Here we are together at last

— How are you, friends, on this fine Monday morning? Hope, you’ve enjoyed your week-end?

— In fact, I hate Monday mornings. I bet this cheerfulness of hers exasperates everybody. Atleastitmakesmefurious!

— Oh, why should it! You seem to feel low this morning. Whom did you stay with at the week­end? When did you come back to Minsk? With us - it was great! It couldn't have been better! I wish you’d come to Raubitchi with us. It’s something fantastic! The loveliest view I’ve ever seen! We’ve been shown the best ski-jump in Byelorussia. Why, it’s Byelorussian Switzerland.

— Like most actors you seem to be overemotional, Linda. I’m afraid I don’t really care for this “lovely views and skiing business”. My idea of a week-end is much simpler. It’s comfort and TV.

— You're getting difficult to deal with, Jimmy. I believe you must be jealous. You behave as if the whole world is to blame that we’ve had a lot of fun and you’d been staring into the box for 2 evenings. Really it’s getting unbearable.

— So you put it like this. If I’m getting so unbearable then will you kindly stop talking through your hat about the kind of Switzerland you’ve been to and where you, charming Linda, had been so happy!

— Will you drop it, guy! Whenever you two get together you immediately start a row. You must be really jealous, James. It’s not our fault you’d refused to go with us. We missed you there, Linda especially.

— You’re pulling my leg! It must have been a very touching picture. Linda’s missing me in between skiing-rides with the celebrities. Thecountry’schampionandtwointellectuals.

— For goodness sake, Jimmy, you must be crazy talking like that. Well, it serves me right! And I really missed you so much there! It could have been so much nicer there with you beside me.

— Oh, Linda! What an ass I’ve been! Please, forgive me, darling. You know I felt so lonely without you with this time dragging on!..

Ex. 9. Read the dialogue and compare your week-ends with Harry’s.

Harry’s weekend

Harry is American. He works as a sound engineer in a recording studio in San Francisco.

 

I: Interviewer H: Harry

I: Harry, could you tell me something about your weekends?

H: Sure.

I: Are they busy, or... don’t you do much?

H: No, they tend to be very busy. Er, you know I like to... er... have a good time. I mean, having a good time and enjoying yourself, looking for happiness in life is very important to American people. Uhm so I’m very busy during the week and I... I don’t have any spare time, so when the weekend comes we like to really let loose and we try very hard to have a good time.

I: So what sort of things do you do?

H: Well, let’s see. It begins on Friday night, of course er... we maybe go to a bar for the happy hour, you know, that's when the drinks are half price, er... usually we go to the theatre. Er... we go to bed early these days. You know, it’s not in to go to all-night parties any more, and we want to get up early on Saturday morning anyway. Saturday morning that’s the time for cleaning the house, washing the car, doing the laundry, and then it’s usually time to go out for lunch. Or maybe brunch, it depends on the time, but it's becoming more popular now to have brunch on Sunday.

I: Yes.

H: I’ll tell you about that in a minute, but... after lunch, maybe we’ll go for a walk on the beach, or play tennis, or go for a ran, you know, er... getting physical and getting er... fresh air you know somehow, somewhere. Sun... Saturday afternoon it's a time to play, really. And then in the evening we sometimes go to a movie, but usually we go to watch a band.

I: Oh.

H: Yea. Not, not in a concert, in a bar — you know bars in America are more like clubs.

I: Oh, yes.

H: You know, the music is free, and everything's very relaxed, er... and it's nice to just take in some jazz..

I: Mmm. So plenty to do on a Saturday.

H: Mmm.

I: Uhm... What about Sunday?

H: Well, on Sundays we get an enormous pile of newspapers delivered, and we just... er... sit in the garden over a cup of coffee, with maybe a continental breakfast and read the newspapers.

I: Relax.

H: Yea we have a nice quiet morning... The most popular meal for the weekend is brunch.

I: That's... er... breakfast and lunch combined, right?

H: That’s it. Brunch. It`s... it’s a good time... it’s time for all the family, grandparents, and children, and we... we usually go out to some restaurant that overlooks the ocean, and you know, you can spend two hours or more over brunch. It’s a huge meal. You have all the breakfast things, of course, and then you can also have all sorts of salads, ‘n’chicken, ‘n’pies, fruit, lots of fruit, it just goes on and on and on.

Ex. 10. Make a list of words and word combinations describing cultural activities and pastimes.