Lee atentamente este artículo acerca de
Costa y Rick, dos exitosos ciudadanos portugueses.
Completa luego el ejercicio de lecto-comprensión.
Everyone just calls me "Costa"
I'm Manuel Balthazar Costa, I'm 27, and I'm
married to Gloria. Everyone just calls me 'Costa'. We have a son Tiago,
5 and a daughter Sara, 3. I was a dairy farmer in Portugal.
I came to Britain first on
honeymoon in 1992, when I saw snow for the first time. I fell in love
with the countryside in Britain.
So, in 1996, when times were very hard on the farm, I decided to
come back to Britain. I had no work to come to, and spoke almost no English.
Gloria was heavily pregnant,
and Sara was born fifteen days after we arrived.
It was very hard at first. I asked my friend Rick to print me
some leaflets advertising my services as a gardener, and I
posted 2000 of them through letterboxes myself. I got just two
jobs from that, but the people recommended me to their friends,
and they recommended me to their friends, and so on.
At first I had real problems understanding my customers. I remember a
man kept telling me
‘Four?’ – except he was really asking me ‘What for?’ But
gradually my English has improved, and now I have over 50
customers.
People just call me "Rick"
I'm Henrique Sa Carvalho, aged 23, but people just
call me 'Rick'. I was a student in Portugal. I came to Britain in 1993
to realise my goal of
becoming a computer engineer. Like Costa, I had no job to come to, but I
took work washing up in a
restaurant. After three months I was
promoted to chef, and worked there for three more years. I
learned most of my English here and at evening classes.
When the restaurant closed I became a salesman with a
printing company. It was
while I was here that I printed Costa's leaflets! I didn't stay long. The
hours were long, the money was poor, and I had no time to go to
school.
So I sold my convertible sports car, bought tools and a van, and started gardening. The money is
much better, but the hours are still long!
In 1998 I married my girlfriend, Bernadette, and a few months
later Il started a computing course. This led to my goal of
being a Computer Service Engineer for Microsoft. It's strange to
think that I told my teachers at school in Portugal that I'd
never need English!
AQUÍ
ESTOY !!! ESTE GLOSARIO BILINGÜE TE VA A AYUDAR... COSTA = dairy
farmer: productor de leche; on honeymoon: de luna de
miel; almost no: casi
nada de; heavily pregnant:
con gravidez muy avanzada; to print me: que me
imprimiera; leaflets: folletos; advertising:
publicitando; posted: envié por correo; letterboxes:
buzones; jobs: empleos;
customers: clientes; kept
telling me: seguía diciéndome. RICK = goal:
objetivo, meta; washing up:
lavar los platos; promoted:
ascendido, promovido;
salesman: vendedor; while
I was here: fue mientras hacía eso;
I didn't stay long: no lo
hice mucho tiempo; tools:
herramientas; van:
camioneta, furgón; gardening:
jardinería; are still long: todavía eran muchas;
this led: esto condujo;
that I'd never need: que nunca necesitaría inglés.
Activity
104a: Después de leer el artículo
selecciona de los menúes los comentarios que corresponden a RICK y
a COSTA. Verifica luego las respuestas correctas ...
1.
He got a lot of work
through recommendation.
2.
He got married and
started a computing course.
3.
He became a chef and
learnt English at evening classes.
4.
He was a dairy farmer
in Portugal.
5.
He took work washing
up in a restaurant.
6.
He returned to Britain
and looked for work.
7.
He was a student who
wanted to be a computer engineer.
8.
He came to Britain on
honeymoon.
9.
He advertised his
services as a gardener.
10.
He became a salesman
with a printing company, then a gardener.
¡FELICITACIONES! Acabas de finalizar la
LECCION 17
del curso Intermedio Alto. Antes de pasar a la siguiente
lección, por favor asegúrate de repasar todo lo que has
aprendido aquí.
