Do you know the English expression “to be miles away“? Read the conversation below. Can you guess the meaning?
James: Are you OK? You look like you are miles away. You really should get some work done.
Dennis: Yeah, I’m OK. I was just thinking of my vacation, that’s all.
Does it mean:
a) to be daydreaming about something
b) to look upset
c) to be sad
d) to be sleeping
The answer is below!↓
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Answer: a) to be daydreaming about something
Do you know the English expression “over and over“? Read the conversation below. Can you guess the meaning?
Benji: Mum, will you buy me that new computer game?
Nina: I’ve told you over and over, we don’t have the money to buy games!
Does it mean:
a) above and below
b) to finish something
c) repeatedly
d) angrily
The answer is below! ↓
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Answer: c) repeatedly
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A bird sings in our garden. The bird always sings at sunrise. Sometimes this bird sings all day. To be honest, it can drive us crazy. But, we have never seen this bird. We know the song of most birds in our garden. But this bird is a mystery.
The bird song is e♭, a♭, g♭ – e flat, a flat, g flat. When I hear it I think ‘I like meat’. Everyone says this is strange “Why do you think the bird is singing ‘I like meat’?” they ask.
Maybe the bird is singing ‘I like sun’ or ‘Come to me’. But the first time I heard it I thought ‘I like meat’, so this mystery bird will always have that name for me.
By Patricia @ I Talk You Talk Press
Do you know the English expression the “teacher’s pet“? Read the conversation below. Can you guess the meaning?
Lily: Who is the teacher’s pet in your class?
George: It’s Mandy. She always does her homework on time, and the teacher is always praising her.
Does it mean:
a) the teacher’s favourite student
b) a student the teacher doesn’t like
c) a student who never fails a test
d) an animal which lives in the school
The answer is below!↓
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Answer: a) the teacher’s favourite student
Do you know the English expression “to give (someone) a hard time“? Read the conversation below. Can you guess the meaning?
Louise: What did your mum say when you got home so late last night?
Amanda: She gave me a hard time. She was still shouting at me this morning.
Does it mean:
a) make someone suffer
b) praise someone
c) hit someone
d) make someone annoyed
The answer is below!↓
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Answer: a) make someone suffer
My mother died seventeen years ago. It is not only her family who remember her. Friends and neighbours remember her too. One thing they remember is her garden. Close to the street, she had a bed of freesias. Every spring, anyone who walked past her house could smell the beautiful perfume of these white spring flowers.
When my mother died, we had to sell her house. But family and friends took freesia bulbs to remember her by. There were 1000s of bulbs so the people who bought her house did not lose her famous freesias.
I didn’t live in NZ then. My sister saved freesia bulbs for me. She gave them to me when I came back to live in NZ.
The freesias did not do well in my garden. Every year the green leaves would come out of the ground, but there were no flowers. This year is different.
This year I have some beautiful perfumed freesias. I cut some and put them in a vase in the entrance hall. Today I went to visit my childhood friend. Seventeen years ago, she took freesia bulbs from my mother’s house.
She had some freesias in a vase in her house. We drank coffee and laughed. But for a moment we talked about freesias and we remembered my mother.
By Patricia @ I Talk You Talk Press
Do you know the English verb “to nibble“? Read the conversation below. Can you guess the answer?
Paulo: Did your hamster eat the new food you bought?
Helena: No. He just nibbled on it and then left it. I don’t think he likes it.
Does it mean:
a) take large bites of something
b) eat something whole
c) drink something
d) take small bites of something
The answer is below!↓
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Answer: d) take small bites of something
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Maisie goes swimming every morning before she goes to work. She leaves home at 5:30am and drives to the swimming pool. She swims for an hour, then hurries home for a shower and breakfast before she leaves for work at 8am.
On Wednesday night, Maisie had a big fight with her boyfriend and they broke up. On Thursday morning, Maisie drove to the swimming pool as usual. She did not feel happy. She was crying. She was thinking about her ex-boyfriend. They worked in the same office and so Maisie did not want to go to work.
I’ll feel better when I am swimming, she thought. She parked the car opposite the sports centre, took her sports bag from the back seat and hurried into the building.
While Maisie was swimming, her car started to move. Very, very, slowly the car moved out of the car park and across the road. It was early morning so the road was empty. There were no people walking and no other cars on the road.
There was an announcement on the loud speaker system in the swimming pool. “Is the owner of a white Honda, number plate XJY436, in the pool?”
XJY436! That’s my car, thought Maisie. She swam to the side of the pool and climbed out. A lifeguard was standing next to the pool. Maisie ran up to him. “That’s my car,” she said. “Did I leave the lights on?”
“No,” said the lifeguard. He was laughing. “Come and see.”
Maisie followed the lifeguard out to the entrance of the sports centre. “Look!” said the lifeguard. He pointed to the big entrance doors.
“Oh, no!” shouted Maisie. Her car was in the doorway. It was half inside the building and half outside. No one could go in or out of the sports centre.
“Do you have your car keys?” asked the lifeguard.
Maisie ran to the changing rooms and came back with her car keys.
“I’ll drive it out for you,” said the lifeguard. “You are too wet.”
He took Maisie’s keys, got into the car and reversed out onto the road. He parked the car and came back in.
“The hand brake was not on,” he said. “The road goes down a little from the car park to the sports centre. The car must have rolled from where you parked it, to here.”
Maisie was very red. “I am an idiot!” she said. “I broke up with my boyfriend. I was thinking about that all the time and I forgot to put the handbrake on.”
The lifeguard gave her the car keys. “I think your boyfriend is the idiot. Who would want to break up with you?”
Maisie looked at the lifeguard. He was very cute. Perhaps I am not so sad. I wonder if this guy works every morning?
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I took my car for its inspection a few weeks ago. The inspection is called “shaken” in Japanese. I always take my car to the same place. They give good service. A month before the inspection is due, they send me a postcard. If I take the postcard with me on the day of the inspection, I can get a free oil change.
This year, they also cleaned my car inside and outside. (My car wasn’t so dirty, but it needed a vacuum!) A few parts needed replacing, and there was a water leak, but there were no major problems. I was relieved, because my car is over ten years old.
Older cars tend to have problems, which can be expensive. The only problem I have is the key. Sometimes it doesn’t work. I tried changing the battery and it became slightly better, but sometimes when I press the button, it doesn’t unlock the car and I have to press it many times. Sometimes I wish my car had an old-style key!
Anyway, the next inspection is in two years’ time. I will take care of my car and drive carefully until then.
By Heather @ I Talk You Talk Press
Can you complete this English expression? It means “a clever person”.
A smart……
a) biscuit
b) cookie
c) banana
d) apple
The answer is below!↓
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Answer: b) cookie
A smart cookie!
I Talk You Talk Press EXTRA 
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