LISTENING 3
B. Check your understanding: Write the word to fill the gaps.
1. My favourite thing has to be my new tablet. It’s really light and quite
_____________, so I take it with me everywhere. I’m always writing to friends
and it’s big enough to do college work on it too. It takes really good
_____________, and I play games and listen to _____________ on it as well, of
course. I often download _____________ onto it, and watch them in
_____________. My mum says I’m _____________, because I’m always on it. I
even read things on it at breakfast time. I’m not allowed to at _____________
time, though. I have to be _____________ and talk to people then. “Welcome back
to real life,” my mum says.
2. My favourite thing? Does my _____________ count as a thing? She’s not really
a thing, but anyway. She’s a really _____________ little cat. I’ve had her since she
was _____________ months old. You know how some cats are really
_____________ and hardly talk to you? I know cats don’t really talk, but you
know what I mean. Well, she’s not like that at all. She’s really _____________ and
comes up to me as soon as I get home, purring away like mad. She makes a lot of
_____________ for a tiny thing. She loves being stroked and comes and curls up
next to me when I’m on the _____________. She’s great _____________.
3. My new scooter! It’s quite small, but _____________, and just what I needed for
getting around the _____________. I used to have quite a long walk to the
_____________, then a longish walk at the other end to get to _____________.
But now I can just whiz there on my _____________. And there’s no problem
parking, there’s always _____________ for it. You have to be _____________
with the cars and _____________ – they don’t always see you – and when it rains
the surface of the road is _____________, it gets really slippery. But in general it’s
perfect for me, and I can fit a _____________ on the back too – I’ve got an extra
_____________ for a friend. It’s great. Riding along makes me feel so free.
4. This might sound a bit old-fashioned, but my sewing _____________ is my
favourite thing. I’m studying _____________ and love making things, as well as
designing them. I also love _____________ myself and often buy second-hand
clothes – everyone loves the “vintage” _____________ at the moment – and then I
adapt them to my _____________. It’s much easier using a machine to do that than
doing it by _____________. I do alterations for my mum and my sister too. If I
don’t make it as a _____________, I suppose I can always set up my own
alterations and customising _____________. Customising clothes, by taking things
off and adding things on, is actually very _____________, so I wouldn’t mind that.
5. My set of Japanese knives. That sounds a bit sinister, doesn’t it, but I’m not a
_____________ or anything. They’re chef’s knives and the best ones come from
_____________. Cooking is my new hobby. I got into it when I started watching
Masterchef on TV. Then I went to an evening _____________ for beginners, and I
haven’t looked back since. I try and have a _____________ for between four and
eight _____________ every two or three _____________. That gives me
something to work towards and I always do new _____________ so they can try
them out and give me feedback. It’s quite an _____________ hobby if you use
good _____________, but now my friends help towards the _____________. They
still get a good _____________ for a very low price.
LISTENING 4
A (Girl)
She lives next door and she’s always been really (1) ............................ in my life.
When we were little and my mum was working she used to look after us. She’d tell
us stories about her (2) ...................... It was like listening to fairy stories, life was
so different when she was a child. In her kitchen she used to keep a
(3) ......................... with sweets for us, and she was always baking cakes and pies.
Now she doesn’t bake so much. She’s started eating more healthily in her old age,
salads and (4) ..................... and things. It’s funny how she’s changed. She also
goes to this special gym class for old people, it’s amazing. I don’t see her so often
now, but she’s always the same person however much her lifestyle changes.
B (Boy)
He’s four years older than me and that seemed like a huge amount when we were
children. When we were at the (5) ................................ we’d never talk to each
other during school hours. But now we’re older it’s a lot better, although I’ll
always be the little one, and that’s annoying sometimes. He’s taken me to
(6) ....................... that I wouldn’t have gone to otherwise and when he was at
university I went to stay with him sometimes. That was really cool. It was great to
see what real student life was like when I was still at school. Now that he’s
working he’s really (7) ................., but we still hang out sometimes. We go to
(8) ............................. together because we both support our home team. It’s always
good to see him.
C (Girl)
We’ve known each other since we were (9) ....................... and we’ve always got
on really well. Well, apart from that time when we fell out because we both liked
the same boy. But he went off with Heather Jenkins, so we (10) .........................
again quite quickly! We both like the same kind of music and going dancing at the
weekend, and when we were younger we went out on our bikes together. At school
we’re good at (11) .......................... I’m good at languages and Laura’s good at
maths. That’s good though – it means that we can help each other with our
homework. Next year I’m probably going to study in London and she’s going to
Manchester, but I’m sure our (12) ............................. won’t change.
D (Boy)
His family moved in just a few houses down from us when I was about ten, and I
still remember how (13) ...................... I felt when I found out there was another
boy on the street. I’d been the only boy, you see. The others were all girls. We
were (14) ....................... from the beginning because we were into the same things:
computers and football, mostly. But we had quite a few of the same hobbies for a
while. I remember making lots of models of (15) ..................... one year. Another
year we took up fishing. We had all the (16) ........................ and everything and
we’d spend ages down by the river. I never go fishing now. His family moved
away a couple of years ago. We’re still friends on Facebook but we don’t really
have much (17) .......................
E (Girl)
I can remember all the details of when we met. I was wearing a (18) .....................
and I’d just had my hair cut. I can even remember what music was playing the first
time I saw him. I knew he was (19) ...................... from the beginning, and I was
right. We’ve been together ever since. Well, it’s only been (20) ........................,
and some people say that isn’t very long, but it seems like ages to me. We’ve got
such similar (21) ....................... and so much in common. I’m sure we’ll stay
together forever.
