Do not just listen to the word do what it says

A formal letter

Dear Sir / Madam,

1 I am writing to complain about a meal my family and I had in the Café Royale restaurant in Market Square last Saturday night.

We have eaten in this restaurant 2 and the background music has always been very low and 3 . However, 4 the music

was terribly loud, almost deafening. When the waiter took our order, I asked him politely if he could turn the music down, which he did.

However, while we were eating our main course, the music was turned up again and we could hardly hear ourselves speak. This time I asked to see the manager. She spoke to us in 5 and unfriendly manner. She told us that we were the only customers who had ever complained about the music and

6 turn it down. We were so angry we decided to leave without having dessert or coffee.

I have eaten in other branches of Café Royale all over the country, but I 7 unless I receive

an explanation and apology for the 8 we received.

Joseph Clements

Joseph Clements

WR I T I N G 5

aRead the letter and answer the questions.

1 Who is the letter to?

2 Why is Joseph writing?

3 What does he hope to achieve?

bComplete the letter with the more formal of the two phrases.

1 I’m writing / I am writing

2 lots of times / on many occasions

3 pleasant / nice

4 on this particular evening / when we were there this time 5 a really rude / an extremely rude

6 said she wouldn’t / refused to

7 will not do so again / won’t go there again 8 unacceptable treatment / awful treatment 9 Best wishes / Yours faithfully

cLast week you had a bad experience in an expensive hotel. When you get home you decide to write a letter or email to complain. Look at the Useful language expressions and make sure you know how to use them.

Useful language

Typical openings

Dear Sir / Madam, Dear Mr Waters,

I am writing to complain about…

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with…

Typical endings

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully (when you begin Dear Sir / Madam) Yours sincerely (when you begin Dear Mr Waters)

PLAN the content.

1Decide where you were staying and imagine what problems there might have been. What kind of problem would make you complain?

2 Decide what you would like the hotel to do.

WRITE 120–180 words, organized in three or four paragraphs (reason for writing, details of the problems, conclusion / request for action). Use a formal style (no contractions or colloquial expressions). Use the phrases in b and in

Useful language.

CHECK your letter for mistakes ( grammar ,

punctuation , and spelling ).

G R A M M A R

aComplete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first.

1 After being in London for a year, I still find driving on the left difficult.

After being in London for a year, I still can’t get on the left.

2 My hair was very long when I was a teenager.

3‘I think you should talk to a lawyer,’ he said to Sarah.

6 My brother is a waiter in a French restaurant.

b Put the bold verb in the gerund or infinitive.

V O C A B U L A R Y

aMake nouns for people from the following words. Underline the stressed syllable.

b Complete the missing words.

b.

6The report was c . He wasn’t allowed to say what he wanted to say.

nafter lunch.

P R O N U N C I AT I O N

a Underline the word with a different sound.

b Underline the stressed syllable.

1 R E A D I N G

aWhat do you know about the first moon landing? Answer the questions with a partner.

3What was the first thing he said when he landed? a ‘Wow! It’s so big!’

b ‘I’m floating in a most peculiar way.’

c ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’

bRead the article and check. What controversy has there been since then about what Neil Armstrong actually said? Why is the missing ‘a’ so important?

cRead the article again. Then, in pairs, say why the following names and numbers are mentioned.

dCover the article and try to complete the sentences making words from the words in bold. What do they mean?

1Armstrong made the first human footprint on the lunar surface. foot

4 ‘One small step for a man’ would have made it a more sentence. mean

5They were possibly the most words in history. memory

speaking. Can you hear the ‘a’?

AS NEIL ARMSTRONG became the first man to walk on the Moon,

a global audience of 500 million people were watching and listening.

‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,’ they heard him say as he dropped from the ladder of his spacecraft to make the first human footprint on the lunar surface. It was the perfect quote for such a momentous occasion. But from the moment he said it, people

have argued about whether the NASA astronaut got his lines wrong.

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, who stepped outside a few seconds after him,

landed the Apollo 11 spacecraft on the Moon on 20th July 1969. In the tense six hours and forty minutes between landing on the moon and stepping out of the capsule, Armstrong wrote what he knew would become some of the most memorable words in history.

