Episode 107

EPISODE 107
LEVEL A1.2/ A2.1

 

READING COMPREHENSION 

 

SPECIAL OCCASIONS

A: Wow! You are dressed up today. You look really fantastic. What’s the occasion?

B: We’re going to my friend’s wedding with my husband.

A: Really? I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun. I haven’t been to any party since the last carnival (= a public event at which people play music, wear special clothes, and dance in the streets).

B: What about that festival we went to last month?

A: Are you talking about the jazz festival? I didn’t really enjoy it. I just went there because you had asked me.

B: But it’s your wedding anniversary next week, isn’t it (= the day on which an important event happened in a previous year)? I’m sure your husband will think of something nice.

A: Tom?! He’s such a couch potato (= someone who watches a lot of television and doesn’t have an active life). He’s so lazy that we don’t go anywhere together.

B: I have an idea, then. In two weeks’ time there’s a bank holiday (= a public holiday when shops, businesses and banks are closed) and we’re going to have a day off. Why don’t we go clubbing together?

A: That’s a great idea. I can’t wait.

 

More contexts for the new words: 

• We’re going to celebrate my nephew’s baptism next Sunday. (= a ceremony in which someone is touched or covered with water to welcome them into the Christian world)
• I can’t believe that it’s Kate’s graduation ceremony. To me she’s still a small child. (= a ceremony at which you are officially said to have finished school or university)

 

EXERCISE 1 

Complete sentences with correct words:

1. It’s our 10th wedding a…………………………….. next week. I can’t believe we’ve been married such a long time.
2. Kevin is a real couch p…………………… He spends every weekend on the sofa with the remote control in his hands.
3. We have a day off tomorrow because it’s a b…………. holiday.
4. I would love to see the c……………… in Rio de Janeiro. It must be fantastic.
5. Why are you so dressed up today? What’s the o…………………..?
6. Why don’t we go to that music f…………………. next weekend. I’m sure it’ll be fantastic.

 

EXERCISE 2 

Match the halves. Then answer the questions:

1. How do people usually celebrate 
2. Was there a graduation
3. Do you know anyone who is 

1. a couch potato?
2. baptism in your country?
3. ceremony at the end of your studies?
   

 

ENGLISH IN USE  

In this lesson we are going to discuss the difference between so and such.

So is followed by an adjective or an adverb or by much/ many.

 

The car was so expensive that he couldn’t buy it.
He ran so quickly that he won the race.
There were so many holes in his shirt that he threw it away.

Such is followed by a(n) + adjective + noun
It was such an expensive car that he couldn’t buy it.

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

A: Many happy returns! I hope you’ll be very happy.
B: Thanks.

If you wish someone MANY HAPPY RETURNS, you wish them happy birthday

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

 

1. When you PUT STH OFF, you change the time or date of something so that it happens later than originally planned.

Can we put that meeting off until tomorrow?

 

2. When you CALL STH OFF, you decide that it will not happen.

She has called off the wedding.

 

EXERCISE 3 

Complete the sentences with correct words:

1. I think we should c…………. off the match. The weather is really bad.
2. Why don’t we p………….. it off until the next Saturday? I’m sure the weather will be good then.
3. Happy birthday, Mike! Many happy r………….!

 

NEWS

RIO CARNIVAL 

Rio de Janeiro’s world famous carnival opened last year with a lot of colour and music. Hundreds of thousands of partygoers arrived in the city to dance through the streets and watch parades, samba dancers, and hundreds of other colourful attractions. In keeping with tradition, Rio’s mayor handed the key to the city to the king of the carnival. Mayor Cesar Maia declared: „From this moment, happiness will reign across the city.” The king of the carnival echoed these words. He said the carnival “requires some serious work, but…we have the right to play”. He hoped people would be “filled with the spirit of carnival” and could “enjoy the mixing between social classes and respect each other”.

 

  GLOSSARY 

• reign – to be the most important in a situation 
• echo – if a sound echoes, you hear it again
• require – need something or make something necessary
• filled with – full of

 

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