Lesson 7
Media and press professions
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Tv Shows
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Roleplay
Person 1: Tonight we’re going to review the new James Bond film. Well, I really likedthis new James Bond actor very very much … he’s the best actor they’ve ever had in the role. Warm, human, even funny. A totally believable character.
Person 2: I have to agree, a perfect 007 type. Andrea, what do you think of the story?
Person 1: It was a standard story for a Bond movie, ah … the usual beautiful women, the usual evil villain, nothing new.
Person 2: Well, I’m surprised. I have to say that I thought the story was unusually good.
Person 1: Well, I can’t agree with you there.
Person 2: Well, what do you think about the photography?
Person 1: I was not very impressed at all by the photography. Everything looked fake, not real. I can’t believe that it was actually filmed in Africa where the story took place.
Person 2: I can’t believe you!! I haven’t seen such a good photography in a long time, especially in the action scene.
Person 1: Now, that brings up another weakness in the film: the special effects. Again, it’s just the same old stuff … the car that flies, the pen that’s really a gun, you get tired of that kind of thing.
Person 2: I hardly think you and I saw the same movie, Pauline. I have to say that the special effects were the best ever in a Bond film. For example, the scene …
Person 1: Excuse me, Paul. We’re going to have to break for a commercial.
Roleplay
Person 1: What do you think of the new Stephen King book?
Person 2: Oh, I couldn’t stop Reading it once I got started. I stayed up till four o’clock in the morning to finish it.
Person 1: And wasn’t the ending great?
Person 2: Yeah, it really was such a surprise. And the whole story moved along so fast, too!! Have you read that book that just came out about UFOs?
Person 1: Yeah. What a waste of time!! Just the same silly stuff about visitors to
earth from other planets.
Person 2: Aha, it said absolutely nothing new.
Person 1: You know, I’m sick of hearing those stories about little green creatures. If they’re real, how come no one can ever take a picture of them?
Reading
Well, I used to work for a big advertising agency, but I wasn’t happy there. I wasn’t getting very interesting work. Anyway, one of our clients came to me one day. I used to handle their account. It’s a travel company, and they said they really liked my work. They told me that if I started my own agency they would give me their account. That was a really lucky break for me!! It was quite a big account, so I decided to take a chance and open my own business. I soon found I was getting plenty of work on my own. And that’s how it all started. So, now I have a small company with the staff of just four. But we’re really busy, and I love what I’m doing!!
I was teaching English in a language school here in the city a few years ago. It was just a small school and I loved the work. But the owner of the school didn’t run it very well. Then, she decided to sell the school. I didn’t have the money to buy it. But I have an uncle who’s kind of rich. So, I asked him for a loan. My uncle lent me the money, and I bought the school. The school is doing pretty good. My uncle really came through for me. He gave me my lucky break. In fact, I’ve already paid him back almost all the money he lent me.
My name is Adam Watson and I’m a police officer. I analyze crime patterns. In other words, my job is to use the computer to try to guess when a crime will probably happen in a neighborhood. I can also find out the kind of crime and who the criminal might be. I start with a map of the neighborhood on the computer which shows where crimes have happened in the past. Then, I put into the computer all the information we have about criminals: their addresses, the crimes they committed in the past … that sort of thing. Then, the computer will figure out when the criminal is likely to commit a crime, where and when.
My name is Alex Robles and I’m a psychotherapist. I help people change their behaviors. There are people who have all kinds of fears, like a fear of heights, or a fear of leaving the house, or even a fear of dogs. I use a computer filled with virtual reality equipment, a special kind of visor you wear over your eyes so that you think you are really in a different place. You see things that the computer shows you, and you think that things are real. For example, when I treat someone who is afraid of heights, the patient puts on the virtual reality rig, and I can train them to think they’re looking down from a very high balcony or riding a 49-floors in a glass-walled elevator on a side of a building. After a while, they get used to the feeling and they can deal with real heights when they go out into the real world.