Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. be charged
    • ex. I was charged ¥5,000 for room service.
  2. claim
    • ex. My classmate claims that he's from a rich family, but I’m not so sure that's true.
  3. complain
    • ex. The student complained about his low grade to his teacher.
  4. cheat
    • ex. He only won the game because he cheated the other players.
  5. target
    • ex. The criminal targeted people who live alone.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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A Taiwanese tourist was charged €25 (about ¥3,000) for an ice cream cone in Florence, Italy. The ice cream shop owner claimed that the ice cream was expensive because it tastes really good.

The tourist complained about the price of the ice cream to his tour guide, who called the police. According to the police’s investigation, the ice cream shop owner cheated the tourist by hiding the shop’s price list. Because of this, the owner had to pay a fine of €2,000 (about ¥250,000).

According to the police, a lot of businesses in Italy target tourists in this way. In 2017, four Japanese university students paid €1,000 (about ¥125,000) for three steaks and some fried fish at a restaurant in Venice. In the same year, another restaurant in Venice overcharged a British man €513 (about ¥64,000) after they served him oysters that he did not order.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Prices

  • Should customers complain if they feel that they’re being overcharged? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • What kind of products increase in price a lot? Why? Discuss.
  • What's a good reason for a company to increase prices? Why? Discuss.

Tourists in Your Country

  • Is the number of tourists in your country increasing? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • How do people in your country usually treat tourists? Are they welcoming to them? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • What should tourists learn before they come to your country? Why? Discuss.