Advanced everyday english: Advanced vocabulary, phrasal verbs, idioms and expressions - Collins Steven 2011

Listen to the CD track 7
Chapter Six in Use

Interview with the prime minister

INTERVIEWER: Many of the voters who fell for your pre-election hype are now beginning to feel disgruntled, saying that you have been coming out with blatant lies. Have your objectives shifted?

PRIME MINISTER: No, not at all. Let me take you through what had been going on over the last ten years, before we took over. The previous government ran down all the public services, which alienated the entire British public. They were also guilty of stringing the people along on many other issues. Now the excitement of having a new government is dying down, so we have to sort out the mess we were left in. It has emerged that things are going to take longer than expected, and this is a bitter pill to swallow for some people, but we will be unveiling new strategies in the coming weeks.

INTERVIEWER: As far as education is concerned, you have been accused of dumbing down the syllabuses and undermining the teachers’ authority.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, for many years schools have been under-achieving. You know, it’s just not on. We expect all our children to have a good basic grounding in the main subjects, but many of our youngsters are straying from the right path when they leave school. I don’t want to be branded as a teacher-hater but I would like it to be known that things have to change.

Email from John to his friend Martin

Hey Martin!

Where were you on Friday night? We all went for a drink at the Coach and Horses. Your friend Tim, who is not endowed with brains even when he’s sober, and grates on me more and more each time I see him, got involved in a skirmish with another guy who he said was pestering his girlfriend. Tim thought this bloke was going to be a pushover, as he was half his size, but the little guy was not unnerved by the prospect of a fight, even though his chances of success were slim. Anyway, as they got stuck in, there was uproar in the pub, and I tried to keep the two of them at bay.

In the end, they shook hands and bought each other drinks. It’s funny how things turn out!

Hope we can get together next week and catch up.

All the best

John