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20 Backyard Barbeque

20. Fire up the grill!
   

man cooking on a grill

Eduardo likes to grill food.

They have a great backyard!

vocabulary

barbeque: to cook food on a grill outside.

buns: bread used to make a sandwich with meat, usually hot dogs and hamburgers.

fire up: to start or provide energy for something such as a grill

grill: an apparatus for cooking food outside.

odd: unusual

show up: go to or appear at a scheduled event

toast: to formally wish good luck or congratulations before a large gathering of people. The toast is immediately followed by a drink–usually wine or champagne, but any kind of drink will do.

On Friday, Eduardo and his girlfriend, Tina, had some friends over for a backyard barbeque.They expected at least ten people to show up. Eduardo made hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken wings, and grilled vegetables for his guests. He likes to use his grill and eat outside whenever the weather is nice. He even cooks outside during the winter.

Tina helped Eduardo to prepare the food. First, they went to the grocery store to get the things that they needed: hamburger and hotdog buns, ground beef, hot dogs, chicken, cole slaw, zucchini, green and red peppers, potato chips, pop, wine, and beer. They also bought a gallon of chocolate ice cream.

Eduardo’s friends from college came over some time after 4 p.m. Tina invited some of her friends from work. They arrived a little later. Everyone sat in the backyard and talked until the food was ready.

After dinner was finished, Eduardo and Tina gave everyone a glass of champagne. Champagne at a backyard barbeque? That seemed odd–until they made their big announcement. They plan on getting married! What a surprise! The wedding won’t be until next year because they have a lot of planning to do.

Their friends laughed at the surprise announcement and someone made a toast, but it wasn’t really that big of a surprise. Everyone knew that they would eventually get married.

Congratulations and best of luck to Eduardo and Tina on their engagement!

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Now you try it. Read the paragraph above. If you have a microphone, you can record your voice.

 

How much do you remember from the reading? Fill in the blanks.  

in your notebook!

  • 1A: Where does Eduardo like to eat?
  • 1B: He likes to eat _________________.
  • 2A: Who is Tina?
  • 2B: She’s Eduardo’s ___________________.
  • 3A: What did they announce?
  • 3B: They announced their ________________.

(ANSWERS: 1. outside;  2. girlfriend;  3. engagement)

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