Diálogos en inglés 5 - Los Juegos

Olímpicos

1) Listen and answer these questions.

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1) What did people see at the start of the opening ceremony?

2) How much artificial grass did they use?

3) What kind of dogs does the Queen have?

4) What strange thing did the Queen do?

5) Which famous actor appeared?

6) Which famous bands were shown?

7) What did David Beckham do?

8) What instrument was Mr Bean playing at the ceremony?

9) What kind of athlete represented Spain?

10) Where was the torch before it came to the UK?

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© Isabel Carrasco y Phillip Bartlett 1
! www.amigosingleses.com
 Transcript
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Phillip - We are very satisfied and very proud as well. Yes I
thought it was a really good ceremony, did you?!
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Isabel - Yeah!
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Phillip - Fantastic.!
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Isabel - It was amazing, I didn’t think they would work so hard
for the ceremony.!
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Phillip - Yeah and it was really really long as well. Lots of
things happened.!
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Isabel - So what did they do first on the stage?!
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Phillip - Well, the first thing that people saw as they came in
and sat down in the Arena in London, the first thing they saw
was... well it looked like rural England with lots of... well it
was like a little village I think.!
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Isabel - Like farmers, country...!
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Phillip - And it looked really picturesque, really cute, it had a
lot of grass and farmers and little barns.!
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Isabel - Animals, even real animals in there, like horses... what
else did they have?!
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Phillip - They had some sheep and they had some geese as well,
they had children playing with maypoles, do you know these
maypoles?!
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Isabel - Yeah I know maypole, but I’m not sure about our
listeners, how would you describe a maypole?!
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Phillip - It’s just like a stick and then at the top there are
lots of ribbons that come off and children dance around the pole
and make different patterns with the ribbons. Do you have those in
Spain?!
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Isabel - Not really, I think it’s a very English game.!
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Phillip - Yeah, it’s something, it’s not very common, but it’s a
traditional kind of dance.!
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Isabel - Yeah and you have many pubs in England called “The
Maypole”.!
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Phillip - Yeah, that’s true. So when the ceremony started I think
many British people were thinking - “What the hell” this is going
to be the worst ceremony ever.!
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Isabel - Yeah it’s about the Olympic games and athletes, not about
farmers and chickens. Yeah and I’ve read in the newspapers that
they used one thousand and seven hundred meters of artificial
grass and then when they had to change the scenery you could see
lots of Londoners taking pieces of all this grass for their
gardens and for their terraces.!
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Phillip - Yeah everybody wanted to keep a part I think. And so
after the ceremony began, there was the big countdown, when they
counted down, they showed how the industrial revolution kind of
changed Britain, and I thought that was really amazing, no one was
really expecting it.!
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Isabel - No, not at all.!
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Phillip - And so lots of people started coming out of the ground,
from underneath a tree and they started coming out, I think they
were supposed to be miners, people who mine for coal and
everything started to change.!
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Isabel - Yeah they were even forging steel.!
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Phillip - Yeah, do you remember that part?!
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Isabel - Yeah and there were chimneys with lots of smoke coming
out and engines.!
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Phillip - Coming out of the ground and it all started to change. I
thought that was fantastic, I really enjoyed that part.!
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Isabel - Yeah I couldn’t believe that.!
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Phillip - Yeah, and so then, what happened after that?!
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Isabel - These men that were representing the industrial
revolution, they were also forging the olympic rings, so suddenly,
one they had forged them, put them all together, they
started...errm!
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Phillip - They started to rise!
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Isabel - Yes, they started to rise in the air, over the stage and
then when they were at the top, they started showering sparks on
the stage.!
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Phillip - Yeah it was amazing.!
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Isabel - How did they do that?!
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Phillip - I don’t know, it’s some kind of pyrotechnics
and...errm...it was amazing.!
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Isabel - It was beautiful, yes.!
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Phillip - And then there was also a scene where James Bond, they
showed like a videoclip of James Bond going to Buckingham Palace,
do you remember that bit?!
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Isabel - Yeah, picking up a very famous lady in Britain? Who was
she? Who was her?!
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Phillip - Who was she?!!
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Isabel - Oh who was she?!
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Phillip - She was, yeah, the Queen of England, yeah, living in
Buckingham Palace.!
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Isabel - Was she the real one?!
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Phillip - Yeah, incredibly she was the real one, because a lot of
people have imitated the Queen in the past and I think a lot of
people were expecting her to be... !
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Isabel - A fake.!
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Phillip - Yeah a fake, but when the saw her from behind, lots of
people thinking, that’s not the real Queen, but then when she
turned around and she said - “Good evening Mr Bond”.!
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Isabel - Hahaha!
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Phillip - Everybody was quite shocked, because nobody has ever
