Q1. | Hi, George.
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A1. | Hi.
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Q2. | Can you tell us little about yourself?
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A2. | Hmm, Yes. I'm 23 years old and I'm from England. And I am studying here in Japan for a year. I came here last October. And... umm... I will be staying here until, well, the end of July, I think I will be going back to England.
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Q3. | OK, so you are from England. What part of England?
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A3. | I have always lived in the middle of England. I've lived there, um, in a same house with my family for 20 years or so. And, uhh... it's actually about quarter of an hour from Wales, so it's quite near to the border. And, uhh... near the River Severn right in the countryside.
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Q4. | You haven't told me the name of the city, I imagine, its out in the country.
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A4. | It is, yeah. The nearest city is... we are actually in the middle of three cities, which are Worcester, Gloucester and Cheltenham. And, they are all fairly small cities. The nearest biggest city is Birmingham, which is about an hour away so...
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Q5. | What's the weather like there?
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A5. | The weather is, um, typical English whether. We have fair amount of rain all the time. It's a big farming area, so uhh... you know, it's good for growing things. And, actually, I was told, the other day, that it was snowing there, umm... And this is only a couple of weeks ago, which is quite strange for this time of a year. But no, it's nice summers there, good summers.
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Q6. | What kinds of companies are there in central England?
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A6. | Well, actually the nearest town to me is famous for producing... ah... make of car, which is the Morgan car. And then it's also famous for tourism, because there are the Malvern hills, which over look the whole of the area. And, umm... it's an old spa town, so it's built on tourism, on alot of that side.
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Q7. | Uhh, Spas, that's interesting. You said that Morgan cars are made there, I've never really heard of them. Are they sold in Japan, do you know?
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A7. | I`m... Actually I did, I have seen one in Hiroshima. Whilst I`ve been here. They're an exquisite car because they are only made in Malvern, and it's an old family who make them there and they only produce about three or four a week. And so...
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Q. | Three or four a week? That's interesting.
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A. | Yeah, but it's a nice sport car. It's very good.
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Q8. |
You say that the tourists go to spas in that area, what are other places that tourists go to?
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A8. | Other places that tourists go to... Umm... Lets think... They go to walk on the hills. That's very famous. A lot of people come out of the cities from the central England and they come to walk on the hills and go out into the countryside.
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Q9. | Why would they want to walk in the hills?
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A9. | Because there's gorgeous views everywhere, umm... and it's famous, um... Edward Elgar, an English composer, he lived in the area and he's famous for promoting the sort of scenery. He wrote a lot of his works there whilst biking and walking through the hills. And it's got a very nice view across the valleys.
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Q10. | That sounds very nice. What kind of food do they eat in that part of England?
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A10. | What kind of food... Umm... Well, because it is very agricultural, a lot of normal English food all sort of... Shepard's pie and traditional English cooking, umm... at the moment though I think its slightly strained with the all the diseases flying around the various livestocks, so ah...
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Q11. | What is Shepard's pie?
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A11. | Shepard's pie is umm... minced lamb on the bottom layer and then you have other vegetables and potato on the top and it's put in the oven and it's very nice.
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Q12. | Do you love Shepard's pie?
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A12. | Yeah, it's one of my favorites.
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Q13. | How often do you eat it?
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A13. | Probably once a week, at least. The favorite meal would be the Sunday roast, which I have every weekend. And Uhh...
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Q14. | What is a Sunday roast?
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A14. | Sunday roast consists of umm... either chicken, roast chicken, or a joint of meat with roasted vegetables, potatoes and carrots and broccoli or whatever and then gravy as well. And... Uhh... that's delicious.
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Q15. | Yeah, it sounds good. We often hear that the British food is not so good, but it does sound good doesn't it?
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A15. |
Yeah.
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Q16. | What sports are popular in that part of England, George?
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A16. | There is a lot of football played and lots of cricket, the two traditional English games as well as Rugby, Umm... And I actually play for, or played for two local teams for football and cricket. Um... and there's lot's of leagues around the area, and cup competitions. So uhh...
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Q17. | Cricket. Can you tell us a little about that?
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A17. | Yes. It's a traditional English game and it's along the same lines as baseball, where you have a player who hits the ball and a bowler, or pitcher who throws it, and it's played between two teams and they all wear white clothes.
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Q18. | How many players?
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A18. | There are eleven on either side.
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Q19. | Sounds similar to baseball. Right, are there any festivals in that part of England?
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A19. | Uhh... I don't... Oh, actually there are, there's a... Because of the three surrounding cities, Hereford, Worcester, and Gloucester, they are all cathedral cities. And there is often, I think it's annually a music festival, where various events take place.
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Q20. | What kind of music festivals is that?
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A20. | Umm... It's a traditional music. Umm.. Choristers from the various, the three cathedrals come together and... Umm... I'm not too sure I have never been along. I have to confess.
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Q21. | OK... OK thank you very much, George.
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A21. | OK, thanks.
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