Lesson 9

Ex.1

1. Jogging with ten-pound weights on your ankles is a healthy activity.

2. Bungee-jumping with your Walkman is an unhealthy activity.

3. Playing with little hand-held electronic games is not permitted in this classroom.

4. Finding something to do on the week-end is hard for a foreign student.

5. Growing the perfect beard takes a long time.

6. Spitting on your host's Persian carpet is not polite.

7. Smoking American cigarettes makes me feel good!

8. Driving with you in the back seat makes me nervous.

9. Driving with you in the passenger seat next to me scares me!

10. Driving with someone sitting in your lap is against the law.

Ex.2 Illustrative answer.

Practising a musical instrument with one's eyes closed is very good for the hearing. Running up and down the stairs for thirty minutes every day is fine for the cardiovascular system. Forgetting to flush the toilet and neglecting to wash one's hands is quite dangerous for the immune system. Eating foods fried in safflower oil is better for the health than using "tropical" oils, which are very bad for the cholesterol count.

Ex.3 Illustration.

Making friends in Canada can be confusing.

Shopping and eating safely can be hard tricks to learn.

Keeping up the standards of personal hygiene and conduct that you are used to may be difficult at first.

Ex.4 Illustration.

I miss swimming in the Adriatic.

I miss watching the Pashto warriors play polo with a goat's head.

I miss sitting with my old Mother and having her fried garlic soup.

Ex.5 Make up your own illustrations!

Ex.6 Suggested answers.

1. I usually enjoy sitting around in the yard with my German Shepherds and drinking Perrier water from the bottle during the summer.

2. I don't enjoy drinking my Perrier water from a glass.

3. I don't mind taking my dogs for hygienic walks in the park, but I do mind having to pick up after them.

4. I appreciate getting funny letters from my friends.

5. I need to practise my dart throwing if I want to improve.

6. I can't help singing nervously to myself when I walk alone at night.

Ex.7 Suggested answers.

1. I like to go fishing with my German Shepherds because they always go after the fish I miss.

2. I really like to go camping because I don't have to wash the whole time I'm in the woods.

3. I like to go jogging because my German Shepherds think I'm a dog too.

4. I don't like to go swimming because my dogs always follow me into the water.

5. I love to go hunting because I was never allowed to shoot at anything when I was a kid.

6. I love to go shopping because my dogs scare all the old ladies.

Ex.8 Suggested answers.

1. I started to come to this school in September 1987.

2. I began to study English when I was in the hospital and I had nothing to do.

3. I like to live in safe places. That's why I like living here.

4. I can't stand to watch a lobster being thrown into a pot of boiling water.

5. I like to wear unconventional clothes. That's why I like to wear this dirty tuque in class.

6. I hate to wear ordinary, "square" clothes. That's why I hate wearing this polyester suit to visit my Mother, like I'm doing today.

7. I love to eat at those monster-sized Chinese-style buffets. I love to eat / eating with chop-sticks and to embarrass / embarrassing the waiters with my five words of Mandarin. (slight difference: the infinitive emphasizes the thing that is done, while the gerund emphasizes the experience of doing the thing)

8. I like to watch war movies on TV. I don't like getting up every three minutes to adjust the antenna and play with the picture.

Ex.9 Suggested answers.

1. I am not afraid of drinking fluoridated water.

2. I’m interested in seeing you try to get on that horse.

3. I want to succeed in climbing up on that horse by myself!

4. I'm not very good at calming down wild horses.

5. I'm accustomed to seeing my crazy sister walk around the house in her 1959-style "bikini".

6. I plan on getting some real good life insurance just as soon as I get decommissioned.

Ex.10 Illustrative answers.

1. I'm interested in learning how to make poutine with tofu.

I was interested in getting out.

2. I'm afraid of getting too close to the teenagers in the shopping centres.

I was afraid of getting too close to the Canadian tourists.

3. I worry about paying my immigration lawyer.

I worried about paying the local tax collector.

4. I dream about winning the lottery and bringing my family here.

I dreamed about winning the lottery and being able to leave my family!

5. I look forward to getting my papers fixed up and my affairs settled.

I looked forward to getting myself and my family out.

6. I often think about enjoying the long summers in sunny north-eastern Franistan.

I often thought about tasting that strange white stuff I saw in the pictures of Canada.

7. People often complain about dealing with immigrants who can't speak English or Chinese properly.

People often complain about dealing with tourists who speak some weird dialect of English that nobody can understand!

8. Families often talk about controlling drugs, graffiti, and the improper use of the Internet.

Families often talk about fertilizing the fields and getting married before the winter comes.

9. Teenagers are usually interested in finding good ways to have nice clean fun.

Teenagers are usually interested in being more successful than their siblings so that they can become their parents' favourites.

10. Canadian students are accustomed to receiving money for their studies from their parents and other taxpayers.

Students in my country are accustomed to being supported by the extended family.

Ex.11 Illustrative answers.

1. The best way to improve your pronunciation is to do an hour of "listen and repeat" exercises every day in the laboratory.

2. one way to find a job is to send out little helium-filled balloons with your email address on them.

3. It is very difficult to find a job without going to the Manpower centre every day.

4. The best way to quit smoking is to practise self-hypnosis.

5. One way to find an apartment is to check the student housing service every day.

6. I can't speak English without sounding like a foreigner!

7. It's impossible to get a driver's license without paying the administrative fee.

8. You should read the instructions of a test before trying to do it.

Ex.12 Illustrative answers.

1. I had to get used to watching so much TV every day.

2. I had to get used to people talking in such loud voices.

3. I had to get used to people walking around with telephones and cigarettes.

4. I had to get used to seeing children acting like adults.

Ex.13 Illustrative answers.

1. I'm used to frying up some nice chicken livers in the morning.

2. I'm used to climbing the mountains every day in the freezing rain.

3. I'm used to getting up before the dogs and the cows start making noise.

4. I'm used to wearing a thin leather loin-cloth and rubber thongs to school.

5. I'm used to helping my Father to count his herds and my Mother to slaughter and pluck the chickens.