Name: Cortina Ingles Original Audio Lesson 20 of 20 (13:45:02)
Uploaded: 2026-01-06T07:17:07.000Z
Duration: 13 min 46 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

The scene is Jim Foster's house in Los Angeles.

Sally is with him to welcome Jose and Maria.

How lucky we are to be in Los Angeles just when you've come back.

Jim had to return here unexpectedly, so I came along as well, hoping to see you.

Fortunately, I remembered you said you would stay at the Hotel Statler when you got to Los Angeles.

After having visited your home so many times, it's a pleasure to welcome you to mine.

I'm very eager to hear about your impressions of Los Angeles.

You wrote us about New York and Washington.

But I'm most curious about the rest of your travels.

To begin with, the two things that have impressed me most about the United States.

Are the beauty of the scenery and the friendliness of the people.

We had rain and cloudy skies during our visit in New York towards the end of fall.

Snow in the Midwest with a white Christmas in Chicago.

And blue skies and plenty of sunshine in Southern California.

What you just said, Maria, brings back to my mind the words of a song we heard in a little railroad station in the Rockies.

It was sung by a group of young people dressed in cowboy style.

No, darling, but I probably will as soon as I hear it.

Home, home on the range where the deer and the antelope play where seldom is heard A discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day I didn't know you could sing like that, Jose.

He also learned a few nightclub songs in Chicago.

And we heard some of the best jazz music.

What did you think of the Midwest in general?

Offhand, I would say that it's one of the most prosperous sections of the country.

There's almost as much activity in the field of industry as there is wealth in agriculture.

Of course, all the crops had been gathered in by the time we passed through the fields.

This gave us a chance to see some real country celebrations.

They have most of their square dances at the end of the harvest.

But Chicago impressed me much more than the farming areas.

The skyscrapers along Michigan Avenue, the bustle and traffic on the Loop.

And the Christmas gaiety were very exciting.

Do you remember the night we took a taxi and asked the driver to show us the most beautiful sections of Chicago.

He drove us all around the city, including some of the best residential sections.

I think that Chicago is even more attractive by night with all the light shining than in the daytime.

I also remember with pleasure our trip to the Chicago museums.

Almost all of the old masters are represented, as well as some of the best contemporary painters.

Did you drive west or did you take the train?

We had thought of renting a car, but decided to travel by train.

We headed for the Southwest and the Rockies by way of Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Utah.

We admired the Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City.

I remember you were enthusiastic about the Colorado scenery.

Everywhere there were mountains, hills, beautiful trees, blue skies, farmers on horseback.

We stopped a few days in Colorado and took some trips on horseback.

I bought a fishing rod and caught three large trout.

And I went shopping and caught, or rather bought, these beautiful silver earrings.

I hadn't realized how important mining is for most of the states near the Rockies.

Almost everywhere you can see signs of mining as well as people active in prospecting.

It used to be silver and gold, but now uranium is what attracts prospectors.

They also find copper, iron ore and natural gas.

The owner of a small hotel where we stayed in New Mexico had just struck a pocket of oil and and natural gas almost in his backyard.

I didn't realize you were planning to go as far as New Mexico.

But let me tell you about our trip to Arizona, since that comes first.

We took a bus in Denver and went to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon.

Is it as impressive and grandiose as we have been told?

It was a clear day and you could see for miles and miles.

The canyon is a deep gorge in a town we passed through.

We were told that it is 217 miles long, 8 to 15 miles wide, and

The earth, or rather the rock, has the most striking colors, orange, red and violet.

You can see the Colorado river winding at the bottom, and

It took me several hours riding a mule, but it was worth it.

There was sunshine all day and the breeze was invigorating.

We decided to go on and explore the desert.

We rented a car and drove along the straight roads of Arizona and New Mexico.

The cactus formations in New Mexico are impressive.

And then we headed straight back to Arizona and Nevada.

Las Vegas is like an oasis in the middle of the Nevada desert.

The hotels and nightclubs vie with each other in offering the best entertainment and floor shows.

I'm not in favor of gambling, but I couldn't stop Maria and she won too.

Not too much, but enough to make it more enjoyable.

You could have come to Los Angeles from Las Vegas.

After all, we are not very far from Nevada.

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Cortina Ingles Original Audio Lesson 20 of 20 (13:45:02)

delicate

straight

realize

conversation