Flying
Do you work or are you a student? Why did you choose this job? Do you like it? What's the most interesting part of your job? What's the most difficult part of your job? Is there anything you don't like about your job? What would you like to do in the future?
Vocabulary
  • Lead up to sth (phrasal verb) - if a period of time or series of events leads up to an event or activity, it happens until that event or activity begins.
  • Cramped (adj.) - not having enough space or time.
  • Hub (noun) - the central or main part of something where there is most activity.
  • Backwater (noun) - a place that does not change because it is not influenced by new ideas or events that happen in other places.
  • Glider (noun) - an aircraft that has long fixed wings and no engine and flies by gliding.
  • Distant (adj.) - far away.
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Questions and answers
M: So Rory, let's talk about flying. Do you enjoy flying?

R: No, actually. I was thinking about this the other day and I think I like the excitement leading up to the experience rather than the flying itself. It's always very cramped and noisy on a plane. So I'm not a huge fan.

M: Are there many airlines in your country?

R: Well, I'm no expert, though, if I were to guess then probably not. It's not like it's a major transport hub. We have two international airports, but that's nothing compared to a place like England or America.

M: Have you ever flown anywhere?

R: You could say that. Yes, I've traveled all over the world from the usual travel destinations like New York to, well, relative backwaters like Kurdistan and Timor. I think I prefer the places over the flying though.

M: Where would you like to fly next time?

R: I'd actually quite like to go gliding over the mountains again. I've done it once before. And I really liked the part where the pilot let me fly the glider. If you mean somewhere more distant, though, then I quite like the idea of going to Croatia. Though, that's because of the people and the culture, not the thought of flying there.

M: Are you scared of flying?

R: Only if I'm the one doing the piloting. There's so much responsibility and, well, so much that could go wrong. But generally, I'm fine with it. I just wouldn't do all the time, if I could help it.

M: Will you fly more in the future?
R: It's a good question. And honestly, I'm not sure. I hope so though. There are still a few places I've yet to see.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

R: Hooray!
Discussion
M: I wish I could fly. Rory, do you sometimes wish you had wings? Like a bird? You know, like, whoo, whoo, like this.

R: I did wonder about that. I wondered if I'd prefer to have the superpower of being able to swim underwater for without breathing or flying.

M: So what would it be? Swimming underwater or flying?

R:I don't know. I still can't decide because they're both so cool. But for different reasons.

M: Would you rather have wings or the third eye? Or a tail?

R: I think I'd rather have wings. What are you going to do with the third eye?

M: I don't know. Just scare people away.

R: I'm not sure how that works.

M: Yeah, check it out. I have the third eye. Anyway, dear listener, sorry about that. We've gone on a huge tangent. So back to flying. Right. So do you enjoy flying? An obvious question. And Rory said that I think I like the excitement leading up to the experience. So I like the excitement leading up to the experience of flying. So what is this excitement about?

R: Well, excitement is feeling excited about something. But probably leading up to means like what happens before the experience rather than actually the experience itself.

M: So you enjoy all this fuss about getting to the airport about being in the airport, having a drink at the pub at a ridiculous price. Yeah? Or being late.

R: Yeah, pretty much. I like the preparation. I don't like the doing. And then you said that it's always very cramped. So cramped is a very nice word to use. So what is cramped? And what do we mean by saying that something is cramped.

R: Just that you don't have enough space. And if for example, you are on a plane already, so there's just not enough space. So it's like cramped. It's crowded. It's full of people. So yeah, it's cramped and noisy on a plane, on a plane. And then you can say like, I'm not a huge fan. I'm just not a huge fan of flying. I'm just not into flying. And flying, we mean, like flying on a plane. Right? So we mean like, going somewhere by plane, then airline companies in your country and our favorite strategy. So what is our favorite strategy here? About any question.

R: Oh, well, I'm no expert. But if I were to guess and then the answer.
M: And then you can say something about like international airports and we have different airlines and you can say that, okay, my city is not a major transport hub. So hub is a nice word. Hub. For example, like London is an international hub, because planes from all over the world go to London and from London, they go somewhere else. So it's a hub. Like transport hub. And Moscow also could be a hub because from different cities in Russia, if, for example, you need to go to the States, then you kind of first go from your city to Moscow and then from Moscow to somewhere else. So it's a it's a hub.\

R: That's if we were talking about cities. Here, it's a country, but it's the same thing like some countries are... Have lots and lots of airports. But you could use the same thing to talk about a city as well.

