VIP Class Notes (Vicki)

Tell me about the last time you cooked. What did you make? What ingredients did you use? What are the steps?….

Grammar

present simple – is/am/are; do/does 
i.e. I am a teacher.
i.e. You are a student.
i.e. I teach every day.
state a general fact; or an action that happens often
i.e. I work every day.
i.e. He is taller than me.

present continuous – is/am/are + doing 
i.e. I am typing right now.
i.e. You are looking at the screen.
talking about an action that is currently happening at this moment
i.e. I am drinking milk-tea now.

present perfect – have + done
i.e. I have finished my homework.
i.e. You have finished your work today.
talk about something that is already done just a moment ago
i.e. I have drunk finished my milk-tea just now.

past simple – was/were; did 
i.e. I was a student 2 years ago.
i.e. I drank my medicine just now.
stating a fact about the past; talking about an action that happened in the past
i.e. He was a bad boy when he was a kid.

past continuous – was/were + doing 
i.e. I was eating dinner 10 minutes ago.
i.e. You were sitting in the lobby 10 minutes ago.
talk about an action that was happening in a specific time in the past
i.e. I was having class when you called me.

past perfect – had + done 
i.e. I had finished my milk-tea before I ate my dinner.
i.e. You had received a package before you got off work.
an action that was finished in the past that had an effect on something in the nearer past
i.e. I had finished my dinner before you came back.

future simple – will + be/do 
i.e. I will be a student next year.
i.e. You will sleep tonight.
a general fact about the future, or an action that will occur in the future
i.e. I will eat cake tonight.

future continuous – will be + doing 
i.e. I will be sleeping tonight.
i.e. You will be having classes tmr at 5.
talking about an action that will happen at a specific time in the future
i.e. I will be having a class next morning.

future perfect – will have + done 
i.e. I will have finished my work tmr at 8.
i.e. You will have gone to sleep at midnight.
an action that will be finished in the future; prediction of the future
i.e. I will have gone to Nanjing tmr afternoon.

Tell me about what you did yesterday

I joined three conferences yesterday. It was a very tired day. And the first conference was about the review of the fair. I wrote down all the important points of the conference. We were having the conference till 1 o’clock. So all of us missed lunch. After a short lunch time, we continued to have another conference which was about the law of consulting. It was finished at 5 o’clock. It was the longest conference that I had ever never attended before.

Tell me about your plans for this weekend 

One of my best friends has just moved, so we made a date two weeks ago. But since I was very busy for the last two weeks, I will visit her home this Saturday. I think I have to take a gift to her new house which would be suitable for her new house. She will cook lunch for me and then we will have a drink and talk about our lives/ recent events in our lives. On Sunday, I will clean my house because I haven’t cleaned my house for 2 weeks. It is messy.

Scientists think they have found an answer to the problem of food shortages. One solution could be for us to eat jellyfish. This could also help to protect fish and other sea life that are endangered. Researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia conducted a study of fishing around the world. They discovered that fishing nets caught 92 endangered species of seafood and 11 species of marine life classed as “critically endangered”. The researchers said this was not illegal as the creatures were not protected. Researcher Dr Leslie Robertson said: “Despite national and international commitments to protect threatened species, we actively fish for many of these threatened species.”

The researchers warned we are eating species of fish and other sea life that are on the brink of extinction. They suggested that eating jellyfish could help protect fish that are in danger of disappearing from our seas and oceans. Jellyfish could become a common sight on menus, and we could ask for jellyfish and chips instead of fish and chips. The researchers said jellyfish could be a sustainable alternative at seafood restaurants and fish shops. Dr Robertson said seafood is “not as sustainable as consumers would like to think”. She added: “It is possible to manage our fisheries sustainably and eat species that can survive the fishing pressure. We just have to care about weird-looking squishy things like sea cucumbers.”

Vocabulary

prediction – guess (yu ce)

jellyfish – 水母

extinction – completely disappear 灭绝

brink – edge 边缘

sustainable – can last for a long time 可持续的

squishy – wet and soft

alternative – the backup option 备选

shortage – lack of sth. 短缺

endangered – facing danger 濒临灭绝

conduct – execute 操作

species – 物种

creature – something with life 生物

critically – seriously 严重的

commitment – promise 承诺

make sure – guarantee 保证