Transcript
Ashlie: Hi. Can I have a return ticket, please?
Ticket Seller: Yes, of course you can.
Ashlie: Brilliant. How much is that?
Ticket Seller: Twenty-five pounds, please.
Ashlie: Great. Thank you. Twenty-five. And when is the next train?
Ticket Seller: Four o’clock.
Ashlie: Four p.m. Thank you very much.
Ticket Seller: Thank you.
Ashlie: This is the Snowdon Mountain Railway. Now, this train goes all the way from here, up to the top of the mountain. It’s a steam train so it is quite slow but I’m sure I’ll get to the top before Stephen. Now, I must take some photos.
Train Driver: Yeah – that looks good – nice one! OK then?
Ashlie: Thank you. That’s lovely. Are you the train driver?
Train Driver: Yes, I drive these locomotives and I’ve done so for about 29 years now.
Ashlie: So how long does it take to get to the top?
Train Driver: Just under an hour.
Ashlie: Under an hour? It must be pretty high then. How high is it?
Train Driver: It's about 1000 metres and it is the highest mountain in England and Wales. And it gets very cold there as well, so if I were you, I’d wear something a little warmer!
Ashlie: Don’t worry, I've got a big coat.
Train Man: That’s good.
Ashlie: Thank you.
Train Man: You’re welcome, bye.
Ashlie: What an amazing train!
.....
Stephen: Ashlie! What are you doing here? How did you get here?
Ashlie: Oh, hiya Stephen. What an amazing place. You know, it’s a shame about the view though.
Stephen: What an amazing place? How did you get here?
Ashlie: Well, I got the train, of course. You know, it’s much easier than cycling.
Stephen: You got the train!? You mean to say while I’ve been riding up the mountain all afternoon, you….
Ashlie: Oh, and I also got a spa treatment. Look, aren’t they lovely?
Stephen: You’re unbelievable!
Ashlie: You look exhausted, Stephen. Come on, shall we go and get a coffee or a sandwich or something?
Stephen: A sandwich? You’re on the top of a mountain! It isn’t some kind of High Street, you know.
Ashlie: Follow me.
.....
Stephen: Just what we needed; a café at the top of the mountain.
Ashlie: OK, what are you having, Stephen?
Stephen: Hmm. I’ll have a coffee and one of these, a cheese sandwich.
Ashlie: I think I’ll have the soup and I’ll have a hot chocolate.
Waiter: Hi there. Can I take your order, please?
Ashlie: Yes please, I’ll have a soup and a hot chocolate and he’ll have a cheese sandwich and a coffee, please.
Waiter: Can I get you anything else?
Stephen: Yes, I was just wondering – it must be fun working here on the mountain. But how do you get to work everyday – you don’t cycle, do you?
Waiter: No, we don’t. There’s an early train, a special train for all the staff who need to come up every morning.
Stephen: And what happens when the weather gets really bad? Do you ever get stuck up here?
Waiter: We do, we do get stuck sometimes. If the weather turns really bad, there’s accommodation for the staff to stay overnight.
Stephen: Sounds cosy!
Waiter: Very cosy indeed. I’ll just get your order for you now.
Ashlie: Great, thank you very much. See, you should have got the train.
.....
Stephen: Right. Time to make a move. It should be easier going downhill.
Ashlie: It’s easy for me. I’m going to catch the last train home. In fact, I wonder what time the last train is…
Stephen: Ashlie, is it a small red and green train? Like that one?
Ashlie: Oh, no! Wait! Ah, Stephen I’ve missed the last train!
Stephen: Come on Ash, jump on. I'll give you a lift! You on?
Ashlie: Not too fast!
Comments
hello
i just wanna know what's my listening level if i can understand almost everything in those videos and also if am ready to pass the ielts exam
thank you
Hello mebarek,
The level of this series is on the page above: B1. You can search for material at this or higher levels using our content search page.
As far as IELTS goes, the exam can be taken by anyone. There is no pass mark per se, but rather a score which represents your current level. I think the best thing for you would be to visit our site for IELTS candidates (TakeIELTS), where you can find information about the test, tips and advice, sample materials with answers and mock exams which you can use to assess your level.
Best wishes and good luck!
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi. I'd like to ask about "how high is it?" In this case 'high' is being used for mountains but I know in some cases 'tall' is used for mountains too. Is there any difference? Are both used for trees and buildings too?
Hi Sukie,
This is a question of collocation, which means which words are used most often together. There is a good summary in the Cambridge dictionary (here).
Please note that sometimes we use words creatively, deliberately choosing an unusual description to catch the listener's ear (or the reader's eye), or to create a particular image. This is the case with 'tall' used to describe mountains: it is unusual but does occur from time to time.
Tress are tall, though we could call them high in a poem or story to grab the reader's attention. Buildings can be described as either tall or high, with tall generally suggesting something thin such as a tower.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you for the explanation, Peter. I read the Cambridge dictionary page too. So, probably the Shard is very 'tall' rather than very 'high'- hope I'm right?
Yes collocation- to me it's kind of a big project in learning English. All I can do is just try to get as much exposure to English as possible (like this website) and learn one by one. It's fun though!
Thanks again
Sukie
Hello Sukie,
That's right. You can use 'high' here but 'tall' is much more likely.
In fact you can see this on the wikipedia page for the building. Both 'high' and 'tall' are used, but 'tall' is used more:
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello The English Team,
Would you mind helping to explain the meaning of the phrase "eat or be eaten"? I came across it while watching the movie series "Friends". Thanks a bunch.
Phan Hong Van
Hello langkhach,
This is an idiom which means something similar to 'kill or be killed' - it tells us that either you if you do not defeat your opponent then they will defeat you. It is used metaphorically to describe competitions in which there must be a winner and a loser.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello. I have a question about the phrase "I've just got to pop out to...". I get the meaning but I can't undestand why we use "I've just got" and don't use just "I will just pop out..."? "Have got" means possession. But what does it mean in this sentence?
Hello LulliyaSun,
[Have got to + verb} has the same meaning as [have to + verb] but is a rather more informal way to express it. It means that this is something we must do for some reason.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
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