M: And then we have a ridiculous question. Have you ever flown anywhere? Well, but maybe there are some people who have never flown anywhere, even in their own country. What do you think Rory? Are there many people like that?

R: I don't know, it's a good question. I wonder what percentage of the population has been on a plane. Let's have a look.

M: But do you have any friends who have never flown? Who have never been on a plane? Yeah, I don't know.

R: No.

M: Yeah. Because if you don't go abroad, you can just you usually fly in your own country. I don't know. So dear listener, have you ever flown anywhere?

R: Oh my god.

M: Okay. Give us the statistics. The stats.

R: Well, okay. So, here it says 11.1% is the share of the world population that flew in 2018. That's 845 million people, but that's just in one year.

M: Okay. Yeah. So if you have flown somewhere, you can say, oh, yeah, I have traveled all over the world, you know, and I've flown to such destinations as New York, as Africa, Madagascar, India. Yeah. Hello, Indian listeners. So yeah. And Rory said that I prefer the places over the flying. You see, so he prefers the places the destinations over the flying. So he enjoys the places, but not the flying so much. Or you can say for example, I used to fly more often, but now because of the restrictions I don't. Or I used to fly somewhere every month, but now I fly somewhere once a year or twice a year. Yeah. And then that Rory talked about gliding. So what is gliding? It's like paragliding, yeah? It's when you have this huge parachute?

R: It's when you're in a plane that doesn't have an engine, it just glides.

M: And the question was like where would you like to fly and Rory goes okay, I want to go paragliding. So that's flying pretty much.

R: No, no, it's not paragliding. Paragliding is when you have a frame. But gliding is when you have a plane around you. So it's like you're inside it whereas paragliding is when you're outside.

M: Ah, okay. Gliding. Oh, dear listener, I'm googling gliding, so you can google gliding together with me. Just put gliding in Google and go Google Images and check out the pictures. Ah, right, okay, okay. Interesting. Oh, Rory, you're so extreme. You're a daredevil. Look at you. He jumped with a parachute. He wants to go gliding over the mountains. Again. Yeah. Again.

R: Again.
M: Yeah. And you said that the pilot let me fly the glider. So the pilot. So Rory was piloting the glider. And Rory he wants to fly to Croatia. Yeah?

R: Yes. But not like because it's flying, just because it's Croatia. And I like Croatia.

M: Why do you like Croatia? That's a strange choice.

R: Just because, well, it's a popular holiday destination. And I've never been before and I quite like Eastern European countries. So why not?

M: Oh, you've never been to Croatia?

R: No.

M: Oh, poor you.

R: Have you?

M: Yes. Dubrovnik is very nice.

R: Ah, fantastic. How was that?

M: Oh, that was amazing. Wild times, wild. Wild partying. Yeah. Cool. Okay, and you can be afraid of flying. So you say I'm scared of flying or I have a fear of flying. So if you're afraid of flying, basically, you can say I get a bit nervous on the plane, or I need a drink before I go on a plane. Or while I'm on a plane, I'm getting I am getting a bit nervous. So yeah. And then about the future. So you can say that I hope that I'll fly more in the future. So there are a few places I have yet to see. So what could you come up with on the structure I have yet to see. There are a few places I have yet to see.

R: What do you want me to comment on? Sorry, that's the expression.

M: Yeah, but why do we say that I have yet to see? Why do we put yet in the middle of the sentence?

R: It's just, well, it's it's like changing the word order to draw emphasis to the yet part. You could also say there are still a few places I haven't seen yet. So I have yet to see carries the same meaning. It just emphasizes the yet part.

M: Yeah. For a high score, dear listener, for a high score. Okay. Flying, dear listener, is like freedom. Okay? Scotland. Yep. So you might enjoy flying and you can talk about air travel. Right. Airplanes and wings. You can say I wish I had wings. I wish I could travel by plane more often. Oh, I wish I could fly more often. There we go.

R: Well, I wish I could. Yeah.

M: I wish I could fly more often. Also, you can talk about like piloting a glider or going gliding or paragliding. This is also kind of like flying. And you can say something like okay, so the sky has always been my passion and I enjoy flying. And all these experiences. Or I don't. You can say okay, it's not my thing. I'm not into flying. And you can talk about air crashes and horrible flights and how you feel nervous on the plane. And you usually drink whiskey on a plane and yeah. Or something else. Yeah, yeah. So stuff like that.

R: However, now it's time for us to fly off and leave you with this vocabulary and grammar for a high score!

M: Band nine score! Bye!
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