1. Listening
Listen to the conversation about travelling and answer the questions below:
a) When was the last time Riley saw Nate and Zoe?
b) How much time did Nate and Zoe spend in Barcelona?
c) What happened to Nate on the hike in the Alps?
2. Reading
Now you can check your answers by listening again while you read the text below.Travelling through Europe
- Hey Riley!
- How ya goin'?
- Not bad mate.
- Hey Zoe, how's it going?
- Good!
- It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
- I think it’s been almost a year since we last saw each
other.
- What have you been up to?
- Not much. Well, mostly work. That’s actually the reason I
couldn’t join you. My new boss wouldn’t let me take so much time off work. He
turned out to be a bit of a bastard. But enough about me! Tell me how your trip
worked out?
- It worked out great! We visited a number of truly
magnificent places.
- Did you get to see Spain?
- Yes, we did! We spent a whole week in Barcelona.
- Whoa! Sweet!
- We did loads of sightseeing. Sagrada Familia, Park Güell…
umm…
- Casa Batllo.
- Casa Batllo, Las Ramblas, La Boqueria. We also did some
winetasting just outside the city.
- Sounds interesting. Where else did you go besides Spain?
- Portugal, Scotland, France, Switzerland…
- Swiss Alps! Nate had a close encounter with an
unidentified flying object!
- How come?
- One day we went hiking. We chose one of the most difficult
trails with lots of narrow cliff ledges secured with chains. We were trying to
get through one of the toughest spots. I was holding onto the chains with my
hands all sweaty. Suddenly we hear a
loud flutter and a huge bird lands on my shoulder!
- No way! And what did you do?
- I froze for a minute. I said: „oh yeah, sure. well, isn’t
that just wonderful! Just as I’m trying not to die here, you decide to make a
nest!”.
- I wish I had taken a picture!
- I wish I had been there to see your face! What did the
bird do next?
- It looked over at me and took off.
Present Perfect
Present Perfect Simple
it’s been almost a year since we last saw each other = we haven’t seen each other for almost a year
This instance of PP tense is used to emhasize how much time has passed since an event that happened in the past:
It has been a year since we saw each other
Subject+auxiliary verb+past participle+time expression+since+a past event
have/has 3rd form of a verb past simple
Present Perfect Continuous
what have you been up to? = what have you been doing?
what have you been doing?
question tag+auxiliary verb+subject+been+continuous verb
(meaning: what have you been doing lately)
Present Perfect Simple
it’s been almost a year since we last saw each other = we haven’t seen each other for almost a year
This instance of PP tense is used to emhasize how much time has passed since an event that happened in the past:
It has been a year since we saw each other
Subject+auxiliary verb+past participle+time expression+since+a past event
have/has 3rd form of a verb past simple
Present Perfect Continuous
what have you been up to? = what have you been doing?
question tag+auxiliary verb+subject+been+continuous verb
(meaning: what have you been doing lately)
Vocabulary
take time off (from) work = stop working temporarily
turn out to be = prove to be the case
enough about me
work out = have a good or specified result
Did you get to see Spain? - get to do something = to have
the opportunity to do something
Where else did you go besides Spain?
encounter = an unexpected or casual meeting with someone or
something
how come? = how (or why) did it happen?
ledge = a piece of rock on the side of a cliff or mountain,
which is in the shape of a narrow shelf
get through = to manage to deal with a difficult situation
hold onto something
flutter = flapping of wings
I wish I had been there
take off = take to the air or depart hastily
take off = take to the air or depart hastily
3. Further questions
Write your answers in the comment section:
a) How do you like to spend your holidays? Do you travel a lot?
b) Describe a funny experience you had on holiday.
4. Practice your English with a video lesson!
Now you can come back any time and practice what you've already learned.
People photo created by freepik - www.freepik.com
Hiking photo created by jcomp - www.freepik.com
