Listen to Jim telling us about an activity he's been doing in the last 30 years and choose the option a, b or c which best answers each question or completes the sentence. 0 is an example.
Example:
0 What has Jim been doing over the last 30 years?
a Cooking for friends and strangers on Sundays.
b Inviting friends and strangers to cook.
c Taking friends and strangers to a restaurant.
1 How does he select the people he gets together with?
a He calls or sends e-mails to 50 or 60 potential guests.
b The first 50 or 60 people who come round can come in.
c The first 50 or 60 potential guests to call him or e-mail him can go.
2 Which statement best describes the people Jim gets together with?
a People from any social and cultural level.
b People with knowledge of international cuisine.
c People with an interest culture.
3 What does he do each week before dinner?
a He finds out information about his guests.
b He makes a list with the people who are coming for dinner.
c He makes sure to remember some information about his guests.
4 What is his main motivation to travel?
a To know about other cultures.
b To meet people.
c To see sights.
5 What happened to some of the people who met through Jim’s guidebooks?
a They became friends.
b They got married.
c They travelled together.
6 What is said about English?
a A few guests can’t speak it.
b It is the first language of most guests.
c It is the language the Bosnian girl used.
7 The cartoonist and the painter are mentioned as examples of
a people who understand each other.
b people who would be rivals in other situations.
c the variety of guests Jim gets.
Every week for the past thirty years, I have hosted a Sunday dinner in my home in Paris. Every Sunday a different friend prepares a feast. Last week it was a philosophy student from Lisbon, and next week a dear friend from London will cook.
People, including total strangers, call or e-mail to book a spot. The first fifty or sixty people who call may come— and twice that many when the weather is nice and we can overflow into the garden.
People from all corners of the world come to break bread together, to meet, to talk, to connect, and often to become friends. All ages, nationalities, races, and professions gather here, and since there is no organized seating, the opportunity for mingling couldn’t be better.
I believe in introducing people to people. I have a good memory, so each week I make a point to remember everyone’s name on the guest list and where they’re from and what they do so I can introduce them to one another, effortlessly. If I had my way, I would introduce everyone in the whole world to one another.
People are the most important thing in my life. Many travelers go to see things like the Tower of London, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and so on. I travel to see friends, even—or especially—those I’ve never met.
In the late 1980s, I edited a series of guidebooks to nine Eastern European countries and Russia. There were no sights to see, no shops or museum to visit; instead, each book contained about a thousand short biographies of people who would be willing to welcome travelers in their cities. Hundreds of friendships evolved from these encounters, including marriages and babies, too.
The same can be said for my Sunday salon. At a recent dinner a six-year-old girl from Bosnia spent the entire evening glued to an eight-year-old boy from Estonia. Their parents were surprised, and pleased, by this immediate friendship.
There is always a collection of people from all over the globe. Most of them speak English, at least as a second language. Recently a dinner featured a typical mix: a Dutch political cartoonist, a beautiful painter from Norway, a truck driver from Arizona, a bookseller from Atlanta, a newspaper editor from Sydney, students from all over.
I have long believed that it is unnecessary to understand others, individuals, or nationalities; one must, at the very least, simply tolerate others. Tolerance can lead to respect and, finally, to love.
Key:
1C 2A 3C 4B 5B 6A 7C
This activity is adapted from Inviting the world to dinner, which I spotted in ESL Video.