seen the Queen acting before.!
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Isabel - Yeah, not definitely, the Queen has good English sense of
humour, yeah?!
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Phillip - Yeah and especially in the next part, when James Bond
sort of escorted her to the helicopter and...!
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Isabel - With her little dogs around them!
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Phillip - Yes, the corgies, yeah the Queen’s dogs. And so they
flew across London in the helicopter and went to the Stadium and
then they saw the Queen jumping out of the helicopter which was
amazing, but obviously I think that wasn’t actually her. !
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Isabel - I’m sure some people even thought, is that the Queen
really?!
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Phillip - It was made to look like her.!
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Isabel - Yeah it looked absolutely like her, obviously you
thought, a lady with that age is not going to fly from a
helicopter, but English old ladies are so modern that... who
knows! You can expect anything from them.!
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Phillip - Yeah that was probably the highlight for me, seeing the
Queen jump out of the helicopter, I think it was really funny.!
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Isabel - Yeah and then after that, suddenly the Queen entered the
stadium.!
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Phillip - She entered and everybody!
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Isabel - So they pretended that it was really her that had just
arrived.!
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Phillip - I think it was great and it shows that the Queen does
have a sense of humour although, quite often she is seen as a...
like she is not really very human, she doesn’t show much emotion,
but...!
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Isabel - She looks a bit cold usually.!
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Phillip - But I think that was brilliant, I am really glad she did
that. And... so yeah then when the Queen made her appearance, then
they sang the National Anthem and they raised the Union Flag
and...!
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Isabel - Did you cry?!
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Phillip - No, haha. I think there were deaf children that sang the
National Anthem.!
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Isabel - ohh!
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Phillip - There was a mixture of deaf children and children that
could hear that sang the National Anthem.!
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Isabel - Ah ok. And then after that, another of the...!
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Phillip - The main topics or main themes!
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Isabel - Topics, yeah, it was a bit strange one, because there
were children in their beds with their pijamas and there were
maybe a hundred beds in there and it’s because England is very
proud of their medical system, no and the NHS !
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Phillip - the National Health Service!
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Isabel - But I don’t really see what that has to do with the
Olympic Games really.!
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Phillip - No, no, it doesn’t really have much to do with the
Olympics, but it’s just something that the English are quite proud
of and they wanted to pay homage to the NHS and all the people
that work for the NHS.!
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Isabel - Yeah, but it was just a bit strange to see a hundred beds
with children and nurses, it was nice cause they all had lights
under the sheets, so it was like a bit of magic in there...!
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Phillip - Yeah I think it was really nice of them to do that for
to sort of show respect for all the people that work in the NHS.!
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Isabel - Yes, but probably people that are not English didn’t
understood.!
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Phillip - Didn’t understand.!
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Isabel - Didn’t understand, sorry, what it was about. Why do they
have children on beds if they are telling England history.!
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Phillip - Yeah!
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Isabel - But yeah just to clarify is for the NHS. What else
happened?!
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Phillip - And then, oh yeah, there was another highlight for me
when the orchestra started to play some music and then the camera
sort of panned up, it showed the face of a very famous face
throughout the world, the face of Rowan Atkinson, who is of
course, Mr Bean.!
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Isabel - Mr Bean, el “señor judía”!
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Phillip - Hello!!
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Isabel - We all know him, he is a complete disaster, but a very
funny man, very strange faces...yeah?!
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Phillip - And he was playing the piano, wasn’t he? just playing
one night.!
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Isabel - He was spoiling the concert and making a mess, yeah?!
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Phillip - Well, yeah he was just playing the piano.!
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Isabel - He was just playing one... how do you say “tecla”?!
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Phillip - One of the keys.!
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Isabel - One key, yeah, the he thought he needed to blow his nose,
yeah?!
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Phillip - Yes he sneezed and he needed to blow his nose so he used
an umbrella to continue and then he blew his nose and threw the
tissue into the piano.!
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Isabel - And then he fell asleep, didn’t he?!
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Phillip - Yeah he started to dream about running on the beach with
some of the athletes and then he cheated and...!
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Isabel - Yeah, what did he do? He drove a car, yeah, instead of
running. But it wasn’t Mr Bean’s car.!
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Phillip - Not he got a lift from somebody and then he got back
into the race and tripped someone over the race and then it got
back to Mr Bean in the stadium and he was still playing the piano,
but ...!
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Isabel - The concert was over.!
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Phillip - Yeah the rest of the orchestra had stopped.!
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Isabel - The director was looking at him like... what are you
doing?!
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Phillip - But that was I think a great part of the ceremony, it