Armstrong has always insisted that he wrote ‘one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,’ which would have been a more meaningful

and grammatically correct sentence. Without the missing ‘a’, the intended meaning of the sentence is lost. In effect, the line means, ‘That’s one

small step for mankind (i.e. humanity), one giant leap for mankind.’

But did he really say the sentence incorrectly? Until now Armstrong himself had never been sure if he actually said what he wrote. In his biography First Man he told the author James Hansen, ‘I must admit

2 G R AM MAR articles

aRight ( ) or wrong ( )? Correct the mistakes in the highlighted phrases.

1 Neil Armstrong was born in the USA .

2 He was a shy boy , who loved the books and the music .

3 He studied aeronautical engineering at the university .

4 He was the first man who set foot on a moon .

5 His famous words were heard by people all over the world . 6 Before becoming a astronaut, he worked for the US navy . 7 Since 1994 he has refused to give the autographs .

8In 2005 he was involved in a lawsuit with an ex-barber, who tried to sell some of the Armstrong’s hair .

b p.142 Grammar Bank 6A. Read the rules and do the exercises.

cRead three extracts from some famous historical speeches. Use the glossary to help you. Complete the speeches with a, an, the, or (–).

Winston Churchill (1874–1965) was the British Prime Minister during the Second World War.

In this extract from a speech given in 1946, the year after the war ended, Churchill first used the phrase ‘iron curtain’ to describe the boundary which ideologically and physically divided the East and the West. This speech marked the beginning of the ‘Cold War’.

Baltic Sea

Stettin

Iron Curtain

Trieste

Adriatic Sea

d 6.2 Now listen to the extracts spoken by the people themselves. Check your answers. Which of the three do you think was the best public speaker?

3 P R O N U N C IATI O N sentence stress

a 6.3 Dictation. Listen and write down six sentences.

bListen again and underline the stressed words. What is the vowel sound in a, an, and the in 1–5? Why is the pronounced differently in number 6?

cPractise saying the sentences from a. Try to pronounce the weak forms correctly.

4 6.4 S O N G l Space oddity

5 LI STE N I NG

aHave you ever had to make a speech or give a talk or presentation in front of a lot of people? When? Where? How did you feel? Was it a success?

bRead part of an article about presentation disasters. Which tip from Ten top tips below should the speaker have remembered?

PRESENTATION

D

HoweverISASTERS!bad

you think your presentation has been, take some comfort from the fact that at least

it probably wasn’t as bad as these true stories…

AFEW YEARS AGO I had to give a presentation to the Belgian management team of an international

IT company. Not wishing to be the typical ‘Brit’ presenting in English, I had carefully prepared my presentation in French. I intended it as a surprise so I didn’t say anything beforehand. After speaking in French for 45 minutes I was halfway through my

presentation and we had a break for coffee. At this point the manager of the company came up to me asked me if I would change to speaking in English. ‘Is my French that bad?’ I said. ‘No,’ he replied, ‘it’s just that we are

all from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.’

Ten top tips for speaking in public

1 Don’t make your presentation too long.

2 Don’t have more than four or five main points.

3Even if something distracting happens try not to lose your concentration.

4Be careful about telling jokes – they may not be appropriate.

5Always be punctual: start on time and try to finish on time.

6Get to know as much as possible about your audience beforehand.

7 Try not to repeat yourself too much.

8 Be careful not to speak too fast.

9 Practise your presentation beforehand.

10 Make sure the equipment you need is working properly before you start.

cYou’re going to hear five other people talking about a disastrous presentation. Before you listen, look at pictures A–E. What do you think the problem was?

A

B

C

D

E

d 6.5 Listen and number the pictures in the correct order. Did you guess correctly?

eListen again and write 1–5 in the boxes. Which speaker…?

A couldn’t understand why nobody found his / her talk amusing B felt very relaxed before his / her presentation

C did the last part of his / her talk very quickly D made the problem he / she had worse

E didn’t find out he / she had a problem until the end of the talk

fTalk to a partner.

1 Would any of the ‘Ten top tips’ have helped some of the speakers? 2 Which speaker do you think was the most embarrassed?

