Au revoir to long lunch as French tighten belts
Level 3 Advanced
1 Key words
Fill the gaps using these key words from the text.
frugality bankruptcy skip aperitif obsession
sluggish forage reel baguette brasserie
1. If an economy is __________________, it does not perform as well as usual.
2. If you __________________ from the effects of something, you feel shocked, upset or confused.
3. __________________ is a situation in which a company formally admits it has no money and cannot pay
what it owes.
4. A __________________ is a long, thin loaf of bread made in the French style.
5. __________________ is when people spend very little money and only on things that are really necessary.
6. If you __________________ for food, you search for it in a wide area, but especially in rubbish bins.
7. A __________________ is a restaurant or bar, especially one that serves French food.
8. An __________________ is an emotional state in which something is so important to you that you are always
thinking about it in a way that seems extreme to other people.
9. An __________________ is an alcoholic drink that is drunk before a meal.
10. If you __________________ a meal, you avoid having it.
2 What do you know?
Decide whether these statements are True (T) or False (F). Then check your answers in the text.
1. The number of international tourists visiting Paris is increasing.
2. French people spend an average of one and a half hours eating a meal in a restaurant.
3. The three-course lunch is a French tradition.
4. Most bankruptcies in France this year have been in the restaurant sector.
5. The number of customers visiting restaurants in France is falling.
6. French restaurant-goers still enjoy a bottle of wine with their lunch.
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NEWS LESSONS / Au revoir to long lunch as French tighten belts / Advanced
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Au revoir to long lunch as French tighten belts
Level 3 Advanced
Au revoir to long lunch as French sector has seen the third highest number of
tighten belts bankruptcies in France this year, after the
• 3,000 restaurants and bars go bust in three months construction and building trades, according to the
• Starters and wine out, baguettes and burgers in credit insurance group Euler Hermes SFAC.
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris 5 The time French people spend on eating meals
September 24, 2008 in restaurants has already gone down: in 1975,
a lunch out would take an average of one and a
half hours. By 2005, it had fallen to 32 minutes.
1 It is seen as the mark of civilized eating,
Danièle Deleval, vice president of the UMIH
distinguishing well-fed French workers from the
restaurant and hotel union, said: “We’re very
English who wolf prawn sandwiches at their
worried. Since the start of the year, the number of
desks. But France’s tradition of the three-course
restaurant customers has dropped, on average,
restaurant lunch is in danger of being killed off
20% and we’re seeing no signs of improvement.”
by the economic crisis. Around 3,000 traditional
French restaurants, cafés and bars went bust 6 Jean Guillaume, owner of Le Bouquet brasserie
in the first three months of 2008 and unions on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris’ smart 8th
predict a further rush of closures as people worry district, said: “Lunch customers used to order
about making ends meet. The number of French a main course, dessert, coffee and a bottle of
restaurants going bankrupt rose by 25% from last wine. Now they’re limiting themselves to a main
year, and cafés forced to close were up by 56%. course, tap water, and giving up the rest. Of 75
customers in this lunchtime, none had a bottle of
2 Le Figaro’s renowned restaurant critic, François
wine ... It’s the end of a tradition of lunching out
Simon, said yesterday that French consumers’
and it looks like figures will stay this low for two
frugality had changed national eating habits
to three years.” The nearby bakery, however, was
and forced restaurant owners to the brink.
busy selling take-away baguettes, with queues
Diners were now skipping the traditional aperitif,
down the street at midday.
avoiding starters, drinking tap water, passing
on wine and coffee and – at most – sharing 7 Restaurant and bar owners are reeling from
a pudding. a poor summer with fewer international
tourists visiting Paris, especially Americans
3 Even the city’s smartest restaurants were getting
and Japanese. And in Toulouse, cafe owners
impatient with smaller orders. In one restaurant
complained that customers would try to make
near Paris’ Gare de Lyon, he reported, two
one drink last as long as possible. Even in
couples were asked to leave by a desperate
French holiday destinations, like Arcachon in the
restaurant owner because they would not order
west or the Côte d’Azur in the south, restaurant
starters. The restaurant chain Hippopotamus
owners said business was down by at least 10%.
was now running loyalty deals and special-offer
hamburgers, which had become more popular
© Guardian News & Media 2008
than French steak dishes. Office workers were
First published in The Guardian, 24/09/08
increasingly buying take-away baguettes and
supermarket lunches.
