EVERYDAY ENGLISH 13/2019 Spotlight 55
- Be prepared
Dougie is talking to Keith about retirement. - To o b u sy
Keith and Dougie are tr ying to arrange their next round of golf.
Keith: What about you? When did
you retire?
Dougie: I was offered early retire-
ment about five years ago.
I actually liked my job, but
they made me such a good
offer that I couldn’t say no.
Keith: How old were you?
Dougie: Fifty-seven. I thought I’d be
working for ten more years.
Keith: So, how did you adjust to
retirement?Dougie: I’ll be honest with you: it
wasn’t easy. I really didn’t
know what to do with my-
self for the first six months.
I hadn’t prepared for retire-
ment at all.
Keith: Being prepared is so impor-
tant. My boss warned me
about that, and he basically
nagged me to start prepar-
ing myself. He’s the reason
I joined the golf club.Keith: Great game, Dougie. Well
played! How about another
game sometime next week?
Dougie: Yeah, sure. How about
We d n e s d a y m o r n i n g?
Keith: I don’t have time on
We d n e s d a y, I ’m a f r a i d. The
wife’s away at a conference
and I’m looking after my
granddaughter.
Dougie: What about Thursday, then?
Keith: No, sorr y. We’re having thehall painted on Thursday.
I’ll have to be in to get things
ready for the painter. I think
I could manage on Friday,
though.
Dougie: Friday it is. No, wait. I think
I’ve got a dentist’s appoint-
ment. I’ll check when I get
home and text you, OK?
Keith: No problem. It was easier
to find time when we were
working.Tips
⋅ I’ll be honest with you can be used
at the beginning of a sentence to
emphasize that the speaker is not
hiding the truth about something.
⋅ If someone says that they don’t know
what do with themselves, it means
that they don’t know what to do with
their time.
⋅ (Not) at all means “in any way” or “to
any degree”.
⋅ Basically can be used when you are
stating what is important about a
situation.
⋅ If you nag someone, you keep asking
him or her to do something.Tips
⋅ Sometimes, men refer to their wives
as the wife (ifml.) rather than “my
wife”.
⋅ We u s e “have” + object + “-ed” — as in^
have the hall painted — when we talk
about someone else doing something
for us.
⋅ When someone says that they have
to be in, they mean that they have to
stay at home.
⋅ Here, manage is used to mean “be
able to do something at a particular
time”.
⋅ When two or more people reach a
consensus after considering various
options, it is can be used in this way
to confirm the choice.adjust [E(dZVst]
, hier: sich gewöhnen
text [tekst]
, eine SMS sendenDo you, like Keith, have a bit of
time on your hands? Then why
don’t you practise the words and
phrases you’ve just learned in
Spotlight plus: spotlight-online.
de/spotlight-plus