Marco: Hello everyone! And welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.
Erica: And I'm Erica.
Marco: And today with Erica we have an upper intermediate lesson.
Erica: That's right, an upper intermediate lesson that's a little bit strange.
Marco: It's a little bit strange, but it's a real English lesson, because that's what we give you here at EnglishPod.
Erica: So, in today's lesson we've got a lot of really great language for you, we've got language to help you to gossip better.
Marco: Gossip! Why don't you, uh,explain it a little bit?Just in case.
Erica: Okay, so, if I gossip, I maybe share news or information about other people with my friends. Like I might say something like "Marco,did you see what happened in ChinesePod today?You'll never guess what I saw!"
Marco: Exactly, that's gossip and we also have language today to describe things.
Erica: To describe strange things.
Marco: Strange things. Alright, so, let's take a look at our 'vocabulary preview'.
Vocabulary preview
Erica: So, on our vocabulary preview we'll look at a few important words that will help you to understand the dialogue a little bit better.
Marco: Exactly, and the first word is weird.
Erica: Weird.
Marco: Weird.
Erica: Weird.
Marco: Now, this is a common word you probably hear all the time and in a lot of different situations, so, we wanna to explain it today.
Erica: Yeah, uh, this word just means strange.
Marco: It's strange.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: Weird person is a strange person.
Erica: Exactly, but the thing about this word is if you are a young person,let's say under the age of 35, you'll probably use it about a hundred times a day.
Marco: Weird.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: It's just sucha good sounding word – weird.
Erica: It is.
Marco: Okay, but the thing is that even though it is probably more commonly used in American English, it's still widely used for British English as well.
Erica: Yeah, that's true.
Marco: So, but maybe in British English you would say something like...
Erica: Odd.
Marco: It's odd.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: That's more common. Okay, let's look at our second word –housewarming gift.
Erica: Housewarming gift.
Marco: Housewarming gift.
Erica: Housewarming gift.
Marco: Now, this is a cultural thing, it's really common in North America to give a housewarming gift to someone.
Erica: Yeah, if I move into a new house, maybe some of my friends or a family will bring a gift over to make my house a little bit more beautiful.
Marco: So, something like a photo frame or...
Erica: Or maybe a plant or sometimes even like maybe a basket of pastries or something.
Marco: Okay, well…
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: I've never gotten one of those...
Erica: Really?
Marco: 'Cause I don't have a home.
Erica: Oh... Where do you live? On a street?
Marco: Well, I don't have a, uh, my own home, so I have never gotten one of those.
Erica: Okay.
Marco: Okay, so, we're ready now to listen to our dialogue.
Erica: So, we've got two housewives who are gossiping about what's going on in a neighborhood and let's listen to what happens.
A: Oh, I don't know if you heard, but someone moved into that old house down the road.
B: Yeah, I know. I met the owner of the house yesterday as he was moving in. His name is Armand.
A: Really? What's he like? You have to fill me in.
B: Actually, he's a bit strange. I don't know. I've just got a bad feeling about him.
A: Really? Why?
B: Well, yesterday I brought over a housewarminggift, but Armand started acting really weird, andthen he practically kicked me out! I tried to, sort of, peek into his house, but everything was so darkinside that I couldn't really get a good look.The whole thing really creeped me out.
A: Well, you'll never guess what I saw this morning. A delivery truck pulled into his driveway, andit dropped off a long rectangular box. It almostlooked like a coffin!
B: You see! Why would he...
Armand: Hello, ladies...
B: Armand! You scared the heck out of me! Thisis my friend Doris.
Armand:A pleasure to meet you.If you are not doing anything tonight, I'd like to have you both for dinner. I mean, I'd like to have you both over fordinner.
Erica: Ooh, that guy seems kind of weird.
Marco: You can hear his voice is like a weird guy, right?
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: Alright, let's take a look at our 'language takeaway' and look at some of these great words.
Language takeaway
Erica: So,our language take away focuses on several words from the dialogue that we feel are really important for you to know.
Marco: Exactly, and we have four of them for you today. Why don't we look at the first one?
Erica: Okay, so the first word is 'a bad feeling'.
Marco: Bad feeling.
Erica: A bad feeling.
Marco: A bad feeling.
Erica: So, we've got a few examples that will help you to understand how this phrase works.
Example one
C: I don't like Kelly's new boyfriend. I've got a bad feeling about him.
