Reese Witherspoon

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• essence
• pursue
• dropped out
• level-headed

• rumor
• impressive
• come a long way
• refer

• swine

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

It’s a big day for actress Reese Witherspoon, who turns thirty years old today. The big 3-0!

At only thirty years old, Reese Witherspoon has already had a very successful career. Two weeks ago she won Best Actress for her role in Walk the Line, a movie about the life and music of Johnny Cash. There are also rumors that she is being paid $29 million for an upcoming horror movie, which would make her the highest paid actress in Hollywood.

Listen to Taylor and I talk about Reese.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Taylor

Dave

Taylor:  I hear that today is Reese Witherspoon’s birthday.

Dave:  Yeah, she is 30 years old.

Taylor:  30 years old, that’s pretty impressive. You know, she just won her first Oscar…

Dave:  Yeah.

Taylor:  ...for her performance in Walk the Line. She’s come a long way. You know, I remember her from when she was first starting out. My wife and I, we refer to her as “Pig Nose.”

Dave:  From what?

Taylor:  When she was younger she looked quite like a pig. You know, she had this swine essence to her.

Dave:  Really?

Taylor:  And, uh, her acting was pretty bad at the time. She hasn’t always been a good actress.

Dave:  She started out in, like, ‘91, was her first role, but, you know, she didn’t really pursue acting too much. She went to Stanford for a year, and then dropped out to pursue acting.

Taylor:  Wasn’t it on the set of Cruel Intentions that she met Ryan Phillipe?

Dave:  Her new husband, and, well, they have children now, as well.

Taylor:  Yeah. And Ryan Phillipe, he’s no longer acting.

Dave:  What they do, because they’re really committed parents, so they’ve promised that one person will be a full-time parent, always.

Taylor:  All the time.

Dave:  So they take turns with their careers…

Taylor:  Well, that’s pretty cool.

Dave:  ...which is a good balance, right?

Taylor:  They seem like level-headed people.

Dave:  Right.

Taylor:  Yeah.

Dave:  Yeah, definitely.

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