A year in the life of an ESL chapter1

T T C H R P T E0RN E r r

RRRIVING
I N T H EC O U N T R Y


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Hans picksup his friendat the airport terminal

E4as?s

Howwas the flight?

&mdre

Don'task!

Harns

Fill me in'
Comeon, what haPPened?

Am$re

Fiams
A*dre

Hsffis

Amdre

footballplayersat down
I was sitting in the windowseat whenthis humongous
guytook up a seat anda half.I was literally
nextto me. I'm not exaggerating;the
pinnedup againstthe windowfor the wholeflight'
Oh,man.Thatsoundsterrible!
but I
No kiddinglI decidedit was probablybest to try and get somesleep,
escape
couldn'tbecausene kept blabberingon and on. The onlyway I could

I'd sit
moment
The
him was to ger up and stretch my legs for a few minutes.
back down,he'd start runningoff at the mouthagain'
No wonderyou lookso tired'
What a nightmare!
He
Holdon. I'm just getting started.He kept orderingmoreand morebooze'
for scotchuntil finallyhe was
pestedngthe flightattendants
was constantly
comp|ete|ybombed.Hedidn,tStopgu|pingdowndrinksuntilwewereat|east
B'O' God'
halfway throughthe flight.oh and I almostforgot,he hadthe worst
it was apPalling.

[ ,
ll.,

Well,on the brightside, at leastyou got heresafe and sound'
Andne

sitting
I'm still not finishedyet. Therewas this youngcoupleandtheirson
running
wasn't
he
acrossthe aisle.what a spoiledbratthat kid wasl when
uo anddownthe aisle,he was flin$ngfoodall overthe place.when

somebodyfina||yto|dhimtosett|edown,heburstintotears.



ffi$lme fim{te} i. - give me the details
I want to know what happenedon your date last night. Fillme in.
hunt&r:g*a*s
gigantic,huge,immense
adj,- enormous,
You'dbetter study hard becausethe final exam is going to be humongous.
pEnt
s*memme
$Bagafimst
sor:nething
{tm}i, - push someoneup againstsomething
Thehockeyplayerpinned his opponentup against the boards.
h$abfoer
{tw} v. - talk too much,gab, yak, yap
Thedrunk guy I met in the bar blabberedon and on about his ex-wife.
stretch *rie's Eegs{t*} i. - exerciseone's legs after a periodof inactivity
I really needed to stretch my legs after sitting on the bus for five hours.
c'w*r
off at thmmeuth(to) i. - talk too much,gab, yak, yap
she was runningoff at the mouth abouther new boyfriendfor the entire evening.
hswacn. - alcohol,liquor
Don't forget we have to buy some boozefor the party tonight.
pesten&*ffie*rre{to} v, - constantlyharass/bothersomeone
Theyoung boy kept pestering his mother to buy him the expensivetoy.
bcrchedadj.- hammered,loaded,smashed,very drunk
Shegot bombedon New Year'sEvebecauseshe dranktoo muchchampagne.

gxlp driwnsonmetFring
{t*} i. - drink somethingquickty
He gulpeddown the orangejuice after playing tennis in the hot summer sLjn.
B.S"n. - bad bodyodor(a hygieneproblem)
He had terrible B.O.becausehe hadn't taken a showerin three davs.
appallia:g
adj. - awful,dreadful,terrible
Theappallingbehaviorof the teenagersshockedthe otdermarriedcouple.
omthe brfig*xt
s;d* i. - on the positiveside
He crashedthe car, but on the bright side nobodygot hurt.


safe and seuffidi. - safely
we arrivedhomesafe and sund eventhoughwe had to drive throughthe btizard.
*pmfiedadj. - pampered,Set anythingone wants
That child was spoiled rotten because his parents never disciptinedhim.
brat n. - terriblechild
someoneshouldtell that brat to sit down and be quiet untit the movieis finished.
fl$ngsomethi*g {to} y. - throw something
Theinfantdidn't eat the food. shewas moreinterestedin flingingit all overthe ptrce.
sett|e dmwn{ts} i. - calm down
Theteacher finallyhad to tell the noisy students to settle down.
bupsti*stot*ars {to} i. - start to cry suddenlyand loudly
9te burst into tearswhen shefoundofi that her husbandhad diedin the car rccident.
!*tfag n, - fatiguecausedby air travel
I can't stay awake in class becauseI still havejetlag.
get sversomething/sffi*Tnessle
{te} t - recoverfrom something/someone
It took almost two weeks for me to get over my cold.

