your homestay family to be on their best behavior all the time.
4. One last piece of advice: Don’t talk negatively about your homestay family to your college mates or friends.
Script
Just as at your own home
The concept of a homestay experience has become popular recently, especially among international students and working people researching into the practices of host countries.
However, some students are not very realistic in their expectations of homestay experiences. When describing their dream homestay, they talk about their homestay “mums” attending to their needs because they pay good money to be looked after. They also expect their homestay family to be pleasant and happy all the time so they need never feel unhappy and lonely.
A homestay is not like staying in a hotel or hostel, where service workers are paid to be courteous and cheerful in order to make guests feel at home. Although students pay for their board and lodging, it is wrong to expect the homestay family to serve guests the same way hostels and hotels do. Homestay hosts provide this service for social or cultural reasons rather than to make money.
In a homestay family, an international student is a member of the family, not a customer who is “king” or always right. You can’t order room service or throw wet towels and dirty clothes around. If you are a homestay student, you are expected to follow house rules, which might include taking care of your own room as well as tidying up after yourself in the kitchen, bathroom or other rooms you might use.
As a homestay guest, you need to be independent and to develop your own interests rather than depend on your hosts to keep you happy and entertained. Your hosts have their own jobs and responsibilities and you must learn to be independent. You need to develop your own friends in the college or through social clubs. Burying yourself totally in books, with no time for a social life, is emotionally and mentally unhealthy and will make you homesick as well.
You can’t always expect your homestay family to be on their best behavior all the time. Just as in your own home, there might be misunderstandings, squabbles and stress. Homestay families might quarrel over money, children’s performance, too much work time and too little family time -- things your own family probably quarrels about. Problems might arise because of you. Perhaps you are doing something that annoys the family. But bear in mind that even if you are a perfect guest, your presence as a stranger in an intimate family setting is bound to cause some tensions. If it is something you can correct, do so and apologize. Know when your homestay dad and mum want some privacy to themselves and give them the space and time.
One last piece of advice: Don’t talk negatively about your homestay family to your college mates or friends. Negative talk puts you in a negative mood and implies that you do not value people. People are never perfect and need to be respected regardless of their shortcomings.
Real World Listening
1. Predict
Answer
□ They are hunting for an apartment near the university.
2. Get the Main Ideas
Answers
1. The old landlady is fairly friendly to them.
2. They are satisfied with the price offered by the landlady.
3. Both the room and the environment around are very convenient for them.
4. It is urgent for them to settle down.
Script and Answers to Self-study
Hunting for an apartment
(Olive and Bell are two foreign students in China. They are very discouraged because they’ve been looking for more than two weeks and have found no satisfactory place to live. As they walk, Bell spots a sign on a nice three-storied house that says: “ROOMS TO LET”. They go to the front door and ring the bell. An elderly woman answers.)
Woman: Hello, may I help you?
Bell: Yes. We’re (1) interested in seeing the rooms you have for rent.
Woman: Oh, how nice. I just (2) put up that sign this morning and you’re the first folks who have come along to see them.
Olive: How lucky we are!
Woman: Well, you better have a look first. They are just simple rooms. My children (3) used to live in them. They’re grown now and long gone, and my husband died early this year. The house is so quiet now I thought maybe I’d (4) take in a few boarders.
Bell: A nice, quiet house exactly what we’re looking for, Mrs. ... eh ...
Woman: Chen. My name is Chen Hui.
Olive: My name is Olive, Mrs. Chen, and this is Bell. Weve recently come from Australia to be (5) graduate students at the university.
Woman: Oh, isn’t that lovely? Well, you seem like very nice young girls.
...
Woman: Well, here you are, ladies. Each room is 200 yuan a month if you think that’s O.K. I won’t (6) charge you anything for electricity and gas and you can use the kitchen as much as you like, (7) as long as you buy your own food. And you’ve got to do your own (8) washing up. I’m too old for that now.
Bell: That sounds just wonderful to us, Mrs. Chen. We’ll even cook you an Australian dinner (9) from time to time.
Woman: Oh, wouldn’t that be nice?
Olive: By the way, Mrs. Chen, is this place convenient for us students?
Woman: Sure. It’s only a fifteen-minute ride from the university. And there’s a supermarket and launderette and some grocery stores over there on the next block.
Bell: That’s great. I’ve (10) made up my mind.
Woman: Then when do you want to (11) move in, girls?
Olive: How about this afternoon?
Woman: Fine. I’ll be expecting you around two. And I’ll give you each a house key then. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to have the first two week’s rent (12) in advance, just to be safe if you know what I mean.
Olive: Of course, Mrs. Chen. We’ll bring it with us this afternoon.
Woman: I think I’m very lucky you nice boys came along.
Olive: I think we’re very lucky to have found you, Mrs. Chen. Goodbye.
Woman: See you later. |