GE|Adults|Upper-Int|Revise and check 2

1

Barry

OK. Sit down and be quiet everyone. It’s good to see you all back after the Christmas holiday. Now, I don’t want to worry you or anything but this is a really important part of the year. What you learn between now and June will affect which university you go to, and that may determine your entire future, so you are going to have to work really hard right from the start.

2

Jack

As you all know, Tom and I go back a long way. Since we were students at university together, in fact. We’ve had some great times together, lots of adventures, and experiences too. We’ve had our ups and downs now as well. But more ups than downs, I have to say. So, it’s with great pleasure that I ask you all to raise your glasses in a toast to Tom and Susie on the happiest day of their lives…

3

Gordon

I’d just like to say a few words, everyone. Neil has been an important person in this company. He has organized many excellent conferences and has run his department with enthusiasm and drive. We may not always have agreed with all his ideas and initiatives, but I’m sure you’ll all agree when I say we’ll all miss him, especially his colleagues in marketing who…

4

Arthur

Ladies and gentleman. Thank you all for coming on this sad occasion. Diana would be so pleased to know that she had so many good friends, and, indeed, so many kind relatives. I’d like to say a special thank you to those who have made long journeys to be here, our nephews from Australia, and our cousins from South Africa, who have made such an effort to be here today.

5

Stan

OK. Well, I don’t usually make speeches, but as it’s such a special day today I thought I’d make the effort. I can’t believe you’re so old, George. He doesn’t look 30, does he, everyone? I remember when we were kids, and our dad used to call you ‘tiny’. Who’d have believed you’d end up being taller than me?! Anyway, it’s great everyone’s here, and we all wish you many happy Returns of the day.

Presenter | Mark

Presenter: Hello and welcome to My City. In this week’s programme we talk to well-known actor and comedian Mark Brown about the city of his birth, York, in the north of England. Welcome to the show, Mark.
Mark: Hello. Just to set the record straight, I must say that I was actually born in Leeds, but my family moved to York when I was eighteen months old.
Presenter: So, York is what you would call your home town?
Mark: Absolutely. I lived there until I was eighteen when I went to Nottingham University, but that was the first time that I lived anywhere else.
Presenter: So, what’s so special about York for you?
Mark: Well, first of all, I have to say I can’t really be objective. I think nobody can about their home town. I’ve got a friend who’s from Grimsby, which is a fishing town in the north east of England, and he goes on and on about how the nightlife in Grimsby is better than in Paris, which can’t be true. And I have another friend who says the world’s best restaurant is in Sunderland, which I don’t believe either. But with York, I do think there’s plenty to be enthusiastic about. There’s so much history everywhere. In every street, there are places which just ooze the past, and not just one period of our past. The Romans were here, the Vikings were here, the Normans were here. And they all left visible reminders of their presence everywhere.
Presenter: What are the best places to visit, in your opinion?
Mark: Well, York is a city to walk round. There’s a marvellous old city wall that encircles the city. And a little newer than the wall is Clifford’s Tower, which is 900 years old. But of course they’re both quite recent compared to the Roman remains. In the 1970s, they discovered some Roman baths under a pub which are almost 2,000 years old. I went to see them and thought they were fantastic. There are some great museums, too. For example, the Castle Museum, the Jorvik, and Barley Hall. They’re the sort of places where they re-enact scenes from history. So, at the Castle museum you can walk into a Victorian shop from the late 1800s. And in the Jorvik Centre, apparently, you can see scenes of the daily life of a Viking, though to be honest, I’ve never actually been inside there myself. And at Barley Hall you can see people dressed in medieval clothes in a medieval village, or so they tell me, as I haven’t been inside there either. When you live in a city you tend not to go into the museums, unless it’s a school trip. But I do remember wandering around the Castle Museum when I was a kid, and imagining that the jars of sweets in the old sweet shop there were real.

• Anthropologist /ˌænθrəˈpɒlədʒist/ — a person who studies human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture
• upmarket — upmarket services or goods are designed for people who have a lot of money
• keen — very interested in an activity that you do often because you enjoy it
• flesh — the soft part of people’s or animals’ bodies that consists mostly of muscle and fat
• crunchy — crunchy foods make a loud noise when you bite them
• point out — to tell someone something
• unaware of — not realizing that something exists or is happening
• in the name of — for the sake of
• outsider — someone who does not belong to a particular group or organization