Edwards: Well, Mr. Woods, what are you going to do now? Are you going to give up your job on the buses?
Woods: Yes, I'm going to finish at the end of the week.
Edwards: And what other plans have you got?
Woods: Well, I'm going to buy a house.
Edwards: Have you got a house of your own now?
Woods: No, no, we live in a furnished flat.
Edwards: Have you got a car?
Woods: Yes, I've got an old Ford, but I'm going to buy a new car ... and my wife says she's going to have driving lessons!
Today, I'm going to tell you how to make stir-fried beef with ginger. This typically Guangzhou dish is one of the quickest and tastiest ways to cook beef. The ginger adds spiciness. Serve it with ham and bean sprouts soup. See page 64.
Ingredients: 350 grams of lean beef steak.
Quarter of a teaspoon of salt.
Two teaspoons of light soy sauce.
Two teaspoons of dry wine.
Half a teaspoon of sesame oil.
One teaspoon of corn flour.
One slice of fresh ginger.
One table spoon of oil.
One table spoon of chicken stock or water.
And half a teaspoon of sugar.
First, you put the beef in the freezing compartment of the refrigerator for twenty minutes. This will allow the meat to harden slightly for easier cutting.
Then cut it into thin slices of about one and a half inches, that's three and a half centimetres long.
Put the beef slices into a bowl. And add the salt, soy sauce, wine, sesame oil, and corn flour, and mix well.
Let the slices soak for about fifteen minutes.
Meanwhile, finely shred the ginger slice and set it aside.
Heat a wok or large frying pan and add the oil.
When it is very hot, stir-fry the beef for about two minutes.
When all the beef is cooked, remove it, wipe the wok or pan clean and re-heat it.
Add a little oil and stir-fry the ginger for a few seconds.
Then add the stock or water and sugar.
Quickly return the meat to the pan, and stir well.
Turn the mixture onto a plate, and serve at once.
Julie has just arrived at Bob's house. She has bought a new camera. She wants Bob to show her how it works.
Julie: You're a good photographer, Bob. Can you have a look at this camera and show me how it works?
Bob: Yes, of course. It isn't difficult. But first you have to buy a film.
Julie: (scornfully) I know that. Here's the film.
Bob: Right. Now first you have to open the film compartment. Just press the release. Then you have to put a film cartridge in the compartment. Close it carefully. After that you have to push the lever until you see number 1 in the counter window. And then all you have to do is this look through the viewfinder and press the button. It's very easy.
Julie: Thank you, Bob. Let's try it. I'm going to take your photograph, so say 'cheese'.
Yes, I agree. Lovely breakfast. Very nice. Excellent coffee, especially, don't you think? Anyway, as I was telling you, it happens to me every time I go to a new place: I always end up paying twice or three times as much as I should for the first ride. But last night was the worst ever. The train got in at about eleven, so I felt lucky to get one—though it looked a bit old and battered. But he was so polite—and you don't get much of that these days: 'Let me take your bags,' he says. 'No trouble,' he says. 'It's a hot, sticky night,' he says, 'but don't worry, madam, it's air-conditioned,' —and it was, surprisingly— 'just relax and I'll get you there in no time.' So we went for miles down this road and that road and he pointed out all sorts of buildings and other sights that he said I'd appreciate when I could see them properly in the morning. And he told me that though this was one of the few cities in the world where a woman could go at that time of night on her own and nothing to fear, even so, it was a good thing I'd taken a registered vehicle, because you never knew, did you? Though I couldn't see any special registration number of anything, and I didn't think to make a note of his licence plate—and it wouldn't have made any difference, I don't suppose. So here I am. And as you can see, if you look out of the window, that's the station! Just across the road! Anyway. Well, it's a lovely hotel, isn't it? Are you on holiday too?

My problem is with my mother, who is now well over seventy and a widow and becoming very fragile, and she really needs my help. But where she lives, in the country, there's no work available for me—I'm a designer—and she can't come and live with me because she says she doesn't like the climate because it's too bad for her rheumatism, which is actually true—it's very cold here. And if I go and work there as something else where she lives, perhaps as a secretary, it means we have to take drastic drop in salary. So I don't really know what to do.

(a)
Tomatoes! Tomatoes! Forty p a pound. Yer lovely salad tomatoes today. Lots o'lovely mush. Fifty p half pound, and a punnet o'strawberries ... for one pound.
(b)
You have exactly three and a half hours before polling stations close. Three and a half hours, which means, obviously that you've got three and a half hours in which to cast your vote, a vote which I know you're all going to cast for Mary Hargreaves, the future member of Parliament. Mary Hargreaves has campaigned furiously and industriously over ...
(c)
Welcome to Tescos. May we inform our customers that today we have English strawberries on special offer at only sixty-five p a pound and raspberries at only forty-nine p a pound and loganberries at thirty-eight p a pound. We hope you will avail yourselves of our special offers.
(d)
(sound of applause and cheering in background)
We can't continue the concert until people have cleared the central aisle. The space ... We've got to keep the path clear for emergency services and we can't continue the music until it is cleared. Now, please, clear the central aisle!
(e)
End Apartheid! End Apartheid! Apartheid! Out! Out! Out! Free Africa! Free Africa! Black and white together! Black and white together! Apartheid out! Apartheid out! Out! Out! Out!
(f)
Er, now, a, a few points for all the stewards and demonstrators before we move off. Er ... er ... Can you be quiet, please! Now, will all the stewards please remember to walk on the outside of the column, on the outside, very important, and the demonstrators, please pay particular attention to the route. Now, we will be walking down Park Lane to, to Piccadilly and we will be going through Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square and from then on into Trafalgar Square. No right turns, no left turns, straight on into Trafalgar Square. Is that OK?
(g)
Any old iron? Any old iron? Anybody, iron? Any old iron?
He's quite a solitary type of person, really. You know, he spends most of his time at home, reading, listening to the radio, things like that. He goes out to the pub occasionally, and he does quite a lot of singing, too—he belongs to the local choir, I believe—but you never see him at weekends. He's always off somewhere in the country, walking or fishing. He does a lot of fishing, actually—but always on his own. Funny sort of bloke.

