Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Uh! Edward stop!
Put that infernal gadget away! That's enough!
There's a limit to everything, you know!
Great! That's it Anne, go on like that! You're fantastic!
Oh, fantastic, my eye! l told you to cut it out!
Alice? Alice?
Oh! Yes Anne, what can l do for you?
Stop laughing and tell your director friend to give it a rest
and put away that damned video camera.
l absolutely do not want to be filmed like this.
Have l made myself perfectly clear?!
Hi Alice, good morning Edward... Can't stop working, eh?
What's on the menu for today's shoot?
Wow Anne, you look beautiful.
Excuse me, could l use the bathroom for a moment? Eh? Thanks.
Calm down Anne!
None of these sessions are going to be shown for air... At least for now.
What exactly does 'for now' mean?
Well, once all the material's been put in place, cut and edited,
Edward's planning on showing it to a producer.
lf it's accepted, the idea is to go for our own TV programme!
- lsn't that a great idea? - What?
Producer?
Television?
Ah! Let me in Jack!
Let me in! Let me in!
Uh! Oh! Let me in!
So, Anne...
What do you think of Edward?
ln what sense? As a man, or as a director?
Do you really have to ask?
As a man, of course!
Well, l've just met him! So l can't really say. But as a director,
my view is that he's a bit too intrusive.
Come on Anne, get over it! That's his job.
ln my opinion, l think he's just great!
Oh! What's this l'm hearing?
Our little Alice might be in love?
Well... Yes!
As l see it, Anne, this is the first time in my life l've fallen head
over heels in love!
So much in love!
But, he doesn't even notice me!
We share so many common interests and we see things in the same way,
we can talk for hours on end... But it just ends there!
He looks on me as a good friend, nothing more, nothing less.
You know, l'm really not used to that role!
Usually l'm the one to keep others at bay!
Yes, l remember! Tom, Frank, David...
How many broken hearts have you left behind?
So tell me, have you asked Edward how he feels about you?
No! Of course not!
Edward isn't interested in some relationship...
He's, he's profound and introspective...
Spiritual!
He's a person who enjoys observing and analysing others.
Mmh, yes! lf you ask me, too much so!
Anyway, l can't agree with you l'm afraid.
Even 'spiritual' beings have personal longings!
l think you should tell him!
And who knows, your Edward might be much more 'human' than you think!
Hum, maybe you're right...
But l have to think of a special way to show him just how l feel!
Maybe l should see what my horoscope has to say...
Hum... Hum...
Yes! Yes! Yes! l've just had a brilliant idea!
Hello again and welcome back to your live
English language TV programme.
Did you hear in that episode how the girls
were talking about their love problems,
they were exchanging opinions about their love problems,
well that's what l want to study with you now,
is how do you express your opinion in English,
and how do you ask other people for their opinion?
Now, to do this l want to talk about an article which l read yesterday,
in fact in this magazine about women,
and the article made some statements
and l want to ask you what your opinion is about the statements
that l read, and l will tell you mine, alright?
Well, l read this 'Women are less rational than men',
'Women are less rational than men' what do you think about that?
Yeah, well, l can go along with that,
l agree, in a way women are more emotional and more instinctive,
yeah? Do you agree?
Next thing, another thing they said is
'Women are less intelligent than men',
'Women are less intelligent than men' now,
what do you think about that?
Well l totally disagree with that,
l don't know about you... Women are less intelligent than men,
who wrote this article?
'Men are stronger than women' do you agree?
Well, yeah, l mean, physically men usually are stronger than women,
maybe emotionally and morally we could debate the fact, yeah?
Maybe, ok.
Next one 'Men make better leaders than women' do you agree with that?
Yeah, up to a point, l mean, most of the leaders in this world
are men but maybe it's because women haven't had enough chance
to be leaders yet.
Who knows?
Alright, and the last one is
'A woman's place, a woman's real place, is in the home'.
What do you think about that?
l totally agree: a woman's place should be in the home...
This article.
Let's move to language, maybe it's better...
Let's talk about the language we use when we give opinions,
and let's use the screen.
So, asking for somebody's opinion, how can you do that?
Well you can say 'What do you think about that?',
'What do you think about that?', simple question,
or 'What's your opinion?'.
