Please read the vocabulary lesson at your natural speed, though it should not be too fast. Thank you!
Describe a perfect meal that you would like to prepare
What would you eat?
Where would you eat it?
Who would you invite?
Student: This is a question I love discussing with my friends. If I could invite anyone to a dinner party, who would I invite? There are so many people who I admire, but you also have to think about the dynamics of the group of people. However, it’s my dinner party so I’ll invite anyone I like and not worry about group dynamics. With a doubt the first person I would invite would be David Beckham. He is my absolute hero and regardless of what people say about him being stupid I think he would be charismatic and charming. The second person I would invite is Cary Grant. He was an iconic British actor who lit up the small screen. I suppose I would have to invite a woman to even up the numbers… the woman I most admire is Pink so I would invite her. She’s a great singer and she is passionate about animals. When she was invited to Buckingham Palace by Prince William she turned down the invitation because of the Royal Family’s attitude towards killing animals for pleasure. Having two gorgeous men at one dinner party might be greedy but I would also have to invite Austin Butler, an American actor. He is not only drop dead gorgeous, but he is entertaining as well. If there’s space for another one, I’d include Russell Brand because he’s funny and could make us all laugh. So that is the guest list, now where would we eat and what would we eat? One of my favourite places in the world is the coastline between Portstewart and Portrush in Northern Ireland so we would have a picnic on a glorious summer’s day. Pink and Russell Brand are vegetarian like me so we would have freshly baked bread with a selection of cheeses and lots of salad things such as sun dried tomatoes, cucumber and avocado. We would drink champagne and then follow it with a pudding of chocolate mousse and strawberries. It would be a delicious feast with amazing company.
Examiner: We have been talking about a perfect meal and now I would like to ask you some more general questions relating to this topic.
EXPLAIN why the problem of obesity is increasing in many countries
Student: The problem of obesity has escalated in recent years. I think the reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, a change in diet in western countries and secondly a change in our lifestyles. Our diet has become full of processed food and people eat fast food a couple of times a week on average. In general people have a sedentary lifestyle nowadays – they commute to work by car or train and sit at a desk all day therefore they are taking less physical exercise. The food we are eating and the lifestyle we are leading has resulted in this obesity problem.
EXPLAIN what you understand by “a healthy diet”
Student: It is hard to say exactly what a healthy diet is, as the media seems to have news reports on a regular basis saying ‘eggs are good for you’ and then the next minute ‘eggs are bad for you’ so it is very hard to keep track of what is considered good and what is considered bad. It is generally agreed that a healthy diet should incorporate all the major food groups such as protein, carbohydrate and fat. It is essential that people have a balanced diet. It is also recommended that you eat five portions of fruit a day.
DISCUSS the idea that unhealthy food should not be allowed to be advertised on TV Student: I’m in two minds about this because on the one hand I believe in free speech and what we watch on TV should not be censored, however, children are very vulnerable and easily influenced by what they see on TV and with rising obesity levels maybe unhealthy food should be banned from TV advertisements. Just because something might be considered unhealthy however such as ice cream does not mean to say that children should never be allowed to eat it. Everything in moderation is a good motto. I think if unhealthy food is banned from TV advertisements where will it stop? Will unhealthy food be banned from shops eventually? I think we should re-educate people rather than just banning it from being advertised otherwise we are just making it more attractive.
CONSIDER how the ways food is produced and sold will change in the future Student: In the past food was produced in a natural way and sold locally at markets. Then intensive farming developed and food was produced much more cheaply, but at a detriment to quality. Recently there has been a growth in farmers’ markets where local produce is sold and these are becoming increasingly popular. I think we will see more of these appearing and there will be a return to people eating locally produced food which is sold at local markets and shops. I guess this is a good thing for producers and consumers and will help the environment as well because the carbon footprint is reduced.
Hi sunflower.
'without a doubt'...
I contracted the normal verbs. In formal writing and speech, we might not use contractions, but otherwise, they are universal.
Punctuation has been added. You may want to review the use of commas and semicolons.
As a suggestion, you might have better luck in getting recordings if you separated these long texts into two or even three sections. It is a large commitment for the reader to proofread and record such a long text.