TV and filmUNIT 3

12 Fast Track 2 Unit 3

• TV and film vocabulary• The present perfect tense• ‘Ever’ and ‘never’• ‘For’ and ‘since’

A Match the film genres with the adjectives below and the pictures on the next page. Write more adjectives to describe each type of film.

B Read the text. What do you think a ‘couch potato’ is?

Warm up

Learn

1 comedy

2 romance

3 science fiction

4 horror

5 drama

6 action

a futuristic

b thrilling

c moving

d hilarious

e romantic

f creepy

We have been here for eight hours and

have just finished our daytime rations:

24 bags of crisps (the dog ate two bags,

Couch Potato’s Dad ate three), 20 egg

sandwiches, 10 bars of chocolate and a

big packet of mints. Oh yes, and two litres

of cola. Except for bathroom breaks we

haven’t moved since nine o’clock this

morning – but we have travelled thousands

of miles.

Have you ever been to Casablanca?

Casablanca is in North Africa. We have

been there twice today,

and we have been to

Greenland to meet the

Eskimos and see

the whales, and to Wales for a rugby match. We’ve climbed

Mount Everest and swum with yellow fish in the Red Sea.

Couch Potato has never been to Mars, so we’re going tonight;

the TV guide has invited us to ‘Join the Americans on a daring

and highly dangerous trip to Mars’. We have planned this

amazing journey very carefully; we’ve chosen the most

comfortable chairs in the living room and ordered two

extra-large pizzas. After that, Couch Potato has persuaded

me to stay and watch Pirates of the Caribbean.

It could be a long night.

My day with Couch PotatoMy day with Couch PotatoMy day with Couch Potato

© Signum International S.à.r.l. Luxembourg, Luzern Branch, Luzern, 2012 www.ef.com

A ‘couch potato’ is someone who spends all his or her time on the couch, watching TV and eating junk food.

www.ef.com 13

D Underline all examples of the present perfect in Exercise B.

E Read the text in Exercise B again. Circle the correct answers.

1 Couch Potato and his friend have finished

watching TV / are still watching TV.

2 Couch Potato and his friend went to Greenland a

long time ago / have been to Greenland today.

3 Couch Potato’s friend will watch another TV

programme and a film / will go home soon.

4 We use the present perfect tense to talk about

things that began in the past and are still

happening now / finished in the past.

G Answer the questions.

1 Who directed Titanic?

2 Why did Cameron fall out with Leonardo DiCaprio?

3 Are Cameron and DiCaprio close now?

4 What did DiCaprio mean by ‘It just ain’t me, bro’?

Explore

The longest film ever made is The Cure for Insomnia (1987, USA). It lasts for 87 hours!

F Read the text below. Who is Leonardo DiCaprio?

Have you ever heard of James Cameron?

He directed the movie, Titanic (1997). If you’ve

never heard of Cameron, maybe you’ve

heard of Leonardo DiCaprio? He’s been a

famous movie star for many years.

Cameron chose him to play one of the lead

roles in Titanic and helped to make him a star.

But the actor and the director haven’t been

close since DiCaprio refused to attend the

Oscar ceremony where Titanic won

11 Oscars. DiCaprio left a message on

Cameron’s answering machine the day

before the Oscar ceremony. He said:

‘It just ain’t me, bro.’

Learn

C Circle True or False.

1 The dog has eaten two bags of crisps.

2 Couch Potato and his friend have

been watching travel programmes.

3 Whales is a country.

4 Couch Potato and his friend have

really been to Casablanca today.

FT

FT

FT

FT

Fun Facts

© Signum International S.à.r.l. Luxembourg, Luzern Branch, Luzern, 2012

Leonardo DiCaprio is a movie star.

See text for answers.

James Cameron

because he wouldn’t go to the Oscar ceremony

No, they aren’t.

I don’t enjoy fancy celebrations.

31

4

5

2

6