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VOCABULARY
10C AND SKILLS I do!
QUICK REVIEW Describing people Choose
three people in the class. Write sentences to
describe each person. Don't write the person's
name: He's got short curly hair. He's wearing a
striped shirt. Work in pairs. Take turns to say your
sentences. Your partner guesses who the person
is: It might be Johann.
Reading and Vocabulary
Work in groups. Discuss these questions.
1 What is the average cost of a wedding in your
country, do you think?
2 Who usually pays for the wedding in your country?
3 What do they spend the money on?
a Read the magazine article. Choose the correct
words in these sentences.
1 Tony is Olivia's third/fourth husband.
2 Ginny went/didn't go to Olivia's wedding.
3 Ginny had/hadn't been a bridesmaid for
Olivia before.
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4 Olivia has/hasn't kept in touch with her
ex-husbands.
5 More/Fewer people in the UK are getting
married these days.
b Read the article again. What does it say
about these numbers? Did any of the numbers
surprise you?
£20,000 six hours £3,300 £15,000
459,000 231,000 45% 12%
a Look at the phrasal verbs in bold in the article.
Match them to their meanings 1-10. Write the
infinitive of the verbs.
1 avoid doing something you don't want to do
get out of
2 feel better after you have been unhappy or ill
3 increase or rise
4 find some information in a book or on a computer
5 tell someone some information you think they don't
know or have forgotten
6 decide or arrange to do something at a later time
7 argue with someone and stop being friendly with them
8 think of an idea, or a solution to a problem
9 end a marriage or relationship
10 find something by accident
b Check in 1UiI@:iilij;£iui• p150.
•
Vocabulary phrasal verbs (3)
Skills Reading: a magazine article;
Listening: a radio interview
Gin~ Bell looks at her friend's chances
of having a happy marriage.
hen Olivia first started going out with Tony, I thought
Wit would never last. Two months later, she told me they
were getting married. I thought she should put the wedding
off for a few months until she knew Tony better. As soon
as he had proposed to her, Olivia called me and said, "He
really is the one." She'd said the same thing about her last
three husbands, but I didn't like to point this out to her.
When Olivia asked me to be her bridesmaid, I tried to
get out of the whole thing because I didn't want to see her
make the same mistake again. However, I couldn't come up
with a good excuse, so there I was again, standing outside
the church wondering how much Olivia's parents had spent
this time. A typical wedding in the UK costs about £20,000
and lasts six hours, so that's about £3,300 an hour. Olivia
must be a very expensive daughter to have.
At the church Olivia introduced me by saying, "This is
Ginny. She's been a bridesmaid at all my weddings." And
indeed I had. I hoped that Olivia and Tony would never
split up, which could cost another £15,000 - the average
cost of a divorce if you have to go to court. Fortunately,
Olivia got over her last three divorces quickly and is still
friends with all her ex-husbands.
So what are their chances of a successful marriage these
days? The week before Olivia's wedding I came across a
newspaper report which said that the number of divorces in
the UK is still going up, while the number of people getting
married is falling. I looked some figures up and found out
that in 1971 there were 459,000 weddings in the UK, but in
2009 there were only 231,000 - the lowest figure since 1861 .
And as for divorce, where you live makes a huge difference.
For example, the divorce rate in the UK is about 45%, but in
Italy it's only 12%.
When my husband and I were leaving the reception,
Olivia came up to say goodbye and said, "You two have
never fallen out, have you? How can I make this marriage
last?" Well, Olivia, what can I say? Move to Italy!