EnglishPod - Turn left here!
E: Hello English learners! And welcome to EnglishPod! My name's Erica and I'm here with… Marco? Marco, hurry up!
E: Hurry up, Marco, we've got a lesson!
M: Oh, okay, I'm here, I'm here, what did I miss?
M: Hehe. Alright, sorry about that. Um, we have a great lesson for you today. We have an elementary lesson.
E: That's right, an elementary lesson about being in a rush and about giving directions when you're in a car.
M: Exactly.
E: We're going to listen to two friends who are getting in a car and they're getting ready to go somewhere and they're in a big hurry. So, let's hurry up and listen to the dialogue.
M: So, they were in a hurry and it was all just to get to the library.
E: Well, maybe he was late returning a book or something.
M: Hehe. That's a bit dramatic just for returning a book.
E: Yeah.
M: Alright, why don't we look at our “language takeaway” for today?
M: Okay, on today's language takeaway we have five words for you today, five really important and useful words that we found in our dialogue. So, let's take a look at the first one – step on it.
M: So, what does it mean when I tell you to step on it?
E: Uhu.
E: Exactly, you might also say “speed up”.
E: Speed up.
M: That's exactly it! Our second word – speed up.
M: Go faster. And what about the opposite?
M: Slow down.
E: Yeah.
M: Okay, so, speed up and slow down.
E: So, our third word for today is having a fit.
E: Well, this a funny phrase and I think listening to a few examples of this phrase might help us understand its meaning a little bit better.
A: Jeez! You don't need to have a fit. Nothing is going to happen if we're five minutes late.
B: My boss is going to have a fit if I don't finish this on time.
C: Oh, I almost had a fit when my boss told me I had to work this weekend.
M: Okay, great examples. So, Erica, why don't you tell me what does it mean when you have a fit?
E: It means you get really angry and you can't control your emotions. So, maybe you start screaming and maybe some steam comes out of your ears.
M: Hehe. Okay, that's having a fit.
E: Exactly.
M: Excellent. Okay, let's take a look at our next word now – cut through.
M: When you cut through something, it means you just…
E: Go through.
M: Go through.
E: Yeah, quite simple. It… it gives you the idea that you go through something quickly.
M: Quickly, so, I can say “let's cut through the park”.
E: Yep, or “let's cut through the backyard”.
M: Okay, go through.
E: Uhu.
M: And this takes us to our last word for today – shortcut.
E: Shortcut.
M: Shortcut.
E: Shortcut.
M: This is a really common word and not many people know about it.
E: Yeah, you're right, it's two simple words that when you fit them together, the meaning changes. It's… it's a great example of this real English we talk about.
M: And it means to take a shorter way somewhere.
E: Exactly, so, if I take a shortcut, I go the short way.
M: Okay, so, going back just a little bit to cut through. If I cut through the park, that's basically a shortcut.
E: Exactly!
M: Alright.
E: Okay.
E: Okay.
M: Now it's time to listen to our dialogue again, but this time it's gonna be slower, so then we can understand all these words that we just talked about.
E: Okay, well, I think that was a lot more clear this time. You know, there's some great language in that dialogue and I would like to look at how we can “put it together”.
M: Okay, so, today on putting it together we have three phrases for you.
E: And we're gonna show you how you can use these phrases like a native speaker.
M: Okay, so, all of these phrases we heard in the dialogue. Why don't we start with the first one? Make a…
E: Make a…
M: So, in the dialogue they say “make a left here”.
E: Yeah, and we can extend this phrase to say make a right.
M: Uhu. That would be the equivalent of saying “turn left”.
M: Turn right. And there's one more – make a U-turn.
E: Exactly, that means turn the car a hundred and eighty degrees, all the way around.
E: So, make a left, make a right, make a U-turn.
M: Uhu. If you ever are in a taxi and you're telling the taxi driver where to go, this is the perfect way: make a left here, make a right there.
E: Okay, so, let's move to our second phrase and it is are you nuts?
E: Are you nuts? So, this is a great way of saying…
E: So, when would we use a phrase like this?
M: If somebody has a bad idea that you don't agree with, you would say “are you crazy?” or “are you nuts?”
E: So, Marco, let's stop this podcast right now!
E: Okay, I think that's a good example of how we can use this phrase.
M: Yes.
E: So, are you nuts? Are you insane? Are you mad?
M: So, let's listen to some examples of are you nuts?
A: You wanna get married now? Are you nuts? You only met up three weeks ago.
B: Are you nuts? I'm not going to cheat on the exam. What if I get caught?
E: So, I think that's clear and now we can move to our third phrase which is let's take a side street.
M: Again, so, if you're in a taxi, this is a great way to suggest a route.
M: Right.
E: So, we can take this phrase and extend it out with a few more words. We might say “let's take Wilson Avenue”.
M: Right, or “let's take the highway”.
E: So, let's take a side street, let's take Wilson Avenue, let's take the freeway.
M: Okay, so now, let's take a listen to this dialogue a third time at its normal speed and now you can understand everything that's in this dialogue.
E: Well, this dialogue is all about driving, right?
M: Yes.
E: And in North America where both of us are from…
M: Uhu.
E: Uh, driving is everything.
M: I… well, my car I got when I was like… maybe… nineteen.
E: Really?
M: But I learned how to drive and I was driving already by the age of sixteen.
E: Yeah, that's the thing, in many countries you have to wait till I think you're eighteen to drive, but, uh, in North America everyone has a driver's license by the time they're sixteen years old.
M: Yeah, yeah, I guess everything is so far away that you need a car.
E: Yeah, it's a lot less likely to have, uh, subways or trains to travel by in North America.
M: Alright, so, now you have all the tools necessary to give directions the next time you're in a car or in a taxi.
E: Well, everyone, I really hope you enjoyed this lesson. Now, I want to remind you all to come to our EnglishPod website at englishpod.com and here you'll find a lot of tools to help you understand our podcasts better. So, with that, until next time… this is good bye!
M: Bye!