Olivia: Joe! Can you stop that please! Can you please come here and sit down!
Magda: Hello there, Olivia. Who’s this?
Olivia: This is Joe – he’s my nephew.
Magda: Nephew?
Olivia: My sister’s son.
Magda: Oh! I see. He’s lovely! I love children...
Olivia: Yeah, they’re great until you have to look after them...
Magda: You’re looking after him?
Olivia: Yeah, just for today, fortunately. My sister can’t get a babysitter. But Joe comes to my shop quite often. He loves it there...unfortunately!
Magda: Why’s that ‘unfortunate’?
Olivia: Because he’s a pest, that’s why...
Magda: What’s a ‘pest’?
Olivia: Somebody or something which makes you angry...
Magda: No!! I don’t believe it! He’s so sweet! How old is he?
Olivia: Four, nearly five.
Fadi: Whoooaaaa! Slow down there, little man! Who’s this?
Olivia: Fadi, meet Joe.
Magda: He’s Olivia’s nephew. And a sweet little pest!
Fadi: Oh really! I didn’t know you were Aunt Olivia!
Olivia: Thank you very much Fadi. You make me feel old. Listen, have you had a chat with Harry yet?
Fadi: About work?
Olivia: Yeah.
Fadi: No, not yet, but I’m supposed to talk to him today. He said he’d be in here later.
Olivia: Listen, though, it’s not true what Harry was saying...
Fadi: About what?
Olivia: About me being upset if he can’t do the website for my shop...I don’t mind if he can’t do it! He wanted far too much money. I could never have afforded it. Now it’s ok, because he thinks he’s turning me down...I don’t have to offend him by saying ‘no’! A happy result all round!
Fadi: I see...so I don’t have to bail you out, after all?
Olivia: No!
Olivia: Joe, can you stop that please? Come over here!
Fadi: ...and here he is!
Harry: Alright mate! Alright Olivia, Magda...who’s this young man?
Olivia: My nephew, Joe.
Harry: Hello Joe!
Harry: He’s very...erm...what’s the word...energetic?
Olivia: I just call him “trouble”!
Harry: So, Fadi, you wanted to talk business?
Fadi: Yeah, finally...well, I’ve got the all clear from my uncle, so we’re on.
Harry: Great.
Fadi: But...
Harry: There’s always a “but”!
Fadi: You’re going to have to do us a favour and come down on the price, mate...
Harry: What price did I quote you?
Fadi: Two thousand five hundred.
Harry: Well, seeing as you’re a friend, I could come down to two thousand four hundred, but not less than that.
Fadi: We can offer two thousand. That’s our top limit. We don’t have a bigger budget than that.
Harry: Come on! You’re joking!
Fadi: Sorry mate. It’s two thousand, or nothing.
Harry: No way. Can’t be done. I’ve got to go now...got to go and see Johnny – he’s offered me a real job...bye all!
Fadi: Oh no, do you think he’s really upset now?
Olivia: I don’t think “upset” is the word....
Fadi: We can go a bit higher actually...I was just trying to be a tough negotiator.
Magda: A bit too tough, I think.
Olivia: You should never mix work and friendship, anyway.
Magda: And you probably shouldn’t have a business meeting in a café!
Fadi: Oh no. What a mess. I’d better go. Hang on..where’s my...where are my....I can’t find my mobile! Or my keys! Has anyone seen them?
Magda: Let’s look under the seats...they must be here somewhere...
Fadi: I can’t see anything.
Magda: No sign.
Olivia: How strange...hang on a minute, my nephew’s been terribly quiet for the last five minutes...what’s he up to...Joe!!!
Comments
WOW I like this so much! I want more, more, more tasks and episodes!!!!!
thanks a lot
Thanks
I'm feeling depressed as I m not able to do any task I don't understand how to do those task I open ilisten I m able to read transcript. But nt able to open tasks. What to do?
Hello Jem,
Sorry to hear you can't see the tasks. Do you see any error message or just a blank space? Also, can you see the tasks when you use a different computer?
You can get a printable version of the exercises by clicking on 'Instructions & Downloads'.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
very good information
thank you Adam for your help,
but i want to know when we use this kind of verb and can't we just say :" i could never afford it" if not what's the difference between this sentence and the transcript sentence : " i could never have afforded it"
Hello Thuraya,
The difference between 'I could never afford it' and 'I could never have afforded it' is that the first is talking about a situation in the present and the second is talking about a situation in the past.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
thanks a lot, it's clear now
hi
what's the verb tense in this sentence : " i could never have afforded it" and what did fadi mean by "the all" and "we're on" in this one : " i've got the all clear from my uncle so we're on"
thank you
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