Part 4. My pet hate.

Keywords. pet hate, dislike, filling up forms, horror, applying for, giving information, personal life, habits, answers,

questions, defects, job applications, false declarations, discrepancies.

Vocabulary. pet hate, positive, obscure, prospective employer, measles, conceivably, confront, go blank,

tonsil, delicate, contend, defect, contact lens, account, dubious, summons, discrepancy.

What do you dislike most?

Listen to a passage about what is the speaker's pet hate.

Complete the statement in the left-hand column, and then note down the supporting details in the right-hand column.

Of all things in the world, I mostly dislike filling up forms.

In fact, I have a positive horror of it.

Applying for a driving license, registering for an evening course, booking a holiday abroad...

everything nowadays seems to involve giving information about one's personal life and habits that has little or nothing to do with the matter in hand.

When applying for a job, it maybe of some obscure interest to a perspective employer to learn that I collect stamps, or had measles as child.

But why should he conceivably want to know that my father was a tobacconist to live in Foreland and died when he was 82.

The authorities who require one to fill up forms frequently demand answers to questions that one would hesitate to put to one's intimate friends.

The worst of it is that, when confront with such questions, my mind goes blank and I can hardly remember my own date of birth, let alone my nationality.

Have I ever suffered from a serious illness? Have I? What do them mean by serious?

I had my tonsils out in hospital when I was 8.

My mother always assured me I was delicate, but father contended I was born lazy.

Do I suffer from any personal defects?

Well, I wear contact lenses and my upper teeth are not my own.

But perhaps the word "defect" applies to my character.

Am I supposed to admit that I like gambling and find it difficult to get up in the morning, both of which are true.

Of all, I think job applications are the worst——education, previous experience, posts held, give dates.

Terrified by the awful warning about giving false declarations, which appears at the bottom of the form.

I struggle to remember what exams I passed and how long I worked for what firms.

However hard I try, that always seems to be a year or two for which I cannot satisfactorily account.

And which I am certain, if left blank, will give the impression that I was in prison or engaged in the some occupations too dubious to mention.

Even when the form is safely posted, there is no relief as I hourly await the summons from some furious official to explain the discrepancies on my form.