3 Have you ever been to a talk or presentation where something went badly wrong?

6 VO C AB U L ARY collocation: word pairs

Some pairs of words in English which go together always come in a certain order, for example, we always say ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ and ‘right or wrong’ NOT gentlemen and ladies, wrong or right.

aRead the information in the box. How do you say ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ and ‘right or wrong’ in your language? Is the order the same?

bTake one word from A and match it with another from B. Then decide which word comes first. They are all joined with and.

cLook at some common word pairs joined with or. What is the second word?

d 6.6 Listen and check your answers to b and c, and notice how the phrases are linked and how and and or are pronounced. Practise saying them.

e Match the word pair idioms with their meanings.

1 I’m sick and tired of hearing you complain. 2 I didn’t buy much, just a few bits and pieces . 3 I’ve been having headaches now and again . 4 He’s unemployed and down and out .

5 Every relationship needs a bit of give and take .

6 We’ve had our ups and downs, but now we get on really well. 7 The army were called in to restore law and order .

8 Despite flying through a storm we arrived safe and sound .

f Complete the sentences with a word pair from b, c, or e.

7 S P EAKI N G

a 6.7 When people give a talk, they usually divide what they say into small chunks, with a brief pause between each chunk. Listen to the beginning of a talk and mark (/ ) the pauses.

Good afternoon everyone / and thank you for coming. I’m going to talk to you today about one of my hobbies, collecting comics. Since I was a child I’ve been mad about comics and comic books.

I started reading Tintin and Asterix when I was seven or eight. Later when I was a teenager some friends at school introduced me to Manga which are Japanese comics. I’ve been collecting them now for about five years and I’m also learning to draw them.

bListen again and underline the stressed words. Practise reading the extract.

cYou are going to give a short presentation to other students. You can choose what to talk about, for example:

•a hobby you have or a sport you play

•something you really love doing

•an interesting person in your family

•a famous person you admire

•the good and bad side of your job

Decide what you are going to talk about and make a plan of what you want to say.

GET IT RIGHT making a presentation

Read through the tips in Presentation disasters! again to help you to prepare your presentation and to give it successfully. When you give your presentation, don’t speak too quickly.

Remember to pause and take a breath from time to time. This will help the audience to follow what you are saying.

dIn groups, take turns to give your presentation. While they are listening, the other students should write down at least one question to ask the speaker after the presentation is over. Then have a short question and answer session.

6A 87

Los Angeles, home to many of the world’s most famous movie stars,

is known as the entertainment capital of the world – but it is completely unknown to one group of people – the Amish. For 300 years this fascinating community has lived in isolation, working together to grow their own food, make their own clothes, and build their own communities. They reject conveniences like electricity, telephones,

and cars, and focus on hard work, Christian worship, and family.

However, once Amish people reach their late teens, they are allowed to explore modern society and are given the chance to experience

the outside world for the first time. This period is known as Rumspringa, a time when Amish young people must decide whether to commit to the strict rules of their faith, or to leave behind the Amish lifestyle and their family forever. Amish teenagers can spend their Rumspringa anywhere, but most of them choose to stay near their homes, venturing only a few miles from their small communities.

But now five of them have chosen to spend their Rumspringa in a way no one has before – living with six city kids in Los Angeles, who have no idea that they will be sharing a house with the Amish. For ten weeks they will explore everything the modern world has to offer,

with one thing in mind. Will they return to the simple life they’ve always lived, or will they choose to remain ‘Amish in the City’?

cNow read a review of the programme. Then without looking back at the text, mark the sentences below

T (true), or F (false), and say why the F ones are false.

1 The Amish kids aren’t used to seeing such tall buildings. 2 They thought the parking meters were rather funny.

3 The Amish are very good at painting.

4 Mose thinks that ‘Reggae’ is the name of a singer.

5The reviewer thinks that the Amish learned a lot from the city kids.

6 Nick felt sorry for the beggar.

7Most adolescents leave the Amish community after Rumspringa.

8 Mose is not quite sure what he’s going to do next. 9 Miriam is planning to travel.

10The reviewer thinks the programme didn’t end in a very positive way.

d Answer the questions.

1Do you think that this kind of television programme is a good idea? Why (not)?

2Do you think Rumspringa really gives Amish teenagers freedom of choice? Why (not)?

