English Listening B2 Episode 11 - Track 02
Fill in the Blanks Exercise
TRACK 2
Miranda I think the hardest part of drama school was (1)
. The audition process took for ever. First of all, we had to perform two scenes from plays – (2)
. Then we got called back to do the scenes again. I was supposed to prepare a song as well, but they forgot to let me know. So I just sang the first song (3)
– can’t even remember what it was. After that, there was a workshop for a day where they made us work on new scenes from plays and do movement and voice classes. After all of that I felt really lucky (4)
. There’s no doubt the training was very thorough, I mean, we did everything – the usual voice and movement classes, but also specialised things like learning how to pretend to fight on stage – (5)
. The tutors were all very different – some were really strict and tough. For example, we had a movement teacher and in her class (6)
. That was really difficult. But our voice teacher was really relaxed – she was cool. During my second year I went through a bit of a difficult time because (7)
. I mean, drama school is a huge sacrifice. The training sort of swallowed my life – like, I lived it (8)
. I kind of felt like I wasn’t having what you’d call a ‘normal’ life for a 20-year-old. The school were was really flexible about this and they let me take a couple of weeks off (9)
. I decided to keep going and I’m glad that I did. I graduated last year and I’ve got an agent and I’ve just got a small part in a production at the Royal Shakespeare Company. So I guess you could say (10)
…
Fred I got into a football academy when (11)
. I was playing at my local club and a scout from a professional club saw me and invited me to play in a trial match. I was really excited about this. My parents had their doubts – they were worried about me not having a normal childhood – but they could see this was a pretty unique opportunity, so (12)
. Dad was really pleased about one thing – we were allowed to see all the club games (13)
. But I don’t think any of us really understood just how difficult a commitment it would be. Mum and Dad were more or less forced to act as my chauffeurs and they had to drive me to practice three times a week and then to a match (14)
. I had to do this and keep up with my school homework (15)
. And that meant I often wasn’t allowed to go out and play with my friends (16)
. Still, in the academy we had the best coaches and there’s no doubt that my playing (17)
. We also used to watch videos of matches all the time and analyse the strategy of the different players. I enjoyed this a whole lot more (18)
. In fact, one of the coaches once told me that this is one of the reasons why I stood out from some of the other boys in the academy. It’s a really competitive environment and at the end of every year, there were some boys who were forced to give it all up because (19)
. I had one mate, Jack. We started at the same time, but when we turned 16 and it became possible for some of us to earn a salary, Jack wasn’t selected. And it was like the previous five years (20)
. And he was like my best mate and I really missed him. I did get selected though, and now I’ve got a full professional contract, so things are pretty good. Did I have a normal childhood? No, probably not. I kind of regret that, but then I’ve been given an opportunity, haven’t I? I guess you can’t have (21)
.
