系统英语（C009-C010）教育頭條網

系统英语（C009-C010）

ENGLISHPOD

C009

Elementary ‐ The Weekend ‐ Silence please!(C0009)

A: Those people in front of us are making so much noise. It's so inconsiderate!

B: Dont worry about it; it’s not such a big deal.

A: Oh... I cant hear a thing! Excuse me, can you keep it down?

C: Sure, sorry about that!

A: Someones phone is ringing!

B: Honey, I think its your phone. Did you forget to switch it off?

A: Oh, no! Youre right. Thats so embarrassing!

C: Do you mind keeping it down? I'm trying to watch a movie here!

【注释1】

(1)inconsiderate 不为别人着想的，不体谅别人的，考虑不周的

(2)embarrass (尤指在社交场合)使窘迫，使尴尬，使困惑，使为难，使陷入困境

(3)movie 电影

M: Hello English learners! And welcome to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

E: And I’m Erica.

M: Erica, today we are really excited, right?

E: Yeah. We’ve got a great lesson today all about real English.

M: Exactly, English that you hear in movies and TV shows.

E: Yeah, speaking of movies, today’s podcast takes place at the movies.

M: Exactly. And that’s why it’s so fun today.

E: Aha.

M: Okay, great. So, before we listen to our dialogue let’s take a look at our “vocabulary preview”.

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

E: In today’s vocabulary preview we have two words. And the first word is inconsiderate.

M: Inconsiderate.

E: Inconsiderate.

M: So, Erica, what is it when someone is inconsiderate?

E: If someone’s inconsiderate, they’re not thinking about the feelings of other people.

M: Right. So, for example, yesterday I was on the subway and it was full.

E: Right.

M: And an old lady was standing there and no one got up to give her their seat.

E: That was pretty inconsiderate.

M: Yeah, great. So, now let’s take a look at our second word. And it’s keep it down.

E: Keep it down.

M: Keep it down.

E: Keep it down.

M: So, why don’t we listen to some examples on how we use keep it down, so we can understand?

Voice: Example one.

A: Excuse me, do you mind keeping it down? It’s after midnight.

B: Okay, I’m sorry.

Voice: Example two.

C: I’m trying study! Do you mind keeping it down?

Voice: Example three.

D: Do you mind keeping it down? I’m trying to watch the game.

E: So, that means be quiet.

M: Yes, don’t make so much noise.

E: I used to hear this one all the time from my mother.

M: Hehe. I think we all did when we were children.

E: Yeah.

M: Okay. So, now let’s listen to the dialogue for a first time. It’s gonna be kind of fast.

E: But don’t worry about it if you can’t understand everything. By the end of today’s lesson you will understand this dialogue.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

E: Well, I hate it when people’s phones ring when I’m watching a movie.

M: Hehe. I think everyone… gets kind of, uh, angry, but we’re gonna talk about this a little bit later. Why don’t we take a look now at our “language takeaway”?

Voice: Language takeaway.

E: So, the language takeaway is our most important words for today’s lesson. And our first word today is not such a big deal.

M: Not such a big deal.

E: Not such a big deal.

M: So, when something is not a big deal it’s…

E: Not a big problem.

M: It’s not important, right?

E: Exactly.

M: Okay, let’s listen to some examples.

Voice: Example one.

A: I can’t get these files due by tomorrow.

B: It’s Okay. It’s not such a big deal.

Voice: Example two.

C: Uh, I’m really sorry, I’m gonna be ten minutes late for the meeting.

D: It’s not such a big deal; Peter and Mara are late too.

M: Now let’s look at our second word. And it’s switch it off.

E: Switch it off.

M: Switch it off.

E: Switch it off.

M: So, this word means to turn it off.

E: To turn something off.

M: Now, we can use it in three different ways.

E: Yeah, this one… it’s a little bit complicated, because it changes a little bit depending on how you use it. So, Marco, I think you’ve got some examples for us.

M: Right, so, for example, I can say “did you switch off your phone?”

E: Or you could say “did you switch your phone off?”

M: Right, or simply you can ask “did you switch it off?”

E: I think this one is a little bit hard; let’s look at a couple more examples.

M: Okay, so, I can say, for example, “Switch off the TV”.

E: Switch the TV off.

M: Or switch it off.

E: Yeah, I think that’s a little bit more clear.

M: Yeah.

E: But, you know what? We even had trouble with that one, didn’t we?

