听播客学英语 41 一切都好

 　　There is a well-known line in Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which goes, “The course of true love never did run smooth”. It means that when you fall in love, there are always complications 1, and accidents and difficulties. That is the theme of today’s podcast. And there are plenty of phrasal verbs as well, and there is a separate Grammar and Vocabulary note to explain some of them.

　　Kevin and Joanne invite about 20 friends to a party. Among the guests are Jimmy and Carole. They have never met before. Kevin introduces them to each other, and they get talking. And they keep talking all evening, except when Kevin plays music by his favourite punk band “Futile 3 Vendetta 4” so loudly that no-one can make themselves heard. It is obvious that Jimmy and Carole get on well with each other. Before they leave at the end of the evening, Jimmy asks Carole if she would like to go to the cinema with him the next weekend, and Carole says yes. Isn’t that romantic!
　　Now Jimmy is outside the cinema. It is 7.30. Carole agreed to meet him at 7 o’clock. But perhaps he did not hear her properly (Futile Vendetta were singing their all-time hit “I Loathe 5 the World” at the time). Perhaps Carole actually meant 7.30 or even 8 o’clock. So Jimmy waits and waits. But still no Carole. Perhaps she has forgotten. or perhaps she has decided 6 not to come. It seems that Carole has let him down. She promised to go to the cinema with him, and now she has not turned up.
　　Meanwhile, outside a different cinema, Carole is looking at her watch. She agreed to meet Jimmy at 7 o’clock. So where is he? Has Jimmy stood her up? She too feels disappointed. She rather liked Jimmy and was looking forward to seeing him again.
　　Then Jimmy has a bright idea. The modern world contains things called mobile 7 phones. Perhaps Carole has a mobile phone. Unfortunately, Jimmy does not know her number. He tried to ask her at the party, but Futile Vendetta prevented effective communication. But Kevin and Joanne will know, so Jimmy rings them to find out. Kevin answers the phone. Yes, he can help. He looks at the list of phone numbers on the wall beside the telephone, and reads out Carole’s number. “Thanks”, says Jimmy, and rings off. Unfortunately, Kevin has given him the phone number of Joanne’s Aunt Carole, who is a large lady in her 50s with three dogs and six cats. Jimmy has an interesting telephone conversation with Aunt Carole, in which he asks her what she is doing, and she says that she is watching television and eating a box of chocolates, and – no – she does not remember agreeing to go to the cinema with him.
　　Meanwhile, Carole also thinks about telephoning, and she too rings Kevin and Joanne. This time Joanne answers, and tells her Jimmy’s number. Except that it is the number of Jimmy the hairdresser, and not of Jimmy who is standing 8 in the rain outside the cinema wondering where Carole is. Jimmy the hairdresser tells Carole that she would look simply divine 9, darling, if he could cut her hair and dye 10 it green.
　　Jimmy and Carole are now both very fed up. Jimmy thinks that Carole has let him down. Carole thinks that Jimmy has stood her up. Jimmy decides to get a bus back home. Carole starts to look for a taxi. Then Jimmy turns a corner and sees Carole on the other side of the road, getting into a taxi. He shouts and waves but Carole does not hear. So Jimmy jumps into another taxi and says to the driver, “Follow that cab 2!” The taxi driver, who watches bad spy movies in his spare time, has always wanted someone to jump into his taxi and shout “Follow that cab!” He rises to the occasion 11, drives through three red traffic lights and pulls up behind Carole’s taxi just as Carole is getting out.
　　So Jimmy and Carole finally meet up. They have a “where were you – no. I was there, where were you” sort of conversation. And they laugh, and go to the pub 12 round the corner for a drink, and agree to go to the theatre next week to see a play by Shakespeare called, very appropriately, “All’s Well That Ends Well”.
　　And Kevin says to Joanne, “I still don’t understand why Jimmy the hairdresser is going out with your Aunt Carole.”