Unit 3
Lesson 1: Conversation
| Quiet, please! This meeting ought to have started ten minutes ago. | play_circle pause_circle |
| What's on the agenda, Todd? | play_circle pause_circle |
| Well, first of all tickets, programmes and posters. We need to design them. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Shouldn't we have thought about this before? Coming up with good design takes time, you know. | play_circle pause_circle |
| We couldn't have discussed it earlier. We've all been so busy. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Who's going to print the tickets and posters and programmes? | play_circle pause_circle |
| My uncle can do that. He has a printing firm. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Really? You should have said someting before. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I did! Several times! | play_circle pause_circle |
| Oh, sorry! I must have forgotten. | play_circle pause_circle |
| We need to recruit lots of helpers. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Absolutely! To sell tickets and programmes. To answer enquiries. | play_circle pause_circle |
| And to hlep during the festival. To show the audience to their seats - that sort of thing. | play_circle pause_circle |
| And to sell refreshments. | play_circle pause_circle |
| We need some application forms for people to fill in and say what they'd like to do. I think I might have mentioned this before. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I can't remember but it's a good idea. Who'd like to organise that? | play_circle pause_circle |
| Litsen 5 times | play_circle pause_circle |
Lesson 2: Conversation
| Okay, everyone, quiet now, please. Thanks. Now, there's something really important that we have to do. Really, we should have done this before now | play_circle pause_circle |
| What's that, Todd? | play_circle pause_circle |
| We must decide who is responsible for what. Look, I've made a chart. Let's get some names down. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Well … As far as music is concerned, Ramon and I have been organizing that. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Yes, and you've done really well, Lucy. | play_circle pause_circle |
| OK. Music, Lucy and Ramon. Tasha, how about you? | play_circle pause_circle |
| Well, I'm really interested in dance and drama. You can put me down for that. | play_circle pause_circle |
| It's a lot of work to do on your own, Tasha. I think we need two people. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I've thought about that and I know someone who's very keen to help. His name's Vincenzo. He's Italian. You must have seen him. Tall, dark hair. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I know who you mean. How do you spell his name? | play_circle pause_circle |
| V-I-N-C-E-N-Z-O. He'll be great. You'll see. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Excellent. Now, how about art? | play_circle pause_circle |
| You can put me down for that. | play_circle pause_circle |
| OK, Rudy, you're responsible for art. That leaves literature. Any volunteers? | play_circle pause_circle |
| How about you, Todd? | play_circle pause_circle |
| Well, I could, but what I'd really like to do is the website. I'm quite good at that sort of thing. I'm interested in advertising, too. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I'd like to do literature. | play_circle pause_circle |
| But you're already doing music, Ramon. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I can do music on my own. It's no problem. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Are you sure, Lucy? Well … Okay. Let's move Ramon to literature. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Have we decided who's going to design the tickets and posters? You asked Lucy and Ramon, Todd, but I think they're already pretty busy. | play_circle pause_circle |
| There's a girl who goes to the art club. Her name's Marit. She's from Sweden and she's brilliant at design. I'm sure she'd love to do it. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Okay, let's ask her. How do you spell her name? | play_circle pause_circle |
| I think it's M-A-R-I-T. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Right, I've got that. So that just leaves refreshments and organizing the helpers. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I'd like to organize the refreshments. | play_circle pause_circle |
| But you're responsible for the music program, Lucy. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I know, but most of that's organized already. I could look after the refreshments if somebody helped me. | play_circle pause_circle |
| You know who'd be good at that? Zafira, the Lebanese girl. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Spelling, please. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Z-A-F-I-R-A. | play_circle pause_circle |
| So that just leaves organising the helpers. | play_circle pause_circle |
| You're the person for that, Todd. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I don't mind helping you. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Really, Rudy? That'd be great. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Well, it looks like we're getting organised. Now all we need to think about is the opening to the whole festival. It would be great to start with something really spectacular, wouldn't it? | play_circle pause_circle |