M: Hehe. Yeah, we had to do it a couple of times. Okay, now let’s look at our last word and it’s can’t hear a thing.

E: Can’t hear a thing.

M: I can’t hear a thing.

E: Can’t hear a thing.

M: Okay, we have some examples for this phrase, so let’s listen.

Voice: Example one.

A: What’s going on in there?

B: I don’t know; I can’t hear a thing.

Voice: Example two.

C: What? I’m sorry, this music is too loud; I can’t hear a thing.

E: So, that’s like saying “I can’t hear”.

M: Exactly. I can’t hear anything.

E: It’s too loud.

M: Right, so now we are ready to listen to our dialogue a second time. It’s gonna be slower.

E: This time listen forsome of the key words we were explaining.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: Okay, great, now with the dialogue slower it’s really understandable.

E: Yeah, I think you could catch those key words a lot better.

M: Perfect, so now we are ready to look at “putting it together”.

Voice: Putting it together.

E: So, in putting it together we help you use a great phrase in different ways. And today’s phrase is do youmind.

M: Do you mind.

E: Do you mind.

M: Okay, so, let’s listen to some examples on how you can use this phrase in different situations.

Voice: Example one.

A: Do you mind holding my coat for me?

Voice: Example two.

B: Oh, I forgot my wallet. Do you mind paying for dinner?

Voice: Example three.

C: Do you mind turning off your phone?

E: So, this phrase is usually pretty polite. I could say to you, Marco, “do you mind holding my coat for me?”

M: And that’s really polite.

E: Yeah, so, would you mind, do you mind are very polite phrases.

M: But depending on your voice and how you use your tone, it could be a little bit sarcastic, right?

E: Yeah, it could be a little bit rude, if you say “would you mind keeping it down?”

M: Exactly, like we heard in our dialogue.

E: Yeah, so, that’s not so polite.

M: Yeah, exactly, I mean in English you have to be careful, because your tone of voice tells the other person how you’re feeling; if you’re angry, sad or… just like in any other language.

E: Yeah, that’s true. So, I mean, uh, using a phrase like do you mindis a great phrase, but make sure you keep up positive tone in your voice.

M: Hehe. Exactly. So now that we’ve talked about all these great things we can listen to the dialogue a third time, but it’ll be at its normal speed.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

E: So, I know that in different countries there’re different habits about watching movies.

M: Yeah, that’s definitely true. Erica, what’s it like in Canada?

E: Well, in Canada it’s really common to eat popcorn and candy and, uh, maybe chips while you’re watching a movie, but if your phone rings in the movie theater this is a big problem.

M: Hehe. I imagine it is. I mean I would be upset also.

E: What about in Ecuador?

M: Well, in Ecuador and in South America usually people can bring in food from the outside.

E: Really?

M: Yeah, so, it’s not really uncommon depending on the city, um, to find people bringing in chicken or some sort of like really smelly food.

E: No way.

M: Hehe. So, you get either really hungry or really upset, but that’s what happens.

E: You know, I used to live in Switzerland and in Switzerland you would have to eat before you watch the movie. There was no popcorn, no soda, no candy inside the movie theater. Can you imagine that?

M: I could not live with that, because the whole purpose of going to the movies is to have some popcorn and relax and have a good time.

E: You can’t have a movie without popcorn.

M: Exactly.

E: Okay, so, we’ve talked a lot about how to ask someone to be quiet today. And I hope that you’ll go out and try a few of these phrases in your daily life.

M: Yes, and I hope also that you visit our website at englishpod.comand leave all your questions and comments.

E: Marco and I are there everyday, so, we’ll be happy to answer your questions, but until next time…

M: Bye!

E: Good bye!

【注释2】

(4)tone 语气，口气，腔调，口吻，风格，特色，气氛，情调

(5)sarcastic 讽刺的，嘲讽的，挖苦的

(6)popcorn 爆米花

C010

The Office - Driving Sales (C010)

A: All right, people. We’re holding this meeting today because we’ve got to do something about our

sales, and we need to do it NOW! I want concrete solutions. How do you intend to drive sales...Roger?

Well, in fact, we’re the most expensive in the market, so maybe we need to lower our prices to

match the competitors?

A: Lower our prices? Not very creative. It’ll never fly with Swan. What kind of thinking is that? Geez.

Anybody else have a better plan? Natalie?

