CD1 Track 32
1- As I was getting into the car I saw the crack in the windscreen. I have no idea how it happened, but it’s going to be expensive to repair.
2- My grandmother’s feeling poorly and lost her appetite. I’m afraid she’s not as strong as she used to be, but I don’t know what I can do to help.
CD1 Track 28
1- Surprisingly, the prime minister has been elected for a second term.
2- Interestingly, more young people voted in this election than in the previous one.
3- Absolutely! I’d love to return to Africa some day.
CD1 Track 51
What are your hobbies?
What is your favourite musical instrument?
Do you prefer action films or comedies? Why?
Do you think it is important to read novels and poetry? Why?
What are your hobbies?
There is no one thing I’m fanatical about. I have various interests. I’m a keen cook and love to create new dishes and then invite my friends over to taste them. I love playing cards, especially Uno. Most of my friends are crazy about karaoke and I go with them from time to time but it’s not really my kind of thing.
CD1 Track 20
1- How are schools today different from schools in your parents’ generation?
There is much less discipline and pupils are difficult to control. Standards of behaviour have really declined.
2- In what ways has the countryside in your country changed during your lifetime?
There are far fewer young people living in the countryside. Many of them have had to abandon rural life and move to the cities to look for work.
CD1 Track 30
My mother tongue is Hungarian. It is spoken in Hungary and it is a minority language in the surrounding countries, especially Romania. It is not part of the same language family as European languages like English, French, German or Russian. It is a Uralic language, distantly related to Finnish and Estonian. Because Hungarian is not a widely spoken language, if you want to get on, you have to speak a foreign language. Unsurprisingly, the most popular second language among Hungarians is English, the global language. Like most of my friends, I am multilingual- as well as Hungarian, I am fluent in English and German. I can also get by in Italian and I did an evening course in Spanish a few years back, but I’m a bit rusty now. I seem to pick up languages quite easily, helped, I’m sure, by the fact that language teaching in Hungary is so good – it has to be, given that no-one speaks our language but us!
CD1 Track 09
Reader: The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five-pound note…
Presenter: Now I wonder, Minister, whether you’d like to say something about the government’s proposals for banking reform.
Minister: Yes, thank-you. As I think we all recognize, the need for change in the banking sector is long overdue.
Commentator: Michalski plays it into the penalty area … to Dembinski. Dembinski out to Bajor…. Bajor beats one man, crosses the ball into the centre …
CD1 Track 06
The pinhole camera is a very simple device. It consists of a cylinder with a radius of approximately 4 cm and a height of 12 cm. There is a small hole 1 mm in diameter positioned halfway up the wall of the cylinder. A sheet of photographic paper 18 cm in width curves round the inside of the cylinder leaving a gap of about 1 cm just behind the pinhole. The camera is very simple to use, but it takes a long time to produce a picture. If you fix the camera outside and expose it to the light, after a few minutes, you will find that an image has appeared on the photographic paper.