General Listening Quiz

Listen to the conversation on camping adventures and read along with the conversation. Review the key vocabulary and the sample sentences.

Paul: Sara, I’ve been looking forward to our yearly campout for three weeks. [Me too.] It’s going to be a wonderful day for hiking tomorrow. The great outdoors. Camping under the stars. This is the life.

Sara: Yeah, but Paul, I’m a little bit worried about the weather though. The weatherman said it was going to rain later tonight.

Paul: Ah, nonsense. Nothing can spoil our adventure. Those weather reports are never right.

Sara: And it said there was a chance of high winds.

Paul: Ah. Don’t worry.

[Thunder]

Sara: Paul. Paul. Did you remember to bring our raincoats just in case, like I told you?

[Light rain]

Paul: Oh, no. I left them on the front porch.

[Heavy rain]

Sara: Hmm. What are we going to do now?

Paul: We’ll have to sleep in the car! Hurry get in!

[Door shut]

Sara: So, Paul, what are we going to do now?

Paul: Uh, how about playing a card game?

Sara: Uhh. I left them next to the picnic table. [ Aww] Hey, you don’t want me to go out in the rain and get them, do you?

Paul: Nah. That’s okay. So what now?

Sara: Well, we could head down the mountain and stay at that hotel we passed on the way up, or go home.

Paul: Hmm, why don’t we just make the best of it here and hope the weather clears.

Sara: That’s a good idea.

• nonsense (noun): untrue or incomprehensible statement or idea
  – Stop talking nonsense and tell us exactly what happened.
• spoil (verb): ruin; frustrate; block; prevent
  – I hope this bad weather doesn’t spoil our picnic this afternoon.
• porch (noun): a small area just outside the front door of homes where you can sit and relax
  – Let’s go sit on the porch and enjoy the cool evening breeze.
• head down (phrasal verb): go down
  – I’ll head down to the store after dinner to pick up some milk.
• make the best of it (idiom): do what you can under the circumstances
  – We’ve had to make the best of it ever since dad died last year.