Listen to a conversation between two students.
(woman) Hey mike, did you finish that article you were writing for the campus newspaper? The one about the school play.
(man) Not yet. Remember how I was going to interview the student who’s directing it?
(woman): Yeah, you said that was going to be a big part of the article.
(man): Right! And I was going to make my article about what the director said, since she knows about picking the play, choosing the cast, designing the set…everything! But I just called and it turns out that she’s got a bad cold…she’s sick!
(woman): So you can’t interview her?
(man) Not today…no…but I have a couple of options. I could wait until she feels better, and interview her then…it’s just that then the article wouldn’t be do ne in time to go in this week’s paper.
(woman) Oh…so you’d have to put it in next week’s paper then?
(man): Yeah, and the play’s opening this weekend…I mean, it’s running next weekend too, but it’d make more sense to have the article come out before the play opens.
(woman) I see what you mean. So, what’s your other option?
(man) Well…I could interview an actor instead of the director. I talked with one of the lead actors, and he said he’d be happy to do an interview today.
(woman) Sounds good! Then your article would come out before the play opens.
(man) I know, but it’s just that he probably wouldn’t have as much to say as the director, I mean, he wouldn’t know about everything that went into planning the play the way the director does.
Briefly summarize the problem the speakers are discussing. Then state which of the two solutions from the conversation that you would recommend. Explain the reasons for your recommendation.
Well, the man's problem is that he is going to interview a student director for his article but he couldn't because the student director's having a bad cold. Accordingly, there are two solutions for the man. First, he could postpone his interview till the director recovers, and second, he could interview an actor instead of the director. Actually, I strongly recommend that the man should wait for the director to do his interview for two reasons. Firstly, if the man wants to get a whole picture about the play, it's worth waiting even postponing his article for the newspaper, simply because it's the director who really controls everything of the play, not the actor nor anyone else. Secondly, postponing the man's article won't do any harm anyway. Sometimes a little patience would award decent price. So I believe the first solution would be a better one. (147 words)
