MAN: Excuse me, before I leave, could you take a look at my account and see how many cardio classes I have left?

WOMAN: Sure. Do you have your membership card?

MAN: Here it is. I joined this health club a couple of months ago, but haven’t been keeping track of how often I come.

WOMAN: No worries, I can look it up. Let’s see . . . You have 5 classes left. Did you know we have a special promotion this month? If you buy a 20-class package, you get a 10% discount.

MAN: Hmm. I already get a 15% student discount. Can I add it on to that?

WOMAN: Oh, no, sorry, the current promotion can’t be combined with any other discounts.

MAN: Oh, well. Thanks and have a great day!

MAN: Hi again. Hey, I must be having bad luck. I was on my way home and once it started raining I discovered that I’d forgotten my umbrella. Do you have a lost and found bin? I think I might have left my umbrella in the locker room.

WOMAN: Sure, we have a lost and found. What does your umbrella look like?

MAN: It’s black, the kind where the stem collapses and it becomes really small. The handle is wooden. It’s the Bay brand. It might have the brand logo on the handle, I don’t remember.

WOMAN: Let me check . . . Wow, umbrellas seem to be a commonly forgotten item! But I think I found yours!

MAN: Oh that’s great! Thank you!

WOMAN: You’re welcome! See you next time!

MAN: Hey, it’s me again. Sorry, I see you’re closing in a few minutes!

WOMAN: No worries. It always takes a while for the last class to leave, and it takes an hour to clean-up after that. What can I do for you?

MAN: Sorry, but I think I took the wrong umbrella!

WOMAN: What? Really?

MAN: Yeah! Are you sure there weren’t two black Bay umbrellas in the lost and found? Mine has a rip in the fabric, near the top. But the one you gave me doesn’t have a rip. Here, see? I don’t feel right taking it.

WOMAN: Wow, what are the chances of that happening? Okay, let me go check the lost and found again. I didn’t really look that carefully because I thought for sure that one was yours

. MAN: Yeah, if you could check that would be fantastic.

WOMAN: One second . . . [Pause] Wow, you’re right! I can’t believe there were two umbrellas exactly the same. Let’s open this one. Yep, it’s got a rip at the top

! MAN: That’s the one! Here, I’ll trade you.

WOMAN: It’s a deal. See you next time! Just press the buzzer to unlock the door on your way out.

You will hear a conversation. The conversation is between two servers at a restaurant. The woman is having a problem at work.

MAN: Hey, I haven’t seen you before! You must be new here. My name’s Jonathan. How do you like it here so far?

WOMAN: I’m Anna, nice to meet you. Yes, I just started this afternoon. It’s . . . it’s okay.. Have you worked at this restaurant long?

MAN: Two years now, but I only work 4 days a week. I really enjoy it. But you . . . you don’t sound like you’re having much fun.

WOMAN: This is my first time waitressing and I’m afraid I’m not very good. I just spilled wine on a customer a couple of minutes ago! The guy was really upset, and I didn’t know what to do, so I just ran off! What do I do now?

MAN: Aww, that’s okay, everyone makes mistakes, even experienced servers! Don’t be so hard on yourself. Don’t worry! Just go back and apologize and bring him another glass of wine, and tell him dessert will be free.

WOMAN: What about his shirt? It’s got a huge red wine stain on the arm. I heard him tell his date that he can’t go to the opera with a ruined shirt. MAN: Hmm. I’ll tell you what, I’ll go talk to him with you. We’ll tell him the restaurant will reimburse him for his shirt. But first, we should tell Laura, the manager, what happened

. WOMAN: Oh no . . . I’ll get fired! She’s going to think I’m the worst waitress ever.

MAN: Laura’s very understanding. Trust me, you won’t get fired! She will make you practice carrying wine glasses, though. Actually, if this is your first time waitressing, I’m surprised she let you carry wine glasses at all! Usually they train you for at least a week first. WOMAN: Another waitress just passed me a tray with wine glasses on it and asked me to take it to table five. She said she was too busy

. MAN: Oh, I see. She must not have known it was your first day! Anyways, let’s go solve this situation. You’ll feel much better. It’ll be fine, you’ll see!

WOMAN: Hi there! What brings you into Art Land today?

MAN: Hi! I’m looking to take up painting as a hobby and my grandson just gave me a gift certificate to this store. The problem is, I really have no idea where to start. I’m wondering if you could give me some advice.

WOMAN: Of course! That’s what I’m here for. Well, let me start by asking you a few questions. Were you looking to enroll in our classes?

MAN: I have a lot of free time, so I figured I would try it on my own.

WOMAN: Certainly. Do you have ideas about what subjects you want to paint?

