Four conversations

Four conversations

Listen to four conversations to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

A

Man: How did it go?

Woman: Umm, I think it went quite well. I did a lot of research and prepared a lot. I was in there for ... I don't know ... half an hour?

Man: And? What did they say?

Woman: Nothing much. At the end I asked them, 'What happens now?', and the woman said, 'We'll call you back with news in three or four days.'

Man: Really?

Woman: Yeah, I think I've got the job. There weren't a lot of other people there. I was the only interview that day, you know?

Man: Well, good luck with it.


B

Man: Anyway, you were saying ...

Woman: Oh, yeah, um ... let's see. Yes, so I was in the museum and there were, I don't know, a hundred people waiting to get into the room. Finally, I got in, and I tried to see the Mona Lisa but I couldn't look at it.

Man: Why not?

Woman: Because the room was filled with people taking photographs of it!

Man: Oh, right.

Woman: Yes! And selfies.

Man: Wait a minute. You can take photos while you're in there?

Woman: Yes, but you can't use flash. I don't know ... Why do we take photos of everything we see when we travel?

Man: I know. And we never look at the photos after.

Woman: Exactly! I'm tired of always taking photos. I don't feel I'm enjoying things.


C

Man: Who took this?

Woman: I can't remember. Hmmm ...

Man: What am I doing?

Woman: You're sitting on the sofa, watching TV and eating chocolates. Nothing changes!

Man: Ha! Very funny. You look very young, though.

Woman: I know. Look at my hair – it was so long!

Man: Mine too, look at me! Hey … I think I know who took this photo.

Woman: Umm … who? Was it Dad?

Man: No, it wasn’t Dad or Mum. Do you remember Barry?

Woman: No.

Man: Yes, YES! You do remember. Barry, your boyfriend at high school. You were seventeen and he was sixteen and he was so very polite: 'Hello, I'm Barry. It's very nice to meet you ...'

Woman: Stop it! He was nice.

Man: Yeah, well, he took the photo.


D

Woman: Let's see. OK. I'm glad we could talk about this. It's not easy to say.

Man: What?

Woman: Well, you're not in our group – for the class project.

Man: What do you mean? You know I'm always in a group with you.

Woman: I know. It's just that this time … this time we made the group differently and because you were late ...

Man: I see. You don't want me in the group?

Woman: No, no. It isn't that. It's that we've already made the group, see? There's four of us already.

Man: So? We can't be a group of five?

Woman: Well, the teacher said four people per group.

Man: Oh.

Woman: It's not about you or your work or anything like that. It's ... errrr ... well, we already have the group.

Man: So I have to find another group.

Woman: I'm sorry.

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

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Average: 4.1 (71 votes)
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Hello Maxim

No, they are not husband and wife, but rather brother and sister. As you say, they can't be married and have grown up in the same family.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi! Remember the guy said that the photo was not taken by mom or dad, that`s why they are brother and sister.

Submitted by Nasser_mo on Tue, 12/11/2019 - 13:37

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what does that mean "I think it went quite well" ?

Hello Nasser_mo,

When we say something 'went well' we mean that it was successful.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by f.agadr on Fri, 08/11/2019 - 13:13

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f.agadr I think that I have had a conersation like conversation C.

Submitted by Hikingirl on Wed, 09/10/2019 - 18:22

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Hello The LearnEnglish Team, I have a question. There is a sentence in the transcript: “ I was the only interview that day, you know?” Why did you use this form of interview verb? Why not “interviewed”? Could you explain to me? Thank you

Hello Hikingirl

In this sentence, 'interview' is a noun and 'only' modifies the noun, meaning there was only one interview that day. So the woman says she was the interview, and there was only one interview that day. This is an informal way of saying that I think you understood: 'I was the only one (or 'only person') interviewed that day'. In this case, 'interviewed' is indeed a past participle and needs the '-ed' ending.

Note that, unlike in many other European languages, in English we don't generally use an adjective to refer to a noun, which is why you have to say 'one' or 'person' after 'only' if you want to mean 'only person'.

Does that make sense?

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by ikmalzulkifli on Thu, 03/10/2019 - 06:55

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This is awesome

Submitted by Raqueline Monteiro on Thu, 05/09/2019 - 22:03

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Hi everyone! This conversations was difficult to me, but I am studying to improve my English everyday!
Profile picture for user Caterina Siligardi

Submitted by Caterina Siligardi on Tue, 03/09/2019 - 18:30

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Those conversations are still a little difficult for my comprehension . I Understand generally,not every steps. I need to do more exercise of listening. But I'll stay tuned.Never I'll get to leave my studying ! See you soon.