Sunday, September 27, 2009

Activities in the Spare Time

Singgih : What do you usually do in your spare time, Heru?

Heru : In my spare time I usually read books or magazines.

Singgih : What book do you like to read?

Heru : I like to read almost all kinds of books. For me, as long as the books can give benefit and add to my knowledge, I’ll read the books.

Singgih : Yeah, I know you’re really a bookworm!

Heru : We must make reading our habit. Unfortunately, reading habit in Indonesia is still low.

Singgih : By the way, what magazine do you usually read?

Heru : I subscribe to English magazine and computer magazine. I try to improve my English by reading English magazines. As you know, I’m also a computer freak. So, I’m very fond of getting new information or knowledge about computer, especially about new hardware and software. How about you, Singgih? What do you do in your spare time?

Singgih : I like listening to music, especially classical music.

Heru : Oh… that’s great! I like classical music, too.

Singgih : Bethoven and Mozart are my favorite composers. Their music is so great and melodious!

Heru : I agree with you.

Singgih : Well Heru… I think it’s going to rain. So, I have to go home now. Maybe I’ll come here again some day.

Heru : Yeah, I hope we can meet again and continue our talk about classical music.

Singgih : Sure, I promise I’ll come again. See you, Heru!

Heru : See you!


Today's idioms are idioms using animals. There are so many idioms with animals in English. Sometimes they are easy to understand but sometimes they are not. The first one today is to ‘work like a dog’. It means that you work very, very hard.

‘John is just so busy at work. He never has time to have lunch. He works 18 hours a day, seven days a week! John works like a dog.’

Our second idiom today is a little more difficult to understand. Sometimes when somebody drinks a lot we say he or she ‘drinks like a fish’. But we most often use this idiom if someone drinks a lot of alcohol.

‘When my friend James comes to visit I have to buy lots of beer. He drinks like a fish.’

Today's idioms were ‘to work like a dog’, meaning to work very hard. In Bahasa Indonesia that's like ‘bekerja keras’. And ‘to drink like a fish’, which means to drink a lot, especially a lot of alcohol. In Bahasa Indonesia that's ‘suka minum terutama minuman alkohol’. Try and use those as soon as you can. It will help you to remember them.