MAN: I think landscapes. We were looking at some old photographs on my birthday, and I thought it would be nice to recreate the rolling hills of the beautiful farm I grew up on in Manitoba. I’ve been living in Toronto for 5 decades now, and though I love city life and the downtown skyline, the memories of sunsets on the farm are still with me.

WOMAN: Wonderful! Well, the three basic types of paints are watercolour, acrylic, and oil. They are all suitable for landscapes. I would say watercolour is the hardest for a beginner to start with, even though it is the most affordable of them all.

MAN: I don’t think watercolour will be the one for me then. What’s the main difference between acrylics and oils?

WOMAN: The amount of time it takes for the paint to dry. Acrylic paints dry very quickly, within a matter of hours, whereas oil paints can take up to several days, even weeks to dry. A lot of our beginner students like acrylics because if they make a mistake they don’t have to wait long to paint over it. However, that can also be frustrating, because it’s hard to mix the colours you want when they dry so fast.

MAN: I see. Well, I don’t think I’ll mind fast-drying paints. I’ll go for acrylics, then. What other kind of supplies will I need?

WOMAN: Do you think you’ll be painting indoors or outdoors?

MAN: Definitely outdoors. I’d like to paint landscapes while immersed fully in nature myself. I’m a big wilderness explorer.

WOMAN: Sounds lovely! And if you ever feel you need some extra help, we have painting workshops at a local farm not too far from the city, every last Saturday of the month. The workshop goes from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and participants enjoy a nice farm-style lunch meal.

MAN: Thank you. I’ll go at my own pace, but I’ll definitely consider it. It might be a nice way to learn, socialize, make new friends, and reminisce about my mother’s cooking.

You will hear a news item about an unexpected event during a family trip.

A family driving near Banff, British Columbia, on a camping trip last weekend narrowly avoided crashing into a deer, only to hit a large pheasant instead. Banff is a nature reserve, home to thousands of wild animals including bears, deer, and countless game birds such as pheasant. Michael Jansen, who was driving at the time, said they were heading back to their campsite around dusk when they came around a bend of the highway and saw a deer trotting across the road. Jansen swerved successfully around the animal, but only a few seconds later a pheasant flew across the road in the opposite direction and hit the windshield. He pulled over to the side of the road as the deer ran into the forest unharmed. Unfortunately for the pheasant, the impact of the windshield killed it immediately. However, Jansen’s daughter, Emily, who took a wilderness survival course last year, decided to make the best of the situation. She took the bird back to the campsite and roasted it with garlic and onions. ’It’s completely legal to eat roadkill in British Columbia,’ she explained. ’Why waste perfectly good food? It’s sad that we hit it, but at least it didn’t go to waste.’

Asha Miller is a grade 11 student at Giles Secondary, a private school. She is pushing for her school to change their school uniform policy. Asha has recently started a petition protesting the school’s mandatory attire. Her cause has attracted a large number of supporters within the student body, and also from some parents and school staff. At the same time, many among the student body, faculty, and parents are in favour of continuing the school tradition.

The debate about whether or not students should wear a uniform to school or not is quite common in Canadian private schools. Although a few public schools also require students to wear a school uniform, most public schools don’t require this.

One of the most common arguments for uniforms is that students will not be as distracted from their studies by fashion choices or peer pressure. Consequently, students focus on better grades and they are also easier to discipline. Uniforms are also thought to play a role in creating a sense of belonging and school culture that is important for cooperation and unity

. Critics, such as child psychologist Dr. Jason Ferguson, say there is no concrete evidence that links school uniforms to improved educational results. In fact, academic performance scores in schools that adopt uniforms and those that do not often average the same. Moreover, dissenters point out that students required to wear uniforms typically manage to fight the rules, and ’individualize’ their uniforms by wearing unique shoes or accessories. But perhaps the most damaging argument against uniforms is that they can discriminate against certain religions or cultures

. The school’s administration advocates that there is a middle ground. Uniforms can work with students’ diverse cultural needs, if the school authorities consult parents about what is acceptable. Exceptions could be made, such as, for example, allowing Muslim girls to wear long loose trousers instead of skirts that might not provide adequate coverage.

Asha Miller thinks such accommodations don’t quite suffice, and she advances a different alternative. She is suggesting that uniforms be abolished in favour of a dress code that specifies the kinds of clothes that can be worn, including the length of dresses, amount of exposed skin, cleanliness, and so on. She argues this solution would address the concerns of all parties. Students wouldn’t feel constrained in how they express their identity and cultural beliefs, meanwhile, appropriate school attire and discipline would be maintained. She adds that adolescence is a particularly critical phase in a person’s life in which they are trying to figure out who they are and where they fit, and clothing choice is a way to truly express one’s interests and personality.