shows the British sense of humour and that was fantastic. Oh you
got a message!!
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Isabel - Oh yeah haha, it must be my friend coming from Spain, we
have a friend coming today from, well not Spain, Island, he is
staying here for one night and then he’s going back to Spain, so
sorry about that.!
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Phillip - And what else?!
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Isabel - What else, there was a lot of music, British music,
because in England they have great music and amazing groups, they
are very famous all over the world, so the English wanted to show
off a little bit how great their music is, so...!
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Phillip - Yeah there was a lot of sort of dancers and they had
music from The Clash, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who, Led
Zeppelin, New Order and David Bowie.!
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Isabel - And of course The Beatles, yeah?!
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Phillip - And The Beatles, yeah, of course. And yeah a few people
played life like the Arctic Monkeys played a couple of songs and
then Paul Mcartney as well at the end, he sang “Hey Jude”, do you
remember that?!
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Isabel - One of The Beatles greatest hits, yeah? Beautiful song.!
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Phillip - Yeah really good and it’s a good one for crowds to sing
as well, “na na na... nananana... nananana... hey Jude! It’s
really good. And then what happened? I think then it was the part
when all the different countries, oh no no that was before I
think. All the countries came out with their athletes and walked
around the stadium.!
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Isabel - With their flags and their uniforms...!
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Phillip - Yeah and that took hours ‘cause there’s so many
countries.!
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Isabel - Yeah!
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Phillip - And a lot of the countries I have to say I’d never heard
of them before.!
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Isabel - Haha!
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Phillip - It’s very ignorant of me, I had to ask a friend, have
you heard of them before?!
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Isabel - Did you see Spain? !
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Phillip - Yeah I saw Spain.!
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Isabel - Did you see Pau Gasol? a very very tall man with the
Spanish flag?!
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Phillip - Yeah I saw him. He’s a basketball player, is he?!
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Isabel - Yeah, he is yeah.!
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Phillip - He’s very tall. And then of course Great Britain, did
you like that? I can’t remember who was holding the flag, we saw a
lot of our famous athletes in there and then...!
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Isabel - Something that was quite interesting was that suddenly
there were lots of Mary Poppins flying down into the stadium with
their umbrellas and there was a huge inflatable Voldemort from
Harry Potter, so these Mary Poppins wanted to defeat him.!
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Phillip - Yeah I remember that part.!
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Isabel - That was quite good, because Mary Poppins is a very
famous English film.!
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Phillip - Yeah!
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Isabel - For kids, we’ve all watched Mary Poppins when we were
young.!
Phillip - “A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down”!
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Isabel - In Spanish, that’s very bad, everything translated, we
said “con un poco de azúcar esa píldora, que os dan”!
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Phillip - “la píldora”, the medicine goes down.!
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Isabel - Yeah it’s a pity that they translate all these things.!
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Phillip - Yeah they shouldn’t do that.!
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Isabel - Otherwise we would speak English much better.!
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Phillip - I think so.!
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Isabel - And what about the famous football player?!
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Phillip - Oh yeah I didn’t really like this part, did you?!
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Isabel - No!
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Phillip - David Beckham, looking very smart, in a speedboat,
coming down The Thames with the torch.!
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Isabel - Going down the Tower Bridge.!
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Phillip - Going under the Tower Bridge.!
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Isabel - Under the Tower Bridge with his posh boat.!
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Phillip - Yeah he looked very sophisticated, yeah it was showing
off a bit I think.!
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Isabel - Yeah, that was too much.!
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Phillip - And then they lit the torch, that was actually amazing,
I wasn’t expecting that, they lit the torch in the stadium, it was
done in a very unique way, very beautiful. !
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Isabel - Spectacular.!
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Phillip - Spectacular, yeah, they lit it, sort of, well you have
to look on youtube, I’m sure you can find a video of it or they’ve
probably seen it, anyway, but it really...!
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Isabel - What did they do, they lighted?...!
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Phillip - They lit a lot of like these petals around the bottom
and then they all sort of started to rise and then it formed like
a torch and everybody cheered and it was really amazing.!
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Isabel - And the following day I think the fire was still on, they
showed on the TV, everything was desert, there was nothing there,
they had taken all the grass and everything, no public and the big
torch was still on.!
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Phillip - Yeah they are not going to put it out, not until the end
of the games, it’s come all the way from Greece.!
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Isabel - Yeah, hehe.!
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Phillip - And it came to Cambridge, didn’t it? But we didn’t see
it, we missed it unfortunately. Ok and so we leave it there then
today.!
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! Cool English
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What the hell! - Es una manera de expresar sorpresa o

