Activity 1: Đọc transcript và nghe đoạn hội thoại dưới đây.

Candidate: So, I’m going to tell you about a town in the Lake District, which is a beautiful region in the northwest of England, pretty close to the border of Scotland. There are dozens of fantastic little villages and towns there, but the one that tops the rest is called Windermere. It sits on a huge lake and is surrounded by hills, trees and rocks. I’ve been lots of times already, and I can’t wait to go back – as soon as I finish the second semester at university, I’m going to head up there again.

Being far up in the north, as you can imagine, it can get pretty cold in Windermere, particularly in winter. Too cold for some. Having said that, there’s a real stark beauty to the town at that time, when your breath comes out like mist, and the streets get white with the snow that falls. Summer is the opposite extreme – it can actually get pretty warm, comfortable enough to wear just a t-shirt and shorts – but if you wanted to visit at that time, you’d have to get yourself prepared for all the tourists. Other times? Autumn is pretty, I’ve been told, but I tend to visit in spring.

I go every year, just me; I have to say that I generally prefer not to go with anyone else. For one thing, you can make friends really easily if you stay in a hostel. There are young people from all over the world who make it their mission to spend a few days or a week there. As I say, it’s an ideal place to go hiking or hill-walking, so that’s the priority for me and for hundreds of others. There’s also a really interesting variety of independent local shops, selling everything from cheap souvenirs to galleries full of extremely expensive art. When I go back, I’m going to do what I always do – browse through the shops after a long day walking in the countryside.