English Listenign Lesson Lab Online
Views #242 | Mid Intermediate 5

New York

Marion talks with her friend who was recently in New York.
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Marion: Yeah! So you said you went to New York there. How did you find New York?

Mauve: Oh, it was great. It was cool.

Marion: So what did you do there?

Mauve: Well, we went to see the Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty. Took a boat around Manhattan and went to a show on Broadway.

Marion: That must of have been exciting.

Mauve: Oh, it was great. It was brilliant. It was so professional.

Marion: Yeah. What was the show?

Mauve: It was really good. It was called, it was called "Wonderful Town!" I had never heard of it before but we just cued and got tickets during the day and whatever we could get we just went to see it. Yeah, but it was really, it was a comedy as well. It was really funny, and there was dance. It was very good.

Marion: Mm, yeah, so would you go back to New York?

Mauve: Yeah, I would, definitely. Um, it's funny though, like after I spent a week there, and after the week I feel I really know it very well, you know, we did a lot of walking, went to all the different districts, Chinatown, So-Ho, Grenich Village, and Central Park kind of, it's very easy to find your way around as well.

Marion: All right. Yeah, that's good. With the grid system, which Dublin doesn't have. You know Dublin for a tourists it's probably harder to find their way around. It's not as sign posted or well signaled. Not as well laid out kind of thing.

Marion: Yeah! Which of the kind of the areas did you prefer in New York. Did you have, like,one favorite?

Mauve: Um, I really liked Chinatown. Chinatown was lovely. We went into lots of little small shops and it was lovely, like, you know, really quaint little places. We ate in a few, we ate in one place there as well. It was nice

Marion: Yeah, real Chinese food.

Mauve: Yeah, exactly and like all Chinese people walking around. It's funny. You walk around chinatown and you just see Chinese people and you walk into the Italian district, you know, Little Italy, and you just, people are speaking Italian. It's fun, you know, when you're in one city

Marion: And the kind of change from one to the other, obvious as well.

Mauve: Yeah, exactly, yeah! See you kind of forget you're in New York, almost.

Marion: Cool. Thanks Mauve.

Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

find

How did you find New York?

When someone asks you 'how do you find' something they are asking for your opinion or what you think of it. Notice the following:

  1. Don't you find the city to be a little bit noisy.
  2. I find this class to be incredibly boring.

queued

We just queued and got tickets during the day.

To 'queue' is to make a line and wait for something. Notice the following:

  1. The children quickly queued up to go to lunch.
  2. People have been queued to buy tickets since yesterday.

find way around

It's very easy to find your way around in New York.

If it is easy to 'find your way around' a place it means that it is easy to understand the city and where places are located. Notice the following:

  1. I have lived here for three years and I still can't find my way around.
  2. How long did it take you to learn to find your way around the city.

grid system

New York has the grid system, which Dublin doesn't.

A 'grid system' is a city plan where all the streets run parallel or perpendicular to each other.  In some cases the streets run north and south or east and west. Notice the following:

  1. The grid system makes driving here really easy.
  2. The city had a good grid system, but the streets changed names at every corner.

quaint places

We went into small shops, which are really quaint little places.

A 'quaint' place is unusual or interesting in a good way and usually a little old fashioned. Notice the following:

  1. There are lots of quaint places to eat around here.
  2. He prefers to go to quaint places like coffee shops and bars.

Vocabulary Quiz

find • queued • find his way
grid system • quaint place
  1. It will only take him a few weeks to around the office.
  2. The planners did a good job with a when they built this city.
  3. There's a down the street that serves great breakfast.
  4. I him hilarious, even when he's not trying to be funny.
  5. People are always up at the bank on payday.
Answer the following questions about the interview.

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