Unit 11

Section I

Task 1

Jenn: Yeah. It’s a good way to get hired.

Hiro: But what I heard was they like to hire people who have worked there before.

You know, people with experience.

Jenn: Yeah. But you’ve worked in restaurants and things, right? The reason I ask is

that I know they’re always looking for servers.

Hiro: They are? That would be good.

Jenn: It’s hard work, but the best part is you get good tips.

Hiro: Well, I’m going to apply for sure. Hey, by the way, what I was going to tell you

was I got accepted to grad school next year!

Task 2

Interviewer: Where are you from originally, Yu Hong?

Yu Hong: I’m from China . . . from near Shanghai.

Interviewer: And when did you move here?

Yu Hong: I came here after I graduated from college. That was in 1992.

Interviewer: And what do you do now?

Yu Hong: I’m a transportation engineer.

Interviewer: I see. So you’re an immigrant to the United States.

Yu Hong: Yes, that’s right.

Interviewer: What are some of the difficulties of being an immigrant in the US?

Yu Hong: Oh, that’s not an easy question to answer. There are so many things, really. I

guess one of the biggest difficulties is that I don’t have any relatives here. I mean, I

have a lot of friends, but that’s not the same thing. In China, on holidays or the

weekend, we visit relatives. It isn’t the same here.

Interviewer: And what do you miss the most from home?

Yu Hong: Oh, that’s easy: my mom’s soup! She makes great soup. I really miss my

mother’s cooking.

Task 3

Interviewer: Where are you from, Ajay?

Ajay: I’m from India.

Interviewer: And when did you move to the US?

Ajay: It was in 1991.

Interviewer: Are you studying here at the moment?

Ajay: Not now. I came here as a student and graduated two years ago. I’m working as

a computer technician.

Interviewer: Uh-huh. And what was it like when you first came here? Was it difficult?

Ajay: Yeah, it was at times. The main difficulty I had was with the educational system.

Things are very different here. Teaching methods, everything is very different from

what I was used to in India.

Interviewer: And what do you miss the most from India?

Ajay: To tell you the truth, after you’re here for a while, you don’t miss anything very

much. But I guess the weather and my family are the things I miss. And the quality of

life. The quality of life is much nicer back home, frankly speaking.

Section II

Task 1

Vince: Well, I'm broke.

Katie: What do you mean?

Emily: Again?

Vince: Yeah. Yeah, well again, yes.

Emily: Vince, what do you do with it?

Vince: There's a lot of things in the world to buy. You know, you got to keep on top of

things. Like, look, I'm very busy and you need to have the right outfit for every single

occasion. You know?

Katie: But Vince, you know, we've been here so many times. You've got to be so

careful with your money.

Vince: Yeah, but it always works out in the end. I mean . . . Come on.

Emily: It doesn't. Every, every single month you're in your overdraft.

Vince: Yeah?

Katie: How many times do we tell you, just really you've got to budget. You've really

got to be careful.

Vince: I do budget.

Katie: You do budget.

Vince: But sometimes the calculations are a bit off. You know?

Emily: What do you spend it on?

Katie: Yeah?

Vince: Loads of stuff, like, as I said, I go out, 'cause I have to, I'm quite a social

person anyway, but also for work. You know I need to . . .

Katie: I have to . . .

Vince: Yeah I have to, I mean like, you spend money, you go out and you have to have

meals and you have to get cabs somewhere sometimes 'cause you need to be quick,

you know.

Emily: You get cabs? Vince, we live in London.

Vince: Yeah?

Emily: Get the Tube. Get the bus.

Vince: Oh, but sometimes, I'm out late, OK?

Katie: How expensive are cabs, Vince? Come on. Just think of it right, you earn a

good wage, so you can budget each month, I don't, we don't, well I don't understand, I

don't know about you Emily, but I don't understand how you can just, a week to go

until you get your next pay packet . . .

Emily: You spend it all.

Vince: Yeah?

Katie: You're, you're broke!

Vince: Yeah, 'cause I'll be alright in a week.

Katie: But, OK . . .

Emily: It's really …It's really bad for you, I think it's bad, well I know I shouldn't

judge you, but I think it's really bad for you. It's so disposable, like if you didn't have

an overdraft, what would you do?

Vince: I would be in trouble.

Emily: Exactly, so you're relying on something that doesn't really exist. And I'm not

saying I'm like Katie—I think sometimes you're a bit too stringent. Maybe.

Vince: You are a little bit.

Katie: I think I'm actually, I'm quite good at saving, and then when it comes to

wanting something that I've wanted, what I've been saving for a while, or, or things

that really matter like stuff towards the house, or um, you know, a holiday that you

need. And you know, I like to be careful with my money and I've always been like

that and I think it's important to save and budget for certain things.

Vince: OK.

Katie: I couldn't live like you.