3Do you think that the fact that only one of the Amish went back is a happy ending or a sad ending?

REVIEW – Last night’s TV

In the first episode, the five young Amish, three boys (Mose, Jonas, and Randy) and two girls (Miriam and Ruth) are amazed by

the height of the skyscrapers , the noise of the traffic in Los Angeles and the number of cars on the five-lane ‘freeways’. They are amused by parking meters – a totally new concept for them – and they love riding in elevators . Even a trip to a grocery store is an adventure. Mose said, ‘I’m a farmer, but there are so many vegetables here that I’ve never seen before.’

Ruth is entranced by a visit to an art gallery as she has never seen art before. ‘I didn’t know you could make something

from boards with paint on them that would look so nice,’ she explains. ‘The Amish don’t do art at school because they feel it isn’t important.’ Ruth is also as excited as a little child when, for the first time in her life, she sees the ocean.

The Amish are not allowed to use CD players or iPods, and the city kids introduce them to pop music. City girl Megan asks if any of the Amish have heard any reggae at all. ‘Reggae?’ replies Amish boy Mose, ‘I’ve never heard of him.’ As the city kids burst out laughing, he adds, ‘But he sounds interesting.’

But as the programme progresses, slowly but surely you feel that the people who are really learning something are the city kids.

One evening when they are eating at a pavement café in a rather run-down neighbourhood , a beggar approaches them

and asks them for money. City boy Nick ignores him, but Amish girl Miriam offers him a piece of her chicken. ‘The Amish wouldn’t let anyone be homeless,’ she says. ‘It just wouldn’t happen.’

Of course the big question is, what happens at the end – what do the young Amish decide to do? Normally after Rumspringa the vast majority of adolescents choose to stay in the Amish community. However, in the case of Amish in the City, the majority decide, at least temporarily, not to go back to the Amish. Mose decides that the big city life is not for him, but that he probably won’t go back to the Amish either. Jonas and Randy both want to go to college and Miriam wants to see more of the world. Of the five of them, only Ruth decides to go back to the Amish lifestyle. A sad ending or a happy ending? It depends on your point of view.

2 VOCABULARY towns and cities

aLook at the highlighted words and phrases. Explain in your own words what they mean. Do you have them where you live?

b p.155 Vocabulary Bank Towns and cities.

c Make nouns from the bold words to complete the sentences.

Typical endings for making a noun from a verb are:

-ment, e.g. government, -ion, e.g. congestion, and -ation e.g. information.

Typical endings for making a noun from an adjective are:

-ity, e.g. reality, -ness, e.g. darkness, and -ence / -ance, e.g. convenience, entrance. Some nouns from verbs / adjectives are irregular, e.g. poor>poverty, lose>loss, choose>choice

3 P R O N U N C IATI O N word stress in multi-syllable words

a Underline the stressed syllable in these multi-syllable words.

4 G R AM MAR uncountable and plural nouns

aCircle the correct form.

1 Amish men can’t have long hair / a long hair.

2 During Rumspringa the Amish tolerate bad behaviour / behaviours. 3 There is often terrible traffic / a terrible traffic in Los Angeles.

4 A good guidebook will give you advice / advices about what to see. 5 We usually have some bad weather / a bad weather in April.

6 Walking round cities in the summer can be hard work / a hard work. 7 It’s best not to take too much luggage / too many luggages.

8 I’ve just heard a very interesting news / piece of news.

b p.142 Grammar Bank 6B. Read the rules and do the exercises.

c Play Just a minute. In small groups, try to talk for a minute about:

b Listen again and answer the questions.

1What does he mean when he says ‘get to know the village you are staying in’?

2What is his recommendation for an indoor activity that visitors to London should do?

3 What building should you have as a background for a photo? 4 What’s special for him about St Paul’s Cathedral?

5Where else can you go to watch the sunset apart from the Trafalgar Hotel roof garden?

6 Why does he like London at dawn?

7Why is the London Aquarium a good place to go on a very hot day?

8 Why does he enjoy walking in Hyde Park?

9What is special about the bird called the nightingale? Where can you hear it sing?

90 6B

dWhich of the places he mentions would you most like to see? How would you answer the same questions about a city or town that you know well?