Episode 57

EPISODE 57
LEVEL A1.2/A2.1

 

 

READING COMPREHENSION 

 

 

FRIENDS

 

Our family is the most important group of people in our life, but there are a lot of other people around us: people who we work with or study with and people who we are friends with.

Let’s think about our professional relationships first. People who we work with are our colleagues or workmates. A business associate is our business partner.

If we don’t know somebody at all, he is a stranger to us. If we don’t know somebody very well, we have met them once or twice, this is our acquaintance. We can have close friends and best friends. We know them very well.

In Britain young men often call their friends mates, so they talk about their best mate. In the USA men call their close friends buddies.

 

More contexts for the new words: 

• I live with my partner. (= We live together, but we are not married) 
• She is my pen-friend. (= We write to each other regularly) 

 

EXERCISE 1 

Write the words next to their definitions.

 

1. ………………………….. = someone you work with
2. ………………………….. = business partner
3. ………………………….. = someone you don’t know at all
4. ………………………….. = a British word for a ‘friend’
5. ………………………….. = an American word for a ‘friend’
6. ………………………….. = someone you’ve met once or twice

 

EXERCISE 2 

Add the missing vowels (a, e, I, o, u), then answer the questions.

 

1. Who is your BST FRND …………………………….? What do you like about them?
2. Which CLLG ……………………………. do you like the least? Why?
3. Do you talk to STRNGRS …………………………….? Why/ why not?

 

 

ENGLISH IN USE  

 

 

We already know that we use a/an with countable nouns. For example:

A business associate is our business partner.

What about uncountable nouns?

I don’t have much money.

Money is uncountable and that is why we use „much” with it. In other words we can use „much” only with uncountable nouns in negative sentences. We don’t put a/ an before uncountable words and we don’t use them in plural (2 and more) form.

 

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

 

A/ Thanks for helping me. No one else wanted to. Without you, I would be in serious trouble.

B/ Come on, it’s nothing. A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED.

 

The proverb a friend in need is a friend indeed means that real friends will always help you when you have real problems.

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

 

 

1. When you FALL OUT WITH your friend, you have a serious argument (a fight) and stop being friends.

 

Jane was my best friend, but we fell out over a boy.

I had a really bad day yesterday – I fell out with two of my colleagues.

 

2. When you GET OVER an argument, you forget about your fight and become friends again.

 

They were fighting for a week, but then got over their argument and became best friends again.

If my best friend stole my boyfriend, I would never get over it.

 

EXERCISE 3 

Complete the mini-story with words from the idiom and phrasal verbs.

 

Jake and Sam were best friends. One day, they were eating cookies. When there was only one cookie left, they fell (1)………………….. over who would have it. However, Jake offered to go and buy more cookies, and they soon got (2)……………………. the problem. As they say, a friend in (3)………………………… is a friend indeed.

 

 

NEWS

 

 

SAVED BY A FRIEND

 

Jessica Simmons, 25, nearly died yesterday, after the kayak she was sitting in suddenly turned over and she found herself in freezing lake water. She thought she was going to die. Luckily, her friend Lucas Tripps saw the accident from the shore. Without thinking much, he stripped and jumped into the lake. He swam to Jessica, gripped her tightly (almost stifling her, as she said later), and dragged her to the shore. When Jessica calmed down, she was very surprised to see that Lucas was completely naked! 

 

GLOSSARY 

– freezing – very cold 

– to strip – to remove all of your clothes

– to stifle sb – to kill someone by stopping their breathing

– naked – without any clothes on

 

download lesson (pdf)