Lettura e ascolto intermediate in inglese: The art collector

Piccole letture in chiave umoristica e/o filosofica

Perché non provi inizialmente ad ascoltare l’audio senza leggere il testo?

Per sapere il significato delle parole evidenziate, passaci sopra con il mouse senza cliccare.

A London lawyer representing a wealthy art collector called his client and said to him, “Thomas, I’ve got some good news for you, and I’ve got some bad news for you.”
The art collector replied, “Okay, I’ve had a pretty awful day, so let’s hear the good news first. It might cheer me up a bit.”
“Well, I met your wife today,” said the lawyer, “and she told me that she has just invested £5,000 in two pictures that she thinks will bring a minimum of £10 million. And I think she could be right.”
“Excellent!” replied Thomas enthusiastically. “My wife has always had a good eye for a bargain! If that’s the good news, then I’m sure I can handle the bad news. What is it?”
The lawyer hesitated for a moment, and then replied, “The pictures are of you with your secretary.”



Your comments are always very welcome.


Unknown's avatar

Author: Tony

Born and raised in Malaysia between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Educated at Wycliffe College in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, England. Living in the foothills of Mount Etna since 1982 and teaching English at Catania University since 1987.

7 thoughts on “Lettura e ascolto intermediate in inglese: The art collector”

  1. Good morning Tony I just listen to this audio and I found it very funny but…I didn’t understand this sentence which I was forced to read in the transcription. The sentence is this: it might cheer me up a bit. I don’t tell you what I understood because it would make you laugh like a crazy. I wanted you to indicate, if possible, where I can go to see in the site’s section “pronunciation” about this type of sentence. Excuse me for the trouble and thanks as always!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Gaetano.
      I’m not sure if the “pronunciation” section can help with a specific problem like this. It might be useful to know what you originally understood (I promise not to laugh like a madman).
      It’s quite probable that your lack of familiarity with the expression “to cheer (somebody) up” led you to interpret it with some alternative and more familiar expression.

      Like

      1. Hi Tony. I have complete faith in your promise and I try to report what I heard to you. It might be this: I chimmy upbird. I realize it’s absurd but it was what I heard more or less. I listened to it multiple times until when I decided to read the text.

        Like

          1. Ok Tony the only thing to do, as you already mentioned many times, is practise, practise, practise. Thanks and see you tomorrow!

            Liked by 1 person

Leave a reply to gato scar Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.