A quick shower

Lesson 18 – Quiz

1. 
   Are you adding / bumping / checking any bags today?
   
2. 
   Hello, I need to change the dates of my hotel district / layover / reservation.
   
3. 
   I always try to get a window chair / seat / spot on long flights.
   
4. 
   I won't be in the office next week - I'll be on a business flight / travel / trip.
   
5. 
   On their honeymoon, Will and Cassie spent a week at a five-star / ten-point / gold-star hotel.
   
6. 
   Sorry, sir, but your bring-in / carry-on / take-up bag is too heavy.
   
7. 
   The gate number is printed on your boarding / checking / entering pass.
   
8. 
   The checkout / layover / stop-off was only 30 minutes – I had to run to catch my attaching / connecting / linking flight!
   
9. 
   The rooms of the hotel were nice, but the fitness center was rather dingy / red-light / one-star.
   
10. 
    The travel agency / organization / department is offering a great deal on a 5-day package in Miami.
    
11. 
    We felt sick on the plane because the flight was really bumpy / seedy / messy.
    
12. 
    You should book / make / set your flight now, before prices go up.
    

Lesson 19 – Weather

Do you want to know if it’ll be sunny or rainy next weekend? Then you should check the weather forecast – that’s the prediction of the weather in the near future.

If the forecast says the sun will be shining brightly, with clear skies (no clouds in the sky) and high temperatures, then it’s a good day to go to the beach and bask in the sunshine (or soak up the sunshine) – these expressions mean to enjoy the sun’s heat and light.

However, if the forecast says it’ll be oppressively hot, scorching hot, or swelteringly hot, then you might want to stay inside and turn up the air conditioning! Another common phrase is hot and humid – that means hot with a lot of water in the air (so you will sweat a lot).

The weather forecast might say it will be partly cloudy (the sky partially covered by clouds). Another way to say this is that there are scattered clouds (just a few clouds). If there are heavy clouds, then you

won’t be able to see the sun at all – and if there are storm clouds, then it will probably rain very soon. One way to express this is to say “It looks like rain.”

We can have light rain (little rain) or heavy rain (lots of rain, intense rain) – and if the rain gets REALLY intense, we can describe it as torrential rain. If the rain continues without stopping, then we call it continuous rain or constant rain – but if it’s the type of rain that starts and stops various times

throughout the day, it’s called intermittent rain or scattered showers. When it stops raining, you can say the rain let up.

Rain is usually accompanied by wind, which can be light/slight winds or high/strong winds. If the wind is especially strong and violent, you can say fierce winds or gale-force winds – this last expression is usually used for winds at the level of a hurricane. When the wind is increasing in intensity, we say “The wind is picking up,” and when it is decreasing in intensity, we say “The wind is dying down.”

Sometimes we describe the wind with an adjective that emphasizes the cold – such as a biting wind or