Upper-intermediat 5tudenf Book

Interviewer If you saw on someone's hand that
they were going to have a serious illness, would
you tell them?
Frank I'm not a doctor so I wouldn't go there. I
certainly wouldn't talk about anything medical.
But if somebody comes and they've had cancer or
they're in the process of being treated for an
illness, that's something we might discuss, but it's
certainly something r wouldn't predict, becaLL~e 1
don't necessarily believe in making predictions.
1.19 Interviewer How should people choose
which astrologer or which palm reader or
astrologer to see?
Frank Well, 1 would recommend going to someone
who has been reconunended to you, there are a
lot of people out there who, a lot of people doing
a genuine job, but will talk about things that no
palmist really should talk about, like health
matters, as I've spoken about, death, other
illnesses, things that take away somebody's ability
or right to choose. The reason that 1 got into
palmistry was at the age of seventeen, I was told
by a palmist that I would be married at 21 and
then my partner would die, which scared the life
out of me at the time, and I felt I had this curse
on my back, and so I thought I'd learn this subject
and understand what on earth she was talking
about and I realized that what she was looking at
was a very big 'if, a very big possibility rather than
a probability and it never happened.
Interviewer What kind of people come to see you?
Frank A lot of people would expect bored housewives
and people with nothing better to do, or too
much money, more money than sense, to come,
but in fact the truth is you tend to get all sorts of
people from every type or walk of life. I've had
sportspeople, politicians, people in the media,
every type of profession you can think of, male,
female. Usually it tends to be more women, you
tend to get more men looking at palmistry
because it's perhaps more physical and open and
they feel that ... some men tell me they believe
more in the hand rather than a horoscope,
because a horoscope is something that women
read in their magazines or newspapers.
Interviewer Do you ever look at your own future?
Frank Well, rather than try to look at my own
future or predict it I try and have it, I try and
experience it. 1 don't think most astrologers or
palmists actually do predict or try to predict
what's going on in their life. They just live it from
day to day as anyone else would, but they try to
live it with some understanding and some
knowledge or at least some meaning of why we're
here and what's happening at this time.
1.21 Interviewer What's your star sign?
Cherry Capricorn.
Interviewer Do you ever read your horoscope?
Cherry Occasionally, but not because I particularly
believe in them, but just because they're there.
And it's quite fun.
Interviewer Do you think someone's star sign has
an influence on their personality?
Cherry Not particularly, no. 1 don't really think so.
Interviewer What's your star sign?
Miles Scorpio, I had to think about that one.
Interviewer Do you ever read your horoscope?
Miles No, never.
Interviewer Do you think someone's star sign has
an influence on their personality?
Miles Well, possibly. I'm not a great believer I have
to say, although perhaps the time of year someone
is born may vaguely reflect on their
characteristics. But I think it's pretty minimal the
effect, to be perfectly honest.
Interviewer What's your star sign?
Mike Aries.
Interviewer Do you ever read your horoscope?
Mike Oh, I'm a big believer in horoscopes. Some
people say it's quite sad, but I tend to live every
day on a horoscope. See if it ever comes true. It
doesn't really, but it's just nice to know.
Interviewer Do you think someone's star sign has
an influence on their personality?
Mike Yes, I think it does. You can definitely tell with
some star signs. You can definitely tell their, sort
of, personality straightaway. It does playa big role,
I think.
Interviewer What's your star sign?
Theresa I was born under the star sign of
Capricorn, so I'm an old goat, basically.
Interviewer Do you ever read your horoscope?
Theresa I do occasionally, yes.
Interviewer Do you think someone's star sign has
an influence on their personality?
Theresa Well, I think it has an influence on mine
because Capricorn is the goat and goats are always
climbing onwards and upwards and that really is
very much me.
Interviewer What's your star sign?
Kurt Aries, Aries.
Interviewer Do you ever read your horoscope?
Kurt No.
Interviewer Do you think someone's star sign has
an influence on their personality?
Kurt None, whatsoever, not unless they read it first
and then change their personality to match.
2.1
I think above all we are strong individualists. We
want as few rules as possible governing our lives.
We are also very hard-working. People here live to
work and don't work to live. We are also very
optimistic, and we think that if we work hard, we
can achieve anything. On the negative side, I think
we are extremely materialistic. The measure of
success for most people here is money. We are
extremely concerned with 'things' - possessions
and the bigger the better. Personally, I think I have
inherited the typical optimism and drive, and I'm
also an individualist, so I think I'm probably quite
typical, but I hope I'm less materialistic than
many of my countrymen seem to be.
