Man: Good afternoon. Grandview Hotel.
Woman: Yes, hello. I, uh, I’m planning to spend a few days in your city next week, and I’d like to, uh, make a reservation.
Man: Of course. When did you want to stay here?
Woman: Next week. Wednesday night and Thursday night.
Man: So, that’s February 13th and 14th.
Woman: Yes, that’s right.
Man: And how many guests will there be?
Woman: Just me. So, do you have a room available?
Man: Yes, we do. I’ll just need to take some of your information. May I have your name, please?
Woman: Oh, right, yes. It’s Roxanne Wilson. W-i-l-s-o-n.
Man: Thank you, Ms. Wilson. And may I have your credit card number?
Woman: It’s 2336189872.
Man: . . .9872. Got it. All right, Ms. Wilson, I have your reservation confirmed. Can I help you with anything else?
Woman: Well, yes. I was wondering, since I’ll have a couple of free hours Friday morning before I leave, is there anything interesting to see close to the hotel?
Man: Do you like museums? The art museum’s very close by.
Woman: I love museums, but not art. Can’t stand it. I’ve heard your city has a very interesting science museum, though.
Man: Yes, but unfortunately it’s closed in the winter. Are you interested in shopping?
Woman: Sure, I love shopping. Are there any good stores nearby?
Man: Yes. We have a large shopping mall just two bus stops away. You take the bus to Monument Square, and it’s just half a block from there. Just look for the post office, and you’ll see the mall entrance next to it.
Woman: Fabulous. What about lunch? I hear your city has good restaurants.
Man: Yes. There’s a nice restaurant very near. It’s just across the street from the park.
Woman: Sounds good. I can have lunch, then walk in the park afterwards. I have one more question. What’s the best way to get to the hotel from the airport?
Man: Subway is the fastest, of course. There are buses, but they’re quite slow.
Woman: I’ll be arriving quite late, after 10 P.M. I thought I might have to take a taxi.
Man: The subway runs until midnight.
Woman: Oh, good. Then I’ll do that. Will there be someone at the hotel front desk that late?
Man: Oh, yes. The front desk stays open until two.
Tour leader: Thank you for choosing City Tours. The reason so many people choose our tours when visiting this city is because you can design your tour to suit your own interests. Your all-day pass entitles you to board our bus at any stop and stay as long as you like at each place. The all-day bus pass costs $18 for adults. Children between the ages of five and twelve pay half the adult fare, and children under five ride for free. Our buses run every hour on the half hour, starting at 8:30 A.M.
Our most popular tour is the Center City Tour, which goes to all the major attractions in the center of the city. From the starting point here at the tour bus office, the bus goes to the first stop, Hill Park. As you may guess, this park is located at the top of a small hill. The next stop is the fishing docks. Following that, the bus goes on to the third stop, Bay Bridge, located at the foot of the bridge which crosses the bay. The fourth stop is in the shopping district, then the fifth and last stop is at Green Street.
There are many interesting things to do and see on the Center City Tour. At the first stop, you can enjoy a spectacular view of the bay, the city, and especially of the fishing docks, which are located at the foot of the hill. At the second stop, you can walk around and look at the boats. Fresh fish from the bay is also for sale here, since this is the place where the fishermen bring in their catch. The next stop is where some of the city’s finest seafood restaurants are located, so you might want to plan a lunch stop here. You can eat fresh fish here prepared in the traditional local way. The fourth stop is, of course, where you can do your shopping. Don’t miss the opportunity to purchase some of our city’s famous handmade baskets. You’ll want to take several home as souvenirs of your visit to our city. Finally, at the last stop on the tour, you can visit one of the oldest buildings in our city, the theater. This building was built over 400 years ago and is still used today as a place to see plays, musicals, and other performances, as well as our annual film festival.
Student 1: We’d better start planning our research project, because we don’t have much time left before it’s due.
Student 2: I know, only three more weeks.
Student 1: Is that all? I thought we had more time than that. Well, let’s get to work, then.
Student 2: OK, so we agreed we’re going to interview shoppers about their spending habits. Did we decide to conduct our interviews at the department store?
