Unit 11 Telling stories 2 While you listen
Hair today,gone tomorrow!
So,we've got to take this one and then change at Cannon Street,right?
Yes,that's.Hey,did I tell you about what happened
with me and my dad on the underground last year?
No,go on,what?
Well,about a year and a half ago,
I decided to get all my hair long hair cut off,right?
I always used to have really,really long hair
-ever since I was about fourteen or fifteen,
you know-way down past my shoulders-parted in the middle like curtains,
So,anyway,about a week after I had it all cut off,you know-really short-
and I looked quite different.
Yesh,I bet.So,anyway,I was going home on the tube,
and I was half asleep because it was five or six o'clock
and I was just standing there,
-and a little did I know that my dad
was actually coming back from a business trip abroad,
passing through London on the undergroud to get his train back to Durham.
And guess what?He got into the same carriage as me!
The doors closed behind him.So there I am,
standing there face-to-face with my own father!
I don't recognise him at first,
but then I think,'Ah,that's my dad.'and,of course,
he's obviously only seen me with really long hair for the last then years,
and so I'm standing there,staring at him
and he keeps on glancing at me nervously,thinking,
'Who's this lunatic staring at me?'and I'm thinking-you know,
it's the strangest feeling not being recognised by your own dad
-so I just stood there thinking,
'Well,shall I just get off at the next stop without telling him,
or shall I risk giving him a nervous breakdown and a heart attack by saying,
'Hello dad?'But,anyway,eventually I went,'Hello dad?'and he went,
'Diane!'and then said how he was getting really worried
because he though I was a pick-pocket or a drug addict
or something who'd been getting ready to pinch his wallet
or something-and,um,yeah,that was a pretty strange and funny thing.
Yeah,really strange.
6 Story-telling expressions
Listen and check your answers.
Did I tell you about what happened to me in France last year?
No,I don't think you did.Go on.
Well,I was on holiday with my parents in this little village near the sea,
and we ran out of money.
Really?That's awful.
Yes,so we went into town to find a cash machine-which we did,no trouble.
Anyway,when we put the card in the machine,
it just started spitting out loads and loads of money.
You're joking!So did you keep it?
Of course we did!Wouldn't you?
3 Pronunciation
Listen and notice where the speaker pauses:
There was this great big dog,sitting there,barking at me.
Listen to these short sections of speech and mark the pauses.
1.It was five or six o'clock and I was standing there,minding my own business.
2.My dad was actually coming back from a business triip abroad,passing through London.
3.He keeps on glancing at me,thinking,'Who's this lunatic staring at me?'
4.I was dancing about in the street,acting like a fool.
5.I was lying there on the ground,screaming in pain.
Now listen again and underline the strongest stress :
1.It was five or six o'clock and I was standing there,minding my own business.
2.My dad was actually coming back from a business triip abroad,passing through London.
3.He keeps on glancing at me,thinking,'Who's this lunatic staring at me?'
4.I was dancing about in the street,acting like a fool.
5.I was lying there on the ground,screaming in pain.
2 While you read Spider woman
Have you heard the story of the woman who dried her cat in the microwave after it had got wet
-or the one about the woman who opened a bag of prepared saled
and out popped a fully-grown frog?
Whether they are true or not,we love telling each other scary stories.
Unfortunately,the story that follows is definitely true.
Recently,a woman living in Kent in suthem England went to her doctor.
For days she hadn't been ablt to sleep because of noises in her ear.
The doctor told her that this was not unusual.
Lots of people have noises in their ears.
However,when he looked into her ear,he got the shock of his life.
He could see legs and something moving.
It was a large spider!The woman was absolutely terrified of spiders!
The doctor was able to re,pve ot qiickly and set it free.
When speaking to a colleague a few days later,
the doctor mentioned that that was the first time
he had ever found a spider living in someone's ear.
His colleague suggested that the spider was probably looking for somewhere warm
in order to lay its eggs.