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Views #366 | High Beginner 3

Messy Room

Marion discusses what she needs to do with her room.
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Joel
Marion

My bedroom is very messy at the moment. I'm not too happy with it. I'm just looking around and trying to work myself up to actually cleaning it. Em, but I don't like cleaning my bedroom. Sometimes I like it when I tidy things up and I find things that I've forgotten that I had in the first place, that's quite nice, especially when you find maybe money or, I don't know, a voucher or something. That happened to me once that I found a voucher for a bookshop that a friend of mine had given me months before but I'd completely forgotten that I had it, so that was a nice surprise but generally, generally, it's not a good thing, is it, to clean your bedroom? At the moment, just looking around, there are so many things that I need to tidy up. I've got lots of, lots of books everywhere, in piles, in neat piles, but maybe too many piles, all over the floor, I think. Then I've got lots of newspapers and CDs, out of their, their covers, of course, because that would be too neat! Tapes, what else? I think the worst thing for me is all the paper that I tend to accumulate, notebooks, and printouts from work, and lesson plans, and ideas I have for other lessons, so that before I know it, there's a little paper mountain on my floor. So, usually I have one paper mountain and that's not so bad, but at the moment, I have three. That's not good at all. The thing with a paper mountain is it can take you absolutely hours to get through it, before you can sort it into one category or another, and I hate throwing things away. I think that's my problem. I'm a real pack-rat, I think people call them, or a hoarder. I tend to hoard things, so hoarding mean keeping things even though they're not really useful anymore. So, I'm a definite hoarder. I also have loads of photographs and boxes, and, my God, way too many things. I think maybe I'd better start cleaning.

Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

work myself up to

I'm just looking around and trying to work myself up to actually cleaning it.

When you 'work yourself up' to something it means that you get yourself prepared to do something.

Notice the following:

  1. I need to work myself up to going for a run.
  2. If I am going to do a speech I need to work myself up to it.

in the first place

Sometimes I like it when I tidy things up and I find things that I've forgotten that I had in the first place.

'In the first place' means at the beginning or previously.

Notice the following:

  1. I did not even want to go there in the first place.
  2. If you remember I said that I wanted to shopping in the first place.

pile

I've got lots of books everywhere, in piles, in neat piles, but maybe too many piles, all over the floor.

A 'pile' is a collection of things that are on top of each other in an organized stack or a disorganized heap.

Notice the following:

1. I have a huge pile of clothes on the floor that need to be washed.
2. There was a pile of sand that we could play in.

paper mountain

I tend to accumulate, notebooks, and printouts from work, and lesson plans, and ideas I have for other lessons, so that before I know it, there's a little paper mountain on my floor.

A 'paper mountain' means a pile of paperwork that has accumulated.

Notice the following:

  1. We are meant to be a paperless office but I have a paper mountain on my desk.
  2. She is writing a book at the moment and there is a small paper mountain by her table.

hoarder

I think that's my problem. I'm a real pack-rat, I think people call them, or a hoarder.

A 'hoarder' is someone that collects and keeps hold of everything and rarely throws anything away.

Notice the following:

  1. She is a complete hoarder and her house is always a mess.
  2. You need to have a clear out, you hoard far too much junk.
Vocabulary Quiz
work yourself • first place • pile
mountain • hoarders
  1. Her habit of reading the newspaper every day creates a big paper by the end of the week.
  2. Both my parents are big so it took forever for them to move out of their house.
  3. The pool is really cold so you need to up to getting in.
  4. I completely forgot why I came into this room in the .
  5. That is a of clothes I am going to give away. Look at them and see if you want anything.
Answer the following questions about the interview.

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