Spotlight - 10.2019

54 Spotlight 10/2019 EVERYDAY ENGLISH

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EVERYDAY ENGLISH

An online course

DAGMAR TAYLOR presents four dialogues about

doing a course online. Read them and try the exercises.

MEDIUM AUDIO PLUS

1. Better than expected
   Friends Ben and Kate are catching up in the pub after work.


2. Tell me more
   Kate is telling Ben about the online course she is doing.

Ben: (takes a sip) Ah! That’s better.

What a day! Sometimes, I hate

my job. I really need to start

looking for something else.

Kate: You’ve been saying that for

years. What on earth is stop-

ping you?

Ben: I just never get round to it,

I suppose.

Kate: You know what they say...

there’s no time like the

present.

Ben: I know, I know. Maybe I’ll

update my CV this weekend.

How’s your online course

going?

Kate: Changing the subject, are we?

(laughs) Yeah, the course is

really good. Definitely better

than I expected.

Ben: What is it you’re doing again?

Kate: I’m doing a short course in

bookkeeping for personal and

business accounting.

Ben: Oh, wow! That sounds very

grown up.

Ben: So, tell me a bit more about

this course you’re doing. I’m

intrigued. How long does it go

for? And do you get a recog-

nized qualification at the end

of it?

Kate: It’s a four-week course. There’s

no formal qualification as

such, but I think it’ll look

good on my CV anyway. I’m

doing it for myself more than

anything. I’ve always dreamed

of having my own business,

and I’m hoping that the skills

I learn on this course will give

me the confidence to take the

plunge.

Ben: Fair enough. It certainly can’t

hurt. But wouldn’t you prefer

to be in a class with other

students and a teacher?

Kate: If I had the time, I suppose I

would. But this suits me very

well at the moment.

Tips

⋅ Starting a question with What on

earth...? shows that you feel surprised

by the thing that you’re asking about.

⋅ When you get round to doing

something (UK), you find the time to

do it.

⋅ I suppose is often used at the end of

a statement to show that you think

something is true or that you haven’t

thought about it before.

⋅ There’s no time like the present is

a saying that means now is the best

time to do something, not in the

future.

⋅ If something is described as grown

up, the speaker means that it is

sensible and typical of an adult.

Tips

⋅ Recognized qualifications are exams

or courses of study that are officially

accepted and approved of.

⋅ You can use the structure There’s^

no ... as such to say that what you

mean by the word you are using to

describe something is not the exact

sense of the word.

⋅ When you take the plunge (ifml.),^ you

decide to do something important

or difficult, especially after thinking

about it for a long time.

⋅ Fair enough (UK ifml.) is used to say

that an idea or suggestion seems

sensible.

⋅ If something suits you, it’s easy to do

or useful for you.

accounting [E(kaUntIN]

, Buchhaltung, Buch-

führung

approved [E(pru:vd]

, anerkannt, zugelassen

confidence [(kQnfIdEns]

, Selbstvertrauen

CV (curriculum vitae)

[)si: (vi:]

, Lebenslauf

intrigued [In(tri:gd]

, fasziniert

sensible [(sensEb&l]

, vernünftig