Intermediate-18

Expecting

Learning objectives:

Listen to the audio and try telling the story in your own words. Then, read the story and correct your mistakes.

Jennifer had exaggerated somewhat; the animal in question was only a docile young bullock. Dr Newton and the young people did not have much trouble getting it out of the garden, While they were engaged in this task, Mrs Newton telephoned Mr Eldridge, the farmer who owned the bullock, and asked him if he would mind coming round to collect it. In no time at all, Mr Eldridge and his son arrived on the scene with a truck. The Newtons all helped them to load the animal on to it and very soon order was restored. On Sunday, Dr Newton and Arthur were obliged to work in the garden again, after all.

As a result, it was a very tired Arthur who returned to London with Mary and Jennifer. He slept for most of the journey and had to be woken up on their arrival at Victoria Coach Station. The following morning, he was still exhausted but managed to crawl out of bed and get himself to work on time. He had a hectic day at the office; the telephone never stopped ringing and he was only able to catch a quick cheese roll at lunchtime. On the way home in the evening, he popped into the local for a pint and a chat, before arriving home slightly later than usual. Much to his surprise, he found that Mary was not at home. He found a note saying, “Gone out for a short while. Dinner in oven. Back soon.” As he was trying to take his dinner out of the oven without burning himself, Mary walked in.

Now, listen to the dialogue and then read it below. Practice speaking the lines out loud.

Dialogue

  MARY

 Hello, darling. Dinner all right?

   ARTHUR

 Oh, hello. Well, the vegetables are a bit dried up, but the meat’s OK, I suppose. Where have you been, then?

   MARY

 Oh, I’ve just been to see somebody, you know.

   ARTHUR

 Oh? Anybody I know?

   MARY

 Yes, as a matter of fact. I’ve been to the doctor’s.

   ARTHUR

 The doctor’s? You didn’t say anything about being unwell. What’s the matter, then?

   MARY

 Nothing.

   ARTHUR

 Come on, out with it! What did you have to go and see him for?

   MARY

 Oh, nothing really. Just a routine check-up.

   ARTHUR

 That sounds a bit peculiar to me. Sure you haven’t been somewhere else you don’t want to tell me about?

   MARY

 No, really, I’ve been to the doctor’s and there was a good reason for it.

   ARTHUR

 Oh well, I suppose you’ll tell me about it in your own good time. I say, look at the time. There’s a play on the box I want to watch. Are you coming?

   MARY

 Well, no, actually. There’s something I have to tell you.

   ARTHUR

 Well, let’s have it then. I don’t want to miss the start of the play.

   MARY

 Well, it looks like you are going to be a father.

Complete the sentences with the correct form or tense of the verb in brackets.

a)   Mary asked Arthur if his dinner (be) all right.

b)   Arthur asked Mary where she (be).

c)    Arthur asked Mary if he (know) the person she (visit) earlier in the evening.

d)   Mary (not say) she (feel) unwell.

e)   Arthur asked Mary what the matter (be).

f)    Arthur (think) Mary’s explanation (sound) a little strange.

g)   Arthur (suppose) that Mary (tell) him about it later.

h)   Arthur always (enjoy) (watch) good plays on television.

Choose the best alternatives to complete the sentences.

a)   Vegetables should be                 (damp / moist / wet / soggy)

b)   Mary ………….. the doctor.         (consulted / insulted / examined / conferred)

c)    Mary didn’t ……….. Arthur she was unwell.                (tell / say / report / inform)

d)   Arthur thought it was …………….. Mary went to the doctor just for a check-up.                 (a curiosity / amazing / bizarre / odd)

e)   Mary had been to the doctor’s, she hadn’t ……. else.                                                (been somewhere / gone somewhere / been anywhere / gone anywhere)

f)    Mary …                           (had to tell Arthur something / should tell Arthur something / had something to tell Arthur / got something to tell Arthur)

g)   Arthur did not want to miss ……… the play.     (to see / seeing / having to see / having seen)

h)   Arthur ………. a father.               (seemed to be / appeared to be / was apparently going to be / looked like)