Student 1: We haven’t decided anything definitely yet, but I think the shopping mall would be a better place. We’d get more of a variety of shoppers there.
Student 2: Yes, that’s a good point. So, let’s do that. How many interviews did the professor say we had to complete?
Student 1: She said at least thirty. That sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?
Student 2: Yes, but if we divide it up between the two of us, that’s just fifteen each. That’s not so bad.
Student 1: OK, so I guess we’d better start designing our questionnaire.
Student 2: Well, we have to do some reading first, don’t we? Didn’t we say we were going to compare our results to the results of a government study?
Student 1: Right, the government study about how the economic crisis has changed people’s spending habits. We want to see if we get similar results.
Student 2: Yes, so we’d better read that first and then design our questionnaire. Then I guess we’ll be ready to go out and interview shoppers.
Student 1: No. Don’t you remember? The professor said she had to approve our questionnaire first, before we actually conducted the interviews.
Student 2: Oh, right. So we’ll get her approval and then conduct the interviews. I think a Saturday would be the best day for the interviews, because everyone’s out shopping then.
Student 1: Right. We’ll do it on a Saturday, then.
Student 2: And let’s also plan to get together the next day to analyze the results. It’s best to do that while everything’s fresh in our minds. Don’t you think?
Student 2: Sure. That sounds like a good idea. OK, so then we’re going to have to present our results to the class. Do you have any ideas for that? It’s an important part of our grade, so I think we should plan it well.
Student 1: Well, I think the obvious thing is to prepare some charts showing our results and how they compare with the government study. That will help make the information a lot clearer to the class.
Student 2: Right. OK, so we’ll draw up some charts of the results.
Student 1: And then that’s it. All that will be left to do is give the class presentation. Do you think we can be ready on time?
Student 2: I sure hope so. Let's get started now.
Lecturer: Good afternoon. Today, I’d like to continue our discussion of the lives of prominent American writers by talking about Louisa May Alcott, one of the best-known nineteenth-century writers. Alcott is known for her moralistic girl’s novels, but she was a much more serious individual than those novels might lead one to believe. She was born in 1832, the daughter of Bronson Alcott, who was one of the founders of the Transcendentalist Movement. Bronson Alcott was a philosopher but not a provider, and the family lived close to poverty. From an early age, Louisa was determined to find a way to improve her family’s economic situation. As a teenager, she worked to support her family by taking on a variety of low-paying jobs, including teacher, seamstress, and household servant. Alcott also started writing when she was young. She wrote her first novel when she was just seventeen years old; although, it wasn’t published until many years after her death. It was called The Inheritance.
In 1861, the Civil War broke out. Alcott worked as a volunteer, sewing uniforms and bandages for soldiers. The following year, she enlisted as an army nurse. She spent the war years in Washington, nursing wounded soldiers at a military hospital. While working at the hospital, she wrote many letters to her family at home in Massachusetts. After the war, she turned the letters into a book, which was published under the title Hospital Sketches. She also wrote numerous romantic stories, which she sold to magazines.
Around this same time, she was offered the opportunity to travel to Europe as the companion to an invalid. When she returned home from Europe in 1866, she found her family still in financial difficulty and in need of money, so she went back to writing. Her big break came in 1868 with the publication of her first novel for girls, Little Women. The novel achieved instant success, and the public wanted more. From then on, Alcott supported herself and her family by writing novels for girls. It wasn’t the writing she had dreamed of doing, but it earned her a good income.
Alcott took care of her family for the rest of her life. In 1878, her youngest sister, May, got married. A year later, May died after giving birth to a daughter. Louisa Alcott raised her sister’s orphaned child. In 1882, Bronson Alcott suffered a stroke. Soon after that, Louisa Alcott set up a house for him, her niece, her sister Anna, and Anna’s two sons in Boston. Her mother was no longer living by this time. Alcott was still writing novels for girls, including two sequels to Little Women: Little Men and Jo's Boys. The latter was published in 1886.
Louisa Alcott had suffered poor health ever since she contracted typhoid fever while working as a war nurse. She died in March of 1888 at the age of 55. She was buried in Concord, Massachusetts.