Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And I am number 11 on the FBI's most wanted list, Ray Duncan.
And we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, a podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and fabulous vocabulary for your high IELTS score.
Your band 9 score.
Oh, so you are FBI now.
Well, I'm not FBI.
I'm wanted by...
So if you say, like, I'm wanted, it means that you are a criminal.
In that context, yeah.
Rory is wanted by FBI.
FBI, just don't get in touch, okay?
McDonald's, Nike, you're welcome.
FBI, I'm not sure.
And Rory, you're looking very well today. given your age.
Thank you.
It's a good stage of life to be at.
Is it?
Shall we talk about life stages?
Yeah.
Life stages.
Yes, dear listener, age, life, life stages is the topic.
You know, how old are you?
Are you happy with your life?
A strange topic, I think.
It is very unusual.
I don't know about this one.
Do you enjoy your age now?
Most of the time, yes.
I've achieved just about everything I wanted to in life and I'm quite happy with how things are at the moment, and the future seems quite bright.
So yeah, it's a good time to be alive.
Do you have any plans for the next five years?
Um, nothing terribly serious.
No, I just like things to keep ticking over as they are for the time being.
What do you think is the most important thing in life at the moment?
Hmm, well, probably keeping things as balanced as possible.
Obviously, I have to keep working, but I have to enjoy life at the same time.
What did you often do with your friends in your childhood?
I can't really remember that far back.
But I suppose it must have been the usual things like playing video games and hanging out together.
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Right, dear listener, are you happy with this topic, you know, like life stages?
A good idea is to say something positive, right?
Even if you are depressed and sad and you feel old, stay positive, because we want something positive for the examiner.
And if you start saying that oh, I'm depressed, I don't like my age, I feel older.
The examiner starts crying, you start crying.
Like, is it a good thing to do?
I don't know, Rory, what do you reckon?
Well, probably not crying, no.
Otherwise, you'll just have to sit out your exam until the examiner can find someone replacement to help you.
Yeah, because like, stay positive and lie, right?
Don't say, oh, I feel old.
However, it occurs to me that my answers might not necessarily be the most helpful.
So stick around until the end and we'll talk about what to say if you are younger or if you are less satisfied with your life.
So you can say, I'm happy with my age.
Or most of the time.
Most of the time, yeah.
I've achieved everything I wanted.
I have achieved.
So here, present perfect, dear listener, because you are alive.
Right.
Hopefully happy.
So I've done this.
I've achieved this.
I've done a lot of things or I will do.
Right.
So I've achieved some things I want or I wanted.
And I have a lot of plans for my future.
I'm quite happy with how things are at the moment.
Look, I'm happy, I'm quite happy with how things are now and the future.
The future is bright.
That just means the future is positive.
Positive, yeah.
And Rory, do I use an article?
Do you say like, I've got a bright future ahead of me?
It could be, yeah.
My future seems bright.
So it looks like my future will be positive, will be bright.
So yay.
And it's good to be alive.
I'm happy to be alive.
Yeah, even if you're, you know, like 60 years old and you take IELTS, for some reason, you're like I'm happy to be alive.
Yay.
I have a lot of plans for the future.
And here we can say, like, I'm planning to travel around the world.
You can lie, dear listener, right?
I'm...
Planning to do something.
I'm planning to buy a new car or I'm going to, yeah, I'm going to buy a new house.
You could talk about what you're planning to do after you get your IELTS results.
So you could say I'm going to university or I'm going to emigrate to another country, or I'm going to work on building a life or career or getting a degree.
Or just a random plan, like, oh, I'm planning to get a dog, a corgi.
Andrew, you've used a phrasal verb.
Tick over.
Yes, so if things keep ticking over, the whole expression is tick, keep ticking over, then that just means they keep going as normal.
Yep.
Keep something ticking over.
It continues to work, but with little progress.
So we keep things as they are.
So they're just going with little progress.
I'll keep things ticking over in the office.
So it's going, but not, you know, progressing much.
But it's going.
It's just going.
And my life is ticking over.
Or, for example, like, are you happy with your age now?
Like, you know, I'm happy for the time being.
Like, for the time being, for now.
Like now I'm happy.
I'm happy for the time being.
It's such a strange topic, though.
Yeah, it is.
Yeah.
I'm not so sure about this.
It's very strange.
Yes.
How old are you?
You know, but actually the examiner doesn't ask how old you are.
Yes.
Let's let's talk about age.
How old are you?
Where do you live?
What's your passport number?
Give me that number of your card.
What's the code?
However, they will want to know certain things about your age, including what is important.
So for me, the most important thing in life is being balanced.
However, for you, it's probably something like finishing your IELTS exam or getting your IELTS result.
So you could say getting your IELTS test done and dusted was a good mark so that you can move on would be helpful.
So if something is done and dusted, what is it, Maria?
It's done.
It's completed.
To get something done and dusted.
Yeah.
It's an idiom.
Actually, like UK, so British English, informal.
So, for example, like this deal is done and dusted.
So, it's completed.
It's finished.
Yeah.
You get your IELTS result and you say, well, it's done and dusted.
And the most important thing at the moment is my English, is my family.
I don't know, just, you know, or just keeping things as balanced as possible, right?
