Smoking: Kicking the Habit | Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

Level:	Topic:	Speakers:	Length:
intermediate	smoking	man - woman	01:39

Pre-Listening Exercise

What effects does smoking have on the human body? At way age do people often start smoking and how difficult can it be to quit?

Idioms

"go up in smoke" = if a plan goes up in smoke, the it didn't work out and failed
"We wanted to go on a trip, but our plan went up in smoke when I lost my job."

"blow smoke" = to trick, lie, or deceive people
"Brandon said he stopped using drugs, but he's just blowing smoke."

Listening Exercise

A. Listen to the recording and answer the questions.

The man smokes _______ packs of cigarettes a day.

two

three

one

Woman: No, you can't. You smoke two packs a day, and I DON'T call that a casual smoker.

The man and woman are ____.

coworkers

husband and wife

siblings

Man: Hey, it's my choice, so butt out. We've talked about this before, and I'm tired of you, mom, and dad nagging me about it all the time.

Where does the man probably smoke at home?

on the porch

in his bedroom

in the bathroom

Man: It's not a problem. I smoke outside.

The woman knows the man's son, Jacob, is smoking because ____.

she caught him smoking at school

she discovered his habit at her house

he confessed to her about his problem

Woman: Really. Well, what about these cigarettes? [ What? ] Right here! [ Oh! ] I found them in his clothes when he stayed over last night. Listen.

Based on the tone of the conversation, the man is _____ the woman's ideas.

open to

resistant to

confused with

Woman: Figure it out. Listen. I ('ve) got to go now. If you want to talk more, I'll be at mom's house. Man: Whatever.

Vocabulary Practice

Do the vocabulary quizzes with the words from the conversation for more practice:

Mixed-Up Sentence | Multiple-Choice Questions | Sentence and Vocabulary Matching

Post-Listening Exercise

What are the basic laws or rules of etiquette regarding smoking in public or at home in your area today? How have these laws changed over the years? For example, in some places, smoking is not allowed in public buildings, and you have to smoke a certain distance away from the entrance and windows of public buildings.

Online Investigation

What are some key steps to kicking the habit of smoking? What organizations or Web sites are available to help people with this issue? Search the Internet for find information on this subject.

See Listening Script

Back to Intermediate Quizzes

General Listening Quiz