We can also ask 'What do you feel about that?'
which is more related to emotions, rather than to the intellect,
so 'What do you feel about that?' or 'What are your thoughts?',
'What are your views about that?'.
Alright? So, those are all ways of asking for somebody's opinion.
When you want to give your opinion you can say
'l think', 'l feel', 'ln my opinion we should...',
'My view is that we should...',
'My view' or 'As l see it...',
'As l see it l think we should...' alright?
So that's giving opinions.
Now, often you want to talk about agreement.
Now, how do you ask a person for agreement?
We don't say 'Are you agree?', many languages translate that wrongly,
it's not 'Are you agree?'
but 'Do you agree with me?' alright?
'Do you agree?'. Be careful, 'Do you agree?'.
Another alternative is 'Do you go along?',
'go along' means 'have the same opinion',
'Do you go along with that?', alright?
Now, imagine that you want to agree totally with someone,
'Do you agree with that?'.
Exactly, you can say
'l totally agree with you', 'l completely agree with you',
you can say 'Yeah, l go along with that', 'l agree with that',
you can also say 'That's right!', 'Exactly!'
or 'Absolutely!', those are all ways of agreeing totally.
Now imagine that you agree sort of, you agree partially.
The language here is 'Yeah, that's a good point
but l agree with you up to a point', 'l agree with you up to a point',
so that's partial agreement but not total agreement, alright?
Now, disagreement. To be polite, you can say 'l can't agree with you,
l'm afraid'. lf you say 'l don't agree with you' that's quite aggressive,
so it's better to say 'l can't agree with you,
l'm afraid' for example if you're in a meeting.
But if you want to be aggressive you can say
'l totally disagree with you' alright?
So that's an aggressive disagreement, and you could also say
'Oh come on!', 'Come on!' alright?
So, there we looked at exchanging opinions,
giving opinions, asking for opinions and then talking about agreement,
agreeing totally, partially and disagreeing.
l'm sure you'll find that very useful because it's what we do every day.
Alright? So happy practising and see you in the next lesson, bye!
Alice...
Are you feeling okay?
Hi Anne, l'm just preparing a little lunch for Edward.
Edward? What's for the French accent?
l thought you said he was Canadian.
He is, from the French part. His mother is French, so...
He's fully bilingual.
Well, now that you mentioned it, l had noticed his slight...
French accent!
Oh, yes... lsn't it adorable?
Well, l must say... Love does work wonders!
l'm not at all used to seeing you as a... A housewife!
Well, to tell you the truth... l haven't got used to it yet.
You know... l just hope l've got the recipe right.
You know, l've followed the instructions to the letter,
but you know l feel like a fish out of water with these things!
So, you've decided to go for Edward's jugular!
Well... Not only that... Here's the crowning touch!
- What is it? - lt's a Chinese fortune cookie...
- With a little note inside. - What a romantic idea...
Do you think? l wrote the note myself...
l thought l would surprise him by hiding it inside his napkin...
Like this. What do you think?
l think it's just perfect! You'll see, it'll go straight to his heart!
Hello? Yes, this is Alice. lt's already come in?
What? Oh, in half an hour?
Yeah, okay, okay, l'll... l'll be there in a few minutes.
Anne... Could l borrow your car, please?
l have to go and pick up a packet my father sent me but
the post office closes in half an hour and... l won't make it on foot...
- My car? You don't have a licence! - Oh, don't worry about it...
l have it, and, anyway, l always used to drive.
You know, my dad's got a car just like yours... Okay... l'm off...
Tell Edward l'll be back in a flash...
Alice? Alice? But who's going to clean up this mess?
Get used to it, Anne...
lt's the same old story!
Now l'm late!
Oh, l can't believe l always get myself into these situations!
l'm late and here l am helping Alice with her grand plan!
- Hi, Anne... - Huh, hello!
Hum, that smells great! My compliments to the chef!
Oh... No, no, no Edward, it's not like you think.
l have to go, l've got a meeting with my boss.
Alice's just gone out, she told me to let you know
that she'll be returning soon. Bye bye!
Well, l'm starving! Mhh! What's this? A little note?
'A little delight for the man who's got my heart raising!'.
What? What's this all about?
There must be some mistake... Oh well, yes, this is my napkin!
Who could have written this?
Oh my God... Anne?! But, but...
But she was just here and she was so shy...
This is getting interesting. Anne is very cute...