dfive{a} n. - a terrible,old,dirty place
That bar was disgusting. l'm nevergoing back to that dive again.
come 6!crs$ssomethimg(tw) i. - find somethingby accident
I came across an old high school picture while I was cleaning up my room.
feeFat hom* {tc} i, - feel comfortablein a new place
I'm starting to feel at home after living here for several weeks.
ssmte*E?€
WItsanethingbefoiend
{t*i i. - forget about a bad experience
l'm going to have to put that awful experiencebehindme.
i* no tEmer',- quickly,soon
He finishedhis homeworkin no time becausehe wantedto go to the movies.


booze

soon

safeandsound

exerciselegs after inactivity

c

flingsomething

forget a bad experience

4

spoiled

push someoneagainstsomething

E
i--'

i n n ot i m e

safely

4

6 humongous
-r
settledown

d r i n ks o m e t h i n gq u i c k l y

E bombed

alcohol

stretchone'slegs
1-0 pestersomeone

recoverfrom something

awful
on the positiveside

ff

4 4

fill mein

calmdown

d o
-LZ-

B.O.

t e r r i b l ec h i l d

l_.i

gulpdownsomething

give me the details

T4 put somethingbehindsomeone

throw something

4tr

very drunk

brat

l_6 a p p a l l i n g

start crying suddenly

4 7

pinsomeone
up againstsomething

enormous

IO

on the brightside

bad body odor

J_9 get oversomething

harass/bothersomeone

2 0 burstinto tears

pampered


_L

The basketballplayer

the whole bottle of water in a flash.

I reallvneededto

aftersittingin the car for morethan

three hours.
Theyounggirl
for the first time.

whenher motherleft her at pre-school

4 | don'twantto go overto hisapartment
againbecause
it's a
5 Hejust arrivedinthe country,so I thinkhe'sstillsr.rffering
from
6lwas
in the car.

the windowbecause
thereweretoo manypeople

Thecustomercontinued
to
h i mt h e b i l l .

the waitressuntilshebrought

E Thestudentkept
to be quiet.
H e ' sa
4n

eventhoughthe teacher had told him
becausehis parentshave neverdisciplinedhim.

a $ 1 0 0b i l lw h i l eI w a sv a c u u m i nm
g y c a rt h i s m o r n i n g .

11- Whathappened
whenyouwentfor an interviewat that company?
_LZ

-LJ

He was
his friend.

afterhe spentmost of the eveningin the barwith

The manwho sat next to me on the bus had

t4 I t t o o k h i m a l o n gt i m e t o
1 5 She arrivedhome
the crosswalk.

The smellwas terrible.

his divorce.
eventhoughshealmostgot hit in



After the game, he gulped down the entire botile of Coke in no time.
e After the game, he sippedthe Coke for a while.
b After the game, he drankthe Coke in a flash.
It was difficult for him to put that frighteningexperiencebehindhim.
a He couldn't rememberthe frighteningexperiencehe'd had.
b He couldn'tforget aboutthe frighteningexperiencehe'd had.
I couldn't wait to stretch my legs after the long drive was finally finished.
a I neededto get out of the car and walk around.
h I wanted to get into the car after walking aroundfor a while.
The young man was bombedafter he drank too much beer.
a He certainlywasn't soberafter drinkingso much.
b He was still fairly soberafter drinkinga lot of beer.
The mistake that the student made in front of the class was humongous.
a The student made an insignificantmistake in front of the class.
b The mistakethe student made in front of the class was enormous.
The teenagerkept pesteringhis motheruntil she finally let him havethe car.
a His mother let him have the car after being asked many times.
b The teenagerdidn't get the car becausehe annoyedhis mother.
She was so excited that we couldn't stop her from runningoff at the mouth.
a She was so excitedthat we couldn't understandwhat she said.
b She was so excitedthat we couldn'tget her to stop talking.
That man had such bad B.o. that I had to hold my breath until I got off the bus.
a The man who smelledreallybad was breathtaking.
b I couldn'twait to get off the bus becausethat man had such bad B.O.