4 Making ends meet with low salaries and rising
food prices has become a national obsession
as France’s economy continues to be sluggish.
Regular TV reports describe the desperation of
people forced to eat cheap tinned vegetables
or forage in bins at markets. The restaurant
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NEWS LESSONS / Au revoir to long lunch as French tighten belts / Advanced
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Au revoir to long lunch as French tighten belts
Level 3 Advanced
3 Comprehension check
Choose the best answer according to the text.
1. The number of people dining in restaurants in France is falling because…
a. … there are fewer international tourists, especially Americans and Japanese.
b. … there are fewer and fewer restaurants to eat in.
c. … the economic crisis means people have less money to spend.
2. Why is the summer described as ‘poor’?
a. Because there were fewer international tourists.
b. Because the weather was bad so people stayed at home.
c. Because most French people were away on holiday.
3. Why were two couples ordered to leave a restaurant near the Gare de Lyon?
a. Because they only wanted to order starters.
b. Because they didn’t want to order starters.
c. Because they asked for tap water with their meal.
4. By how much has the time French people spend on eating restaurant meals fallen since 1975?
a. By about one third.
b. By about 50%.
c. It has shown almost a threefold decrease.
4 Find the word
Find the following words and expressions in the text.
1. A verb meaning to eat something very quickly. (para 1)
2. A phrasal verb meaning to make something stop or fail completely. (para 1)
3. A two-word expression meaning to become bankrupt. (para 1)
4. A three-word expression meaning to just have enough money to buy the things you need. (para 1)
5. An adjective meaning famous and admired for a special skill or achievement. (para 2)
6. A two-word expression meaning the point in time when something very bad or very good is about to happen.
(para 2)
7. A two-word expression meaning a special offer for customers who return to the same shop or restaurant again.
(para 3)
8. An adverb meaning more and more over a period of time. (para 3)
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NEWS LESSONS / Au revoir to long lunch as French tighten belts / Advanced
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Au revoir to long lunch as French tighten belts
Level 3 Advanced
5 Words + prepositions
Which prepositions follow these words? Check your answers in the text.
1. distinguish _______
2. impatient _______
3. limit oneself _______
4. in danger _______
5. worry _______
6. spend time _______
7. reel _______
8. pass _______
6 Two-word expressions
Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make two-word
expressions from the text.
1. restaurant a. water
2. office b. offer
3. eating c. course
4. special d. habits
5. national e. owner
6. main f. destination
7. tap g. obsession
8. holiday h. worker
7 Discussion
How many ways of saving money in difficult economic times can you think of?
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NEWS LESSONS / Au revoir to long lunch as French tighten belts / Advanced
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Au revoir to long lunch as French tighten belts
Level 3 Advanced
KEY
1 Key words 4 Find the word
1. sluggish 1. wolf
2. reel (are reeling) 2. kill off
3. bankruptcy 3. go bust
4. baguette 4. make ends meet
5. frugality 5. renowned
6. forage 6. the brink
7. brasserie 7. loyalty deal
8. obsession 8. increasingly
9. aperitif
10. skip
5 Words + prepositions
2 What do you know? 1. from
2. with
1. F 3. to
2. F 4. of
3. T 5. about
4. F 6. on
5. T 7. from
6. F 8. on
3 Comprehension check 6 Two-word expressions
1. c 1. restaurant owner
2. a 2. office worker
3. b 3. eating habits
4. c 4. special offer
5. national obsession
6. main course
7. tap water
8. holiday destination
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NEWS LESSONS / Au revoir to long lunch as French tighten belts / Advanced
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