EC111_Guide.pdf

(149 KB) Pobierz
111 Cafe
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ENGLISH CAFÉ – 111
TOPICS
Famous Americans: Yo Yo Ma; popular books in the U.S., pronouncing
contractions, to figure out versus it figures, there will be no versus there will not
be, if you will
_____________
GLOSSARY
self-deprivation – self-denial; the act of not letting oneself have or do certain
things that are enjoyable
* Albert is trying to lose weight and is practicing self-deprivation by not eating any
sugar or diary.
hip – fashionable; something that is very popular
* What kind of music is hip among teenagers these days?
label – a small piece of paper, plastic, or cloth that is attached to something that
is sold, usually with information about the manufacturer, date, size, or material
* The label says that this shirt should be washed only in cold water.
sacrifice – something that is important and valuable, but that one decides not to
have, do, or use because having, doing, or using something else seems more
important
* Lorenzo made a huge sacrifice, working three jobs to earn enough money to
send his children to college.
ethically – in an ethical manner; in a way that is moral, correct, and right;
according to certain beliefs and principles
* Many of the executives at this company who did not behave ethically are now in
jail.
to rubberneck – to slow down and turn to look at a car accident or something
else while one is driving past it
* If these drivers would focus on driving instead of rubbernecking, we wouldn’t
have so many problems with slow traffic.
to take up – to decide to learn how to do something, often how to play a musical
instruments
* I have too much free time, so I’ve decided to take up the tuba.
1
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
134836247.012.png 134836247.013.png 134836247.014.png
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ENGLISH CAFÉ – 111
prodigy – a genius; a child or teenager who is extremely intelligent or talented
for his or her age
* Victoria was a prodigy who started studying in medical school when she was
only eleven years old.
conductor – a person who stands in front of a group of singers or people playing
musical instruments and gives them instructions during a performance
* The conductor led the choir through a very strange interpretation of Handel’s
Messiah.
overwhelming – overpowering; too strong, powerful, or big for one to
understand, tolerate, or fight against
* The excitement of receiving the Nobel Prize was overwhelming, and the
chemist began to cry with joy.
to figure out – to think about something until one understands it; to understand
and be able to do something
* How long did it take you to figure out the answer to question #17 on last night’s
algebra homework?
It figures! – a phrase used to mean that something makes sense, or that
something seems reasonable or logical, often when one is displeased with it
* Did you hear that Jerome called to say he isn’t coming to work today because
he has a bad headache? It figures! He was drinking at the bars until at least
3:00 a.m. last night.
if you will – a very formal, polite phrase used to ask someone to do something
or to allow something; if you will allow or permit
* The new singer we just signed will no doubt become the King Kong, if you will,
of the music industry.
2
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
134836247.015.png 134836247.001.png 134836247.002.png
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ENGLISH CAFÉ – 111
WHAT INSIDERS KNOW
The Juilliard School
Many Americans who want to study the “performing arts” (music, dance, and
drama) hope to go to The Julliard School. The Julliard School in New York City
is one of the world’s most famous schools for the performing arts. It has only
about 800 students each year. This makes it very “competitive” (difficult to get
into, because many people want to go there) and many people who want to be
professional performing artists apply for “admission” (permission to study at a
particular school) each year.
The Julliard School was “founded” (created) in 1905, because people thought
that too many music students were going to Europe to study music, since the
United States didn’t have a good music school at the time. A man named
Augustus Julliard gave a lot of money to the school, and now it “bears his name”
(is named after him). The dance and drama divisions were added later. The
school also has a large “collection” (a group of similar objects) of “music
manuscripts” (original, hand-written pages with notes for music) by Mozart, Bach,
Brahms, and other famous “composers” (people who write music).
The school has educated many famous performing artists. Some of the famous
“graduates” (people who earned a degree from a particular school) include actors
Christopher Reeve and Robin Williams. Well known musicians like Wynton
Marsalis (trumpet) and Yo-Yo Ma (cellist) are Julliard graduates. Lew Soloff, a
band member in Blood Sweat and Tears , played Trumpet at Julliard; David
Bryan, the keyboardist for Bon Jovi studied piano there. Even Alan Greenspan,
the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board (the U.S. central bank)
studied the saxophone and clarinet at Julliard.