Example two
D: It's so dark. We shouldn't be up here. I've got a bad feeling about this.
Example three
E: I've got a bad feeling about this trip.I feel like something is going to happen. Maybe we shouldn't go.
Marco: Okay, so, basically you think something bad is gonna happen.
Erica: Yeah, you have a...soft of uncomfortable feeling.
Marco: Okay, that makes sense. I have a bad feeling about something.
Erica: Exactly.
Marco: Okay, let's look at our second word now –kicked me out.
Erica: Kicked me out.
Marco: Kicked me out.
Erica: Kicked me out.
Marco: So, when someone kicks you out, it's they force you to leave. You don't want to leave, but they force you to leave.
Erica: Yeah. Marco,have you ever kicked someone out of you class?
Marco: Um, yes, I have. I've kicked...
Erica: Really?
Marco: Yeah, if youmisbehave in my class, you're kicked out.
Erica: It's you'repretty strict, ha?
Marco: Sometimes I am.
Erica: Okay.
Marco: Um, okay. Also maybe you'vekicked your husband out of bed.
Erica: Mm, I might have done that...once or twice or more.
Marco: We'll have to ask him. I'm sure he has. Alright, so, that's what it means, you force someone to leave the house, leave the class, leave the bed.
Erica: So, kicked out of a class, kicked out of the house, kicked out of bed.
Marco: Exactly, great! Let's look at our third word now –creeped me out.
Erica: Creeped me out.
Marco: Creeped me out.
Erica: Creeped me out.
Marco: Now, this is a really common phrase.
Erica: I like this phrasea lot and we've got some examples for you to listen to, to help you understand this word a little bit better.
Example one
F: Sh! Did you hear that? Oh, I think I saw something.
G: Stop it! You'rereally creeping me out!
Example two
H: This place really creeps me out. Let's get out of here!
Marco: Alright, well, Ihave a confession to make – I'm kind of creeped out byclowns.
Erica: You are?
Marco: Yes! I don't know. They're justcreepy, they're...theyscare me. I don't know.
Erica: Really?
Marco: Yeah, so...
Erica: What is it about clowns that scare you so much?
Marco: I don't know, they're just...white faces andweird paint, I don't know, it's just creepy. Andthe way the laugh, oh, I don't know, no...
Erica: Maybe youhad a bad experience with clowns as a child.
Marco: Probably, I watched ascary movie about clowns or something.
Erica: Yeah.
Marco: Alright.
Erica: So, creeped me out basically means 'made me feel uncomfortable'.
Marco: Yes, it scares you.
Erica: Yeah, well,speaking of being scared, we have our final word for language takeaway and it is 'scared the heck out of me'.
Marco: You scared the heck out of me.
Erica: Scared the heck out of me.
Marco: Yougot really scared.
Erica: Yeah, I think this is aquite common way of saying "You really really scared me!"
Marco: Yeah. Okay, we're ready to listen to our dialogue again. Now, try and see if you cancatch all these phrases that we just talked about.
A: Oh, I don't know if you heard, but someone movedinto that old house down the road.
B: Yeah, I know. I met the owner of the house yesterday as he was moving in. His name is Armand.
A: Really? What's he like? You have to fill me in.
B: Actually, he's a bit strange. I don't know.I've just gota bad feeling about him.
A: Really? Why?
B: Well, yesterday I brought over a housewarminggift, but Armand started acting really weird, andthen he practically kicked me out! I tried to, sort of, peek into his house, but everything was so darkinside that I couldn't really get a good look.The whole thing really creeped me out.
A: Well, you'll never guess what I saw this morning. A delivery truck pulled into his driveway, andit dropped off a long rectangular box. It almostlooked like a coffin!
B: You see! Why would he...
Armand: Hello, ladies...
B: Armand! You scared the heck out of me! Thisis my friend Doris.
Armand:A pleasure to meet you.If you are not doing anything tonight, I would like to have you both for dinner. I mean, I would like to have you both over fordinner.
Erica: You know, one of the things I really like about this dialogue is there's a lot of great phrases that will help you to gossip.
Marco: That's a goodobservation. So, I think it's time for 'fluency builder'.
Fluency builder
Erica: In fluency builder we take a simple phrase or a simple word you already know and show you how toexpress the same idea a little bit more naturally.
Marco: Okay, great. So, let's take a look at ourfirst item for fluency builder.
