Carlos, the aspiring chef, shows up out of the blue - but he might help save the café.

Written by Chris Rose.



Language level

Elementary: A2
Intermediate: B1


Easy audio.i do all the tasks successfully

Thank you very much!

What is different between “prefer” and “like”? And between “listen” and “hear”? In my language, they are same meaning. Thanks!

Hello Steven Bui,

We use 'like' to say that something pleases us. For example: I like apple juice.

We use 'prefer' to show that we like something more than something else. For example: I prefer apple juice to orange juice.


'Listen' is something we do consciously. For example: I listened carefully to the conversation.

'Hear' is something that happens because we have ears, without any deliberate action from us. I heard a knock at the door.


Best wishes,


The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you very much

Well... I really can't understand why "money" and "research" are uncountable nouns? Especially money... I count them every day!

Hello Marina Lantukh,

Yes, it is slightly counter-intuitive, isn't it? In English you count notes, coins, pounds, dollars and so on, but money is an uncountable noun to describe the whole amount.

Best wishes,


The LearnEnglish Team

" show up out of the blue "
actually i dont get the meaning of that phrase
even i don't know whether it is an idiom or not
please tell me the meaning or guide me to where i can find such things

Hi Aljefri,

You can find the meaning of this by breaking it down into its two parts – 'show up' and 'out of the blue' – and looking each of them up in the dictionary. Note there's a handy search box on the lower right side of this page (under Cambridge Dictionaries Online).

Best wishes,
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello there :)
I've a question :
can we say : ( what do you mean ?) instead of ( how do you mean ? ) , or it's more correct to say it like the second form ?!
Thanks alot :)