viernes, 25 de enero de 2008

LISTENING: TRACTOR LADY from BBC Learning English

Listen to the interview and fill the gaps in the text below:








BBC World Service | Learning English | People and Places

TRACTOR LADY

Jackie: Hello, welcome to bbclearningenglish.com. I´m Jackie Dalton...

Manon: It´s a _____ year old German tractor and it´s green, with red inside the _________.

Jackie: ... and this is the Dutch actress Manon Ossevoort. Manon is travelling from Europe to the South Pole on a tractor - yes, a tractor, one of those large ________ vehicles that farmers use. She calls her tractor "Tractor" and in this programme we´ll hear about her journey so far. She´s been travelling for ______ ________ through all kinds of different countries and lots of things have happened along the way... in fact, Manon _____ into trouble just two days into her __________ - what happened to her?

Manon: I started driving and the sun was shining and threre were _____________ everywhere and I drove out of Holland and the second day, by accident, I drove onto the highway around Antwerp. Yeah, and I was __________ by the highway police and they just took me and Tractor and arrested us.

Jackie: As Manon was driving, she accidentally went onto a ___________, or motorway, where it´s illegal to drive a tractor because the other cars are going _______ and it´s dangerous. So the police arrested her.

JacKie: Luckily Manon was soon allowed to continue her journey - a journey she´d dreamed of doing for many years. I don´t know about you, but I´m still a little unclear as to why she thought i would be a good idea to go by tractor. Let´s listen to her to find out.

Manon: My ultimate _______________ is the South Pole, on a tractor because the tractor makes me _________ and it symbolises this thing that if you really want to accomplish some things, you might not always be fast, but if you just keep moving, you´ll always get somewhere.

Jackie: Manon says the tractor is symbolic because, even though it goes slowly, it still gests you somewhere - just like in all sorts of areas of our _______, if we really want to accomplish something, - which means to achieve or do something successfully - it doesn´t matter _____ ________ it make take, but as long as we do ____________, we can always make progress.

Jackie: Manon travelled through so many countries and often talked to people along the way. But how did the _______________ usually react when they saw her - did they ___________ her?

Manon: They just start laughing, and they say, come, come, come, sit down, sit down... we´ll make you some tea - what are you doing?

Jackie: Luckily for Manon, the authories were welcoming - probably because they found what she´s doing rather strange and they ________ it funny.

Jackie: But not every part of Manon´s journey has been enjoyable so far. There are things she´s _______ _______ that have made her sad. What kinds of things?

Manon: On my way through Holland, down ________ Europe, the Balkan countries, _______, Sudan I come to many places, which you could call, as an adult, ____ _____ _____ the world - places where people lose hope. You see beautiful people, local people, beautiful people working for _______________ _________________, but somehow the work that they´re doing doesn´t work completely and it can make you ______.

Jackie: Manon felt saw when she reached places where she ______ that people had lost _________.

Jackie: Well tha´s all for this programme and we must ______ Manon to get on with her travels. Let´s hope that as her journey to the South Pole continues, Manon comes across many places where people do have hope.

GRAMMAR BANK

PAST SIMPLE PATTERN:
+ Affirmative sentences:
- regular verb + ed
- irregular verb (see 2nd column in irregular verbs list)
- Negative sentences: didn´t + infinitive verb
? Questions: did + subject + infinitive verb

PAST CONTINUOUS PATTERN:
+ affirmative sentences: was/were + v-ing
- negative sentences: wasn´t / weren´t + v-ing
? questions: was/were + subject + v-ing

PAST SIMPLE VS PAST CONTINUOUS
1. The ______________________ expresses past actions as simple facts.
2. The ______________________ gives past activities time and duration. The activity can be interrupted.
3. In stories, the _______________________ can desbribe the scene. The ____________________ tells the action.

Activity with Past Simple and Past Continuous

Fill the gaps with the verbs in brackets in Past Simple or Past Continuous:

Last weekend Carmela _____________ (go) to the cinema to see "The Others". Carmela _______________(not want) because it ______________ (be) about ghosts and she is afraid of them. When she _____________ (go) home with her friend Lola, she _____________ (feel) very strange.

There ______________ (be) a noise behind them, but the could not see anyone. It ____________ (rain) a lot and there ___________ (be) any taxis on the street, so they ____________ (have) to go home working.

The noise ____________ (continue) still behind them and while they ____________ (go) to see what or who it ______________ (be), the lights on the street ______________ (switch) off and they _______________ (see) for five minutes. Do you know what happened next?

lyrics from the thriller by Michael Jackson


Thriller Lyrics

Thriller by Michael Jackson

Listen to the song and read the lyrics

A GHOST STORY