enfado. En español sería - !qué narices! o !qué diablos! !
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-What the hell is going on here? !
-¿Qué diablos está pasando aquí?!
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Where the hell...
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-Where the hell is John? We are going to miss that train.!
-¿Dónde diablos está John? !Vamos a peder ese tren!!

Fake - falsificación, imitación. !

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- They’ve paid millions for a Picasso painting and later
discovered that it is a fake.!
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- Han pagado millones por un cuadro de Picasso para después
descubrir que es falso.!
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- I hope that coat is a fake and not real rabbit fur.!
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- Espero que ese abrigo sea una imitación y no piel real de
conejo.!

Brilliant - Significa brillante, radiante, pero usado de

forma coloquial quiere decir genial, fenomenal. Es una
palabra muy común.!
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-I love that song, it’s absolutely brilliant.!
-Me encanta esa canción, es totalmente genial.!
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-The fancy dress party last night was brilliant.!
-La fiesta de disfraces ayer por la noche estuvo fenomenal.!
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To show off - presumir!
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- He likes showing off his new car.!
- Le gusta presumir de su nuevo coche.!
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- Her new boyfriend is a rock star and she can’t stop showing
off.!
- Su nuevo novio es una estrella de rock y ella no puede

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2) Match the words with the definitions.

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1. To deliberately display or talk about your abilities or to show off
achievements. !
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2. Not genuine.
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deaf
3. Unable to hear.
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national anthem
4. A song you sing before special event e.g. a football match.
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5. Very very big. huge
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6. A firework display. pyrotechnics
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7. A person who works in a mine under ground. miner
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8. A ride in someone’s car.
a lift
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9. Another word for children.
! kids
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10. A piece of cloth that represents a country.
flag

© Isabel Carrasco y Phillip Bartlett 12

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3) F ill in the gaps with the words from the box below.
You may need to change the word to the correct form.!
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sparks show off torch trip over ribbon proud geese stage
spoil picturesque deaf sense of humour defeat sneeze chimney

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1. Father Christmas doesn’t come through the window! He comes down the ....................
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2. She’s so pretty when she wears a ..................... in her hair.
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3. My grandmother never answers the phone. I think she’s going .....................
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4. I really enjoyed the concert even though we couldn’t get near the .....................
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5. I saw some ducks a swan and two ....................... in the park on Sunday.
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6. I dropped the hairdryer in the bath by accident and there were .................. everywhere!
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7. Scotland is famous for its ........................ landscapes.
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8. She didn’t laugh at my joke! She doesn’t have a ..............................
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9. Don’t put too much salt in the paella! You’ll ............................. it!
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10. I passed my English exam! I’m ............................ of myself!
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11. England were .............................. by Spain in the world cup!
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12. The Olympic .............................. was taken all over the UK including Cambridge.
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13. I’m allergic to cats. Whenever I’m near one I can’t stop ...........................
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14. I felt so embarrassed today because I .............................. a stair in the supermarket.
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15. He’s a good dancer but I think he ................................ too much!

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proud - orgulloso! spark - chispa!
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to be over - haberse acadado! pyrotechnics - pirotecnia!
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stage - escenario! to jump out* - saltar desde dentro !
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picturesque - picturesco! deaf - sordo!
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goose - ganso (singular)! to pay homage - rendir tributo!
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geese - gansos (plural)! to spoil - estropear, arruinar!
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ribbon - lazo! key (piano) - tecla!
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pattern - diseño! to cheat - engañar!
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scenery - paisaje, decorado! to show off - presumir, alardear!
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countdown - cuenta atrás! to defeat - derrotar, vencer!
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chimney - chimenea !
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to forge - forjar!
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 Answers
1)
1) English countryside, animals, children, maypoles.
2) 1,700m
3) Corgis
4) She jumped out of a helicopter.
5) Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean)
6) The Clash, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who, Led Zeppelin, New Order
and David Bowie.
7) He carried the torch down the Thames in a speed boat.
8) The piano
9) A basketball player
10) In Greece
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2) 1. to show off, 2. fake, 3. deaf, 4. national anthem, 5. huge, 6. pyrotechnics, 7.
miner, 8. a lift. 9. kids 10.flag
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3) 1. chimney, 2. ribbon, 3. deaf, 4. stage, 5. geese, 6. sparks, 7. picturesque, 8.
sense of humour, 9. spoil 10. proud, 11. defeated, 12. torch 13. sneezing, 14.
tripped over, 15. shows off

How many correct answers did you get?

31 - 35: Absolutely brilliant!

26 -30: Very well done!

20 - 25: Good job, keep it up!

15 -19: Listen to the podcast again and you will get there!

0 -14: Put a little bit more effort and you will get it.

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Keep on learning with Amigos Ingleses

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