一. Ability

1. Can you ride a bike?

2. Will you be able to finish your work by noon?

3. Are you capable of painting beautiful pictures?

4. I can do it.

5. I know how to operate a computer.

6. It’s not too difficult to climb up the tree.

7. I’m not too bad at telling stories.

8. I feel able to swim across the river.

9. I’m able to recite all Shakespeare’s sonnets.

10. I’m afraid I can’t cope with those troubles.

Dialogue 1

M: How many laguages can you speak?

W: I can speak French and German.

M: How well can you speak them?

W: I can speak German quite well, but I can’t speak French very well.

M: Can you help me to translate these sentences into German now?

W: No, but I’ll be able to tomorrow.

Dialogue 2

W: Can you speak English?

M: Yes I can. I speak it very well.

W: Where did you learn it?

M: I lived in England when I was a child.

W: What else can you speak?

M: Well, I know a little Italian.

Dialogue 3

M: Most of our customers are foreigners. How many foreign languages can you speak, Elizabeth?

W: Two. French and Spanish.

M: And how well can you speak them?

W: Well, French was my best subject at school. I can read and write it pretty well.

M: And how about your Spanish?

W: Well, it’s not as good as my French. I can speak it reasonably well, but my written Spanish isn’t very good.

M: I see. Well, we have a lot of Spanish customers, but you wouldn’t need to write any Spanish here.

W: In that case, I’m fit for the position I think.

Dialogue 4

W: Can you help me now?

M: No, but I’ll be able to tomorrow.

W: That’ll be too late.

M: Why don’t you ask Bill if he can help?

W: I did, but he wasn’t able to either.

M: Jane and Sally are friends. They are both married and they are very proud of their husbands. One day, they met each other and they started talking about their husbands. According to Jane, her husband is big and strong and handsome. He is also very much of a sportsman. He can swim and ski, and he can play several ball games such as football and cricket. Sally’s husband, however, seems to be just the opposite. He is physically neither big nor strong, but he excels in intelligence. He is good at languages and can speak six languages, including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, and Japanese. Besides, he is much of a funnyman. He can cook, sow, and iron. Indeed, as Sally puts it, he is a good husband.

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