If possible, ask another person the same questions. Topic 2. Daily routine

Text 1. Read the text and do the exercise below. Study the vocabulary before reading the text.

forget - забывать brave enough – достаточно смелый

immediately - немедленно pretend – притворяться, делать вид

horrible – ужасный put numbers – вносить цифры

irritated - раздражённый awful – ужасный

disaster – катастрофа furious - взбешённый

My first – and last! – day at work

I’ll never forget* my first day at work. It was the most horrible* day in my life.

The first day at work was such a disaster* that I lost my job. The boss explained to me my duties but she did it so quickly that I didn’t understand. I wasn’t brave* enough* to ask her to repeat, so I pretended* I knew what to do. It wasn’t difficult at first – just putting* numbers* into a computer. But soon I started making more and more mistakes. I made such a lot of mistakes that other workers noticed. They tried to help me but it was too late. I sat there and stared at my computer for two hours. The boss was so shocked that she fired me immediately*. She was irritated* and furious*! My first day was my last!

Choose the correct answer.

1. My first day at work was ……… the most interesting the most awful* the most creative 2. I didn’t understand the boss because she spoke very quickly she typed too quickly she didn’t understand me

3. My work was very difficult …. I made a report I typed letters I put figures into a computer 4. The boss was … angry with me happy very sad

Text 2. Read 3 descriptions of different people’s days and compare them. Would you like to lead the sort of life similar to any of them? Why/Why not? What would you advise the people to change in their lives?

drive smb crazy – выводить кого-л. из себя a pay rise – повышение зарплаты

A day in the life

Another day begins as the radio alarm wakes me up at 6.30 in the morning. I know that almost everything that will happen today is out of my control. I didn’t even choose the radio programme that woke me up – my partner did.

I have a quick shower. I put on the clothes my partner persuaded me to buy. I leave the house and get into my company car and drive to the office through the usual traffic jam. I work with a lot of colleagues. Some of my colleagues are very pleasant, but others drive me crazy*.

During lunch the boss asks me to stay late tonight for an unexpected meeting. I don’t like to refuse because I’m planning to ask for a pay rise* next week. I work really hard all day and go home. I know I’m driving too fast but I don’t care. I’m too tired. I come home, have dinner, I watch TV and go to bed at 11.00. My wife tells me to set the alarm for 6.15. Am I happy?

Working day

Brenda (night nurse, 25)

At the moment I'm working as a night nurse in a big hospital, so my timetable is a bit strange. I have to be there to start work at eleven o'clock at night, and it's an eight-hour shift that goes through till seven in the morning. I leave home at about ten-thirty. That's when a friend of mine, another nurse, picks me up at home and gives me a lift in her car. It takes us about twenty-five minutes in normal traffic to get to the hospital. We don't usually have much to do at night. We just go round the wards and look after any patients who need care and attention, but we do sometimes get emergency cases, people who have been in car accidents, or had heart attacks, things like that.

I get home at about seven-thirty in the morning and have a light breakfast - cereal, toast and fruit juice - and by a quarter to nine I'm in bed. If I'm lucky, I sleep till about three. Then I have lunch, clean the flat, read a bit and perhaps go out shopping. My husband normally comes round about half past six, and we go out to the cinema or go for a drink. He works on a night-shift, too. It's a hard life, but we're saving up to buy a new house and we get paid extra for night-work, of course.