ACTIVITY 266:
You are going to listen a conversation between
Jane Gordon and Rex Courier, the counsellor on a radio phone-in
programme. First of all, listen
just for a gist and choose the most
appropriate title for this conversation from the menu. Then
check the correct answer.
Don't worry if there are some words you don't
understand: you should be able to get the general idea without
needing to use your dictionary.
Now listen again to Jane Gordon and Rex Courier
while you check the transcription of their phone-in conversation.
You will have to do an activity afterward.
REX:
... and we've got Jane on the line next.
Hello Jane.
JANE:
Oh, hello. Erm I'm ringing about a problem.
REX:
Right.
JANE:
I've got two children from a first marriage,
well they're teenagers really, a boy of sixteen and a, and a
girl of fourteen ...
REX:
Uh-huh.
JANE:
... and I've just had another baby in an, a
second relationship.
REX:
Mmm.
JANE:
And my son just, he, he's very, he's very um,
oh, he, he's upset about it but he, he wo-, he won't even
look at the baby.
REX:
Yeah. Wh-why, why do you think he's
upset? Wh-what do you think's behind it, Jane?
JANE:
He said because this one's getting
everything he never had.
REX:
Yeah. And I can hear you must be upset
about this.
JANE:
Yeah.
REX:
Yeah. How old's the baby?
JANE:
Five weeks.
REX:
Five weeks? Oh, it's very little, isn't
it? And are you at home coping with the whole business?
JANE:
Well, my, my partner's off. He's just
gone shopping.
REX:
Mmhmm.
JANE:
It, it's just my son, it, we've always
been very close and he, he had a really rough time with his
father, and erm from the, from the age of nine it, it was a
very bad, and, and, and I wanted to end the relationship,
his father didn't, and his father used to take it out on my
son because my son always sided with me. And now my son
feels that he always stood by me and took my side and now I,
I got this baby which I'm giving it a father and a stable
relationship, everything he didn't have ...
REX:
Mmm.
JANE:
... and he, he, he feels resentful.
REX:
Well, I think in a, er what seems to be
happening is that he's loading up quite a lot of anger on to
you ...
JANE:
Yeah.
REX:
... which perhaps belongs to his father
...
JANE:
It is ... but you see he can't ...
REX:
... rather than you.Well,
JANE:
... I mean, if, if he tries to speak to
his father, his father's a very domineering ...
REX:
Yes.
JANE:
... and a sarcastic character.
REX:
Where-whereas you're a good mum and
you're there and therefore you're the person who's easy
available to him and he can do this to you.
JANE:
Yes.
REX:
The trouble is it's very damaging when
you have a five-week old baby, isn't it?
JANE:
Yes.
REX:
Now, let's concentrate on you to start
with, but we will go on to your son in a minute. Now, how
did all this start? Was it, was it something that happened?
...
ACTIVITY 267: Listen once again and,
for questions 1-to-3, choose the answer (A, B, or C)
which you think fits best according to the conversation. Then
check your answers.
1.
Jane is now living ...
A. with her second
husband. B. with the father of her first two
children. C. with the father
of her third child.
2.
Jane's teenage son is feeling ...
A. jealous towards
her new baby. B. jealous towards the father of the new
baby. C. is jealous
towards the baby's behaviour.
3.
The son feels angry because he ...
A.
wants to be the only child. B. hates the father of the new baby. C.
is jealous of what the baby is getting.
4.
What do we learn about the boy's own father?
A. He made life
difficult for his son. B. He chose to leave his wife. C. He preferred his
daughter to his son.
5.
Jane's son is directing his anger towards his mother because he feels
...
A. she shouldn't
have had another baby. B. he will never be able to love the new
baby. C. he can't express
his anger towards his father.
Pobre Jane !!! Qué situación
complicada, no? En la página siguiente Mr. Grammar
explicará la gramática THE ARTICLE ...
