Exercise 12A, page 1 - English File Studetn's book, pre-intermediate, Oxford

1 READING & VOCABULARY time expressions

IN THE POST

a Look at the pictures and the headlines for three news stories. What do you think the stories are about?

b Read the stories and check. Match them to the headlines.

LEFT BEHIND

FALSE ALARM

IN THE POST

1 Last Sunday at about 2.00 a.m., police in Sydney, Australia, received several phone calls about shouting and loud noises that were coming from an apartment in a suburb of the city. The callers had heard a woman screaming, a man shouting 'I'm going to kill you! You're dead!', and somebody throwing furniture.

A police car went to the apartment immediately. A man opened the door.

'Where's your wife?' the officer asked.

'I don't have one,' the man replied.

'Where's your girlfriend?'

'I don't have one,' the man replied again.

The officer told the man that his neighbours had heard shouting and screaming.

'Come on, what have you done to her?' the officer asked.

'It was a spider,' the man replied. 'A really big one.'

'What about the woman who was screaming?'

'Yes, sorry, that was me,' the man said.

'I really, really hate spiders. I was trying to kill it.'

The police looked around the apartment and confirmed that nobody was hurt. Except the spider.

2 A woman in Worthing, West Sussex, got a big surprise yesterday when she opened a large box of DVDs that she had bought on eBay and a cat suddenly jumped out. The cat, called Cupcake, had got into the box eight days earlier, when her owner Julie Baggott was packing the box to send to her customer. Julie didn't notice that Cupcake had climbed into the box and fallen asleep.

Julie's customer called the RSPCA, who collected the cat and took it to a vet. Dr Ben Colwell, who treated Cupcake, said that she was very frightened and very thirsty – the cat had survived the 260-mile journey with no food or water. Luckily Cupcake had a microchip in her neck, so the vet found Julie's details and phoned her.

Julie had been very sad about losing her cat. She had put up posters and looked for Cupcake for days. 'I feel terrible,' said Julie. 'I put the DVDs in the box and I closed it straight away, so I don't know how she got in there. It was a miracle she was alive.'

3 An Argentinian family was driving home after a holiday in Brazil when the husband, Walter, made an unfortunate mistake. He stopped at a petrol station, filled up the car with petrol, and went to the toilet. But when he drove off, he didn't notice that his wife Claudia wasn't in the car.

Claudia had been asleep in the back seat. While her husband was in the toilet, she woke up and went into the shop to buy some cookies, but when she came back outside she found that her husband had left without her. The couple's 14-year-old son didn't notice that his mother wasn't there because he was playing on his phone in the front seat.

Walter only realized his wife wasn't in the car after he'd driven 100 kilometres. Meanwhile, Claudia tried to phone him, but she couldn't get a signal, so she asked the petrol station manager for help. He contacted the local police, who took her to the police station.

Her husband eventually returned to pick her up two hours later. When he arrived, Claudia was so angry that all she could do was scream and kick the car.

Glossary

RSPCA Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Adapted from the British press

c Read the stories again. For each story, put the events in the order that they happened.

Story 1

The police arrived at the apartment.

1 The neighbours heard someone screaming.

The man explained what had happened.

The man killed the spider.

Story 2

Julie put up posters.

Julie lost her cat.

The vet contacted Julie.

The cat jumped out of the box.

Story 3

Walter got back into the car and drove off.

Walter realized what had happened.

Claudia went into the shop.

Walter went to the toilet.

d Look back at the stories and complete the sentences with time expressions.

1 A police car went to the apartment __________

2 A cat __________ jumped out.

3 I put the DVDs in the box and I closed it __________

4 __________ Claudia tried to phone him.

5 Her husband __________ returned two hours later.

e Match the time expressions in d to their meaning.

1 quickly and unexpectedly __________

2 after a long time __________

3 while something else was happening __________

4 without delay __________

Прочитайте тексты и выполните задания по лексике, связанные с выражениями времени.

Ответ:

a

English: I think the 'LEFT BEHIND' story is about someone who got left at a gas station. The 'FALSE ALARM' story is probably about police coming because of a misunderstanding, maybe they thought someone was in danger but it was nothing. And 'IN THE POST' is about a cat that was accidentally mailed in a box.

Русский: Я думаю, история «ОСТАВЛЕНА» — о ком-то, кого оставили на заправке. История «ЛОЖНАЯ ТРЕВОГА», наверное, о полиции, которая приехала из-за недоразумения, может, они думали, что кто-то в опасности, а оказалось, что ничего страшного. А «ПО ПОЧТЕ» — это о кошке, которую случайно отправили в коробке.

b

English:

Русский:

c

English:

Story 1

2 The police arrived at the apartment.

1 The neighbours heard someone screaming.

3 The man explained what had happened.

4 The man killed the spider.

Story 2

2 Julie put up posters.

1 Julie lost her cat.

4 The vet contacted Julie.

3 The cat jumped out of the box.

Story 3

3 Walter got back into the car and drove off.

4 Walter realized what had happened.

2 Claudia went into the shop.

1 Walter went to the toilet.

Русский:

История 1

2 Полиция прибыла в квартиру.

1 Соседи услышали, как кто-то кричит.

3 Мужчина объяснил, что произошло.

4 Мужчина убил паука.

История 2

2 Джули расклеила объявления.

1 Джули потеряла свою кошку.

4 Ветеринар связался с Джули.

3 Кошка выпрыгнула из коробки.

История 3

3 Уолтер сел обратно в машину и уехал.

4 Уолтер понял, что произошло.

2 Клаудия пошла в магазин.

1 Уолтер пошел в туалет.

d

English:

1. immediately

2. suddenly

3. straight away

4. Meanwhile

5. eventually

Русский:

1. немедленно

2. внезапно

3. сразу же

4. тем временем

5. в конце концов

e

English:

1. quickly and unexpectedly - suddenly

2. after a long time - eventually

3. while something else was happening - meanwhile

4. without delay - immediately, straight away

Русский:

1. быстро и неожиданно - suddenly (внезапно)

2. спустя долгое время - eventually (в конце концов)

3. в то время как происходило что-то еще - meanwhile (тем временем)

4. без промедления - immediately (немедленно), straight away (сразу же)