9. Аудирование: поиск запрашиваемой информации в интервью: все задания

Presenter: What’s your final tip for future interpreters? 

Liza: You must definitely keep up to date with both your native and foreign languages, and pay attention to new or unfamiliar words and expressions. Also, you should remember that language is more than just words and expressions. You have to learn a language in its ever-evolving cultural context. Foreign movies and TV shows are a convenient way to understand not just the language, but also the people who speak it. 

Presenter: Thank you, Liza. 

Liza: Thank you.

Ayla: Poetry was always something that fascinated me. I started writing it when I was around six, and then it felt like that way of expression was always the one that I was most familiar with. Then I discovered the guitar and I think I’ve unlocked a different part of myself because I don’t even have to speak or think. It’s just all in the feeling of it. So, I guess the answer is yes.

Presenter: Well, from what I see here, you’re doing a pretty good job, Bob. To finish off our conversation here, I’d like to ask you to share some wisdom with our listeners. Maybe some wisdom you got from your father. 

Bob: I think I’d want to say that you need to remember that the most precious resource in life is time. And it’s time with your family. Nowadays, we have so many distractions, but the easy path is not the right path. It’s harder to take away those electronics from our kids and make them look to nature, look to where they are going. The formula is being engaged, being present and being supportive of children. It’s a lot easier to say it than actually do it. 

Presenter: Thank you, Bob. I hope we all try to do it anyway.

Michelle: My stamina comes from my own life force, and exercise and diet allow me to keep my energy up. When I want to decompress, I watch movies and play games on my computer.

Paul: I have no role models, but there are many heroes. I have an enormous capacity for hero worship. Brando – how could you not worship Brando? I’ve got many heroines too, like Meryl Streep or Audrey Hepburn.

Presenter: Do you have any advice for the yet to be published writers listening to you right now? 

Alyson: Well, my major piece of advice is to learn how to steal yourself for criticism and rejection. <…> It doesn’t have to be a major publication. I have writer friends who have editors or agents contact them after reading their work in smaller journals. Opportunities can arrive from places you never expected. You want to give people the chance to find you.

Judy White: I think I’ve almost always felt like something of an outsider, no matter how much I appear to belong to a particular group. I’ve spoken to other writers who’ve experienced this kind of psychic detachment, where externally you are a part of the scene, but internally you might as well be alone, and on some level, you’re always observing. It’s an interesting paradox because most of the time, unless you tell them, nobody else knows how you’re really feeling. I used to live in the place described in the book. I no longer live there, but I have some friends and colleagues who still live there.

Maggie: I think that my looks through the years have served me well because I was never a great beauty and I was never cast as a great beauty. So I never leaned on it and I never really made that a high value. I’ve always been kind of androgynous and it’s one of the reasons why I love being an actress. I love experimenting with the male and the female in any character. That balance, the yin and the yang of that, is always in play, because everybody is male and female.

Presenter: What do you think of using modern social media and the internet to connect artists directly with their fans?

Brenda: I think it’s great that these platforms have helped bridge a gap that used to be difficult to connect. Artists are now able to gain the exposure they need by showcasing their work, and fans can easily find and appreciate the different types of work put out by individual artists. They have also made it much easier for artists to gain inspiration and gather reference material. On the other hand, it may promote bad habits for an artist. It puts pressure on them to create work that would satisfy the public.

Presenter: Thank you, Brenda. It has been very interesting talking to you. 

Brenda: Thank you.

Vanessa: Read as much as you can, not just the things you’re told to read to parents, tutors and reviewers. Read anything, both good books and bad ones. Whatever genre you wanna work in, you’ve got to get a sense for when you’re improving. Write as much as you can and at some point you will find that the words take on a shape and rhythm of their own. It’s almost a physical thing to recognise what it feels like. That moment when you change from being a person in charge of the pen to someone not deliberately creating something. You’ll find the point when the character takes off and does their own thing. You need to recognise that and not refuse to let the character do what they want. Don’t use the character as the puppet, be a tool to the character, so you’re following along behind them. Listen to your own instincts as a writer and then edit. That may mean cutting a huge amount of words or cutting down a story by a third. I think a lot of writers don’t do enough, they leave it raw.

Presenter: What would you say is the top misconception people have about the process of getting published?

Julia: That it’s easy, that anyone can write a book, that everyone has a story. Sorry, that’s three. The top misconception is probably that it’s quick. It’s not. Even if you’re lucky enough to write one book, get representation from an agent and a publishing deal, it could be years before that book hits the shelves.

Kim: I am hoping to hear from people who do something to change the world. I’ve been reading about men and women who volunteer in difficult areas of our globe, where there is fighting, hunger, destitution. I would love to listen to their stories, and have the audience get acquainted with these modern day heroes.

Peter: You know my coach’s words on the day we won the national championship were: ‘Guys, don’t let this be the most important day of your lives. There are bigger things in life, bigger things to enjoy.’ so, I can’t even tell you the last time I thought about football, even professional football. I am at a different stage now and life is just as exciting as it was before.

John: Oh, everything has changed. In the last decades, it’s been a change in climate and global warming. One of the things I’m doing right now is a project called Coral Through the Lens of Time. I’m going back to places I photographed in years past and photographing the changes I see now.

Lisa: Parents often have an idea that their children should not be uncomfortable, and if the child is uncomfortable, that has to be stopped. As well-meaning and loving as that is, that is a fundamentally handicapping view of what it means to be human. The most durable human beings can tolerate a pretty high level of discomfort. They don’t like it, but it doesn’t frighten them. If you think about any hard work you’ve accomplished, it’s not fun. We have to reject the idea that it’s a problem for our kids to be uncomfortable.

Presenter: The story has the dogs of the main characters. How did you make the parallel, highly literary and artificial by nature? Seems so natural.

Stacey: I’m glad you found the parallel natural. The naturalness probably stems from the fact that I didn’t start out with the dog and people parallel in mind.

Presenter: Modern people are busy and find it hard to maintain the friendship. What would you say about this problem?

Peter: I think we should make a conscious effort to stay in touch. Ask your friends out every once in a while. There’s no need to meet up every few days or once a week. Catching up once a month or once every few months might be sufficient.

Carl. My father died when I was a kid. When I was a kid, I always wanted a role model, someone who I could look up to and try to be like. I didn’t know that if I was a kid, I always wanted a role model, someone who I could look up to and try to be like. I didn’t know that if I touched the stove it would burn my hand. With my son having me, I hope he’ll be able to look at me and my accomplishments and that will inspire him. I’ll just impart to him everything that I have learned up to this point that I wish I had known back then. Now that I have a name and connections, I’ll be able to help set him up, but at the same time, I’ll also make him earn it. 

Presenter: Thank you Alice for talking with us today.

Alice: I’ve had some great teachers when I was starting out. It’s very gratifying to share what I learnt from them, as well as what I’ve experienced along the way.

Paul: I have learnt lots of things from them but the most important thing is to be able to be critical of yourself. You should be open to showing your artwork to other people, because their first impression is always very important. Don’t be shy and, if necessary, start over.