The spoiledbrat had a temper tantrum when he didn't get what he wanted.
a The terriblechild acted poorlywhen he got what he wanted.
b The terriblechild misbehavedwhen he couldn'tget what he wanted.

1-0 The teachertold the class that if they didn't settle down,they'd all get a detention.
a The teachertold the class they'd be stayinglate if they didn't behavethemselves.
b The teachertold the class they wouldn't haveto stay late if the noisecontinued.


is / stretching/ to / nis / bus / the / forwardl legs/ when/ loo(ing/
The passenger
ride is over.

sheaskedhim/to
mouth for hours,

quiet / been /
/ he / because/ running/ had / be / off / at / fie /

Theboy was/ the / up / six/ there/ pinned/ backseat/ in / because/ the / children/
window/ were/ against/ of the car'

Myfather told / when / | / his / during/ loo / much / to / me / made/ noise / down /
settle / favodte TV Program.

had
We arrivedat / safe/ the / and / airport / sound / evenl plane / though / the /
engine trouble.

Theyounggirl/she/when/saw/burst/brother/her/toy/tears/into/favorite/

her / break/ into manYPieces.

Hecouldnot/the/over/fact/get/sister/won/a/had/Ihat/his/medal /gold/at
the Olympics.

Theteacherwas/using/tollanguage/the/lhe/hear/students/were/appalled/
foul / in the classroom.


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v
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n b a r x
h b h e o h
a r b a a i
p t h p x
p t h r e
ac r o s s
I k g e mj
I n r v t e
i b e i x t
n w o d p
g k d o oa
g h m g z g
r x v z p e

l f t x h
a o b v h
v k z u i
r e b c x
d p l i d
g m c sz
t d p g g
a e c z p
v y r s r
l u g v r
r d i d I

x z v u n
f k s x r

1 appalling

2 at home

3 booze

4 brat

5 comeacross

6 dive

7 fling

I get over

I g u l pd o w n

10 jetlag

11 pester

f

1"2 stretchmy legs

h

y

z


Hanspicks up his friendat the airport terminal
ffians

Howwas the flight?

Amdre

Don'task!

*lams

F
Comeon,what happened?

Andre

footballplayersat down
I was sitting in the windowseat whenthis h
guy
a
seat
anda half.I was literally
took
up
nextto me. I'm not exaggerating;the

the windowfor the wholeflight.
p
up a

Hans

Oh,man.Thatsoundsterriblel

Andre

bestto try andget somesleep,but I couldn't
No kidding!| decidedit was probably
on andon.Theonlyway I couldescapehim was to
becausehe kept b
get up and s
my legsfor a few minutes.The momentI'd sit back down,
at the mouthagain.
o
he'dstart r-

**sfis

Nowonderyou lookso tired.
What a nightmare!

Andre

. He
Holdon. I'mjust gettingstarted.He kept orderingmoreandmoreb
for scotchuntilfinallyhe was

the flightattendants
was constantlyp
drinksuntil
d
He didn'tstopg
b
completely
wewere at leasthalfway throughtheflight.Oh and I almostforgot,he hadthe
worst B.O.God,it was a

Flans

Well,on the b

me In.

, at leastyou got heres-

and

S

&sldre

I'm still not finishedyet. Therewas this youngcoupleandtheir son sittingacrossthe
up
b
that kid was! Whenhe wasn'trunning
aisle.Whata s
place.

When
somebody
the
was
f
food
all
over
he
the
aisle,
anddown
into
d
finallytold himto s
,heb
I


ffians

That's unbelievable!
You'regoingto needa least a week to recoverfrom
that flight,nevermindthe j

Andse

Hopefully
l'll g

Her:c

Here'sthe car.Why don'twe put yourbagsin the trunk?Let me helpyou.
Theylook pretty heavy.

