Practice English Listening B1 Exercises – Switch it off

A

Claire:   1 fridge     2 laptop (computer)

Andy:    1 mobile     2 MP3 player

Julia:      1 dishwasher     2 iron

Tyler:     1 mobile     2 lights

B

Claire

(fridge) She would miss cold drinks and would have to go shopping every day.

(laptop) She wouldn’t be able to work.

Andy

(mobile) He needs his mobile to keep in touch with people.

(MP3 player) He needs his music.

Julia

(dishwasher) She has a family and lots of washing up.

(iron) Everybody in the family would look terrible without one.

Tyler

(mobile) There are some numbers he only has in his mobile.

(lights) It’s often dark early in the morning and in the afternoon.

CLAIRE   Well, it wouldn’t be electric light because I love candles. And I could live without a washing machine for a week – I often do when I’m on holiday. I think I would miss a fridge though – I’d hate not to have cold drinks, and it would mean having to go shopping every day for food or it would go off. So a fridge would be one thing, and then probably my laptop. It has a battery, but I could only use it for three hours or so without charging it. So I wouldn’t be able to do much work.

ANDY   Er well, it depends. I’d quite miss the TV, but I suppose I could live without it for a week if I had to. And, er, what else – oh no, my mobile. I wouldn’t be able to charge it. I couldn’t live without mobile. I mean that’s how I keep in touch with all my friends. And my MP3 player. I need my music. Yes, definitely those two.

JULIA   I think for me it would have to be first and foremost the dishwasher. Because with a family and so much washing up, I would just be over the sink for ever. It would be a nightmare for me to have no dishwasher and I’ve got so used to it. So that would be the first thing. And the second thing, probably again because of having a family, a young family, would be an iron, because there’s so much ironing and if I had to go without that, everyone would look terrible. Nobody would look very smart. So those would be my two things.

TYLER   Well, I suppose the first thing I’d miss most would be my mobile phone, because I couldn’t charge it up, so I couldn’t use it, and I’d get very upset about that. There are some people’s numbers that are only stored in the phone. I haven’t got them written down, and I wouldn’t be able to get in touch with those people. So mobile phone. And the other thing I’d miss would be, electricity, em if the electricity had gone, would be the lights, at this time of year especially, when the days are short, the mornings are dark, early afternoon, late afternoon’s dark too. I’d miss lights as well. So mobile phone and lights.