Meeting an old friend

Meeting an old friend

Listen to the conversation between two old friends to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Transcript

Selina: Patrick? Is that you?

Patrick: Selina! Hello!

Selina: Well, well. Patrick Eastwood. How have you been?

Patrick: Good. Great, actually. How are you? I haven't seen you for ... how long?

Selina: It's been ages. At least fifteen years. Wow.

Patrick: Yeah. Wow.

Patrick and Selina: So, what are you doing here?

Selina: Sorry, you go first.

Patrick: OK. What are you doing here? I thought you'd moved to London.

Selina: I was in London for a couple of years. But it didn't work out.

Patrick: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Are you ... OK?

Selina: I'm fine! The dream job wasn't really a dream, you know? Um ... and London is great but it's so expensive. I mean, just the rent on a flat is ... uh … crazy expensive.

Patrick: I see.

Selina: So, I came back. I've been back now for almost five months. Living back home with Mum and Dad. Which is err ... interesting. Um ... but anyway, what about you?

Patrick: Me? Oh, nothing new. You know me – 'Patrick the predictable'. I never left here.

Selina: Oh. And is that ...?

Patrick: Oh, I'm very happy. I'm married now. We've just celebrated our tenth anniversary.

Selina: No way! You? Married? To …?

Patrick: I don't think you know her. Her name's Marigold. And we've got two kids. They're five and eight years old.

Selina: Married and with two kids? Wow!

Patrick: Don't look so surprised!

Selina: No, no … I'm just amazed how time flies! I'm happy for you. I really am.

Patrick: Thanks. You should really come round to the house one day.

Selina: That would be great. Let's swap numbers and ...

Discussion

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Submitted by Hennadii on Sat, 01/08/2020 - 18:34

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Basically, my best friends are the oldest ones. We keep in touch despite we live in different cities now. Actually, even in the different countries )) We try to visit each other as often as possible. And, of course, we use our phone to call or text to one another. I can't imagine my life without them, I've known them for ages, we went through a lot of different situations and it's worth a lot. Of course, I also have some new acquaintances. They are also great and I like spending time with them but despite they are so nice, my old friends mean so much to me

Submitted by fahri on Sat, 01/08/2020 - 08:45

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Dear team. From the lesson above. Selina: I was in London for a couple of years. But it didn't work out. The question is: The word 'it' in that sentence refers to London or anything else?? The second question : The word 'work out' is it mean to be successful or develop in a particular way??? So.... was Selina fail or unsuccessful in her job???? Thank you very much for your explanation and answer
Hi, Fahri. I'm not from the team but I will try to help you. In this sentence "it" means her plans to get something in London: good job, husband, new friends, or find herself in the new place. "it didn't work out" means she didn't succeed at this. So, she had to move back to her home. Her dreams and hopes failed

Hello fahri,

In this sentence, it refers to Selina's time in London. You could rewrite the sentence as follows:

I was in London for a couple of years. But being in London didn't work out.

 

Work out in this context means to have a good result or to end up the way you hoped. In other words, Selina's time in London did not go the way she had hoped, and so she left. It may be related to her job, or it may be some other aspect of the situation.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you very much sir. Your answer is very very clear. Its really helpful.

Submitted by Thet Htoo on Wed, 29/07/2020 - 15:53

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As for me,my old friends are just like my second family.I'm the only child and so I've grown up living with my mom and dad at our home,as a result my friends especially old one have become essential for me.

Submitted by Miho Watanabe on Tue, 28/07/2020 - 11:17

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Yes, I do. But the number of my old friends is very small. Maybe it is two or three friends. I used to meet my old friends, but I cannot meet them due to corona virus recently. So I always contact them with using applications. When I talk with them, I can relax, so I would like to see them as soon as possible.

Submitted by XimenaMoon on Thu, 23/07/2020 - 01:22

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Yes, I do. I love catching up with my friends, even if it hasn't been years since the last time I saw them.

Submitted by IKEDA on Wed, 22/07/2020 - 08:58

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Although I didn't keep in touch with my old friends very much before, I sometimes began to contact with them thanks to social media services recently.

Submitted by furlix09 on Mon, 20/07/2020 - 06:17

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Yes, i do. I have several old friends, we have a many years happy time. They are important for me in my life.