Dialogue about Cambodia in English with Quiz

Advance Listening Series 4 Lesson 5- Dialogue about Cambodia in English

In this lesson, you listen to an English conversation between two people dialogue about Cambodia.

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English Listening Lesson Audio with Script

Lesson Audio

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Lesson Script

Julia talks about biking across Cambodia.

Jim: So on your bike trip, how did you feed yourself. What did you eat?

Julia: Hydration was a thing that we worried about. We were able to stop every few kilometers and get fresh young coconuts with the straw in the top. Did you remember doing that?

Jim: Yes, that’s great.

Julia: That’s like a natural IV hit straight there. You can get, you can live very well just roadside stalls. Breakfast on the street markets. Most Cambodians eat breakfast on the way to work. Like they gather at the market and there’s people there selling noodles and the most incredible just homemade stuff.

Jim: So what was a typical breakfast?

Julia: Noodles, usually noodles, some kind of noodles in a soup, like noodle soup I guess probably like in Vietnam, pho, they call it. The Cambodians have a similar thing. A lot of dishes with coconut milk, not as spicy as Thai food but a lot of coriander we call it in the UK. You call it, what do you call it, cilantro, you call it in America?

Jim: It sounds good.

Julia: Fabulous, yes, coconut.

Jim: I would imagine a lot of fruit?

Julia: Let’s see. In Cambodia did we get a lot of fruit. Not that much fruit actually in Cambodia. In Vietnam I remember the mangoes. When we crossed the border it was very different even though they’re neighboring countries, it was a very different kind of cuisine when we crossed into Vietnam. Palm sugar, cane sugar, we drank a lot of cane sugar, cane sugar drink.

Jim: So during the day how many times would you usually eat?

Julia: We’d eat breakfast, usually within the first hour. Oh, the coffee. I remember the coffee. Coffee is made with condensed milk in Cambodia so that was a staple, a big shot of Cambodian coffee with condensed milk in it. We’d have breakfast. We would try and do the bulk of our riding, we’d try and do like sixty K if possible before lunch because it got too hot in the afternoons and we wanted to arrive wherever we were getting before dark because we didn’t really, you know the roads weren’t safe. And then we’d stop for lunch somewhere but we’d also make it a rest stop and because we didn’t all cycle at the same pace, it would probably be about two hours or so by the time we all arrived in the same place. Ate lunch, again rice is a staple and then whatever they had going these lunchtime cafes. And then our evening meal would be probably when we arrived at our guesthouse or the town that we were at in the evening. So we would have three meals a day usually.

Jim: And then at night you would just stay in a guesthouse?

Julia: At night we’d usually stay, yeah, we stayed in guesthouses, yeah.

Jim: So how did you feel when you finally reached the end of your trip?

Julia: Both elated and saddened. It was a real sense of achievement that we’d made it but I wanted it to go on forever. I then had to fly back out from Ho Chi Minh. We had a few days in Ho Chi Minh just to kind of celebrate that we got to the end but I had to come back to Japan so I flew back via Bangkok, where my husband was actually waiting. I’d been away two months so it was nice to come home. You know I realized when I got to the end that I really missed my husband but during the trip I was very at peace and enjoyed it and I could have just gone on forever I think.

Jim: Cycle around the world?

Julia: Cycle around the world, yeah. I realized that yeah that’s how you do it. It’s so pleasurable to do it to ride.

Jim: It sounds like an incredible trip.

Julia: It was.

Jim: I’m sure you’ll never forget it.

Julia: No, never, no, no, no.

English Listening Lesson Quizzes

Answer the following questions about the conversation.

1) How did they stay hydrated?

1. a) With coconuts
2. b) At mini-marts
3. c) Special sports drinks

2) They ate a lot of ______ for breakfast.

1. a) noodles
2. b) omelets
3. c) soup

3) The food in Vietnam was ______ Cambodia.

1. a) different from
2. b) the same as
3. c) spicier than in

4) They did most of their riding _______.

1. a) at night
2. b) in the morning
3. c) after lunch

5) Where did the group stay?

1. a) With families
2. b) In big cities
3. c) In guesthouses

Answers

• 1=a
• 2=a,c
• 3=a
• 4=b
• 5=c

English Grammar Tips

Coming soon….

English Listening Lesson Phrases

hydration

Hydration was a thing we were worried about.

When your body is ‘hydrated,’ it has enough water in it to function normally. Notice the following:

1. This is a special sports drink that helps with hydration.
2. Hydration is the first survival problem you must solve if you are stranded.

roadside stalls

You can live very well just roadside stalls.

A ‘roadside stall’ is an informal food stand that is on the side of the road. Notice the following:

1. We always stop at this roadside stall to buy soup on our ride.
2. Some of the best places to eat are roadside stalls.

staple

Coffee is made with condensed milk in Cambodia, so that was a staple.

A ‘staple’ food item is one that is eaten in large quantities by the people from that area. Rice, bread and potatoes are all common staple food item. Notice the following:

1. Rice is a staple in most of Asia.
2. Bread is my major food staple.

bulk

We would try to do the bulk of our riding before lunch.

Here, ‘bulk’ can be replaced with ‘most.’ Notice the following:

1. I am going to send the bulk of the cookies home with you and just keep a couple for my family.
2. The bulk of my things are in storage, but some stuff is still at my parents’ house.

pace

We didn’t all cycle at the same pace.

Your ‘pace’ is the speed you do something. Notice the following:

1. She is the perfect running buddy, because we run the same pace.
2. His pace is way too fast for me.

elated

Both elated and saddened.

If you are joyful and proud about something, you can say that you are ‘elated.’ Notice the following:

1. Graduation is a time to feel elated.
2. She is absolutely elated that she got a new job.

Quizzes for Lesson Phrases

• hydration
• roadside
• staple
• bulk
• pace
• elated

1. I’m looking for a……..  stall that sells fruit.
2. My goal is to get my……..  under 10 minutes per mile.
3. Potatoes and corn are a……….  in this part of the country.
4. The whole team was……….  after winning the championship.
5. Coconut water is good for……….  .
6. The……….  of my clothes will fit in a box that size.

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