So what am l going to do now? l'm not used to these things.
Now where has it gone? Well, it's not here, it's not there either.
- Edward? - Yes?
Have you seen my mobile phone? Oh, here it is... Thanks!
Pardon me... Why are you eyeing me like that?
- Oh, nothing, nothing! - Well, alright.
l've got to run! Bye bye!
She's acting like nothing is happening at all...
This is getting very interesting!
Hello again and welcome back!
Did you notice a grammatical form that they used: 'used to'
and 'get used to'? Did you pick that up
when they were speaking?
Because these are forms that we use in English
when we're talking about habits.
lt's not an easy form and l'd like to teach you that now,
and to do that, to give you an example of the grammar in action
l want to talk to you about when l moved to ltaly
and l lived there for some time
and l had to change some of my habits,
l had to adopt some ltalian habits,
l had to get used to new things, alright?
So, l'm going to use the grammar construction as l talk about this,
try and listen and pick it up.
Now, l wrote a list actually, because... Really fascinating.
You would think that ltaly and England being very close,
wouldn't be very different,
but in fact there are some noticeable differences.
For example driving on the right,
l had to get used to driving on the right, in England
we drive on the left so, you can imagine,
it's a question of life and death, so the first thing was:
l had to get used to driving on the right, you hear that?
'To get used to driving on the right'.
Now, that means that l had to adopt a new habit.
'To get used to doing something'.
We'll look at the grammatical form after,
for now just listen how l use it, alright?
Another thing...
Yeah, ltalian driving!
l had to get used to ltalian driving. Red lights are not really red lights,
red lights, traffic lights, are negotiable
and l had to get used to being very flexible driving on the roads in ltaly,
l can assure you!
Now, speaking ltalian, now,
when you speak ltalian you divide the world into masculine and feminine,
and you know that in the English language
we don't have masculine and feminine, 'table' is neutral,
whereas in ltalian it can be masculine or feminine,
for example 'computer' is masculine,
so l had to get used to dividing my world into objects
which are masculine and feminine,
which for an English person is really quite a challenge!
So, another thing was rolling my R,
in English we don't say 'RR' it doesn't exist,
but in ltalian for example if you want to say 'red' you have to say 'rosso',
'RR' it took me one year to learn 'RR'
so l had to get used to rolling my R, terrible.
Coffee, in England we have mugs of coffee, like this,
in ltaly l had to get used to small amounts of strong coffee,
so that was a new habit, but then l found 'cappuccino'
so that was the alternative.
And the last thing that l had to get used to was the ltalians
gesticulating, the ltalians use many gestures like... And...
And they use their shoulders, and noises as well,
and when l saw ltalians in the street at the beginning,
l thought they were always arguing,
but in fact they're not, it's a normal way for the ltalians to gesticulate,
so l had to get used to reading the language as not necessarily aggressive.
Alright, so that's some of the things
l had to get used to, alright?
Let's go and look at this grammatical form now
because it's not easy to use, alright? Let's look at the screen.
So 'to get used to' is followed by the gerund form,
and it describes this process of changing and taking on a new habit,
look at the examples 'l'm getting used to speaking ltalian every day',
'used to speaking ltalian'. Now, we use the verb 'get', 'get used to'
because it describes the process,
and you can put the verb 'get' into any tense, present tense,
past tense, future, no problem,
here we have it in the present continuous,
so 'l'm getting used to speaking ltalian every day'.
Listen to the pronunciation, l said 'used' with T sound,
'used' not 'used' or 'used'... 'used' that's very important,
that distinguishes it from the other verb 'use', ok? 'Used'.
The next example 'l still haven't got used to driving on the right',
here we have it in the present perfect
'l haven't got used to driving on the right'.
Next example 'Don't worry, you'll get used to it',
for the future 'You'll get used to it' alright?
So, here we have an example in the future
'used to it' which is an object.
ln the past 'l had to get used to it'. ln the question form
'How long did it take to get used to?' ok?
'How long did it take to get used to?'.
So a difficult form, now let's move on to the next section,
which is the verb 'to be used to'. This is very interesting because,
when you change a habit it's a process,
but then when you have adopted the habit it's a state,
so we use the verb 'to be'.
The examples 'l'm used to getting up early in the morning',
that means that now l do it regularly with no problem,
'l am used', we use the verb 'to be' for the state.