| Listen 5 times | play_circle pause_circle |
Lesson 3: Conversation
| Look at that poster, Mimi. The film club is showing West Side Story next week. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Oh, I've never seen West Side Story. | play_circle pause_circle |
| It's fantastic. It's one of my favorite musicals. | play_circle pause_circle |
| It's based on a Shakespeare play, isn't it? | play_circle pause_circle |
| Yes, that's right. Romeo and Juliet. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I've seen that on stage. It's so sad. From the start you know that Romeo and Juliet are going to die. | play_circle pause_circle |
| You still want to watch the play, though. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Yes, of course. You get drawn into the story from their very first words. | play_circle pause_circle |
| That's the skill of an exceptional writer. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I wonder if a Shakespeare play will be included in the festival? | play_circle pause_circle |
| I don't know. I don't think they've arranged the performance program yet. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I'm hoping they might invite a famous author to read and talk about writing. | play_circle pause_circle |
| That would be something new. We've never had a famous author visit the school. | play_circle pause_circle |
| They'll need to find something really good to start the whole festival off. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I agree. If the start of the festival is good, people will want to come to lots of other events. | play_circle pause_circle |
| They could begin with a huge concert. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Yes, they could. But not everyone likes classical music. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Um … true. What about a big brass band, then? Or massed choirs? Or a firework display. | play_circle pause_circle |
| They might start off with the River Boys. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Oh … the River Boys? How do you know they're in the program? | play_circle pause_circle |
| My sister Lucy told me. She's on the festival committee. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Great. Their last concert started with an incredible drum solo, followed by a brilliant sound and light show. Magic! | play_circle pause_circle |
| Not everyone likes pop music, though. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Hmm … what about, Um … a firework display with a live orchestra? Um … playing Handel's firework music, followed by the River Boys' latest multimedia show with a … a choral backing group and a hundred dancers in front of a specially created stage set. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Huh …Sounds amazing. You ought to be on the committee, Mimi. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Too right. I've got all the ideas. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Oh … that's our breakover. Come on, it's Maths next. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Oh … that's A pity. Thinking about the festival is much more fun. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Listen 5 times | play_circle pause_circle |
Lesson Heading
| Z for Zachariah | play_circle pause_circle |
| A figure is staring at a spot on the horizon. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Looking through a pair of binoculars, this person sees a column of smoke, Frightened by what this could mean, the person watches day by day as the column of smok comes closer. | play_circle pause_circle |
| May 20th | play_circle pause_circle |
| I am afraid. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Someone is coming. | play_circle pause_circle |
| That is, I think someone is coming, though I am not sure, and I pray that I am wrong ... | play_circle pause_circle |
| But ther is smoke. For three days there has been smoke, not like the time before. | play_circle pause_circle |
| That time, last year, it rose in a great cloud a long way away, and stayed in the sky for two weeks. | play_circle pause_circle |
| A forest fire in the dead woods, and then it rained, and the smoke stopped. | play_circle pause_circle |
| But this time it is a thin column, like a pole, not very high. | play_circle pause_circle |
| And the column has come three times, each time in the in the late afternoon. | play_circle pause_circle |
| At night I cannot see it, and in the morning it is gone. | play_circle pause_circle |
| But each afternoon it comes again, and it is nearer. | play_circle pause_circle |
| At first, it was behind Claypole Ridge and I could only see the top of it, the smallest smudge. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I thought it was a cloud, except that it was too grey, the wrong colour, and then I thought: there are no clouds anywhere else. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I got the binoculars and saw that it was narrow and straight; it was smoke from a small fire. | play_circle pause_circle |
| When we used to go in the truck, Claypole Ridge was fifteen miles, though it looks closer, and the smoke was coming from behind that. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Beyond Claypole Ridge there is Ogdentown, about ten miles further. But there is no one left alive in Ogdentown. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I know, because after the war ended, and all the telephones went dead, my father, my brother Joseph and cousin David went in the truck to find out what was happenig, and the first place they wenat was Ogdentown. | play_circle pause_circle |
