Vocabulary

newlyweds

crabby

From the desk of Ann Landers

Dear Crabby,

You have two choices: separate rooms or a 50:50 compromise. (Turn the TV off at 11:00 every other night.) But remember: although a compromise makes a good umbrella, it's a poor roof.

Discussion

1. Do you think that Ron will agree to such a compromise? What will happen if there are TV programs which he wants to watch on two consecutive nights?

2. Explain what Ann Landers means when she says, "although a compromise makes a good umbrella, it's a poor roof."

Language in life

Who has a problem? Ron? Crabby? Both of them? Talk with a partner about what you think Ron and Crabby should do to solve their problem.

Assume that Ron and Crabby can't agree on a 50-50 compromise. Crabby decides to sleep in another room. Choose a partner and prepare and present a brief dialogue which dramatizes Crabby's decision and Ron's response.

Writing

1. Does a member of your family have a habit that annoys you or makes you crabby? Write about it. What have you tried to do about it?

2. Be honest: Do you think you have a habit that annoys someone in your family? What is it? How does the other family member behave when you do it?

Situation 14.

Calling Collect; Lack of Respect?

Dear Ann Landers,

My boyfriend, who is 19 years old, moved to another city. I am 17, work part-time and do baby-sitting, so I have money of my own. (I get no allowance.) Lately I've been having terrific hassles with my parents. When Jed calls me collect, they refuse to accept the call, even though I am sitting right there. They just say, "Marianne isn't at home." I don't mind paying for his calls, and as long as it's my money I don't think they have the right to do this.

My mother says in her day no respectable boy called a girl collect, and no decent girl would accept such a call. Jed has a job but he's just getting by and the only way we can talk is if I pay on my end.

We'd like your opinion on this.

The Sound of His Voice

Factual questions

1. What is the hassle that this girl has with her parents?

2. Why doesn't Jed pay for his telephone calls?

3. How is his girl friend able to pay for them?

4. Why does the mother refuse to accept collect calls from Jed?

Cultural notes

1. A telephone book defines a collect call by explaining: "You may place calls and charge them to the number you are calling, provided the person you are calling agrees to accept the charges." Explain in your own words.

2. Older people often express unhappiness with the current state of the world by comparing the present with the past. They say, "In my day ..." How do you feel when you hear this? Have you ever used this expression?

Vocabulary

an allowance

a hassle

to call collect

to refuse

to accept

(not) to mind doing something

in her day

respectable

decent

to just get by

Discussion

1. Do you think it is proper for a boy to call his girl friend collect? Would it be proper for her to call him collect?

2. If a teenager earns money, should he or she have the right to decide how to spend it?

3. Could the girl send her boyfriend money so he wouldn't have to call collect? Do you think he would be willing to accept cash as easily as he does free phone calls?

4. What do you think the girl wants Ann Landers to tell her?

Writing

Write a letter to The Sound of His Voice, as if you were Ann Landers, and give your opinion about this hassle.