Interpersonal Relationships Stages of Life 1. Read the article and put the questions in the right order as the answers appear in the article – which of them can you answer as the first one, which of them as the second one, etc. _ _____ How long have they known each other? _____ How often do they see each other? _____ Why is she his best friend? _____ How did they meet? _____ Why do they get on well? Just Good Friends? I’ll never forget our first meeting because it was quite romantic. I had two tickets for a concert in London, but at the last moment the girl who was going to go with me couldn’t come. So I went to the concert hall early to get my money back for one of the tickets. Paulina was standing in the queue. We started talking, and I found out that she was there for the same reason. My tickets were better than hers so I suggested that we sat in my seats and we gave her tickets back. After the concert we went for a drink and we’ve been friends ever since then. We’ve known each other for two years. After that first meeting we started going out together and we fell in love. Everything went well at first but after six months we started to argue a lot and finally we broke up, but we stayed close friends, which isn’t always easy. I think we get on very well mainly because we’ve got the same sense of humour. We’ve got a lot in common – we like and dislike the same people and things, and we’ve got the same tastes in music. Our personalities are quite similar too. Paulina seems quite shy when you first meet her but when you get to know her she’s really extrovert and funny. I think I call her my ‘best friend’ because she’s a person I can talk to about anything and I know I can trust her. Our friendship is very important to me. Nowadays, we only see each other about once a month because she’s studying at university and I’m working in London, but we keep in touch by e-mail all the time. Some people are surprised when I say that my best friend is a woman, especially an ex-girlfriend. But I think it’s perfectly possible for us to be ‘just good friends’, although maybe when one of us finds a new partner it’ll be more difficult. I hope not. 2. Look at the words in bold in the text. Rewrite the following sentences using the expressions from the text: 1 We began to speak angrily to each other. _______________________________________ 2 A lot of things about us are the same. _______________________________________ 3 When you know her better. _______________________________________ 4 We like the same kinds of things. _______________________________________ 5 We laugh at the same things. _______________________________________ 6 We have a good relationship. _______________________________________ 7 I can depend on her. _______________________________________ 8 We contact each other regularly. _______________________________________ 9 We stopped going out together. _______________________________________ 3. Vocabulary Practice 1 A) Choose the suitable verb that fits each of the gaps and fill it into the text in a correct form: go out meet fall in love get grow up get pregnant split up get married go Experience of life Sam was born in Scotland but when he was two, his father ________________a new job in London, so they moved and he and his sister ________________in the south of England. He ___________________ to university at 18 and there he _______________Alice for the first time. He ______________with her for three years, but towards the end they had lots of rows and finally they _______________ . In his mid twenties he got to know Maureen. He _____________ with her and after a few months they ____________________. A year later she _________________ and they had their first baby girl. She is now expecting their second child. B) Match the expressions on the left with their meaning on the right: 1 fall out a dislike or hate 2 put up with b have a relationship with 3 can’t stand c have a big argument 4 split up d respect and admire 5 go out with e stop having a relationship 6 have a huge row f become friends again 7 make it up g tolerate or accept sb. 8 look up to h stop being friendly with C) Choose the correct phrasal verbs from the previous exercise and fill it into the sentence: 1 I __________________ with my parents last night. It wasn’t my fault. 2 Jim _____________ Nora because she makes a lot of noise and she’s too talkative. It gets on his nerves. 3 I ______________ one of my teachers. He is really intelligent and very creative while teaching. I admire him. 4 We had a ______________________ but now we’ve __________________ up. 5 They were ______________ each other for about 8 months but finally they found out they weren’t happy together so they ________________ . 4. Personality - adjectives A) Match the adjectives and their definitions. ambitious bossy charming lazy moody reliable self-confident selfish sensible sensitive shy sociable 1. He wants to become boss for the whole department. 2. Bob always does what he has promised. 3. She has a lot of common sense. 4. He only thinks about himself. 5. She´s good at making people like her. 6. Helen likes being with other people. 7. Ann feels things quickly and deeply. 8. He doesn´t like working. 9. She feels very sure of herself. 10. He´s happy one moment and sad the next. 11. Jack´s always telling other people what to do. 12. She finds it difficult to talk to new people. (Adapted from Oxenden, C. Latham-Koenig, Ch. English File Intermediate. Student’s Book. Oxford: OUP, 1999. p.130 ISBN 0-19-436678-2) B) Agree with the opinions below using an appropriate adjective from the list. There are more words than you need. ambitious cheerful honest inflexible insensitive punctual sensible unpleasant 1 A: She’s always wanted to get to the top in her career, hasn’t she? B: Yes, she’s very ____________ 2 A: His wife was horrible, wasn’t she? B: Yes, very ____________ 3 A: He’s happy and smiling whenever you see him. B: I know, he’s always ____________ 4 A: The problem is that she can’t change any of her ideas and adapt to new ones. B: No, she is very ____________ 5 A: He never thinks about other people’s feelings, does he? B: You’re right, he’s ____________ (Taken and adapted from:Redman, S. Gairns,R. Test Your English Vocabulary in Use – pre-intermediate + intermediate. Cambridge:CUP, 2000, p. 47 ISBN 0-521-77980-4 )