'He isn't' negative 'used to working alone'.
ln the past 'l wasn't used to driving on the right'
so here we have a state of a new habit, using the verb 'to be',
'to get used to do something' is adopting a new habit, it's the process.
So, that's a difficult grammatical form
but it's the only way in English that you can describe taking on new habits,
so it's terribly important for you to learn.
Don't worry, you'll get used to it, slowly but surely.
Ok, bye for now.
Hello and welcome to this week's edition of 'Let's talk',
our evening discussion programme with our commentators
Tom and Marie.
- Good evening everyone. - Good evening.
According to a recent report from the EU
on the economies of the Eurozone many companies
are going through a difficult period.
Senior managers are realising that 'business as usual' is no longer possible.
Many companies need to embrace radical change in order to survive.
What do you think about this situation?
Well, it's true that today companies must face up to the fact
that they may have to change the way they do business.
New technology is making this change necessary
and new competition can result in a company having
to completely re-think its business plan.
l agree, another example is when a company decides
to enter a new market and becomes very successful,
this success can require changes to the way the company does things.
All these situations result in changes being needed
to the way a company operates.
lt's not easy to make changes to the way a company operates
and the way people work.
How can a company do this successfully?
Well, there's been a lot of research on this topic:
it's called 'the change management process'
l see, so what are the elements
of a successful change management process?
Where do you start?
lt's important to analyse the situation carefully
before embarking on a process of change.
A good analyst will identify the key areas of a company's operations
that need to be changed.
Then an effective change strategy needs to be drawn up;
this says exactly what needs to be changed.
That's right! lnput to the strategy can come from
the management team or an external consultant.
ln addition all the company's workers should be asked for ideas.
Sorry, l don't quite follow that.
Do you mean that the workers in a company
should be able to decide what changes are made?
No, that's not what l mean.
Everyone in the company should be canvassed
for suggestions on changes that could be made to the company.
This enables employees to buy into the change process.
They feel included and are more likely to implement
the changes once they've been decided.
Ok, l see, it's clear now.
So lots of people input into the change strategy.
And what happens next?
Now the strategy has to be implemented,
it has to be put into action.
This can be the most difficult stage of the change management process.
Staff need to be told about the changes
and some may need training on new ways of doing things.
A member of the management team should be available
to answer questions from employees about the changes taking place.
And once the changes have been implemented, is that it?
No, it's not! lt's very important to consolidate the changes
to make sure that employees don't go back to the old way of doing things!
A manager should be chosen to act as a 'champion' for the changes
and should collect feedback from the employees to see
what they think about the changes.
This champion should praise employees
who have implemented the changes.
Of course! lt's very important to raise the morale of staff at this time.
OtherĘ°ise there's a risk that they'll revert back
to the old way of doing things.
So it's quite a complex process.
Well, companies need to know about change management techniques
in order to survive in a today's rapidly changing markets.
Thanks to Tom and Marie for their explanation
on how to bring about change in a company.
Goodbye Eric.
Goodbye.
Goodbye everyone and see you again next week
for another edition of 'Let's Talk'.
So the change management process is the process
a company uses to change the way it operates.
Due to new technologies and new competition
many companies have to re-think their business plan.
'To re-think something' means to reconsider,
to think again about a choice you made before.
A business plan is a strategy for running a company.
Remember 'to run a company' means to manage it.
Companies have to embrace change.
'To embrace something' means to accept it and put it into practice.
So 'to embrace change' means to start making changes.
Companies must face up to the fact that they have to change
the way they do business.
'To face up to something' means to accept a difficult situation that exists.
So how does the change management process work?
First an analyst identifies the areas that need to be changed.
An analyst is an expert who looks at all the elements of a situation.
He analyses a situation.
Everyone in a company should be canvassed for suggestions.
'To canvass' means to ask people for their opinions.
This enables employees, the people who work in the company,
to buy into the changes.
'To buy into something' means to believe in something.
Then a strategy is drawn up.
The phrasal verb 'to draw up' means to prepare, we use it for documents.
For example, you draw up a contract.
The strategy must then be implemented.
'To implement' means to put into action.
Once the strategy is implemented it's important to consolidate it.
'To consolidate' means to make stronger.
And employees should be asked for feedback to see
what they think of the changes.
'Feedback' means opinions about something.
