Cover of the textbook English File Advanced - Student's Book

The key answer of exercise 4

The key to exercise solutions in chapter 6A - Help, I need somebody! for the textbook English File Advanced - Student's Book with authors Christina Latham-Koenig, Clive Oxenden, Jerry Lambert and Kate Chomacki from Oxford University Press

Question

  1. -
  2. Listen to a School of Life presentation called Why small pleasures are a big deal. Number the slides in the order the presenter mentions them, 1-9. Which things from the slides does he suggest are 'small pleasures'?
  3. Why does the presenter mention ...?
  4. In pairs, complete the summary of the central message of the presentation. Then compare with another pair. Are your summaries similar?

Answer

b)

  1. 6
  2. 4
  3. 2
  4. 8
  5. 3
  6. 7
  7. 9
  8. 5
  9. 1

The small pleasures he mentions are: a cheese sandwich, a fig, and old photos.

c)

  1. Pineapples used to be valued because they were so expensive, but are now cheap and unexciting. Caviar sounds more interesting than eggs.
  2. In an experiment, almost nobody stopped to listen to the violinist when he played in the street, though if he'd played the same music in a concert hall, large numbers of people would have gone.
  3. Marriage, career, and travel are examples of large-scale things that we hope will be very enjoyable.
  4. A Caribbean island, the Uffizi Gallery, and a hang-gliding lesson are examples of things that we assume will be more enjoyable than small things like cycling to a local park, reading a book, or looking at the clouds.
  5. Fancy holidays aren't always enjoyable - they can be ruined by fights or bad moods.
  6. Having a bath and talking to a grandparent are examples of small pleasures which can seem insignificant, but actually are not.

d)

  • We expect to get most pleasure from things which are rare, expensive, famous, or large-scale.
  • However, small pleasures can be just as significant and enjoyable as large ones.