Diego and Rebecca compare beach life and tourist attractions in their countries.


    Rebecca: Hey, Diego.

    Diego: Hey.

    Rebecca: What are you going to do for summer break?

    Diego: I’m thinking about going back home.

    Rebecca: To Mexico?

    Diego: Yeah. What about you?

    Rebecca: I will go back to Australia, and I’ll probably go the beach of course because Australia has such beautiful beaches.

    Diego: Really?

    Rebecca: Yes. Everybody knows that. On the East Coast. The best beaches. Does Mexico have any beaches?

    Diego: Yeah, yeah. We have really, really nice beaches down by the Caribbean Ocean, like in southern Mexico, there’s this beautiful place called Cancun and the Ocean is really, really blue, like baby blue, and the sand is white so it looks like snow. It’s a really amazing place.

    Rebecca: Can you surf at the beach?

    Diego: I’m sure you can surf in some places, yeah.

    Rebecca: What about snorkeling?

    Diego: Yeah, definitely. It’s the Caribbean Ocean so the water is transpiring so it’s amazing. It’s like looking at the sky and it’s together with the ocean, …

    Rebecca: Blue!

    Diego: Yes.

    Rebecca: Well, have you been to the Great Barrier Reef?

    Diego: I’ve heard about it, but I’ve heard that it’s the biggest one in the world.

    Rebecca: Hmm.

    Diego: Well, we have the second biggest one in Mexico.

    Rebecca: Aaahhhhh! This could be turned into a debate on who has the best beaches.

    Diego: Maybe so. But what I like about this place called Cancun, is it has a lot of history. Have you ever heard about the Mayan civilization.

    Rebecca: No.

    Diego: It’s an ancient civilization that was settled in Southern Mexico, so this is where the ruins are they were very advanced people. They knew how to predict the eclipses for the next three hundred years, and they just vanished. They just disappeared.

    Rebecca: They disappeared?

    Diego: Yeah! And there’s a new movie directed by Mel Gibson, Apocolypto. It’s about their civilization.

    Rebecca: Oh, OK. No, I haven’t seen that movie at all. Well, I suppose I could go and compare our beaches. Go to Mexico and check out this place. What was the name of it again?

    Diego: Cancun.

    Rebecca: Cancun.

    Diego: Well, we could do a home exchange. You can go to Mexico and I can go to Australia.

    Rebecca: OK, let’s do that.

    Diego: Yeah, let’s do that.

    Rebecca: Great.



    everybody knows that

    Rebecca says everybody knows that Australia has beautiful beaches.

    We use the phrase ‘everybody knows that’ to talk about a fact that’s very well known.  Notice the following:

    1. Everybody knows that speaking English well takes a long time.
    2. Everybody knows that Hawaii has the best waves for surfing.

    down by

    We have really nice beaches down by the Caribbean.

    ‘Down by’ means near a place or a thing.  Notice the following:

    1. My apartment is down by the river.
    2. Let’s try that new coffee shop down by the train station.

    baby blue

    The Ocean is baby blue.

    Baby blue simply means light blue.  Notice the following:

    1. As a kid, my bedroom was painted baby blue.
    2. Baby blue is her favorite color.

    I’ve heard that

    I’ve heard that it’s the biggest one in the world.

    We hear information from other people, radio, TV, the internet, etc.  Notice the following:

    1. I’ve heard that the weather in LA is nice in the winter.
    2. I’ve heard that’s it’s a difficult course.

    advanced people

    They were very advanced people.

    Here, ‘advanced people means a past civilization that was more modern than others at the time.  Notice the following:

    1. Prior to the 19th century, the Chinese were perhaps the most advanced people.
    2. We find past examples of advanced people in many cultures.

    Learn more!

    everybody knows • down by • baby blue
    I’ve heard • advanced
    1. We will meet you the baseball fields.
    2. That sweater looks great with your eyes.
    3. that Michael Jackson was the king of pop music.
    4. You can tell by the architecture that they were very people.
    5. that this is his best book yet.

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