Miss Barbara Pream, the Head of Pushet Advertising Agency, is being interviewed for a radio program on women and work.
Interviewer: So, here you are, Miss Pream, right at the top of the profession in advertising. I suppose you have quite a lot of men working under you, don't you?
Pream: Yes, I do. Most of my employees are men, in fact.
Interviewer: I see. And they don't mind having a woman boss?
Pream: No. Why should they? I'm good at my job.
Interviewer: Yes, of course. But, tell me, Miss Pream, have you never thought ... about getting married? I mean, most women do think about it from time to time.
Pream: But, I am married.
Interviewer: I'm sorry. I didn't realize, Mrs. ...
Pream: I prefer not to use my married name in the office.
Interviewer: And your husband, how does he like being married to a career woman?
Pream: He has nothing to complain about.
Interviewer: No, of course not. By the way, what does he do?
Pream: Well, he prefers to stay at home and run the house. He enjoys doing that as a matter of fact.
Beale: Well, uh ... I'll come straight to the point. As you know, your uncle, Eduardo Gatto, died last December.
Bruno: Yes. I was very sorry to hear that, even though I hadn't heard from him for a long time.
Beale: Hmm. Did you know that he was a very rich man?
Bruno: Uh ... n ... no ... I didn't.
Beale: Yes. That's why I've come to see you. I ... I have some news for you.
Bruno: What?
Beale: He's left everything to you.
Bruno: What?!
Beale: Yes. The sum comes to more than two million Australian dollars.
Bruno: What?! I ... I can't believe it.
Beale: It's all true. In his will, Mr. Gatto left clear instructions that I should come to London personally to see you.
Bruno: I ... I just can't get over it. I ... I feel it's just ... just too good to be true.
Beale: Oh, it's true all right. Believe me. However, there are certain restrictions about how you can use the money. Would you like me to go through them with you now?
Bruno: Yes, yes. Please do!
Beale: Well, first of all, you mustn't spend it all at once. The money will be paid to you gradually, over a period of ten years.
Bruno: Yes, yes ... I understand, but, before you go on, could you tell me how my uncle made all this money?
Beale: Pizza.
Bruno: Pardon?
Beale: Pizza. You know, the thing people eat, with cheese and ...
Bruno: Yes, yes, of course! But how could he make so much money with pizza?
Beale: Well, he introduced it into Australia just before it became very popular. And he set up a chain of pizza restaurants. They're very successful. He was a very intelligent, good businessman.
Bruno: It's strange that he never wrote to us. Never. I know he was very fond of me.
Beale: But he couldn't. That was his problem.
Bruno: Pardon? He couldn't what?
Beale: Write.
Bruno: He couldn't ... Do you really mean he couldn't ...
Beale: Write. Even though he was very intelligent. And that brings me to the other restriction in his will. You must use part of the money for your own further education. Mr. Gatto was a great believer in it. He always regretted he didn't get one himself.
Cathy: I'm fed up with sitting on packing cases, Joe. Don't you think we could buy at least two chairs?
Joe: Do you know how match new chairs cost? One cheap comfortable armchair ... eighty pounds.
Cathy: Yes, I know. It's terrible. But I have an idea. Why don't we look for chairs at a street market? I've always wanted to see one.
Joe: All right. Which one shall we go to?
Cathy: Portobello Road, I think. There are a lot of second-hand things there. But we'll have to go tomorrow. It's only open on Saturdays.
Joe: What time do you want to go? Not too early I hope.
Cathy: The guide-book says the market is open from nine to six. It's a very popular market so we'd better be there when it opens.
Joe: Right. I'll set the alarm.
* * *
Cathy: Oh, Joe. Look at the crowd.
Joe: They must have the same guide-book that we have.
Cathy: But it's very exciting ... look at that old table-cloth and those beautiful curtains.
Joe: Aren't we looking for chairs?
Cathy: Yes, but we need curtains. Come on.
* * *
Cathy: Whew. I'm so tired that I can't even remember what we've bought.
Joe: I can. A lot of rubbish. I'll make some tea. You can have a look at our 'bargains'.
Cathy: Joe, the curtains are beautiful but they're very dirty.
Joe: What did you say?
Cathy: I said the curtains were very dirty.
Joe: Why don't you wash them?
Cathy: I can't. They're too big. I'll have them dry-cleaned.
Joe: And what are you going to do about those holes. Can you mend them?
Cathy: I can't. I can't sew. I'll have them mended.
Joe: How much will all that cost? I never want to see another bargain ... and we still haven't got any chairs.