Гуру ПесенTalk about English - City life | Текст песни
Yvonne: And I’m Yvonne Archer.
Jackie: Coming up in the programme, we’ll be talking about life in the city.
Yvonne: Is city life too fast?
Clip
London Life probably is a bit fast, yeah, walking down the street, rushing to work,
getting on the tube, constantly being busy… If you can't cut it in this city, you should
leave!
Jackie: We hear from people living in the city and one of our listeners in the
countryside.
Clip
In small towns, everybody knows everybody, it's easier to talk to people and you get
closer to them too.
Yvonne: That’s all coming up in today’s Talk about English.
Jackie: And we have a special guest joining us today - that's Rohan, who's set
up a group called 'Slow London'. Now, Rohan, you have your own
views on whether life in the city is too fast and we'll find out more
about that in a moment. But first, perhaps you could tell us a bit about
your background – have you always lived in London?
Rohan: (responds)
Jackie: Yvonne, what about you?
Yvonne: (responds)
GONG
Jackie: And that sound means it time for the first of today’s Word Facts.
WORD FACT
Today’s word is 'pace', 'pace'.
P – A – C – E
'Pace' can be a noun, meaning the speed at which something happens or is done. For
example, "The pace of life is faster in the city than in the country."
'A pace' is also another word for a single step when you are running or walking. For
example, "She took a pace towards the door," or "John walked a few paces behind his
mother."
'Pace' can also be a verb – more on that in our next word fact.
WORD FACTS / AND THAT’S A FACT
Yvonne: So keep listening for more facts related to today's word 'pace'.
Jackie: As we heard in that example there, I think it's fair to say that the pace
of life in the city is faster than the pace of life in the countryside. But
so what? Does that matter? This lady works in London, what does she
think?
Clip
London Life probably is a bit fast, yeah, walking down the street, rushing to work,
getting on the tube, constantly being busy…yeah, I would say it's too fast.
Jackie: She thinks it is a bit fast. She talked about people 'rushing' to work. To
'rush' somewhere?
Yvonne: to 'rush' somewhere is to go there really quickly, or to hurry as if
there's not enough time to get everything done.
Jackie: Do you find yourself rushing around a lot?
Yvonne: (responds)
Jackie: What about this next man, is life in London too fast for him?
Clip
Sometimes it is, yeah, yes of course it is.
Do you ever find yourself trying to slow down?
Oh I do, absolutely. I make it a part of my daily schedule to have a moment of
slowing down – I go for a swim.
Jackie: Well, life in London does sometimes seem too fast for him. And he
makes it part of his daily schedule to slow down - every day he takes
some time to go swimming.
Now Rohan, I think you'd be pleased that this man deliberately takes
the time to slow down by going for a swim. As we mentioned earlier
you've set up a website called Slow London in response to all this
rushing around. Why did you do this? What do you want people to do?
Rohan: (responds)
Gong
Jackie: And that means it's time for another Word Fact!
WORD FACT
As we heard earlier, the word 'pace' can be a noun, meaning the speed at which
something happens or a single step, but it can also be a verb.
'To pace' means to walk first in one direction and then another, especially if you're
nervous or excited. For example: "Maria paced the room as she waited for him to
arrive." Or "I found Ibrahim at the hospital, pacing restlessly up and down."
WORD FACTS / AND THAT’S A FACT
Yvonne: And we'll have more word facts later on in the programme.
Jackie: Well, Rohan the people we heard from earlier seem to think, like you,
that life in London can be a bit too fast. But not everyone would agree
with you that we need to slow down sometimes. What does this girl
think?
Clip
No, I don't think life in London is to fast. If you can't cut it in this city, you should
leave!
Jackie: Ooh, harsh words! 'If you can't cut it, you should leave!' Yvonne, what
does that mean?
Yvonne: 'You can't cut it' means you can't handle it, it's too much for you, you're
not strong enough to cope with it. etc
Jackie: Rohan, what do you make of that?
