Text 1
W: Excuse me, sir. Visiting hours are over now. Your wife must get some rest.
M: Oh, I’m sorry, doctor. I didn’t hear the bell, or I would have left earlier.
Text 2
M: Hello, my name is Jack. I need to get in shape. How do I register for the classes?
W: We’ll need you to join the gym, and then you could find out which classes fit your schedule the best.
Text 3
W: I’ll see you at the theatre.
M: Better still, let’s meet in the Red Lion bar to have a nice little talk.
W: Good idea. And I’d love to have a drink there.
Text 4
M: Hello, my name is John Arbor. And I’m calling to ask about the position advertised in Friday’s Daily Mail.
W: Yes, the position is still open. You could come over and have a talk with us.
Text 5
M: I have an extra ticket to the concert tonight. Would you like to join me?
W: Thanks! But I already have one. You can ask Emily. She might be interested.
Text 6
W: Did you know James went out of business?
M: Really? When was that?
W: Last month.
M: That’s too bad. He had owned that business for 15 years. What happened?
W: I don’t know. But life must be pretty tough for his family now. His sons are still so young; one is 13, and the other is 10.
M: Well, maybe things are not as bad as they seem to be.
W: I hope so.
Text 7
W: Guess what? My mother’s decided to go back to school!
M: Why?
W: Well, she always loved art, but learned business administration at college because her parents thought it was difficult for an artist to find a job.
M: So, she wants to study art now?
W: Yeah, oil painting. It’s been her dream for a long time.
M: It’s nice to return to learn what she loves. But, Kate, I still think old age should be about peace and relaxation. Hurrying to school every day and having to pass exams sounds a bit too much for her.
W: You know, she retired last year and I’m leaving for the university soon. She needs to find something interesting to do.
M: Well, maybe, if it’s what she wants.
Text 8
M: Dear listeners, for today’s show, I have with me my colleague, Mary Laney. She has been a radio TV reporter for many years. Mary, welcome to our show.
W: It’s a pleasure to be here.
M: Would you please tell our listeners who most influenced your decision to become a reporter?
W: Both my parents had a great influence upon my choice of work. Instead of trying to pick out a job for me, they helped me learn those things that led me to it.
M: How did they do that?
W: My father always told me that an education was one of the greatest advantages I could have, one that would always stay with me. He used to tell me that readers were leaders, and encouraged me to read all I could. As a result, I’ve always kept up with the newspapers, faithfully read news magazines and learned to really enjoy books, all of which have been an invaluable help to me in radio and television reporting.
M: What about your mother?
W: Well, my mother helped me in a much different way.
Text 9
M: We all know that exercise is good for us. But sometimes it seems too hard to leave the sofa.
W: I can see that. You seldom do exercise.
M: Plus, having the doctor tell us to get two and a half hours of exercise a week doesn’t really help our motivation much.
W: Don’t be discouraged. Now, a new study suggests getting benefits from exercise doesn’t have to be that demanding. Jacob Sattelmair from Harvard University has done a study into how much exercise is needed to lower the risk of heart attacks.
M: Hmm... interesting.
W: The study showed that people who put in 300 minutes a week of exercise had a 20% lower risk of death due to heart disease. Still, the people who exercise 150 minutes a week did pretty well, too, lowering their death risk by 14%.
M: And what about the people who exercise half as much as that, like what I probably do? Does that help?
W: Of course. Even 15 minutes would help.
Text 10
W: Here is a piece of news for bird lovers. Scientists have painted a long road red, yellow, and white. They hope to discourage the seabirds from wandering onto the highway. “The area is home to large crowds of birds that come to stay for the season. Young birds are often attracted to the warm road surface and get killed by the traffic,” biology student Hannah tells the broadcaster. The youngsters’ feathers are brown in color. The dark-colored road surface makes the youngsters hard to be noticed. As the number of tourists has grown, so has the amount of traffic on the roads. Biologist Kristin says the plan is to see how the birds respond to the multi-colored road this summer. And if it works, the idea could spread to other parts of the country.