Well folks we've come to end the of today's programme.
See you again soon!
Good morning everyone and welcome to another edition
of 'Talk Cinema'.
This morning we'll be talking about
the most famous of all science fiction sagas 'Star Wars'.
As always in the studio with me is Sanjeev Gupta our cinema expert,
welcome Sanjeev!
Hello Lucy, hello everyone.
A question to start with Sanjeev,
just how many films make up the Star Wars saga?
Six in all.
And how many of these have you seen?
All six, of course, and you?
Four, l think... When was the first film made?
The first film, 'A New Hope', was released in 1977, the last film,
'Revenge of the Sith' was released in 2oo5.
And who's the director?
Well, George Lucas wrote the scripts for all the films
and directed four of them.
And what about the other two?
lrvin Kershner is the director of 'The Empire Strikes Back'
and Richard Marquand directed 'The Return of the Jedi'.
What's so special about the Star Wars films, Sanjeev?
Lot's of things actually, Lucy.
You know, the first Star Wars film back in 1977
broke new ground with its special effects.
New methods were used whereby the action shots
were taken against a blue background with real models.
lt doesn't sound sophisticated compared
with today's computer generated effects but 29 years ago
it was revolutionary.
ln fact the amount of time Lucas spent on the special effects
almost resulted in the film not being finished.
Why do you think the films have been so enormously popular?
We're dealing with science fiction here but really
the storylines in the films draw on themes common
not only to science fiction but also to classical mythology.
Really? lnteresting!
Yes, then there's the obvious struggle between Good and Bad,
there's the famous 'force' the energy field that can be used
for good but also for bad, love plays a big part in the saga,
as does the eternal struggle for power and domination...
Love, power and domination, yes...
So, have the films made a lot of money?
lt's been estimated that the films, along with the TV series,
books and video games that have been made around the Star Wars
theme have generated $2o billion over the last 29 years;
so $2o billion, yes, that's rather a lot of money.
And what about the music in the movies? l really love the music.
Yes, l think the music has played an important role in helping people
to remember the films.
John Williams composed the scores for all six films;
the style he uses has changed as the years have gone by.
ln the first films he associated leitmotifs with each character,
quite a simple approach.
ln the later films he changed his mind and took a richer,
more sophisticated approach to the music.
One last question: is the saga definitely complete now?
l wouldn't bet on it!
There are rumours that George Lucas may be working on a sequel
but for television, not for the cinema.
So, we may be seeing Luke Skywalker again soon. Wonderful!
Well, thanks Sanjeev and goodbye.
Goodbye.
To all of you and Sanjeev, may the force be with you! Goodbye.
Now, let's have a look at some of that vocabulary we just used.
So, six films make up the Star Wars saga.
'To make up something' here means to go together
to form the whole of something.
The six films form the entire saga.
'To make up something' is a phrasal verb
that can also mean to invent something.
For example, 'l made up a story' means l invented a story.
The first Star Wars film was released in 1977.
We say a film is released when it can be seen at the cinema
for the first time.
lt broke new ground with its special effects.
'To break new ground' means to do something for the first time.
lt broke new ground because it was the first film
to shoot the action shots with real models.
An action shot is a scene of a film with action,
for example a car chase or a battle.
And what are special effects?
They're visual effects added to a film after the shooting
has been completed.
The shooting is the filming process of a film.
The special effects used in the first Star Wars films
were not very sophisticated compared
with the computer-generated effects of today's films.
Computer-generated effects are special effects
that are made using a computer.
The soundtracks of the Star Wars films
have also become very famous.
The soundtrack of a film is its music.
ln the first films John Williams, the composer of the soundtracks,
associated leitmotifs with each character.
A leitmotif is a reoccurring musical
or visual theme associated with a particular character,
situation or emotion.
Well, we have, as usual, run out of time; so goodbye for now!
Hello again and welcome back to 'English today'.
This is DVD twenty and the third DVD of your advanced level.
And in this DVD we'll start with another two episodes of our story
'That's life!'.
And then in our special TV programmes there'll be a discussion
about how to manage change, known as 'change management'.
Then we'll move on to cinema and take a closer look at Star Wars,
then in the grammar section,
we'll look at ways of expressing your opinions in English,
then we'll study the construction 'used to' which
we use when we're talking about habits alright?
So, have fun.