Rohan: (responds)
Jackie: Let's listen to our next person who lives in London now, but is
originally from Wales and she also notices the difference in pace.
Clip
Yes, being originally from Wales, it is a lot faster than life down there. When I go
back, it's at a snail's pace. But I'm young, so I enjoy it here.
Jackie: She says in Wales, things seem to go 'at a snail's pace' – that's a really
nice expression.
Yvonne: Yes, it means to go really, really slowly, at about the speed of a snail
and that's extremely slow, as we know. This girl says she enjoys the
faster pace of London.
All: (discuss the pace of London)
GONG
Jackie: Time for more Word Facts.
WORD FACT
Expressions with the word ‘pace’:
Our first one is 'to keep pace with something' – to move as fast as something or to
change at the same rate.
"Slow down, I can't keep pace with you!"
"Salaries have not kept pace with the cost of living."
Our next expression is 'to set the pace'. 'To set the pace' literally means to establish the
speed at which something happens.
If someone sets the pace in a particular activity, it means they do it quickly or very
well and other people try to do the same. "He's set the pace by completing all the tasks
in just two hours – now let's see if you can do as well!"
If, for example, a firm sets the pace, it does something before its competitors or to a
better standard.
"For many years, our company has set the pace in the computer industry – we've got
the best products on the market."
We often hear the expression in sport, meaning to go faster than the other competitors
in a race so the others then try to achieve the same speed.
"The German team set the pace in the first two laps."
So two expressions with 'pace' there: 'to keep pace' and 'to set the pace'.
WORD FACTS / AND THAT’S A FACT
Yvonne: You're listening to Talk About English with Jackie Dalton and Yvonne
Archer and our guest today, Rohan from Slow London.
Jackie: So far in the programme, we've been talking to people who live or
work in the city about what they think of the pace of life there, but now
we're going to go over to one of our listeners. Mauricio studied in a
very big city, but now lives on a farm in a small town in Brazil. I spoke
to him earlier on.
Mauricio: I am 41 years old and I'm a maths teacher. I live in a small town, I've
been living here for five years. It's a very quiet town and it's a very
easy life here, that's why I like to live here.
Jackie: So before that, you were living in a city, then?
Mauricio: Yes, I lived in, in a big city for about ten years, it was Rio de Janeiro.
It’s very noisy and life there is very, very busy.
Jackie: And you found that you didn't like that then?
Mauricio: No, I didn't like it very much – I prefer to live in a small town, but of
course big cities have their advantages, too. You have a lot of facilities
you don't have in a small town like this.
Jackie: What sorts of facilities?
Mauricio: For instance, I don't have a movie theatre, which is something I like
very much, so I don't have many opportunities to go to the movies.
And transportation is not so good either, sometimes I am out of
telephone and light.
Jackie: Well, luckily, your phone is working at the moment! Do you think
people in cities behave differently from people in small towns or quiet
areas?
Mauricio: I think so, yes, because in big cities, they don't have so much time,
they are running all the time and they don't know their neighbours. In
small towns everybody knows everybody. It's easier to talk to people
and you get closer to them, too.
Jackie: Yeah, absolutely. Can you tell me… I think there's a favourite
expression or word that you'd like to share with us?
Mauricio: Yes, I gave this a lot of thought and I came up with the word
'enthusiasm'. Because it's a word that was very difficult for me to
pronounce the first time I heard it.
Jackie: Yeah, 'enthusiasm', it's very hard, isn't it?
Mauricio: Yes, it's very hard for us Brazilians to pronounce this word, so when I
got to pronounce it correctly I think I was very happy. And also
because of the meaning too, it's a very cheerful word.
Jackie: Yes, for those of our listeners who don't know what the word
'enthusiasm' means, can you explain it?
Mauricio: Yes, 'enthusiasm' is the way you feel about things that you like or an
activity that you like to perform. You do it wi
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