Listen and Decode

Listen and Respond

Listen and Read

Listen and Match

Listen and Conclude

Listen and Complete

Listen and Judge

Being All EarsBeing All Ears

1 (Jim, Kim, Tom) and his friend are waiting for 2

(breakfast, lunch, supper) in a restaurant. They have

been waiting for a long time since they ordered their

meal. Kim is 3 (angry, worried, sorry) and complains

that the service is really 4 (bad, hard, slow). But his

friend thinks that they needn’t be in a 5 (anger,

hunger, hurry), because the 6 (waiter, waitress,

boss) is very busy.  

Listen to Dialogue 1 and decode the message by finding the correct choices in the brackets according to what you hear.  

Listen and Decode

Listen to the dialogue again and answer the following

questions orally.

Listen and Respond

Kim.

The slow

service

there.

1. Who is complaining about the restaurant?  

2. What is he complaining about?  

Listen and Respond

More than 20 minutes.

His friend asks him not to be in a hurry.

4. What does his friend say to him?  

5. When will his food be ready?

3. How long has he been waiting for the food?  

The waitress says it will be ready any minute.

Script

Listen and Complete

Now listen to Dialogue 2 and then complete the following statements.

1 The first customer wants some

black____________________________________.  2For

his hot dog and coffee he pays

_________________________________________.

coffee

2.25 dollars

Listen and Complete

3 He takes his food

____________________________________.  

4 The second customer orders food to eat

____________________________________.  

5 The cost of her order is

____________________________________. 

out / away

in the restaurant

5.50 dollars

Now listen to the dialogue again and do the multiple choice exercise below.  

Listen and Judge

1 The conversation is taking place in _________.  

a. a department store  

b. a fast-food restaurant  

c. a bar  

d. a supermarket  

2 The three people talking in the conversation are_________.  

a. one customer and two waiters  

b. one waiter and two customers  

c. two customers and one clerk  

d. two clerks and one customer  

3 The first customer wants _________.  a. a hot dog  b. a piece of bread  c. a large soda  d. a small bottle of milk  

4 The first customer gets a change of _________.  a. 75 cents  b. 2.25 dollars  c. 3 dollars  d. 5.5 dollars  

5 The second customer buys food for _________.  a. herself  b. two people  c. three people  d. four people   

Listen and Judge

Script

Listen and Read

Now listen to something more challenging-a passage with some blanks for you to fill in. The words in the brackets will give you some hints. A glance beforehand at the word list provided below will be of some help to you.

Eating Out  

  When Americans eat out, they usually 1 (do what?)

_______ certain customs. To get a waiter or waitress’s attention,

they may raise their hands to 2 (do what?) _______ his or her

eye, or say “Waiter”or “Waitress.”

In the U.S., many restaurant workers are 3 (how?)

_______ paid, so they depend on tips.

Listen and Read

follow

catch

poorly

Most customers tip waiters and waitresses 4 (how

much?) ___________ of the bill. The tip isn’t usually written on

the bill, so you have to 5 (do what?) _______ it yourself. The

customer usually leaves the tip on the 6 (what?) _______.  

Some restaurants serve more food than people can eat at

one time. When that happens, many customers ask for a doggie 7

(what?) _______ to take the leftover food 8 (where?) _______.

Some people may 9 (do what?) ___________ to their dogs, but

most often they eat it 10 (who?) _______ eat it themselves.  

Listen and Read

15 percent

add

table

bag home

give the food

they

Listen to the passage again and match the information in

Column A with the choices in Column B.  

Listen and Match

Column A Column B1 In order to get a waiter’s

attention Americans

usually raise their hands

or say ________  

a. “Menu”  

b. “Hello”  

c. “Waiter”  

d. “Come here”  

2 Tips are usually ________

a. written on the bill.  

b. given to waiters.

c. put on the table.  

d. 10 percent of the bill.

Column A Column B

3 If people can’t eat all

the food served in the

restaurant, they

usually ________

a. have waiters feed it to dogs.  

b. leave it on the table.  

c. give it to dogs.  

d. take it home.   

4 The passage mainly tells us about ________  

a. how food is served in an

American restaurant.  

b. how much a waiter can get as a

tip in an American  restaurant.  

c. the way Americans eat out in a restaurant.  

d. the way Americans give a tip in a restaurant.  

script

Write out the general idea of the passage by answering the following questions.

1 What do Americans usually do to get a

waiter’s attention in a restaurant?  

2 Why do people often give waiters tips?  

3 What is the amount of the tips?  

Listen and Conclude

4 Where and when do people leave their tips?  

5 What do people do with their leftover food ?  

6 Who will eat the leftover food?  

Reference

Listen and Conclude

In American restaurants, people usually raise their

hands to catch a waiter’s eye, or say “Waiter”to get his

attention. Because waiters are poorly paid, people often

give them tips. The amount of a tip is usually 15 percent

of the bill. And people leave the tips on the table before

they leave. If people can’t eat all their food at one time,

they may take the leftover food home, either for their

dogs or for themselves to eat at another time.

Reference

Script:

Dialogue 1Kim: Where’s our food? The service in this

place is really slow.

Dan: They seem to be very busy today. I’m sure the waitress didn’t forget our order.

Kim: I’ve got to ask her to hurry things up. I’m thinking of never coming to this restaurant again.

Dan: Relax, Kim. We’re not in a hurry. Our food should be here soon.

(A few minutes later)

Kim: Waitress. What happened to our order?

Waitress: It will be ready any minute, sir.

Kim: What’s holding it up? I gave you our order over twenty minutes ago.

Waitress: I’m sorry. We’re very busy.

Kim: I hate to complain, but we’re on our lunch hour. Do you think you could speed things up?

Waitress: I’ll do my best, sir.

Script: Dialogue 2

Counterman: Can I help you?

Mike: I’ll have a hot dog.

Counterman: Anything to drink?

Mike: Coffee, please. Black.

Counterman: For here or to take away ?

Mike: Take away, please.

Counterman: A hot dog and coffee. That comes

to $ 2.25.

Mike: Here’s three dollars.

Counterman: And here’s 75 cents. Next?

Liza: Two baked chickens; two

pieces of bread.

Counterman: What to drink?

Liza: A large soda and a small milk,

please.

Counterman: To eat here or to take out?

Liza: We’ll eat here.

Counterman: That’ll be $5.50.

Liza: Here you are.

Counterman: Here’s your change. Who’s next?

Mary: I’m afraid you have to spend at least

three days.  

David: Can’t I manage within two days?  

Mary: No, not likely. The Great wall is far

from the city, and it alone will

take you a whole day.  

David: I see.  

Script:

Eating Out

When Americans eat out, they usually follow

certain customs. To get a waiter or waitress’s attention,

they may raise their hands to catch his or her eye, or

say “Waiter”or “Waitress.” In the U.S., many restaurant

workers are poorly paid, so they depend on tips. Most

customers tip waiters and waitresses 15 percent of the

bill. The tip isn’t usually written on the bill, so you

have to add it yourself. The customer usually

leaves the tip on the table.

Some restaurants serve more food than

people can eat at one time. When that happens,

many customers ask for a doggie bag to take the

leftover food home. Some people may actually

give the food to their dogs, but most often they

eat it themselves at another time.