Conference report

(Parkhouse Hotel 5^th September)

The conference was very successful. The seminars and talks ⁽¹⁾ were/had been extremely interesting and it was obvious that all the speakers ⁽²⁾ had prepared/prepared their material very thoroughly. Everyone agreed that this should become an annual event.

There were however a number of administrative problems. When we ⁽³⁾ arrived/had arrived, we ⁽⁴⁾ discovered/had discovered that the hotel manager ⁽⁵⁾ reserved/had reserved the wrong room for us and therefore we ⁽⁶⁾ did not have/had not had enough space. Unfortunately, he could not let us have the larger room because he ⁽⁷⁾ gave/had given it to another group, even bigger than ours.

He ⁽⁸⁾ also misunderstood/had also misunderstood the letter explaining what food we ⁽⁹⁾ required/had required. In fact, we ⁽¹⁰⁾ suspected/had suspected that he ⁽¹¹⁾ lost/had lost the letter. We do not recommend using this hotel again.

Exercise 9. Fill in the gaps, using the words given. You may use some words more than once.

ago since already before still until while for yet during from in

Flying home

A couple of months ago Charles was in Athens on his way back to the States from a business trip. It had been ages ⁽¹⁾ ________ he had felt so angry. He had been at the airport ⁽²⁾ _________ seven o’clock in the morning ⁽³⁾ _________ now, waiting for a flight to New York. An announcement had ⁽⁴⁾ _________ been made to say that the plane was delayed due to ‘technical problems’. Half an hour ⁽⁵⁾ _________ that, another announcement had said there was to be a delay caused by air traffic congestion. Now the plane had been sitting on the runway ⁽⁶⁾ __________ at least an hour but it was ⁽⁷⁾ _________ not ready to board. ⁽⁸⁾ _________ this delay. Charles tried to complete his report, which he hadn’t finished ⁽⁹⁾ _________, though his boss was expecting it on his return. There was a lot of noise going on around him ⁽¹⁰⁾ _________ he was trying to put the finishing touches to his final paragraph so ⁽¹¹⁾ ________ at the end he gave up. It had been years ⁽¹²⁾ ________ Charles had travelled by plane. He avoided flying if he could, ever ⁽¹³⁾ _______ a particularly unpleasant flight years ⁽¹⁴⁾ _________ when he was ⁽¹⁵⁾ __________ convinced flying was the worst way to get around.

Exercise 10. Translate into English.

1. Мы прождали Вашего звонка весь прошлый вечер. 2. Он ехал в течение получаса, когда случилась авария. 3. Энн была очень уставшей. Она проработала напряженно весь день. 4. Она изучала английский три года до того, как уехала в США. 5. Служащие проводили собрание, и до 12 часов они его еще не закончили. 6. Грэхэм проработал в этой компании двадцать лет перед тем, как он ушел на пенсию. 7. Простите, я опоздал. Моя машина сломалась по пути сюда. 8. К тому времени, когда мы добрались к Бену, вечеринка уже закончилась. 9. Пит был недоволен. Он занимался этим бизнесом с января, поговорил со множеством людей, но и теперь он знал не больше, чем тогда, когда взялся за него. 10. Они пытались перевести статью уже полчаса, прежде чем пришла Кэтрин и помогла им. Она когда-то изучала немецкий и еще не забыла его.