Angličtina na celý týden / 5.

Quiz

Translate the sentences into English using expressions you have learned duringthe past month.

1. Když jsem byl dítě, jezdívali jsme na dovolenou do zahraničí.
2. Petr řídí velké mezinárodní projekty, ale nemůže si zvyknout na to, že má obchodní schůzky po celém světě.
3. Zítra ve 2 hodiny hraju tenis s Honzou a kolem páté se účastním důležité obchodní večeře.
4. Ženy se dobře vyrovnávají s dlouhodobým stresem, zatímco muži mají někdy tendenci vzdát se.
5. Čím kratší věty, tím méně prostoru pro nejednoznačnost.

Fill in the gaps using the appropriate expressions underneath.

6. Before getting married, some couples ………………….
7. He was really stressed, but eventually all went well and he could ………………….
8. If you want to write …………… you must think about what message you would like to ……………. and also who your readers are – you should ……………………
9. When you meet a word you don’t know, try to ………… what it means.
10. I ………………… a friend in the street yesterday, invited him for a beer, but he didn’t have time so he ……………….. my invitation.

to sigh with relief / to get engaged / to come across / to get across / to guess / efficiently / to turn down / put yourself in their shoes

Key

1. When I was a child, we used to go on holiday abroad.
2. Peter manages big international projects, but he can’t get used to having business appointments all over the world.
3. I’m playing tennis with Jack tomorrow at 2 and I’m participating in an important business dinner at five-ish.
4. Women cope well with long-term stress, while men sometimes tend to give up.
5. The shorter the sentences, the less space for ambiguity.
6. Before getting married, some couples get engaged.
7. He was really stressed, but eventually all went well and he could sigh with relief.
8. If you want to write efficiently you must think about what message you would like to get across and also who your readers are – you should put yourself in their shoes.
9. When you meet a word you don’t know, try to guess what it means.
10. I came across a friend in the street yesterday, invited him for a beer, but he didn’t have time so he turned down my invitation.

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Happy families are all alike;
every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910),
Anna Karenina, Chapter 1, first line – a Russian writer

 

Šťastné rodiny jsou všechny stejné;
každá nešťastná rodinaje nešťastná svým vlastním způsobem.

L.N. Tolstoj (1828 – 1910),
Anna Kareninová, Kapitola první, úvodní řádek – ruský spisovatel

Glossary

• alike – stejný/obdobný
• in its own way – svým vlastním způsobem

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The world is small – friends

In the past there were pen pals. Now there is Facebook and other similar social networks. For example everyonesconnected.com, a British service that has over 500,000 members and more are joining every day. These new websites are based on the “small world hypothesis” developed by an American sociologist, Stanley Milgram, in the 1960s. Stanley Milgram believed that everyone in the world is connected by no more than six “degrees” of separation, i.e. by following a path of friends, friends’ friends’ friends’ friends’ friends, etc, you can get from one person to any other person in no more than six steps. To test the theory, a team of researchers asked computer users to contact a stranger by emailing acquaintances. So Bruce in the UK was asked to find Olga, in Siberia. Bruce did this through his uncle David, in Uganda, who he knew had computer pen pals across Russia. He completed the task in just four steps.

Glossary

• a pen pal – přítel na dopisování
• similar – podobný
• a social network – sociální síť
• a degree – stupeň
• separation – oddělení
• a path – cesta
• a stranger – neznámý člověk/cizinec
• an acquaintance – známý/kamarád

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Describing people

My family is all shapes and sizes. My mother is tall and has curly hair, but my father is short and bald with no hair on his head at all. He does have some hair on his face – a brown moustache. He loves to eat sweets and so he is overweight. He weighs over 100 kilograms, but my mother still thinks he is handsome – as handsome as the day they first met. My mother’s eyes are green and her skin is fair. She is very pretty, but she hates having her photograph taken because she is so much taller than my dad. In their wedding photos, my father stood on a box so that he would be the same height as her.
The strangest member of my family is my great-aunt, Mildred, who also has a moustache and always wears a strange hat. Her hips are very broad, so she walks like a duck.

Glossary

• a shape – tvar
• a size – velikost
• curly (hair) – kudrnatý (vlasy)
• bald – plešatý
• a moustache – knír
• to be overweight – mít nadváhu
• to weigh – vážit
• handsome (man) – hezký/dobře vypadající (muž)
• pretty (woman) – hezká/krásná (žena)
• fair – světlý
• height – výška
• a great-aunt – prateta
• broad hips – široké boky

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Question words

Gavin Johnson and Bob Smith are having lunch in a pub.

“So, Bob, where are you originally from?”
“I was born in Singapore, but soon moved to Ireland.”
“How old were you when you moved?”
“I was five. How about you?”
“I was born in Mexico, my parents were working in the embassy there.”
“That’s impressive! What did they do?”
“My father was a diplomat and my mother was a secretary. What did your parents do?”
“My father was a lawyer and my mother was a teacher. Do you have brothers and sisters, Gavin?”
“No. I’m an only child. When did you finish university?”
“About five years ago. I studied accounting. What did you study?”
“I studied accounting, too. Where did you study?”
“In Vienna.”
“Me too! Which subjects did you study? Who were your lecturers?”
“I remember Hans Heinz.”
“How long ago was he there? I finished fifteen years ago, so he might not have been there yet.”

Glossary

• originally – původně
• How about you? – A co ty?
• impressive – pozoruhodný/působivý
• a diplomat – diplomat
• a lawyer – právník
• an only child – jedináček
• accounting – účetnictví
• a lecturer – přednášející/učitel (na univerzitě)

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Uses of like

We can use like to talk about many things:

 

It smells like chocolate. He eats like a horse.

Physical appearance

What does he look like? Sam looks like a pop star.

Personal preferences

I like fresh coffee. Harry doesn’t like swimming.

A specific preference for the future

I would like a non-smoking seat, please.

“Looks like” also means “seems”.

It looks like Rachel is going to be late again!

Glossary

• a description – popis
• to act – chovat se/jednat
• an appearance – vzhled
• specific – konkrétní

Text pro vás připravili lektoři jazykové školy Channel Crossings

Texty © Channel Crossings, 2011. Kopírování a šíření textů bez souhlasu autora je zakázáno.

What is your new school like? I have never been to that area. What’s it like?

Things that are similar to other things or that act in a similar way to other things.