| They went there early in the morning; Joseph and David were really excited, but Father lookes serious. | play_circle pause_circle |
| When they came back it was dark. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Mother had been worrying - they took so long - so we were glad to see the truck lights finally coming over Burden Hill, six miles away. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Thay looked like beacons.They were the only lights anywhere, except in the house - no other cars had come down all day. | play_circle pause_circle |
| We knew it was the truck because one of the lights, the left one, always blinked when it went over a bump. | play_circle pause_circle |
| It came up to the house and they got out; the boys weren't excited anyomore. | play_circle pause_circle |
| They looked scared, and my father looked sick. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Maybe he was beginning to be sick, but mainly I think he was distressed. | play_circle pause_circle |
| My mother looked at him as he climbed down. "What did you find?" He said, "Bodies. Just dead bodies. They're all dead." "All" | play_circle pause_circle |
| We went inside the house where the lamps were lit, the two boys following, not saying anything. | play_circle pause_circle |
| My father sat down. "Terrible," he said, and again, "Terrible, terrible. We drove around, looking. We blew the horn. Then we went to the church and rang the bell. You can hear it five miles away. I went into a couple of houses - the Johnsons', the Peters' - they were all in there, all dead. There were dead birds all over ther stereets." | play_circle pause_circle |
| My brother Joseph began to cry. He was fourteen. I think I had not heard him cry for six years. | play_circle pause_circle |
| May 21st | play_circle pause_circle |
| It is coming closer. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Today it was almost on top of ridge, though not quite, because when I looked with the binoculars I could not see the flame, but still only smoke - rising very fast, not far the fire. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I know where it is: at the crossroads. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Just on the other side of the ridge, the east-west highway, the Dean Town road, crosses our road. | play_circle pause_circle |
| It is Route number nine, a State highway, bigger than our road, which is Country road 793. | play_circle pause_circle |
| He has stopped there and is deciding whether to follow number nine or come over the ridge. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I say he because that is what I think of, though it could be they or even she. But I think it is he | play_circle pause_circle |
| If he decides to follow the highway he will go away, and eveything will be all right again. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Why would he come back? | play_circle pause_circle |
| But if he comes to the top the ridge, he is sure to come down here, because he will see the green leaves. | play_circle pause_circle |
| On the other side of the ridge, even on the other side of Burden Hill, there are no leaves; everything is dead. | play_circle pause_circle |
| There are some things I need to explain. One is why I am afraid | play_circle pause_circle |
| Another is why I am writing in theis composition book, which I got from Klein's store a mile up the road. | play_circle pause_circle |
| By then the last radio station, a very faint one that I could hear only at night, had stopped broadcasting. | play_circle pause_circle |
| It had been dead for about three or four months. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I say about, and that is one reason I got the book; because I discovered I was forgetting when things happened, and sometimes even whether things happened or not | play_circle pause_circle |
| Another reason I got it is that writing it might be like having someone to talk to, and if I read it back later it would be like someone talking to me. | play_circle pause_circle |
| But the truth is I haven't written in it much after all, because there isn't much to write about. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Sometimes I would put in what the weater was like, if there was a sterm or something unusual. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I put in when I planted the garden because I thought that woukd be useful to know next year. | play_circle pause_circle |
| But most of the time I didn't write, because one day was just like the day before, and sometimes I thought - what's the use of writing anyway, when nobody is ever going to read it? | play_circle pause_circle |
| Then I would remind myself: some time, some years from now, you're going to read it. | play_circle pause_circle |
| I was pretty sure I was the onl person left in the world. | play_circle pause_circle |
| But now I have something to write about. I was wrong | play_circle pause_circle |
| I am not the only person left in the world. I am both excited and afraid. | play_circle pause_circle |
| Listen 5 times | play_circle pause_circle |