unit 16 Telephoning
3 Answering the phone
Hello,Hi,is Jenny there?
I'm afraid not.She's gone out shopping.
Oh right.When will she be back?
She'll probably be about an hour.Do you want to leave a message?
No,it's all right.I'll just call back later.
7 Talking on the phone
Hello.Hi,is Jenny there?
Speaking.Oh right,hi.My name's Paola.
I'm a friend of Fernanda.We go to the same school to learn Enlish.
Oh,OK.She told me about you.How are you? Fine,thanks.
And how's Fernanda? Oh great.She told me to say hello.
Anyway,I was wondering if you could help me.
I'll try.I'm coming to London for a few days for a visit
and Fernanda said you might be able to recommend somewhere cheap to stay.
Well,you could stay with me if you like.I've got a spare room.
Really?Are you sure?
Yes,it's no trouble.When are you coming?
In two weeks'time.
I'm coming down on the Friday and then I'm going to go back on the Tuesday.
Fine.Do you want to give me a ring a bit nearer the time just to check what time you'll be here?
Yes,OK.Ok,well,I'll speak to you then.
Can you say hi to Fernanda from me and thank her for the birthday card?
I'll give her a ring next week sometime.
I'm actually going away for a few days.
OK.Great.See you.
Yes,bye.And thanks for the offer.It's really kind of you.
No problem.Bye.
Jiang
The other evening,I was at home in my flat and I was feeling really homesick.
I was really missing my girlfriend,Hong Jie.
She's back home in China
and China's seven hours ahead of lreland where I'm studying,
so it was in the middle of the night there.
But I thought I'd ring her anyway,
because I just really needed to talk to her and tell her how much I loved her.
Anyway,I phoned her on my mobile and a woman's voice answered
she sounded a bit tired-and I but I just started talking.
'Hi,it's me.Sorry to phone you so late,but I just had to ring you.'
And then I just went on saying how much I missed her
and all kinds of other personal stuff,
and then suddenly the woman on the other end of the line said,
'Who is this?'I was so embarrassed I hung up straightaway.
When I looked again at the number I had dialled,
I realised I'd called my mum by mistake.
I don't know if she recognised my voice,but she never said anything about it!
It was really.....
Emilie
About a year age,I met this guy while I was on holiday.
He came from the same town as me and seemed quite nice.
We got on quite well,so we swapped telephone numbers
and said we would meet up when we weree back in England.
Anyway,we went out together one night and I didn't have a very good time.
He was a bit strange with me-quite serious-
and he obviously wanted to go out with me as his girlfriend.
The next time he rang,I just made some excuse to say I couldn't meet him.
The same day he rang again and I told him I was busy.
He didn't take the hint,though,
because he kept on ringing me again and again and again.
I told him I wasn't interested and that he should stop calling me,
but he took no notice.
He started ringing and texting me ten of fifteen times a day.
In the end,I had to change my number.
It was really....
Rebecca
I was on the train going to a meeting and i was trying to do some work.
There was this guy sitting opposite me
who spent the whole journey talking really loudly on his mobile.
They were all really stupid conversations as well.
I asked him to go and talk somewhere else or talk a bit more quietly,
but he didn't get any work done and by the end of the journey,
I was so annoyed I wanted to hit him.It was really.
Pronunciation
1 Alan told me to tell you he cant come tonight.
He's got a meeting.
2 Alan told me to tell you he's going to be late.
3 Alan told me to ask you if you could call him.
4 alan told me to say hello.
5 Alan was telling me you're going to Thalland in a couple of weeks.
It sounds really good.
6 Alan told me to say good luck with the exam.
7 Alan told me to ask you if you could get some milk on the way home.
8 Alan was telling me you really like tenins.
Do you want to have a game some time?
9 Alan told me to say thanks for the tickets.
10 Alan told me to tell you not to be late.
The film starts at elght.
11 Alan was telling me he's Thinking of leaving his job.
Ha he sald anything to you about it?
12 Alan was telling me about the party last night.
It sounded as if you all had a really good time.
5 While you listen
Conversation 1
What happened to you yesterday?
I'm really sorry.There were some roadworks and the bus was really slow.
It took me over an hour to get there.
Why didn't you ring?I would've waited.
I tried,but my mobile was deed,because I'd forgotten to recharge it.
Oh,what a shame.We did wait for about half an hour,
but we didn't want to miss the beginning of the film,
so we went without you.
Yes,I thought that was what you must've done,
so I just went home again!
Conversation 2
Are you OK?You look a bit fed up.
Yes,I've just had my mobile stolen.
You're joking!What happened?
I was stupid.I was just having a coffee in that bar over the road
and I stupidly left it lying on the table.
Anyway,a couple of young lads came up to me and started talking really fast,
and I just said I didn't understand and then they just walked off.
By the time I noticed the phone had gone,they'd disappeared.
That's terrible.Are you insured?
Yes,yes.I can replace the phone easily enough,
but the problem is all the phone numbers I keep in the phone.
On,no!You don't have them written down anywhere?
No,I just always put them straight into my mobile.
I never bother to write them anywhere else.
What a pain.
Yes,I don't really know how I can contact some of them.
Conversation 3
Where did yo say we were meething Tom?
Well,I thought it was here,in front of Tesco's.
Don't you remember?When did you last speak to him?
Last week sometime.I tried calling him yesterday,but he wasn't in.
Have you got his mobile number on you now?
Yes,one minute.I think it's here somewhere..um..no,it's not.Sorry.
What a pain!So what shall we do now?
Let's wait five more minutes and if he doesn't come,
let's just go withut him.
Conversation 4
Is that new?
Yes,haven't you seen one of these yet?
They're the new Fourth Generation ones.They're great!
Really? So what does it do,then?
Well,you can do all the normal things like phone and text people
and it's got internet connection and games,and things like that.
Yes,mine has all that.
Yes,OK,but this one can take photos and send them and...look...
you can watch TV on it too and download films from the internet.No!
Yes,look.There you go.
Wow!That's amazing!How much did you pay for it?
It was only $2,000.I got it in Hong Kong.
Only $2,000!You think that's cheap!
Yes,it's not expenisve for something like this.
And how long do the batteries last?
Ah,well,that's the problem,you see.
Only about 20 minutes,usually,but they're trying to sort that out.