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Untying the Knot

Untying the Knot

Date: Jan 31 2006

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Pick almost any celebrity and odds are that they’ve stood in front of a marriage priest one day and a divorce judge the next. Jessica Simpons, Janet Jackson, Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, and on and on.

What tears a marriage apart? Kids? Work? Personal differences? It seems that the idea of getting married and living “happily ever after” is simply a fantasy.

Listen to Didi and I talk about divorce.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Dave

Dave

Didi

Dave:  Are your parents divorced?

Didi:  Nope, they’re still together.

Dave:  Really?

Didi:  Mm.

Dave:  Wow! How long have they been married?

Didi:  Ah, my age: 35 years!

Dave:  And they’re still going strong, still happy?

Didi:  Ah, yeah, they’re happy.

Dave:  Yeah, okay, well, that’s cool. Wow, so, you say 35 years?

Didi:  Mm hm.

Dave:  That’s really a rarity nowadays.

Didi:  I know!

Dave:  That’s forever!

Didi:  I know!

Dave:  They, I mean, that’s really amazing because nowadays…

Didi:  And they are super in love.

Dave:  Are they?

Didi:  Yes, they’re sweet to look at. They, you know, they snuggle and hold hands.

Dave:  Yeah.

Didi:  They’re cute.

Dave:  ...well, marriages that happen nowadays, isn’t the divorce rate insane, like 60%, 70%?

Didi:  Yeah, maybe even more. They’re three out of four, or something.

Dave:  Yeah, yeah. There’s a lot of, everyone gets divorced. And the, ah, celebrities. Celebrities are notorious for getting hitched and then separating, getting hitched, separating, over and over.

Didi:  Yeah, that seems like it.

Dave:  Hillary Swank just filed for a divorce, or separated from her husband.

Didi:  Mm hm.

Dave:  Renee Zellweger. Who was she married to?

Didi:  To, she was married to some country western guy…

Dave:  That’s right!

Didi:  ...singer.

Dave:  Yeah, I don’t know his name.

Didi:  There was a whole magazine spread on them and their honeymoon. It was only four months ago or something.

Dave:  Yeah.

Didi:  So happy.

Dave:  And already, they’re parting ways.

 

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Discussion

Despite the common belief that divorce rates are rising, recent studies have shown that fewer people around the world are filing for divorce.

What do you think causes marriages to fall apart?

 

Comments

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Olya1106

Olya1106

Ukraine

To my mind if people really love each other they get through all their troubles together and never will fall apart. But we live in modern society. Both woman and man wants to earn money. Sometimes we (husband and wife) don’t spend free times with one another, we are too busy and thats why we separate from each others. But I think that if we don’t want to untying the knot we shouldn’t to get married just because we are at the age and it’s time to get married. To be happy It’s better to find really your Mr. or Ms. Right. 


 

10:13 AM Aug 02 2011 |

reelex

Canada

..not bad

09:33 PM Feb 01 2006 |

yantao

China

wonderful!

03:46 AM Jan 31 2006 |

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