II. Listening Exercises

Listen to the conversation again by pressing the Play Audio button and read along with the conversation. Review the Key Vocabulary and the sample sentences.

Man: Hello. Telemarketer: Good evening, Sir. Is this Mr. Charles Philips? Man: Yes, it is. Telemarketer: Well, Mr. Phillips. This evening, I'm calling to offer you a special discount on . . . Man: Ah, no, let me guess. You want to sell a subscription to the newspaper or a great deal on airfare to Hawaii, right? [Well, . . .]. Or, you want to offer me an unbelievable bargain on flamenco dance lessons. Telemarketer: No, no, actually . . . Mr. Jones. [Huh?] Oh, sorry. That was the last guy. [Ah, great.] Uh, we want to offer you a free trial membership to our sports club downtown at the introductory price of $39.95 . . . Man: Thirty-nine ninety-five?!? I thought you said free! Uh, listen. I'm not interested. Telemarketer: Well, it includes unlimited access to all our facilities, including the gym, weight room, racketball courts, and swimming pool. Man: Again, I'm not interested. I have my own fitness program I do around the house anyway. Telemarketer: Well, this is a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Man: Nah. Like I said, I'll pass this time. And please put me on your "don't call" list. Telemarketer: Okay. It'll take between four and six months before your name will be removed from our database. [Months?!?] You might be called by another representative during that time. Man: Ah, man. Ah, great. Telemarketer: Have a nice evening, Mr. Williams. Man: Ah, man.

Key Vocabulary [Top]

• offer (verb): to provide or make available
  - This hotel sometimes offers on rooms on weekdays.

• subscription (noun): a payment for newspapers or magazines for a specific period of time
  - I bought a subscription to the city newspaper for the rest of the year.

• flamenco (noun): a style of dancing common to traditional Spanish gypsies
  - I recently joined a flamenco dance club at the university.

• trial (adjective): the process of testing something to find out about it
  - My brother decided to accept a trial membership to local health club.

• access (noun): the right to make use of something
  - Only members have access to the swimming pool in the morning.

Vocabulary Activities [Top]

Now, do these exercises to review the vocabulary. Then, return back to the Post-Listening Exercise to use the vocabulary in real conversations.

• Mixed-Up Sentence
• Sentence and Vocabulary Matching
• Text Completion Quiz