A printable worksheet for news-based English conversation classes.
Date: 2024/04/15
Difficulty: Intermediate B1
PDF: House seen floating in San Francisco Bay
| floating • | • problems |
| barge • | • at first |
| complaints • | • moving on water |
| initially • | • boat |
| tide • | • wave |
| drag • | • pull |
| floating | moving on water |
| barge | boat |
| complaints | problems |
| initially | at first |
| tide | wave |
| drag | pull |
A house was seen floating in the San Francisco Bay for several days. People noticed it first on Sunday. The house was seen in different places around the bay in the following days. The U.S. Coast Guard watched the house's movement. The house was built on a floating barge.
When people first saw the house, they started guessing why it was there. Some people said it looked like the house from the film "Up", but on water. Now, we know that it was a houseboat from Redwood City marina. The marina used to have over 100 people living in houseboats. But, the city started making the houseboats leave in 2015 because of complaints from other people living nearby.
The houseboat arrived at its new place, the Commodore Marina in Sausalito, on Tuesday. Phil Hott, a Sausalito resident, said the journey took longer than planned. "These things are very heavy. It has to travel through the Bay. And the winds and the tide changes. You don't want it to drag you out to the Golden Gate Bridge," he said.
| A: | Did you see that house floating in the bay? |
| B: | Yeah, I thought it was some kind of movie promotion. |
| A: | Turns out it's a houseboat from Redwood City. |
| B: | Really? Do you think there's a family in it? |
| A: | What, while it's out on the water? |
| B: | Ha, yeah, must be difficult to buy groceries. |
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/04/11/house-boat-floats-San-Francisco-Bay/2541712853103/