3
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
134836247.003.png 134836247.004.png 134836247.005.png
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ENGLISH CAFÉ – 111
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT
You’re listening to ESL Podcast English Café number 111.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast English Café. I’m your host, Dr.
Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in
beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com and download a Learning Guide for this episode.
You can also take a look at our ESL Podcast Store that has some additional
courses on daily and business English you may be interested in.
In this Café we’re going to talk about books and music in the United States, and
specifically we’re going to talk about some popular kinds of books in the last year
or so in the U.S., and why they may be popular. We’re also going to look at a
famous America musician by the name of Yo Yo Ma. And as always, we’ll
answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.
Our first topic today is popular books in the United States. Specifically, I want to
talk about an article I read recently in the magazine Newsweek , which is a
weekly newsmagazine here in the U.S. Newsweek had an article called “A Year
of Selling Books.” The article talks about a group of books that have become
popular in the U.S. in the last year or two, where someone goes and does
something for an entire year, usually goes without something, and then they write
about their experiences of not having some modern convenience – some modern
comfort. These are books about what we may describe as “self-deprivation.”
“Deprivation” comes from the verb “to deprive” (deprive). “To deprive” means to
do without something – to not have something, often something that is
considered important or even essential – necessary – for your life. “Self-
deprivation” is when you don’t do something or you don’t have something on
purpose. You say I’m not going to have this – “I’m not going to have chocolate,”
or “I’m not going to drink wine.” That would be “self-deprivation” – I am depriving
myself of something.
These books on self-deprivation are described in this article as being “strangely
hip.” To be “hip” (hip) means to be cool, to be fashionable, to be popular.
“Strangely” because you would not think that books about people who spend a
year without something would be popular, but they are!
The article gives some examples of these books that are popular now in the
United States. One book, which will be published soon, is called The Year of
4
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
134836247.006.png 134836247.007.png 134836247.008.png
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ENGLISH CAFÉ – 111
Living Biblically . It’s a book where a man decides to read the Bible and follow all
of the rules that are in the Bible. And he follows these rules, including the rules
about eating, about having a beard, and so forth, and he writes sort of a diary
were he talks about the different experiences that he had. This book is actually
going to be made into a movie!
There are other books like this; there’s one book called A Year Without “Made in
China”. “Made in China” is the label that would be on something that was made
in China and brought to the United States. The United States imports (or buys)
many, many goods (many products) from China. She, in this book, goes a year
without buying or using anything that was made in China, and shows how very
difficult that is, because the American economy – the world economy is so
closely connected.
There are a couple of other interesting books; one is called Not Buying It , where
a woman goes for a year trying to buy as little as possible. Another book is
called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle , by a novelist Barbara Kingslover. She goes a
whole year by only eating things that she grows herself or that she buys from
local farms – local markets. There’s also a book called The Big Turnoff , where
someone turns off their television for a year and describes what happens.
Some of these books are what we may call “ethically motivated,” “ethically”
meaning they’re based on someone’s beliefs about what is right. They usually
involve some kind of “sacrifice” – something that you give up. Some people have
wondered why these books are popular. One theory is that people like to what
we would call “rubberneck” at some strange example of self-deprivation. The
term “to rubberneck,” the verb, comes from something that you will see on a
freeway or a highway. When someone has an accident – when two cars have an
accident, the cars around them all slow down to look at the accident. This, of
course, causes even more problems; traffic becomes even slower – the cars
begin to move even more slowly because people are stopping to look at the
accident.
Another theory, I think one that is probably more correct, has to do with the way
that Americans and those who live in modern, consumerist societies – societies
where the consumer has many choices (many options) – is that we, perhaps,
have too many options in our life, and these books allow us a chance to see what
it is like without having so many choices.
I just finished reading a book myself, not about self-deprivation but a book about
how people make decisions. It was a book by a psychologist, who looks at
5
These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2007). Posting of
these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.
134836247.009.png 134836247.010.png 134836247.011.png

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin