N61 : Sixty-first lesson S00-TITLE : A Budding Writer S01 : Hiyya, Dave. Long time no see. What are you up to these days? S02 : Believe it or not, I'm giving up my job to become a full-time writer. S03 : I've been thinking about it for ages, so I finally decided to take the plunge. S04 : Giving your job up? But you've only just started! You want to starve, or what? S05 : Don't be so cynical: a cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. S06 : Hey, that's not bad! Did you make that up yourself? Tell the simple truth! S07 : You know how it is, the truth is rarely pure and never simple. S08 : Come clean: you're copying from someone. You've got no experience as a writer. S09 : You know what they say, don't you? Imitation is the truest form of flattery, S10 : and experience is the name we give to our mistakes. S11 : Anyway, I sent off a sample chapter of my novel to some literary agents, on the off chance. S12 : Then I called them all up and one called me back. He said he was willing to represent me. S13 : A few of the others sent the manuscript back with a rejection slip, but most didn't even bother. S14 : They didn't send it back? Bastards! They'll regret it when your book tops the best-seller list. S15 : What kind of novel is it, anyway? And how do you go about writing? S16 : It's a detective thriller. I've been writing down ideas in a notebook for years. S17 : All I had to do then was to write them up into a narrative, which was a doddle. S18 : I've also worked in a couple of quotes from other authors, just to liven up the style. S19 : Liven it up? You mean, to pass other people's work off as your own! S20 : Not at all. Don't you know that mediocre writers borrow but great writers steal? T00-TRANSLATE : Exercise: Translate T01 : In his CV, he worked in a reference to the fact that he had worked in London. T02 : Let me help you with the exercise. You're going about it the wrong way. T03 : Long time no see! Want to come for a drink? T04 : Eat up your dinner and I'll heat up some coffee. T05 : How do I go about applying for a passport?