Unit 2A

Text 1

M: Mum, can I use the car? I'm going to the movies. There is no bus stop nearby.

W: Why don't you walk to the cinema? It's close, and it's a lovely autumn evening. 

M: It sounds like a good idea. 

Text 2

W: I feel so happy on sunny days like this, although it's still cold outside. It's strange how quickly weather can change here. 

M: Yes, it was raining heavily a moment ago.

Text 3

W: Mr. Kennedy? It's Becky. I'm sorry, but I can't go to work today. I'm at the hospital.

M: Are you all right?

W: It's my daughter. She woke up with stomach pains this morning. 

Text 4

W: Well, dinner is ready. I wonder why Tom hasn't come back yet. 

M: I just asked him to go to the supermarket after work. He should be on the way back home. 

W: Let me call him to ask.

Text 5

M: David has just phoned me and said that he couldn't attend the party. He isn't feeling very well now.

W: So, we'll have three people absent. John is traveling with his parents abroad and Mike has to stay late at the office. 

Text 6

W: Jim, what's your favorite sport?

M: To watch or to play?

W: Both!

M: Well, football, of course. To just play, it would be golf. To watch only, it would be skating. 

W: Interesting. Why don't you skate?

M: I think skating is a bit dangerous.

W: What about swimming?

M: I like swimming, but I consider it more of a hobby than a sport. 

 Text 7

W: John, did you go to China with your parents as planned in the summer?

M: No. My father had to take a business trip in Kenya, so I went to that country with him instead. It was a great opportunity for me because I had always wanted to see wild animals there. 

W: So did you have a great time there?

M: Yes. I saw many big animals there. But I also experienced something bad. While I was visiting a village there, I saw some farmers beating an elephant.

W: I just couldn't believe that. Why did they do that?

M: Well, the elephant was damaging their farm.

W: That's really sad. I think farmers should plant new crops that require less land so that elephants can have more land to live on.

Text 8

W: Jay, how were your New Year's celebrations? 

M: I celebrated with my host family since I didn't go home. It's a long way from here to Beijing. 

W: Did you have a good time with your host family?

M: Yeah, it was fun sharing our stories. What did you do to celebrate New Year's? 

W: Each family is different, I think. But one of my family traditions is the Rose Bowl and the Rose Parade. 

M: Wait. What's the Rose Bowl? And what's the Rose Parade?

W: Well, the Rose Bowl is an annual community football game, usually played on January 1st. I am not a football fun, so I always become bored during the game. The Rose Parade is held on the same day, unless New Year falls on a Sunday. 

M: Then, anything fun about it?

W: It includes flower-covered floats. There are also marching bands. It's really cool!

Text 9

M: Hey, Rachel. What are you doing?

W: I'm making my exam study schedule. 

M: Exams are a week away!

W: Exactly! I really should have started on this schedule earlier.

M: Wait. You don't have a test for running.

W: Taking small breaks gives my brain time to review what I've studied.

M: Why not watch TV, then? That's more fun than running.

W: Exercise will help keep my brain clear and make my studying more effective. 

M: I'm not going to study, but I bet I'll still get better grades than you do! 

W: It's not only about grades. The point of tests is to help you review everything you've learned before moving on. I want to learn something, not a score. 

M: Well, I always study for a whole night before the test.

W: That's a terrible way to study. If you do that, you won't really learn anything, and you'll be tired of the test! You need to get prepared one day before the test instead of studying until the last minute.

M: You're right.

Text 10

M: Grandma Moses is among the most well-known 20th-century painters of the United States, yet she had hardly started painting before she was in her late seventies. She was born on a farm in New York, one of five boys and five girls. At 12, she left home and worked as a housekeeper until she married Thomas Moses at 27. They farmed most of their lives, first in Virginia and then in New York. Grandma Moses began to paint using oils at her old age because she wanted to keep busy and pass the time. Her pictures were first sold at the local drugstore and at a market, and were soon noticed by a businessman who bought everything she painted. Three of those pictures were displayed in the Museum of Modern Art, and in 1940, she had her first art show in New York. Between the 1930s and her death, she produced some 1,600 pictures.