Erica: So, when you gossip with somebody, you oftentell them news or information that they don't know already. And you might start by saying "Did you know that?"
Marco: Or you can say "Did you hear?"
Erica: Yeah, both of those phrases areperfectly fine, but if you wanna sounda little bit more native-like when you're gossiping, you mighttry out this phrase from the dialogue…
I don't know if you've heard…
I don't know if you've heard…
Marco: Yeah, that's a really good phrase. You're saying exactly the same thing, but ina really natural way.
Erica: It's a great one for gossiping. So, Marco, I don't know if you've heard, but ChinesePodis up to some pretty crazy things.
Marco: See,that's exactly how you would use that phrase. So, now let's take a look at our second item. Now, when you're gossiping, you want information.
Erica: That's right, so, you might say "Oh, tell me about it."
Marco: Or something like "Give me thedetails."
Erica: Yeah, and again, both of these examples are perfectly fine, but when you're gossiping, you might wanna try something like this.
You have to fill me in.
You have to fill me in.
Marco: Fill me in, yeah, that's...that's what I would say. Fill me in. You know, give me the details, fill me in.
Erica: Fill me in on today's gossip.
Marco: Okay, so, let's take a look at our third item. Now, if you have somejuicy gossiping news.
Erica: And you wannastart up a conversation, you might use this phrase here.
Well, you'll never guess what I saw this morning.
Well, you'll never guess what I saw this morning.
Marco: That's a really good phrase. You canchange it a little bit. You can say "You'll never guess who I saw."
Erica: Or "You'll never guess what I heard."
Marco: Exactly, and...
Erica: Veryexcellent gossip phrases.
Marco: We're teaching you how to gossip, because that's real English.
Erica: People really do it, so you gottaknow the language for it. Alright, so,enough of our gossip. I think it's time for us to listen to the dialogue one last time.
A: Oh, I don't know if you heard, but someone movedinto that old house down the road.
B: Yeah, I know. I met the owner of the house yesterday as he was moving in. His name is Armand.
A: Really? What's he like? You have to fill me in.
B: Actually, he's a bit strange. I don't know.I've just gota bad feeling about him.
A: Really? Why?
B: Well, yesterday I brought over a housewarminggift, but Armand started acting really weird, andthen he practically kicked me out! I tried to, sort of, peek into his house, but everything was so darkinside that I couldn't really get a good look.The whole thing really creeped me out.
A: Well, you'll never guess what I saw this morning. A delivery truck pulled into his driveway, andit dropped off a long rectangular box. It almostlooked like a coffin!
B: You see! Why would he...
Armand: Hello, ladies...
B: Armand! You scared the heck out of me! Thisis my friend Doris.
Armand:A pleasure to meet you.If you are not doing anything tonight, I'd like to have you both for dinner. I mean, I'd like to have you both over fordinner.
Erica: Okay, Marco, I have atrue story for you.
Marco: Is itkind of like a creepy story?
Erica: It is a creepy storyindeed.
Marco: Is it a true story?
Erica: No, it's really true.
Marco: Okay.
Erica: So, when I was youngI used to live in a country.
Marco: Um-hmm.
Erica: And, you know, in a countryall of the neighbors know each other. It's asmall community, so everyone knowswhat's happening all the time.
Marco: Okay.
Erica: Andthere was some gossip going on in our community about a guy wholived at the end of the road.
Marco: Um-hmm.
Erica: And he wasthe owner of a car wrecking yard, so, a place where youtake old broken-down cars andtake the parts apart to sell.
Marco: Right.
Erica: And anyway...
Marco: Ascrap yard.
Erica: Yeah, a scrap yard.
Marco: Alright.
Erica: Okay, so, you know, he had a wife anda couple of kids, um, andsuddenly his wife disappeared.
Marco: Wow.
Erica: Yeah. And no one knew what happened or anything and... So,several years passed, andsuddenly the police start coming in and startinvestigating this guy and startdigging up all of the land around his property. And I guess, I don't know what they're doing, but I think they werelooking for the wife's body.
Marco: Wow, and did they find it?
Erica: I don't know, Imoved away.
Marco: Oh, such a great story, but we don't knowhow it ends.
Erica: Yeah, well, um...
Marco: But we canleave it up to the imagination of our listeners.
Erica: Exactly.
Marco: Maybe they were looking for an old car.
Erica: An old car very underground. Idon't think so.
.....
用户评论