II. Listening Exercises

Listen to the conversation again by pressing the PLAY link and read along with the conversation. Review the Key Vocabulary and the sample sentences.

Man: Uh, where am I? Tsk, hum . . . Woman: Excuse me. Do you need any help? Man: Nah, I . . . I'm just looking . . . well . . . [Okay . . .] Uh, well, actually . . . yeah. Um . . . I want to go to the science museum, but I've been lost for the past few hours, and I can't make heads or tails of these ticket machines. Woman: Ah, well, just press this button. [Oh, yeah] And from here, it's a dollar fifty. Man: Okay. Woman: Then, get on the train at platform number 4. Man: Alright. Oh, and how often do the trains come around this time of day? Woman: Usually, they come about every six minutes. Man: Okay. And where do I get off the train? Woman: Get off at State Street Station, three stops from here. Man: Okay. I got it. Thanks for your help. Woman: No problem. Good luck.

Key Vocabulary [Top]

• nah: informal for no
  - Nah. I don't want to go, but thanks for asking.

• not make heads or tails of (idiom): not be able to understand something at all
  - I can't make heads or tails of this train map.

• platform (noun): the place next to the railroad tracks where you wait for a train
  - Please meet me on the platform 15 minutes before the train is scheduled to leave.

• get something (verb): understand something
  - Most of the time, she doesn't get what the teacher says.

• no problem: used after someone thanks you for your help, similar to "You're welcome"
  - A: Thanks for helping me buy a train ticket.
  - B: No problem.

Vocabulary Activities [Top]

Now, do these exercises to review the vocabulary. Then, return back to the Post-Listening Exercise to use the vocabulary in real conversations.

• Mixed-Up Sentence
• Sentence and Vocabulary Matching
• Text Completion Quiz