Vince: But what if you're saving for something, say you're saving for … I don't know,

a washing machine OK? And you're saving for a washing machine and your boiler

breaks down. Did you factor in for that? Sometimes you need to be . . . be able to just

use your money, not hold onto it so much.

Emily: But Vince, you wouldn't be able to fix either of them . . .

Katie: No, how would you cope?

Vince: I would wait a week, get paid, fix the boiler, and the rest would be mine.

Katie: Yes, but you still need a new washing machine. And you're still broke without,

you know your boiler's not fixed for a week, I mean that's not, that doesn't make any

sense. That's not logical.

Emily: You should just put by a little bit each month. Just, it doesn't have to be

anything massive, it's just something so that you know you've got a backup.

Vince: Yeah, I've tried that, I've tried that, but there's always something happening,

there's always like, OK, right, there's a little bit to the side. Oh, but, me, well not me,

but a few of my friends are going to Tenerife for a few weeks. Do I wanna come?

Yeah, I wanna go. Do I have the money? Well, it’s… it's in the corner of my bank just

waiting there, catching dust, why don't I just spend it?

Task 2

Emily: Oh, it's just horrible.

Katie: What's happened Emily?

Emily: Oh, it's just the Tubes, it’s so busy, absolutely rammed. It gets me all irate and

stressed and the stupid thing is I'm not a stressed person, but I go on the Tube for like

half an hour and . . .

Katie: And it stresses you out.

Emily: Oh, it's so busy, Kate, so busy.

Katie: But Emily, you know that that's the case in London, you know Tubes are

always busy no matter what time you're travelling.

Emily: Exactly, I hate it. I really, I've just come to a, I've been here what? Five years

now and it's the first time in the last six months I've just thought I don't like it

anymore I just want to get back into some space and . . .

Vince: But you can get space in London, you don't have to be cramped with everyone,

well, yeah, maybe for like a minute or two but then you can go and find a private

moment . . . London isn't always jam-packed everywhere.

Emily: Where though? Where, what in a park?

Vince: Southbank, the Southbank in London you can always get a private moment.

Katie: The Southbank is lovely down there.

Vince: . . . A wonderful view you can see uh . . . St. Paul’s Cathedral, you can see so

many beautiful sights . . .

Emily: But it's different 'cause then you have to get back on the Tube to get back

home.

Vince: Yeah, but that's only like half an hour of a day.

Emily: And people are always doing things, and nobody ever just sits, for sort of

hours or sits on top of a hill and just takes in nothing.

Vince: Hampstead Heath. You can do that on Hampstead Heath. There's nothing you

can't do in London. Literally.

Katie: Primrose Hill.

Vince: Yeah, there we go. That's another one.

Emily: But do you not even feel that the air's different? Do you not feel that when you

go outside London . . .

Vince: Yes, I do.

Emily: You just get this kind of sense of rest.

Katie: But you can do that, you can do that in the, on the weekends. You can go out of

London and soak up the countryside then. But come on, London's so vibrant. It's so

cosmopolitan. You can chat to someone from across the other side of the world one

day and, and meet someone from the East End another day and go and see free

museums and art galleries and theatres and . . .

Emily: That's it though Kate, everything is immediate. Everyone needs to be doing

something all the time. (Makes noise) You can't, people don't want to just stop and do

nothing. They get, they get stressed. And I hate that.

Vince: Like where would you rather be other than London? Literally you can do

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everything, or like nothing in London. You don't have to be buzzing around all the

time. As, you know, as Katie said, you can go to a museum or you can, if you want a

quiet moment you can go watch a film or you can go, you can go for a walk in

London. You know, it's, it's everything is kind of there for you. I don't understand

why—maybe you're just looking in the wrong places.

Emily: But do you not, do you not ever want to just be quiet and not have noise

surrounding you?

Vince: Yeah, I can do that in London.

Emily: Where?

Vince: Maybe not in like, maybe not in Soho but there's places in London you can go,

like Hampstead Heath, as you said, Primrose Hill, there's places near, you know

where I live where I can just go and read a book and just enjoy quiet time.

Katie: Yeah, I agree. I think there's, there's something for everyone in London, it is a

really sort of diverse city and I think it's you know, we're young—it's perfect for

young people.

Section III

Voice-over: Westminster Abbey is a large Gothic church which stands near the Houses

of Parliament in Westminster.

The Abbey is over 700 years old.

Until the 19th century, the Abbey was the most important place of learning in the

UK, after Oxford and Cambridge.

For a thousand years, British Kings and Queens have been crowned at the Abbey.

It attracts millions of visitors.

The music department of the Abbey is famous and there are daily choral services

here . . .

The Queen, Elizabeth II was married at Westminster Abbey in 1947 and she was

also crowned here.

If you come here, you'll also see memorials to lots of famous people. Poets'

Corner contains the graves of many well-known writers including Charles Dickens

and Jane Austen. It is a great honor to be buried here at Westminster Abby.