Listen to the audio and try answering the questions.

a)   According to the author, the best way to get through pregnancy is …                   (to look at oneself sideways / to keep smiling / not to look at oneself sideways / not to see a mirror)

b)   A pregnant woman is most likely to look at her reflection … (in the street / in the house / in the mirror / in a shop)

c)    The author says that pregnant women feel distressed …                  (when they are running along the road / when the wind blows / when they suddenly see a reflection of themselves / when they are at home)

d)   The author thinks …                   (it is comforting for pregnant women to be told Italians would treat them like goddesses / it is of no comfort to be told this / that Italian women are goddesses / that pregnant women are not helped in England)

e)   People in shops look at pregnant women …               (to see of they belong to a hand / to see if they are married or not / to inspect their jewellery / to see if the gold on their ring is genuine)

f)    The author …                            (had not had any babies because she was afraid of The Bomb / was not going to have any more babies for this reason / admired people who had not had babies because of The Bomb / occasionally envied people who did not have babies for this reason)

g)   The author was especially depressed when …                       (she visited a friend who had just had a baby / when she was shopping with her husband / when driving in her husband’s Jensen / when she was trying out buggies)

h)   How would you describe the tone of this passage?               (cynical / cheerful / melancholic / irreverent)

Now, read the text and check your answers.

Actually, the best way to keep cheerful when you are having a baby is never to look at yourself sideways. This is the crux of the matter. If you can get through nine months without ever looking sideways, you will keep smiling. It’s much easier to say than do. I mean, you might not feel tempted to spend long hours looking sideways at yourself when you’re at home, but when your walking along the road and there is a breeze blowing and you suddenly catch sight of yourself in a shop window, you can suddenly feel very distressed. Just for a moment, it doesn’t seem possible for anyone to be that shape and human.

It's no good people telling you that in Italy you would be treated like a sacred cow, that simply doesn’t help one bit, because in England you are treated like the noun and not the adjective. I mean, to be openly pregnant in public is an offence. It’s as if no one else had ever been that way before, or that you are some sort of freak. People in shops make remarks and stare at your hand to check if you are wearing a wedding ring. Old ladies are the worst. They cannot wait to slap swing doors on your stomach and bash you with their handbags, because to them you are a blatant example of someone who’s had sex and Doesn’t Mind Who Knows It.

Sometimes, I used to wish I’d been one of those people who won’t have babies because of The Bomb. Not when I was out with my husband and he was rushing up and down baby departments, trying the gears on buggies as if they were Jensens, but when I was sitting in a heap at a party watching sticky thin girls, or when I got one of those “I’ll never be free again” days on. Actually, they were generally brought on by going to see someone when actually had a baby!

There’s nothing worse, when you are about to give birth, than going to see someone who just has. By the time they have finished removing the nappies from your cup of tea, you feel like running out and throwing yourself under a train.

(Taken from Coronet Among the Weeds, by Charlotte Bingham)



Oral Practice

Practice saying these phrases and sentences from the dialogue.

Angela is being asked some questions about when she was pregnant. Listen to her answers and select the correct option for each question.

When Angela discovered she was pregnant, she ...

• was at first frightened and then excited.
• was first excited and then scared.
• was frightened until the baby was born.
• thought she would be scared for sixteen years.

Angela told a story ...

• about when she was learning to drive.
• about her friend, Chris.
• about forgetting her car keys.
• about her driving test.

Chris passed her driving test, she thought, because the examiner ...

• was sorry for her.
• made allowances for her being pregnant.
• was unable to concentrate on watching her driving during the first past of the test.
• was sympathetic to pregnant women.

Angela went to Paris ...

• when she first knew she was pregnant.
• to stay with a rich art-historian.
• when she was six months pregnant.
• because she was feeling emotional.

Angela went to the lecture because ...

• she was very interested in the history of art.
• Mike was interested in the history of art.
• she had been pursuaded this would please Henry.
• she was tired.

Listen to the following examples of conditional statements and practice the responses.