cD1 Track 01 11 The person I'm closest to in my family is definitely my mum, Kate. We've always got on and we hardly ever fall out. | know that's unusual! She's really outgoing and sociable ~ she's always going out with friends and colleagues. Everyone thinks she's good fun. | look up to her because she's so hard working = she never sits still and she works long hours. She can be a bit impatient, though ~ she gets annoyed when her colleagues aren't as efficient as her. | take after her in that - I'm impatient, too. And she’s over-sensitive, often getting offended for seemingly no reason. 2 Mycousin Kieron and grew up together. We were inseparable. He was so creative ~ he'd always think of new games we could play and make up these stories to make me laugh. | was constantly amazed by his open-mindedness as well - he was never judgemental. | wish | could be like that. Unfortunately, we grew apart, slowly but surely, and by the time we went to uni we weren't in touch any more. ! haven't seen him for years. It's really sad, | would blame it partly on the fact that he’s not very reliable, s0 for example, if| email him he won't respond. I'm not sure what he’s up to these days. 3. I know this isa cliché, but | don’t get on with my in-laws, especially my mother-in-law, Jane. She's so nosy, always wanting to know what we're doing and who we're with, and she’s terribly blunt, which means she quite often upsets us with things she comes out with. And then she can be quite stingy. When we go out for a meal with her and my father-in-law, she never offers to pay, even though they're much better off than us. | must say, though, she's extremely clever and | do respect her for that. She set up her own business five years ago and it’s gone from strength to strength. She's so self-assured and ambitious too, which | suppose is why she's so successful in business. Track 02 Tell me something about your family What do you like doing most with your family? Who are you close to in your family? In what way is your family important to you? ‘Sample answers: Tell me something about your family Although | live abroad now, my mum's family is from Paris and my dad's family is from Toulouse. So I'm from a very French family. | would say | come from quite a small family, really. For example, I just have one older sister and four cousins, but it's true that my extended family is fairly big, What do you like doing mest with your family? | ike having nice long meals with good food and good wine, and a few jokes for dessert! Who are you close to in your family? In my family? Wel, 'm close to my Uncle Jacques. He's a chef. He's hilarious, always telling jokes, and he's very enthusiastic about everything he does. We spent alot of time together ‘when | was growing up. In fact he helped to bring me up. Examiner: In what wayis your family important to you? Candidate: My family is everything to me. They are my best friends, they support me when things aren't going well and when things are going well | know they'(l always be there for me, no matter whata One of my best friends is a guy called Rail. met him at uniin Barcelona where we were in the same study group. When was that? | suppose it was over 10 years ago now, $0, yes, ‘we've known each other for a good decade. We got to know each other on the tennis courts because the first few days of our course were so boring that we both decided we'd be better off outside playing tennis. ‘What kind of person is he? He's very active, a sporty type, involved in hiking and mountain biking ~ abit of an adrenalin junky. He's also a very determined person, When he gets into something, he gives one hundred per cent. And he changes passions often. That makes him a bit ofa self-absorbed person actually, which Id say is 2 drawback. And I think he comes across as full of himself sometimes; | mean abit too sure of his own opinions! As for why Ike im, well, he’s actually quite different from me. At uni he'd often suggest doing something and I'd go along with it, and because I'm laid back I never felt overwhelmed by him. We've never fallen aut or anything. How often do you see your friend? Well, because we live in different countries, we don't see each other that often, but we try to catch up on a fairly regular basis, say three times a year