To have a balance in life. is the most important thing maybe for you it's i don't know your dog your family your english your career your i don't know your health like what should be the most important thing in life questions i think you know your health yeah or um your family your life Yeah, but if you don't have your health... You got nothing.
Exactly, yeah.
So family, career is not important, right?
Okay, I'm googling.
I'm googling.
What does Google say?
Oh, like Google thinks it's kindness.
Oh, let's speak.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, no, no, no.
Okay.
The most important thing in people's life, health.
All right.
Meaningful relationship and time.
Oh.
Yeah.
Health, physical and mental is like number one.
There you go.
Yeah.
Careeraddict.com also thinks that health is the most important thing in life.
All right.
Now you know, dear listener, that your health is the most important thing in life.
So to stay healthy and just enjoying life, you know, staying healthy and enjoying life at the same time.
When I was a child, I used to play video games, right?
So I used to, not anymore.
You did something in the past, but not now.
So I used to play video games.
I used to hang out with my friends just to have fun with my friends.
Yeah, and what are alternative answers for younger people?
If you're young and happy, or if you're young and unhappy, Rory, what can we say?
Well, I think younger people could talk about for the first question, if they enjoy their age now.
They could say they can't wait to be older so they can do more things and have more experience and independence.
And even if you are the same age as me but you're not happy with your life, you could also say I can't wait to do something as well.
Like I can't wait to have my IELTS test finished and get my results and move on with my life and have more fun.
So all of these things are possible too.
Yeah, so I can't wait to do something.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting old.
Maybe not old, older.
Yeah.
And, dear listener, you know like, if you start talking about you know like I'm sad, I don't want to get old.
You know you can crack a joke.
Yes, you can make a joke about age and the examiner will appreciate the humor.
All right.
So you can kind of like if the examiner asks you like, all right, do you enjoy your age now?
You say, yeah, OK, I'm quite happy with my age.
Age now and, you know, what goes up but never comes down?
Your age.
That is very true.
That's not even a joke.
Yeah, so like what goes up, you know, goes up, but never comes down.
Your age.
So your age only goes up.
It doesn't come down, unfortunately.
So you can say like, oh, you know, like what goes up but never comes down?
Your age.
So what can I do?
Nothing.
I can just enjoy it.
You know, I can be miserable about it.
Or I can just enjoy it.
It's better to just enjoy life.
Yeah, we take a philosophical approach to age.
And Rory, what are like a typical age stages?
Well, this is the funny thing.
It seems to vary massively, but I think the main ones are being a child, being...
A young adult or a teenager and then progressing into your 30s and then middle age.
Wow, wow, wow.
From teenager to your 30s?
What about mid-20s?
Well, I don't know.
I think that counts as being a young adult, doesn't it?
Okay.
All right.
Okay.
Yeah.
Or you see like people in their mid 20s.
So something like 24, 25.
Okay.
Okay.
Young adult.
All right.
And then middle aged.
What is like middle age?
Well, I think that's between like 40 and 50 slash 60.
Then you enter older age and you become a pensioner, basically, I think.
Or you're at pension age, not necessarily a pensioner.
Yeah, like middle ages, like from 40 to 65 or something.
And we can call it like a lifespan.
The time of a person's life.
Lifespan.
That's a nice word.
You can use it in an essay, actually.
And it's C2.
It is?
La-la-la, it's C2.
Yeah.
So, lifespan, one word.
The length of time for which a person, animal or thing exists.
So, for example...
A lifespan of around 70 years.
So, on average, people's lifespan is about 70 years.
75, maybe?
75, 85.
I don't know.
A long time.
How long would you like to be alive?
I have no idea.
It's like if I'm 90, that's old, like 90.
No, it's interesting to live up to like 100, and it kind of like when people ask oh, how old are you?
It's you, i'm 100, you know.
And people oh whoa whoa, you know, and you just go everywhere and you're 100 years old.
You're kind of like a treasure.
Can you imagine a national treasure?
Yeah,
And people just go, whoa.
And actually, you just you're proud to say that you are 100.
It's funny.
Remember when you were younger and being like 30 was perceived as old age.
And now here we are talking about being 100.
Yeah.
And what do you call these people who live up to like 100, 120?
Centurions, I think.
What?
I think they're called centurions.
Cent is like a hundred.
Long lived.
And actually Jean Coleman, a French person, lived till like he died when he was 122 years old old, oh wow oh, maybe it was she sorry.
Oh yeah, she sorry, sorry.
Sean marshaan 100.
So she had a documented lifespan of 122 years old.
That's a long time to be alive.
And she drank wine.
What a queen.
A lot of wine.
All right.
Right, dear listener, thank you very much for listening.
We'll get back to you with new episodes.
Stay with us.
Keep in touch.
Bye.
Bye.
Do you enjoy your age now?
Most of the time, yes.
I've achieved just about everything I wanted to in life and I'm quite happy with how things are at the moment, and the future seems quite bright.
So yeah, it's a good time to be alive.
Do you have any plans for the next five years?
Um, nothing terribly serious.
No, I just like things to keep ticking over as they are for the time being.
What do you think is the most important thing in life at the moment?
Hmm, well, probably keeping things as balanced as possible.
Obviously, I have to keep working, but I have to enjoy life at the same time.
What did you often do with your friends in your childhood?
I can't really remember that far back.
But I suppose it must have been the usual things like playing video games and hanging out together.