2 Generally speaking, I think we are very sociable
and easy-going, and we're great storytellers.
People are also quite religious and family
oriented, we're also very patriotic. Maybe this is
because we are small country and so many of us
live abroad. Historically there has always been a
lot of emigration. Weaknesses? I think we can be
very melancholic and nostalgic, you only have to
listen to our music to hear this - it's often quite
sad and slow. It's probably because of our climate
and our history. The stereotypical image is that
one minute we are laughing and telling you a
funny story and the next minute we are crying
into our beer. Which reminds me that we also
drink quite a lot. I think I'm quite typical in many
respects, although I'm not particularly
melancholic.
3 It's difficult to generalize about us as a people,
especially as our big cities now have such a multiethnic
population, but I would say that we're
basically very tolerant and open-minded. We're
not nearly as insular as we used to be. We defend
the things that we believe in - when we have to -
and we avoid taking extreme positions, which I
think is another strength. One of our main
weaknesses, though, is that we can be quite selfsatisfied
and arrogant towards foreigners. Just
think of our inability, or our unwillingness, to
learn foreign languages! I'd also say that that we
can be lazy, and we're a bit careless about the way
we dress, and also we drink too much. I don't
think I'm very typical, though I do definitely have
one of the weaknesses - but I'm not going to say
which!
4 k a nation we're very proud of our identity and
our cultural heritage. We're an inventive p eople,
but we often feel marginalized and forgotten by
our bigger neighbour, England that is. We're very
sociable and like to have a good time. We're also
great travellers and people often compliment us
on the good behaviour of our sports fans abroad.
On the other hand, we do have a tendency to
melancholy - maybe it's something to do with the
weather, you know we tend to think that life is
hard. There's also a negative attitude towards our
neighbour - and this can range from humorous
comments to actual violence. And although we
are keen travellers, we can be quite negative
towards foreigners. Some people would like to see
the country kept only for us, without apparently
understanding how negative that could be.
r don't think of myself as a typical example. I
love the country, and think it has some of the
most beautiful scenery in the world, but I feel
that we tend to focus too much on the wrongs
done to us in the distant past, rather than trying
to move on.
2.6 Interviewer With me in the studio today I
have two pilots, Richard and Steven, who are
going to answer some of the most frequently
asked questions about flying and air travel. Hello
to both of you.
Pilots Hello.
Interviewer Right, the first question is what weather
conditions are the most dangerous when £lying a
plane?
Steven Probably the most dangerous weather
conditions are when the wind changes direction
very suddenly. This tends to happen during
thunderstorms and typhoons and it's especially
dangerous during take-off and landing. But it's
quite unusual- I've been flying for 37 years now
and I've only experienced this three or four times.
Interviewer Is all turbulence dangerous?
Steven No, in fact it's not normally dangerous.
Pilots know when to expect turbulence and we try
to avoid it by changing routes or flight levels.
Interviewer Which is more dangerous, take-off or
landing?
Richard Both take-off and landing can be
dangerous. They're the most critical moments of a
flight. Pilots talk about the 'critical eight minutes'
- the three minutes after take-off and the five
minutes before landing. Most accidents happen in
this period.
Steven 1 would say take-off is probably slightly more
dangerous than landing. There is a critical
moment just before take off when the plane is
accelerating, but it hasn't yet reached the speed to
be able to fly. If the pilot has a problem with the
plane at this point, he has very little time - maybe
only a second - to abort the take off.
Interviewer Passengers often think that putting on
seat belts in a plane is really a waste of time. Is
that true?
Richard Not at all. When the plane is moving on the
ground and the pilot suddenly puts the brakes on,
passengers can be thrown out of their seats, just
like in a car. But more importantly, during the
flight if there is sudden and severe turbulence, you
could be thrown all over the cabin if you aren't
wearing your seat belt. That's why airlines usually
recommend you wear your belt even when the
seat belt light is off.
Interviewer Should we really listen to the safety
information?
Steven It's definitely worth listening to the
infonnation about emergency exits. If there's a
fire on a plane, it may be dark and the plane will
be full of smoke and fumes. So listening to where
the exits are and working out which one is the
nearest exit to you might save your life. Most
aircrew can even tell you where the emergency
exits are in the hotels where they stay.
Interviewer What about life jackets?
Richard Fortunately, planes very rarely have to land
in the sea, but to be honest the chances of surviving
if your plane did crash into the sea are not high.
Interviewer Are some airports more dangerous
than others?
Steven Yes, some are - particularly airports with
high mountains around them and airports in
countries with older or more basic navigation
equipment.
Richard For some difficult airports like, let's say
Kathmandu, they only allow very experienced