Page 166 - Face2Face Uper Inter www.english0905.com

www.english0905.com
a potential danger to health here. And
I have young children, so I no longer
wanted foxes in my garden.
P So, what did you do?
R Well, I heard they didn't like the scent
of lion's dung - I even went to London
Zoo to buy some and I put it down in my
garden.
P Did that do the trick?
R A bit at first, but it's an ongoing problem.
All our gardens, which are quite large,
back onto one another so the foxes just go
through the fences and travel from garden
to garden.
P So, the problem didn't go away.
R Certainly not. One of my neighbours who
kept chickens in his garden, er, he kept
them for their eggs. Er, he came out into
his garden one morning to find the foxes
had got all the chickens. It was a dreadful
sight.
P They killed all the chickens?
R Yes, and they have been known to
occasionally come into people's houses.
P So, what can people do if they see a fox in
their garden?
6 M Where?
1 I saw a pair of foxes playing with their
cubs in the garden.
2 And in principle I like the idea of there
being lots of wildlife in my garden.
3 Some people would treat the foxes as
potential pets.
4 They even bought meat and dog food
especially for them.
5 But did your attitude change at all?
6 I realised there was a potential danger to
health here.
7 I no longer wanted foxes in my garden.
8 I heard they didn't like the scent of lion's
dung.
9 The foxes just go through the fences.
10 It was a dreadful sight.
hM:t·>s 7 T No, that's not what I meant. All I'm
TONY So, how long's it going to take to get
to Gstaad?
EDDY Quite a long journey by train, 12
hours in all with four changes. I'm
beginning to think I should have flown
there. Carrying my snowboard's going to
be a real pain.
T Never mind. It's a lot better for your
carbon footprint?
E My what?
T Your carbon footprint.
E Oh, that.
T Yeah, I worked mine out online last week.
It was a bit disturbing, actually. It told
me that if everyone in the world had a
lifestyle like me, we'd need 2.3 planets
to survive!
E You're kidding!
T Yeah, makes you think, doesn't it?
Something has to be done!
E Maybe, but I don't see how we can
make a big difference. I mean, I recycle
newspapers and packaging and stuff. And
I turn off the TV at night, that kind of
thing. But are you suggesting we all, er,
go and live in caves or something?
T No, that's not what I'm trying to say.
What I meant was that there are lots of
other things we can do, not just recycling
or saving energy.
E Like what?
T Well, take food shopping, for example.
It'd be much better if, er, everyone bought
food that's produced locally. Not stuff
that's flown half way round the world!
E That's an interesting point. I've never
really thought about that. But if we all
stopped eating, say, bananas, then the
economies of some countries would
collapse overnight. How moral or ethical
would that be?
T Fair enough, but I still think we should
eat more locally grown stuff and avoid
buying things with lots of packaging.
E Yes, but then again, the packaging keeps
the food fresh. Nobody's going to buy
food that's gone off, are they?
T No, of course not, but I just don't think
it's right that the food industry creates so
much rubbish.
E OK, then, what else could I do?
T Um, let me think ... well, you could
become a vegetarian.
www.english0905.com
E Why do you say that?
T Well, one argument in favour of being
vegetarian is that farming animals is
wasteful and uses so much energy. Did
you know that the same area of land can
produce enough soya beans to feed 600
people, but only enough beef to feed 20
people?
E But I think people should have the right
to eat whatever they want. I mean, are
you saying that human beings shouldn't
be allowed to eat meat?
saying is that meat production is very
damaging to the environment.
E Well, some people would argue that
humans have always eaten meat. And
we've been around for one and a half
million years.
T Yes, but there weren't billions of us then!
Anyway, let's go eat. All this talk of food
is making me hungry. We can eat at the
st;(ion cafe. What do you fancy?
E Well, it's hard to say ... I was looking
forward to a burger, but maybe I'll just
have a salad sandwich.
/ 3:/ journalist I journey I courtesy I journal
/a/ flavour I favour I humour I neighbour
/11./ encourage I courage I flourish I
nourishment
/'J:/ courtroom I course I pour I fourth
/aua/ our I flour I hour I sour
&10
The section of Kate Fox's book explaining
the rules of queuing is interesting and the
English obey these rules without thinking
about it. Jumping a queue will certainly
annoy those people queuing properly.
However, despite feeling intense anger
towards the queue-jumper, the English will
often say nothing - staring angrily is more
their style.
Then there are the rules for saying please and
thank you. The English thank bus drivers,
taxi drivers, anyone giving them a service.
In fact the English spend a lot of time saying
please and thank you so others don't feel
they're being taken for granted. They hate
not being thanked if they think they deserve
it. Not saying thank you will often cause an
English person to sarcastically shout out,
"You're welcome!".
&11
SARAH Is that Beatrice?
MICKEY Where?
S Over there.
S There, by the door.
M Woh! I didn't recognise her. What's she
done to her hair? It's a bit bright, isn't it?
S I think it suits her.
M Well, I can't imagine Laurie will approve.
He's a bit narrow-minded when it comes
to things like that.
S I don't suppose Beatrice will care what
Laurie thinks. She never usually does.
She's a bit of a rebel - strong-willed and
all that.
M But she's never done anything quite this
extreme before. Doesn't she feel self-
conscious?
S Obviously not.
M But you know Laurie. "This is a private
hospital and we've got to have standards."
He won't like it and I doubt if he'll let her
work on reception looking like that.
S But there are loads of people off with flu
at the moment so he may well have to let
her.
M Yes, you're right. He's unlikely to find
someone to replace her now, is he? Oh,
she's coming over.
S Love the hair, Beatrice.
BEATRICE Thanks. I wanted a complete
change this time.
M Well, it's certainly different and it even
matches the poster! What does your
boyfriend think of it?
B Ned? He hasn't seen it yet. I just did it
last night. But I shouldn't think he'll care.
He's pretty laid-back about these things.
It was red when I first met him. By the
way, did I tell you I'm going to Ireland to
meet his parents in a few weeks?
M Really?!
B Yeah. I'm quite excited about it. They
sound cool. Ned says they're really easy-