SKILLS BOOST
B1 LISTENING 1– 6 AUDIOSCRIPTS
B1 LISTENING 1
Hi! Welcome to this week’s Guide for Globetrotters. I’m Tim Fowler
and this week we’ll be taking in the sights of beautiful Krakow, one of the
oldest cities in Poland.
Well, it’s a beautiful spring
day here in Krakow and the sun is shining brightly – but I’ve got my umbrella
with me and I’m not letting go! If you’ve ever been to Krakow on Easter Monday
you’ll know why….
Phew, missed! Getting wet is an
Easter tradition here. In the past,
young people used to throw water at each other on Easter Monday – if you got
wet you would have good luck in your marriage!
This tradition continues until today, and all over the city you can see
people throwing water and people getting very wet. That’s why I came prepared with my umbrella…
On a beautiful day like this
there’s no better place to be in Krakow than where I am right now. The Planty are beautiful tree lined gardens
which circle the city. This is the best place in the city to people watch, and
from the Planty you can get to the old town where you’ll come across small
galleries, explore book shops and visit churches. And the best place for a wonderful view of
the city? Well, that’s a well- kept
secret - the roof top café of Krakow’s music academy. Mm, amazing!
If you’re in Krakow for any time
at all, the Museum of Contemporary Art is an absolute must -see. It’s a
fascinating place. Have you seen Steven
Spielberg’s famous movie Schindler’s List?
Well, you might be interested to know that this museum was built on the site of
Oskar Schindler’s factory. There’s some
amazing art works here – with exhibitions which change all the time so you’ll
always see something new. Then there are film rooms, video boxes – something
for everyone…
All this walking around has got
me feeling pretty hungry! So it’s lucky
for me that I’m here in Krakow, also known as cake city! There is an amazing
choice of cafés and cake shops in Krakow - I’m at one now, tucking into some
absolutely delicious apple cake! Mmmmmm. This really is just melt in the mouth stuff…
I’ve just put my umbrella back
in the hotel. I was feeling a little bit silly carrying it around on such a
sunny day and I don’t think I’ll be needing it any more…haven’t seen anyone
throwing water for a while now. Well, I’m now strolling along the cobbled
streets of Ulica Kanonicza: a gorgeous lane of fourteenth century
townhouses. You can feel the history oozing out of this place - over there was, for a
long time, a popular meeting place for many of the most famous Polish writers
and… Aagh!
Where was my umbrella when I
needed it?
B1 LISTENING 3
Interviewer Hello and welcome to this week’s instalment
of Food Bites. I’m Anita Cole. Now if
you haven’t been living in a kitchen cupboard for the last month I’m sure you
will have heard of Home Chef – the eat-out-at-home craze that’s so very popular
in Mexico and the USA at the moment. Yup, Home Chef is the website which puts
you in touch with professional chefs who will come out to your house and cook
dinner for you and your friends. Tonight I’ll find out more by talking to Pedro
Cambra, chef and founder of the website.
Welcome Pedro – wonderful to have you on the show.
Pedro Hello, Anita. Good to be here.
Interviewer Now, tell me – why did you decide to set up
Home Chef?
Pedro Well, I’ve always wanted to set
up my own business. I trained as a chef, and I was working at a restaurant at
the time. A few years ago, I was annoyed, because almost every weekend people
were asking me to come to their houses and cook for them. If friends were having a dinner party they
always invited me, but to cook! I didn’t
get to relax, so it wasn’t much fun. So I said to my friends, if you like my
food so much why don’t you come to the restaurant and eat with your friends
there?
Interviewer And why do they prefer eating at home?
Pedro Well, you know, there are a lot
of reasons why people don’t want to eat out. Maybe smart restaurants aren’t so
convenient for parents with young children, for example… and then some people
live in neighbourhoods where there aren’t many places to go out and eat.
Interviewer And people don’t enjoy cooking for their
friends?
Pedro A lot of people just don’t want
to have a dinner party at home because they don’t want to cook for their
friends. If you’re not an experienced chef, it can get pretty stressful trying
to cook a three course meal and enjoy your friends’ company at the same time.
People want to spend time chatting and relaxing, not stuck in a hot kitchen
working hard!
Interviewer Was it difficult to set up Home Chef? What
were the challenges?
Pedro Actually, I’ve found it pretty
easy. When I told my friends about my
new business idea they were pretty happy.
They told all of their friends, and I got a load of business real quick.
The challenges: well I had to be really organised. When I was cooking in my friends’ kitchens it
was pretty easy, pretty relaxed: I knew them and I knew their kitchens – where they
kept their garlic, where the knives were…all that kind of thing. The problem with cooking for strangers was
that I would go to their house and they would tell me, ‘Actually we always eat
out so we don’t have any pots and pans.’ No pots and pans! So that was… yeah…
That was the biggest challenge. Now I have a big van which is full of kitchen
equipment, and when I arrive at a house I can take everything I need.
Interviewer I hear Home Chef is getting bigger and
bigger…
Pedro Yeah, well, a lot of customers
started asking me about different types of food. My style of cooking is quite
traditional Mexican food, so I decided to hire two Japanese sushi chefs. These chefs go to the customer’s house and
show the dinner party guests how to make sushi.
So everyone gets really involved and the food becomes the centre of the
occasion.
Interviewer A sushi making party! Now, that does sound like fun… And all in the comfort of your own home.
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