Unit 17: Towards Advanced
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Session 4
Vocabulary: 13 uses of 'long'
Enjoy our version of Orpheus and Eurydice - and learn 13 different ways to use the word 'long'
Activity 1
Orpheus and Eurydice part one - 8 uses of 'long'
Greek lovers who were tragically lost to each other...
The English word long has many meanings and uses. In this session, we bring you BBC Learning English's own version of the Greek legend, Orpheus and Eurydice - and we've found many different ways to use the word long in it.
To do
As you watch part one of the story, listen out for the different uses of the word long - and decide whether this summary of the story is correct or wrong:
- Orpheus is heartbroken when his wife, Eurydice, is stung by a bee and dies.
ነቲ ቪድዮ ብምዕዛብ ነቲ ስራሕ ዕመምዎ
Mariam
Hello I'm Mariam. Today I'm going to tell you a story about Orpheus and Eurydice, Greek lovers who were tragically lost to each other because of a terrible mistake.
Orpheus was the son of Apollo, Greek god of the Sun. Orpheus had a wonderful gift. Whenever he played the lyre, any animal or bird nearby would stop and listen, spellbound. All day long Orpheus would play, enchanting all the creatures around him, including the woodland nymphs in the trees above.
One day, Orpheus was playing when he glanced upwards. There in the branches was a beautiful woodland nymph with dazzling long hair, looking down at him with dark dreamy eyes. Orpheus was in love. Before long, Eurydice, the nymph, was in love too. The pair became inseparable and soon they were married.
They were blissfully happy, but their happiness didn’t last long. It came to an abrupt and cruel end one summer’s day…
It was unbearably hot so Eurydice went to the river to cool down. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a swarm of bees came and attacked her. She clambered out of the water to escape but the bees followed. "Orpheus, help!" she screamed but Orpheus was along way off, playing his lyre.
Eurydice ran quickly. Suddenly a sharp pain pierced her foot and she fell. A deadly snake had bitten her. It didn’t take long for the poison to take its fatal effect. When Orpheus finally arrived, the snake had long gone and Eurydice was lifeless. Orpheus was heartbroken! "As long as I live," he swore, "I’ll never play music again." But he was wrong.
Join me again soon for part two of the story where you can find out why he was wrong. Bye for now.
To do
How was that? The summary wasn't quite right - Eurydice is attacked by bees, but it's a snake that poisons and kills her.
Have a go at our quiz to check you know the first 8 uses of long.
Orpheus and Eurydice - the story so far...
5 Questions
Let's check your understanding of the story - and the words and phrases with long. Decide whether each statement about the story is true or false. Look at the vocabulary box if you need help.
ሓገዝ
Activity
Let's check your understanding of the story - and the words and phrases with long. Decide whether each statement about the story is true or false. Look at the vocabulary box if you need help.
ኣመት
Orpheus played music 'all day long'.Question 1 of 5
ሓገዝ
Activity
Let's check your understanding of the story - and the words and phrases with long. Decide whether each statement about the story is true or false. Look at the vocabulary box if you need help.
ኣመት
What's the meaning of 'before long'?Question 2 of 5
ሓገዝ
Activity
Let's check your understanding of the story - and the words and phrases with long. Decide whether each statement about the story is true or false. Look at the vocabulary box if you need help.
ኣመት
Their happiness didn't last long.Question 3 of 5
ሓገዝ
Activity
Let's check your understanding of the story - and the words and phrases with long. Decide whether each statement about the story is true or false. Look at the vocabulary box if you need help.
ኣመት
Orpheus was 'a long way off', playing his lyre.Question 4 of 5
ሓገዝ
Activity
Let's check your understanding of the story - and the words and phrases with long. Decide whether each statement about the story is true or false. Look at the vocabulary box if you need help.
ኣመት
It didn’t take long for the poison to take its fatal effect.Question 5 of 5
Excellent!Great job!ሕማቕ ዕድል!ዘመዝገብኩምዎ ነጥቢ ...:
Next
You won't have to wait long to find out if Orpheus ever plays music again! Go to the next page to hear part two - and to learn some more uses of long! See you there.
Session Vocabulary
all day long (B1)
continuously throughout the daylong (A1)
measuring a large distance between two pointsbefore long (B1)
soon; quicklylast long (B1)
continue for a lot of timea long way off (B1)
a large distance awaytake long (B2)
need a lot of timelong gone (C1)
departed a large amount of time agoas long as I live (B2)
for the rest of my life
