Mixer #45 | Intermediate B1

What is bad about your town?

Six people share what they do not like about their town.

Anita, Taiwan
speakerWhat is bad about my hometown? I'm from Taiwan and I come from Taipei, and Taipei is a very big city in Taiwan but it's very dirty and the air is bad, the traffic is bad. I don't feel like living in Taipei, so that's why my mom and dad choose to live in the side city near Taipei.

Al, England
speakerMy hometown is called Stevenich and there's nothing I can say that's positive about my hometown. It has no green spaces, no cultural icons and really nowhere to go, so don't go there.

Barbara, Australia
speakerOne thing bad about my hometown, well, my hometown is Perth, in Western Australia, and I guess the only bad thing I can think of is the public transport system, the buses, they really don't run on time. There's not enough of them. The bus fleet is fairly old. That's really one bad thing about my hometown.

Jeff, Canada
speakerWhat's one bad thing about my hometown? I live in a small little island on the east coast of Canada and there's not much there. There's not much entertainment. There's no restaurants. There's no movie theaters, so it's very quiet. Some people would say very boring, but I think you have to find other things to do like hiking or you learn how to play the guitar and play music and reading and writing so I think the bad thing about my hometown is there's not much to do, but it makes you create other things and do other things.

Mark, The Unites States
speakerSomething bad about my hometown? I guess for me something bad would be it's not very diverse. There's lots of white people and lots of black people, but that's about it. There aren't a lot of Asian people or Europeans or people of different ethnicities and I'm someone who likes New York or a more international type place, so I wish it were a little more diverse.

Simon, Canada
speakerVancouver? What's not good about Vancouver? Well, I think that the people of Vancouver overrate the city, and that's kind of, they think it's the best place to live on earth. It's the nicest looking city on earth. Yes, it's beautiful. It's a really nice place to live but it also rains eight months of the year and it's probably not the most cosmopolitan city on earth.

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson!

run on time

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The buses don't run on time.

Kinds of transportation that 'run on time' such as buses, and trains, depart and arrive on scheduled. They are not late. Notice the following:

  1. The trains in Tokyo always run on time.
  2. In my city, buses rarely run on time and often have no timetable.

fleet

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The bus fleet is fairly old.

A 'fleet' is a group of some kind of transportation; for example, buses, ships or airplanes. Notice the following:

  1. The city will replace it's aging fleet of buses by the end of the year.
  2. The seaside village was home to a small fishing fleet.

diverse

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I wish my city were a little more diverse.

We use 'diverse' to talk about differences within a group of similar things. Notice the following:

  1. America is a culturally diverse country.
  2. I've got diverse musical tastes. I download rock, pop, jazz, classical, just about everything.

overrate

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The people of Vancouver overrate the city.

To 'overrate' someone or something means to have a higher opinion than we should. Notice the following:

  1. Many companies overrate the importance of English skills.
  2. I think people overrate traveling. I love to relax at home.

cosmopolitan

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It's probably not the most cosmopolitan city on earth.

A 'cosmopolitan' city is diverse and modern. Notice the following:

  1. Hong Kong is probably the most cosmopolitan city in China.
  2. My home town is small and not very cosmopolitan.

Vocabulary Quiz

run on time • fleet • diverse
overrated • cosmopolitan
  1. She thinks that she is very , but she really has no experience with people from different countries.
  2. The restaurant owns a of motorcycles for deliveries.
  3. The group of students in our class is . There are people from different countries and of all ages.
  4. Sometimes it feels like no flights .
  5. I think a lot of the expensive restaurants around here are .
Answer the following questions about the interview.

One Minute English Video

Speakers
Mixer Video #45
What is a bad thing about your hometown?

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