Listening exercise
NPR StoryCorps: Recording America
A Blind Date That Turned Into 60 Years
audio file

Vocabulary:
to hear from
Story Corps
project
to travel the country
to record
conversations
loved ones
couple
to have been together
half a century
Ben and Bernice Finn
to meet on a blind date
the end of
World War II
Brooklyn
to serve in the army
Hank
Eddie
to approach s.o.
one day
to join
a suit and a tie
to go on a date
to not have something to your name
to buy s.t. to match s.t. else
tie
apples
nervous
pretty
And no, you weren’t pretty.
Jeanette

ladies’ room
What do you think?
to be nice
cold night air
to take s.o.’s arm
to be thrilled by something
to make s.o. more comfortable
coffee shop
to order
hamburgers
drink
the orders are going around
It’s Ben’s turn.
Oh, my God…
I bet
starving
black coffee
my date
to owe s.o. s.t.
reason
to have no memory of s.t.
to be just cheap
to buy an explanation
to have been quite a ride
to be going on x years
to fall in love with
ever since
to be archived
the Library of Congress
to be archived
to subscribe to a podcast

Listening comprehension questions:
1. When and how did Ben and Bernice meet?
2. Who arranged the blind date?
3. What did Ben do about clothes for this date, and why did he do what he did?
4. What were Ben’s and Bernice’s first impressions of each other?
5. What “thrilled” Ben on this date, and what did it make him think?
6. Why did Bernice do what she did when they went outside?
7. What did Ben order at the coffee shop, and why did he order what he did?
8. What did Bernice order, and why did she make this choice?
9. What joke did Bernice make about what happened at the coffee shop?
10. What is the “happy ending” to this story?
11. What kind of accent do Ben and Bernice speak with? (hint: Where did Ben return “home” to after his military service?)
12. a. How do feature stories and interviews like this one differ from what is usually reported in the news media? b. What social function do they serve?

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