英語口語對話(中高級) lesson 3:Gossip

Summary: Denise and Lisa are gossiping! Denise and Lisa are chatting over a cup of coffee.
Listen to their conversation and answer the question that follows about the main idea.

Dialogue:
Denise: You’ll never guess who I just ran into!
Lisa: Uuhhmmm, I dun no! Gimmee a hint!
Denise: Well, it’s someone we both know and unfortunately can’t stand!
Lisa: Don’t tell me!!! Pam West!!
Denise: You got it!
Lisa: Oh no, you poor thing! I can only imagine what……………….
Denise: Yeah, after bragging about her wonderful Christmas vacation, she started telling me about some colleague of hers who got dumped on New Year’s Eve…..
Lisa: I can’t believe her, she’s such a gossip!

Denise: Then, she started interrogating me…where I went, for how long, who with – it’s a miracle she didn’t ask me what time I brushed my teeth.
Lisa: Did you tell her?
Denise: What? What time I brushed my teeth?
Lisa: No, silly! All the juicy details of your vacation.
Denise: Are you kidding? I just tried to evade the questions by paying her a compliment.
Lisa: Excellent strategy! She’s so conceited and gullible; she’ll believe anything you tell her about her looks.
Denise: So, what’s up with you?
Now answer the following question…
What do Denise and Lisa think of Pam? They dislike her.

Now listen again to the dialogue in parts. After each part there will be 3 to 4 questions on some details...
Part 1
Denise: You’ll never guess who I just ran into!
Lisa: Uuhhmmm, I dun no! Gimmee a hint!
Denise: Well, it’s someone we both know and unfortunately can’t stand!
Lisa: Don’t tell me!!! Pam West!!
Denise: You got it! Lisa: Oh no, you poor thing! I can only imagine what…
Denise: Yeah, after bragging about her wonderful Christmas vacation, she started telling me about some colleague of hers who got dumped on New Year’s Eve…
Lisa: I can’t believe her, she’s such a gossip!
Now get ready to answer some questions.
1. Lisa says, “I dunno! Gimmee a hint!” What does “gimmee a hint” mean? Give me more information or a clue
2, Denise says, “Yeah, after bragging about her wonderful Christmas vacation…” What do you do when you brag? You speak too proudly about something you’ve done or something you own.
3. Denise says, “Some colleague of hers who got dumped… “ What do you think got dumped means? If you get dumped, it means your partner suddenly ends your relationship or breaks up with you (informal)
Now listen to the second part of the dialogue.
Part 2
Denise: Then, she started interrogating me…where I went, for how long, who with – it’s a miracle she didn’t ask me what time I brushed my teeth.

Lisa: Did you tell her?
Denise: What? What time I brushed my teeth?
Lisa: No, silly! All the juicy details of your vacation.
Denise: Are you kidding? I just tried to evade the questions by paying her a compliment.
Lisa: Excellent strategy! She’s so conceited and gullible; she’ll believe anything you tell her about her looks.
Denise: So, what’s up with you?
Now get ready to answer some questions.
1. Denise says, “Then, she started interrogating me…where I went…” What does “interrogate” mean? Who usually interrogates someone? Interrogate means to ask a lot of questions in order to obtain information. The police usually interrogate suspects.
2. Lisa says “All the juicy details of your vacation.” What does she mean by “the juicy details”? “The juicy details” are the exciting or scandalous details of a story.
3. Denise says, “…I just tried to evade the questions…” When you evade a question do you answer it? No, you try to avoid answering it.

GLOSSARY
1.Brag (verb-disapproving) is to speak too proudly about yourself. (e.g. Bradley is always bragging about his high grades. It’s getting very annoying.)
2.Conceited (adjective-disapproving) If you are conceited you are too proud of yourself and your actions. (e.g. It is very conceited of Herman to believe his work is always the best.)
3. Dump (verb) is to end a romantic relationship (informal use). (e.g. His girlfriend dumped him on his birthday.) Dunno is the short form of I don't know. (informal spoken form)
4.Evade (verb) is to try to avoid a question / task. (e.g. Please, answer directly and stop trying to evade the question!) Gimme is the short form of give me. (informal spoken form)
5. Gullible (adjective-disapproving) If you are gullible you easily believe what others tell you. (e.g. Poor Amy, she’s so gullible! She’ll believe anything you tell her!) 6.Interrogate (verb) is to ask a lot of questions in order to obtain information. (e.g. After the crime, the police interrogated all the suspects for hours.)
7.Juicy (adjective) describes information that is especially interesting because it is shocking or personal. (e.g. I've got some really juicy gossip for you.) Juicy is usually used to describe food which has a lot of juice, making it very good to eat. (e.g. juicy fruit / meat)
8.Kid (verb) (informal) is to say something as a joke, often making someone believe something that is not true (e.g. I won the lottery! Just kidding!!!)
9.Run into (phrasal verb) somebody is to meet them by chance. (e.g. You’ll never guess who I ran into today!)

Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the words from the glossary.
1. A: "Where are we exactly?" B: "…………………... Nothing looks familiar!”
2. I can’t wait to see you and give you all the…………………..details of my date last night.
3. Would you stop……………………….me? I don’t know anything about what happened. 4. Oh no, there’s Jason! I can’t stand him! He’s always………………….about how much money he earns.
5. A: You’ll never guess who I………………….while I was shopping! B: If you……………………I might. A: No clues! Try to guess on your own, I’m not saying anything!
6. She wanted to talk to him but he…………………..her by turning the corner.
7. If she’s such an awful girlfriend, why don’t you just………………….her?
8. You won first prize? You're …………………!
9. Without wishing to sound …………………, I am the best salesperson in the company.
10. There are any number of miracle cures on the market for people …………………,enough to buy them.

1. Dunno 2. juicy 3. interrogating 4. bragging 5. ran into/ gimme a hint 6. evade 7. dump 8. kidding 9. conceited 10. gullible