| Level | Topic | Speakers | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Difficult | Basketball | Man | 01:33 |
Pre-Listening Exercise
Basketball is a popular sport in many countries, and many people enjoy buying tickets to games, collecting basketball collectibles, and even basketball jerseys or clothing. Listen to this conversation.
Idioms
“dough” = informal for money
“I need more dough to pay off my credit card bill.”
“have money to burn” = have a lot of money
“Sara’s dad always gives her a big allowance, so she has money to burn.”
Listening Exercise
Listen to the recording and answer the questions. (See transcript)
Vocabulary and Sample Sentences
Here are some words and expressions that appear in the recording:
-
thrilling (adjective): exciting
– I watched a thrilling game on TV last night. -
drumming (verb): receive a beating, lose by a large margin
– The team received a real drumming from the national basketball team. -
dig oneself out of a hole (verb): get out of a difficult situation
– We couldn’t dig ourselves out of a hole when we were way behind in the game. -
heckle (verb): bother and harass someone
– The fans for the other team tried to heckle our players for having fouled one of their players. -
lunge (verb): move suddenly toward something
– The players ran into each other as they lunged for the lost ball. -
sluggish (adjective): moving slower than normal, poor performance
– He looked really sluggish during the first part of the game.
Post-Listening Exercise
How popular is basketball in your country as a recreational sport? Are their sports teams at the junior high school and high school levels? Do you enjoy playing or watching the game?