Authentic conversations by native British speakers
BRITISH BAR CHAT
AUDIO
t a h c r a b h Britis Pets This month two British men, Nick and Kerry, are talking about pets, and the pros and cons of keeping them. Listen to their conversation and answer these questions. Remember, you don’t have to understand every word in order to answer the questions. Just listen for the key words (the most important words in the conversation): 1. According to the speakers, what are the arguments in favour of having a pet? 2. What are the arguments against having a pet? Nick: Kenny: Nick: Kenny: Nick: Kenny: Nick:
Kenny:
Nick: Kenny:
Nick:
Kenny:
Nick:
Kenny:
Nick: Kenny:
Nick:
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Oh, I, er, got my son a pet dog for his birthday. A pet? A dog. Yeah. A dog? For your son? He’s been wanting that pet for ages and ages. He’s so happy. You should see him now playing with it all day. But you live in the middle of the city, for God’s sake. Well my son, you know, he needs something, he needs something to play with. You know he can’t go out because all of his friends live miles away. But an animal’s a living thing. It’s not, it’s not a plaything for, for someone’s kid. I mean, you know, it’s, it’s cruel. Well, it’s helping my son to learn how to care for things. I think, you know, it’s the best thing for my son. That’s great, but if you can’t care for it, it’s a big dog living in the centre of the city. It’s just, it’s just going to suffer, isn’t it? Well he’s got no friends. You know, he goes out, there’s a big busy road there, he can’t play in the street, all his friends live, you know, he’s got, he’s, he’s only five and he can’t, you know, get on the bus and go see them so I thought a dog would be his best friend from now on. No, he’s, he’s just, he’s not even gonna know how to treat it. Anyway, you’re going to have to teach him, and it’s just, like, it’s just [there’s] no room for him to exercise. I mean, you know, what, what’s he going to do? Well, it’s the best thing. And also there’s studies that say that having a pet reduces stress level, makes you, you can live longer, makes you healthier. Well, it does if the animal, if the animal’s healthy, like, out in the country where it can run around in the field. Oh, here he is. Oh, look! Here he comes. Here boy! Here boy! Oh, he’s so cute. Here boy! Oh, look I think he might… Oh, isn’t he so cute? Oh I’m getting one of these. Yeah, I can see you now. You’ll have one next week.
GLOSSARY a pet n an animal that lives in your house with you er/erm exp this is the noise that people make as they are thinking what to say next ages n for a long time for God’s sake exp inform this expression is used to show you are angry about something miles away exp far away you know exp
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people often say this to check that the other person is understanding a busy road n a road with many cars on it gonna abbr going to l ke exp people often use this when they are thinking about what to say next. It is used to fill space in a conversation and doesn’t mean anything cute adj nice and attractive
