Excuses, Excuses!

Thor May; translation by 박준영

+ Why didn’t you come last week?

자네 지난 주에 왜 안 왔는가 ?

You missed some important things!

중요한 게 많았는데 말이야 .

- I’m sorry, I meant to come but a family emergency came up.

죄송합니다 . 오려고 했는데 갑자기 집안에 일이 생겨서요 .

+ Is everything OK now?

이제 괜찮은가 ?

- Yes, it’s all fixed now.

예 , 이제 다 해결됐습니다 .

But can I hand in my assignment next week?

저 , 근데 과제물을 다음주까지 제출하면 안 될까요 ?

+ Late assignments get a 10% penalty.

기한을 넘기면 점수가 10% 깎이네 .

- But the books I need are out on loan.

필요한 책들이 다 대출 중이라서요 .

+ I’ll give you some Internet references.

인터넷으로 찾을 수 있는 참고자료를 알려주겠네 .

The information you need is easy to get.

과제물에 필요한 정보는 쉽게 구할 수 있다네 .

- Thanks sir, but my computer has a virus.

고맙습니다만 제 컴퓨터가 바이러스를 먹어서요 .

It’s not working.

작동이 안 되거든요 .

+ Sorry, no more excuses today!!

핑계는 그만 늘어놓게 !!

If the assignment is late, you lose 10%!

과제물 늦게 제출하면 이유불문하고 (no matter what reason) 10% 깎을 거야 !

Get Out Of This !!

- You are caught without a ticket on the train

- A boy/girl you don't like asks you out for dinner

- The boss wants you to work on Sunday, but you hate that idea

- You arrive late for work the third time this week. The boss has threatened to fire you

- The manager has just learned you made a W300,000 mistake on a customer's order

Procedure:

1. Listen to native speakers saying this dialogue (if you can). Try to copy their intonation.

2. Memorize the conversation. Practice it with a partner

3. Make a sentence skeleton, using the first letter of each word [e.g. w-d-y-c-t-w-l-w? y-m-s-I-t ]

4. Test your memory of the dialogue within 24 hours. Use the sentence skeleton for to help with the test.
(If you don't do this, you will forget about 80%).

5. Make up some excuses to for Get Out Of This!.

Extension Activity

a) Make up your own English sentences with the speech-frames below;
(these frames come from the conversation "Excuses, excuses!" above).
b) Try to join all the speech-frames into one story (if you are clever!).

1. Why didn't you ________________________

2. I meant to ____________________________

3. Can I ________________________________

4. The ________ I need are ________________

5. The ________ you need is _______________

6. I'll give you some _______________________

text byThor May; translation by 박준 영
( Wordsworth Translation & Publishing Services, www. wordsworth.co.kr)

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