Listening: Buying a New Car 1
Paul is a very successful businessman.
He owns several restaurants.
All of them are doing well.
In fact, they are very profitable (/'prɑfɪtəbl/ 有利可图的).
To be profitable means that their income is more than their expenses (/ik'spens/ 开支，费用).
As a result, he is making a lot of money.
Paul wants to buy a new car.
He’s trying to decide which car to buy.
He has plenty of money.
As a result, he isn’t worried about the cost.
He can afford (/ə'fɔrd/ 买得起) an expensive car.
On the other hand, he doesn’t want to waste money.
He wants a car he can rely on.
It has to be safe and reliable, especially in cold winter weather.
If a car breaks down in bad weather, it can be very dangerous.
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Listening: Buying a New Car 2
Paul wants to help reduce pollution and smog.
He would like to buy a clean car, something good for the environment.
He’s thinking about buying a Texla.
The Texla is an all-electric car.
It uses batteries instead of gasoline.
There is no exhaust (/ɪɡ'zɔst/ 废气), so it doesn’t pollute the air.
However, the car can’t go very far without recharging the battery.
To charge the battery you can plug it into an electrical outlet (插座).
Recharging the battery takes time.
One of Paul’s friends has one and he is quite happy with it.
He says it’s reliable and well-engineered (/ˌɛndʒɪ'nɪr/ 设计).
There are also several charging stations near Paul’s office.
So he isn’t worried about that.
The cost for charging the battery is low.
It’s less expensive than buying gasoline.
His wife, Kathy, also likes the idea of buying an electric car.
She likes the idea of driving a clean car.
So it makes sense.
In the future, there may be driverless cars.
These may be very safe, but Paul doesn’t like them.
He enjoys driving.
He likes to be in control of his car.
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Vocabulary: Spatial(/'speɪʃ(ə)l/) Relations & Needs
The man in the middle is the heaviest.
The man in the middle is heavier than the other two.
The woman on the left is smarter than the man on the right.
The man isn’t as smart as the woman is.
The woman is standing under a bridge.
The bridge is above the woman.
There is a bridge over the river.
The river is flowing beneath the bridge.
The water is flowing over a waterfall.
The waterfall is very high and beautiful.
People need passports to travel internationally.
Without a passport, you cannot leave your country or enter another country.
You need a driver’s license to drive a car.
It is against the law to drive without a driver’s license.
Many people use credit cards to buy things on credit.
When you have a credit card, you don’t need to carry cash.
Smart phones are very useful and can do many things.
You can use them to make phone calls, play games or go shopping on the Internet.
We need to buy tickets in order to take a train or watch a sports event.
You can often buy tickets online, and sometimes you can get a discount.
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Vocabulary: Places of Business
Banks are where people can deposit (/dɪ'pɑzɪt/ 存放) or withdraw (/wɪð'drɔ/ 取回) money.
You can also use online banking to pay bills, such as your credit card bill.
Hotels are where travelers can stay overnight or for several days.
If you plan to stay at a hotel, you should make a reservation.
Restaurants are where people go to eat with friends or family.
There are many different kinds of restaurants, such asIndian, Italian or Chinese restaurants.
Repair shops are where people go to fix things which are broken or not working right.
This repair shop fixes cars and can check to see if it is safe to drive.
Coffee shops are a favorite place to meet new people or take a break from the office.
They are usually less expensive than restaurants.
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Dialogue: Ordering Food from Home
M: I’m tired of going out to eat. Let’s eat at home tonight.
W: Ok, are you going to cook?
M: No, it’s too late, you know I’m not a good cook. Let’s order something.
W: What do you have in mind?
M: I was thinking about a nice big pizza.
W: Again? I had pizza last night. So, please, no pizza.
M: Ok, no pizza. Let’s order Chinese food, okay?
W: Sweet and sour? You always like sweet and sour. I feel like eating something hot and spicy.
M: Ok, you order something hot and spicy, and I order sweet and sour. I don’t want anything spicy. My stomach doesn’t feel good. It’s a bit upset.
W: Ok, if you want sweet and sour then I’ll have that too. And I’ll make a salad with lots of tomatoes. How long will it take for the food to get here?
M: I don’t know. I’ll call and find out.
W: Thanks. Hopefully it won’t take longer than an hour.I’m getting hungry.
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Dialogue: Are Selfies Good or Bad?
M: Hey, what did you do last night?
W: I took along walk from my hotel.
M: You didn’t get lost?
W: No, I didn’t.
M: Where did you go, anywhere interesting?
W: I walked to a river. There were thousands of people there.
M: You went to the river? How long did it take you to walk there?
W: It took around 20 minutes.
M: Did you see anything interesting?
W: I was really surprised by how many people were there. Many of them were taking pictures and selfies, lots of selfies.
M: Do you take selfies?
W: Sure, don’t you?
M: Sometimes, but my girlfriend takes a lot of selfies.Then she shares them with her friends on line. I don’t understand why people like to take so many pictures of themselves.
W: That’s because you are old-fashioned.
M: Hmm, I guess you are right. There’s too much social media for me. When I go to a restaurant, I see many people looking at their smart phones. They don’t even look at the people they are with.
W: Times are changing, my friend, whether you like it or not.
