Unit 13 Old friends 3 While you listen
Long time,no see!
Barry!Hi,how are you?I haven't seen you for ages.
Hello,Sharon.Long time,no see.I know.So how're you doing?
I'm all right,thanks.And you?
Yeah,not too bad.So,what's you been up to since I last saw you?
Not a lot-working mostly-I've been working really long hours this week,
getting really fed up with it,you know.Really?
Yeah,but I went down to Kent last weekend,for my grandma's birthday party.
Oh,how old was she?
Eighty-five.It was really great.
We went for this lovely meal and then we went for a walk along the beach.
It was good to get out of the city.
I bet.I keep meaning to have a weekend away myself.
I know.You get to the point where you really need it,don't you?
If you don't get out of London from time to time,it starts driving you crazy,you know.
Anyway,what about you?What've you been up to?
Well,on Sunday morning I went and saw that exhibition at the Royal Academy.
Oh yes,the one there's been all that fuss about
-dead sheep and pictures of toilet rolls and things.
Yeah,my friend Angela-she's at art school
-she ketp nagging me to go and see it,so I went.
And what did you think of it?Was it any good?
Oh,I actually thought it was excellent,really good and challenging.
There's only one thing that made you go'yuk'-the dead sheep.
I think it's meant to shock you,though.
Anyway,after that,I popped round and saw a friend of mine,Richard,for a bit
and we went up to Camden market to do a bit of shopping.
Oh yeah,it's nice up there on a Sunday,isn't it?
Yeah,it's great.And then I spent the evening at my mum's,which was nice.
Oh,that's sounds good.
Yeah,and apart from that,I've been doing things for college,really.
Uh-huh,still being a good student,then.
Oh look,there's my bus into town.I'd best be off.
I'll see you soon,then.Bye. Yeah,OK,bye.
5 Pronunciation
Listen to the intonation pattern of this line from the conversation.
How are you?I haven't seen you for ages.
Practise the following,which have similar patterns.
1.How are you ?We haven't spoken for weeks.
2.How are you?We haven't had a chat for ages.
3.How are they?I haven't seen them for months.
4.How is he?I hear he's just got back.
5.How is she?I haven't seen her for ages.
6.How's your dad?I haven't seen him for years.
7.How is she?I heard she's had a boy.
8.How much was it?I heard it cos a fortune.
1 While you read Long lost friends
Bob's story
When I was in the army,I was very friendly with a chap called Tom Ramsay from Leeds.
We lost touch when we left and I wish we hadn't.
I would love to meet him again to talk about all the things we went through together.
Jill's story
When I was a young girl of fifteen,I had a baby.
My parents forced me to have it adopted.
All I know is that she was born on March 14th,1975
and the people who adopted her lived in York.
I would love to meet her.I think about her every day of my life.
Jim's story
I'm not eighty-five.When I was a young lad of fifteen,
I spent a summer working on a farm in Kent,picking fruit.
I fell in love with a girl called lrene Smithson.
She came from Canterbury.At the end of that beautiful summer,
we went our separate ways and never met again.
My wife died last year.I would love to meet lrene again.
I have three children and twelve grandchildren.
Hugh's story
I'm twenty-five and single.I live in Birmingham.
Last month,I spent the weekend in London with some friends.
On the Saturday night,I met a fabulous girl called Melanie Brown at a disco.
We danced together all night and talked for hours.We just hit it off immediately.
The trouble was she had a boyfriend who was abroad on business that weekend.
She gave me her telephone number,but I've lost it.
I'm desperate to see her again.I wish I'd asked her for her address as well.
The only thing I know is that she lives in Notting Hill Gate.
But that's all I know-except that she had huge brown eyes.
1 I wish
Listen and check your answers.
1.I sometimes wish I'd known my grandfather on my mum's side.
He was supposed to have been a really interesting guy.
2.I wish I hadn't eaten so much earlier.I feel really sick!
3.I often wish I had travelled more when I was younger.
I just don't have the time to do it now.
4.I really wish I had gone to see the doctor about it earlier.
It wouldn't have got so bad if I had.
5.I sometimes wish I hadn't wasted so much time when I was at university.
I wouldn't be working here if I'd got a better degree.
6.I wish hadn't spent so much money while I was on holiday.
I wouldn't be so badly in debt if I hadn't.
7.I wish I'd met her earlier.
I wouldn't have had to spend so many years of my life on my own!
8.I really wish I hadn't lost my address book.
I'm going to lose touch with loads of people now.