&mdre

Thanks.....What's
the apartmentyou foundfor us like?| hopeit's nor
ad

fEa$s

I think you'lllike it. lt's rightdowntown.
Theapartmentbuitdingis fairlynew
so everythingis clean.lt evenhas a niceswimmingpoolthat we'll be able
to use in the summer.lt took me a whileto c
a
a
n
affordabletwo-bedroom
that we'd be comfortablein.

Andse

Thanksforfinding
it for us. lt soundsgreat.I'm surethat l'il feel rightat
h
. I can't wait to get thereandput that flightb_
me.

Hmns

OK.Let'sget in the car.

As?dre

will it take longto get to the apartment?

ftlans

Don'tworry.We'llbe therein n

o

everything
fasterthan that.

t


WhopickedAndreuPat the airPort?
DoyouthinkAndrelookedrelaxedafterhisflight?lf not, howdid he look?
nextto himsat down?
whenthe passenger
Whydid Andrefeel uncomfortable
Whycouldn'tAndreget anysleepduringthe flight?
nextto him?
Whatwasthe onlywayAndrecouldget awayfromthe passenger
a|wayspesteringthe flight attendants?

Whywas the passenger
have?
What hygieneproblemdid the passenger
Whywasthe youngboyacrossthe aisleannoying?
whensomeonetold the youngboyto settledown?
what happened
Whattwo thingswill Andrehaveto recoverfrom?
Describethe apartmentthat Hansfoundfor himselfandAndre.
Howlongdid it take Hansto findthe apartment?
Whatdid Andrewantto put behindhim?
Howwill they get fromthe airportto the apartment?
Howlongwill it take to get to the apartment?


1 who took youto the airportwhenyou left yourcountry?were thereany
problems
at the airport?
2 Howdid you passthe time duringthe flight?
3 Howwas the foodthe airlineservedyou?Whatdid you eat?
4 Wereyou ableto sleepduringthe flight?Why?Whynot?
5 Whopickedyou up at the airportonceyou arrivedhere?Whatwas your
first impression
of him/her/them?

I

Didyou phoneyourfamilyto let them knowyou arrivedsafeandsound?
Wasit a longor shortconversation?
Whatwas said?

,{. Howlongdid it take for youto get overyourjeUag?
J

.+

Howlongdid it take untilyou felt at homehere?
Didyou buyanyduty-freeperfume,cigarettesor boozeon the flight here?
Willyou buyanythingon the flighthome?
Haveyou evernoticeda passenger
whosebehaviorwas appalling?
What
did helshedo?
Haveyoueverhadto pestera flightattendantor check-inclerkin orderto
get something
youwanted?Whatwas it?

f

Haveyou eversat nextto a passenger
who ran off at the mouth?what did
helshetalk about?


$I
1 Bob'srunningshoesarefiveyearsold'

A He's going bald.

is showing.
2 Bob'sunderwear

B He has sleep in his eYes.

3 Bobhasn'ttakena bathin daYs'

C He has bad breath.

4 Bobhasn'tbrushedhisteeth in weeks.

D His fly is open.

5 Bobhasbeeneatingtoo muchchocolate.

I He belches after everY meal.

6 Bobmakesnoiseafterhe eats'

F He has dandruff.

7 Bob'shairlineis receding.

G His runningshoesreek.

I Bobhaswhitestuffon his shoulders.

H He has zits on his face.

$ Bobcan't openhis eyesin the morning'

I

l- Bobnevercleanshis ears.

A He has hayfever.

2 Bob'spillowhassalivaon it.

B He hasearwax.

3 Bob alwaysremovesstuff fromhis nose.

C He alwayssnores.

4 Bobmakesnoisewhenhe sleeps'

D He droolswhilesleePing.

5 Bobhasn'twashedhis feet in days.

wrinkled.
E Hispantsare alwaYs

fi Bobeats a lot of beans.

today.
F He'shungover

7 Bob has itchy red eYes.

G He hastoe-jam.

I Bobdranktoo muchlast night.

H He farts a lot.

I Bobneverironshis Pants.

i He pickshis noseconstantlY.

il

H e h a s t e r r i b l eB . O .