A couch potato

Listen to the conversation and answer the questions. Then do the test below.

1. What is a couch?
2. Who is called a couch potato?
3. What are the British known for?
4. What do they do more often now: watch TV or search the internet?

Gap-fill exercise

Прочитайте текст аудиозаписи. Выберите подходящие по смыслу слова из выпадающего меню. Проверьте себя, нажав на кнопку CHECK. Если есть ошибки, прослушайте аудиозапись еще раз.
Galina www.english-study-cafe.ru

A couch is a sofa, such as people have in their sitting-rooms, often 5 hours a daya surveyastonishingcouch-and-computer potatoesgetting fatin front of the televisionnationthe internet search engineto accesswatching television. Some people spend a lot of time sitting on the couch 5 hours a daya surveyastonishingcouch-and-computer potatoesgetting fatin front of the televisionnationthe internet search engineto accesswatching television, and probably 5 hours a daya surveyastonishingcouch-and-computer potatoesgetting fatin front of the televisionnationthe internet search engineto accesswatching television for want of exercise. We have a name for such people in English – couch potatoes. And, as British people are well known for watching TV a lot, perhaps we are a 5 hours a daya surveyastonishingcouch-and-computer potatoesgetting fatin front of the televisionnationthe internet search engineto accesswatching television of couch potatoes.
Google, the company that runs 5 hours a daya surveyastonishingcouch-and-computer potatoesgetting fatin front of the televisionnationthe internet search engineto accesswatching television, has just published 5 hours a daya surveyastonishingcouch-and-computer potatoesgetting fatin front of the televisionnationthe internet search engineto accesswatching television which claims that British people now spend more time on the internet than they do watching television – 164 minutes a day on average on the internet, 148 minutes watching television.
It was only about 10 years ago that people first started 5 hours a daya surveyastonishingcouch-and-computer potatoesgetting fatin front of the televisionnationthe internet search engineto accesswatching television the internet from home computers. Now, according to Google, everyone in Britain spends the equivalent of 41 days a year surfing the net. Of course, this figure includes net access at work as well as at home. Still, if true, it is 5 hours a daya surveyastonishingcouch-and-computer potatoesgetting fatin front of the televisionnationthe internet search engineto accesswatching television. Moreover, the time that Google says we spend watching TV and the time we spend on the net, added together, comes to over 5 hours a daya surveyastonishingcouch-and-computer potatoesgetting fatin front of the televisionnationthe internet search engineto accesswatching television. Can this really be true? Are we British now a nation of 5 hours a daya surveyastonishingcouch-and-computer potatoesgetting fatin front of the televisionnationthe internet search engineto accesswatching television? If I search the web, can I find a website with more information about this?

credit: listen-to-english.com

 Check 

 OK 

An English Village in Spain

1. Listen to the conversation and do the test.

Quiz

Прослушайте аудиозапись беседы. Ответьте на вопросы.

Galina www.english-study-cafe.ru

Show all questions

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1. What is the weather like in this place?
   1.   ?    foggy
   2.   ?    cloudy
   3.   ?    sunny
2. People in Gibraltar want to be
   1.   ?    independent
   2.   ?    British
   3.   ?    Spanish
3. What language do people there speak?
   1.   ?    Spanish
   2.   ?    English with Spanish accent
   3.   ?    both English and Spanish
4. How many people live in the village?
   1.   ?    less than a thousand
   2.   ?    more than a thousand
   3.   ?    a few hundred

 OK 

2. Now open the script and listen again.

open the script

Luis: So It is like you see it and it is like on a stage. Something is not working here. I mean an English village should be cloudy, should be foggy, should be… not this starkly blue sky.
Mark: This is Gibraltar?
Luis: This is Gibraltar.
Mark: What is the situation there?
Luis: It is a British colony in south Spain.. It is a British colony in Europe. It is a colony of a European country in another European country.
Mark: And the people in Gibraltar; they don’t want to be Spanish and they don’t want to be British? They want to be independent?
Luis: They want to be independent.
Mark: Right. And they speak English?
Luis: They speak English with a very strong Andalucian accent. A very strong south Spanish accent and the slang they use is Spanish.
Mark: How many people?
Luis: A few thousand.
Mark: A few thousand. Wow! What an interesting place.
Luis: A weird place. Kind of surrealistic actually.
Mark: Right. An English village with the wrong-coloured sky.
Luis: (laughs) To me this is the most surrealistic part of the place because one doesn’t match the other. It is not working. You are missing the clouds, the fog, the…

credit: englishconversations.org