C: Um, perhaps, um, a sales promotion. Maybe a two-for-one offer, or something like that!

A: What? That’s the same thing. Bad idea. Really bad idea. Dammit people come on! Think! The CEO will be here any minute. Visit the Online Review and Discussion (text version).

D: Do we have any ideas yet?

C: Yes Mr. Swan, we were kind of considering a two-for-one offer to get more competitive.

D: A two-for-one promotion? Hmm. I kind of like the sound of that. It sounds like something we should consider.

A: Yeah, exactly. Just what I was thinking! In fact, that’s a brilliant idea! I’m glad we thought of that.

M: Welcome back English learners! My name is Marca and I'm joined by…

E: Erica.

M: How are you Erica?

E: I'm doing great, Marco, and you?

M: Excellent, I'm doing really well and I'm really excited about our lesson for today.

E: That's right, we've got an intermediate lesson today and we're gonna study some real English.

M: English that you use everyday, right?

E: That's right, English that native speakers really use.

M: Exactly, and today as Erica mentioned we have an intermediate lesson and not only is an intermediate, but it's a business lesson.

E: Yeah, so, today we're listening in to a sales meeting and we‟re going to learn some great useful English to talk about sales strategies. So, we're gonna learn English for sales strategies, for making suggestions and for responding to suggestions.

M: Great, so, why don't we take a look at our “vocabulary preview” for today?

Voice: Vocabulary preview.

E: So, our “vocabulary preview‟ is a part of our lesson when we teach you some really important words that will help you to understand the dialogue better.

M: Okay, great, so, that is what vocabulary preview is. We have two words for you today and we can start off

by looking at the first one.

E: Our first word today is drive sales.

M: Drive sales.

E: Drive sales.

M: To drive sales, and that means…

E: To increase sales.

M: Right, to sell more.

E: Exactly, so, to drive sales.

M: Okay, so, now let's look at our second word and it's an interesting one, it's promotion.

E: Promotion.

M: Promotion.

E: Promotion.

M: So, Erica, what is a promotion exactly?

E: Okay, so here, we're not really talking about getting a better job, right?

M: Okay, uh, not like a job promotion.

E: No, we're talking about a marketing strategy.

M: Okay, so, I can give you an example. Suppose that I wanna buy shampoo.

E: Aha.

M: And, if I go to the supermarket and I see “Buy one and get one free”…

E: So, that's a two-for-one.

M: That's a two-for-one promotion, yeah?

E: Yeah, okay.

M: That's a sales promotion. Or…

E: Perhaps the shampoo in the supermarket is less expensive than usual.

M: Okay, so…

E: Maybe… yeah, usually, maybe it costs five dollars, but today it costs four dollars, that's a sales promotion.

M: Great, so, that's a really good marketing strategy.

E: Exactly, and we'll hear this word in our dialogue today.

M: Great, so, we are ready to listen to tour dialogue. It's gonna be pretty fast, so it might be a little bit difficult to understand.

E: But don't worry if you don't understand everything, because later in this lesson we're gonna explain all the important words and phrases.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

M: Okay, so, an interesting manager, right?

E: I don't know about interesting, maybe I would think bad manager.

M: Hehe. We're gonna talk about him later on in the show, but now let's take a look at our “language takeaway”.

Voice: Language takeaway.

E: Okay, so, "language takeaway‟ is the part of our lesson where we tech you the most important words from the dialogue. All these words that we are going to focus on can be found in today's dialogue.

M: Exactly, so, we have three words for you today, let's look at the first one – match the competitors.

E: Match the competitors.

M: Match the competitors.

E: Match the competitors.

M: Great, so, we have some examples for you, so you can listen and try and see if you can figure out what match the competitors really means.

Voice: Example one.

A: We guarantee that we can match the competitors’ lowest price.

Voice: Example two.

B: It’s impossible for us to match the competitors. Our costs are just too high.

Voice: Example three.

C: Do you think we can match our competitors’ prices and still keep our quality high?

E: Uh, okay, so, I see that match the competitors

means to be as good as or better than other companies in the same industry.

M: Exactly, match the competitors.

E: Alright, so, let's move to our second word today for language takeaways and it is in the market.

M: In the market.

E: In the market.

M: In the market.

E: We heard this phrase in the dialogue and it means in the industry.

M: Exactly, I can say, for example, “EnglishPod is the best language pod in the market”.

E: So, of all the podcasts that teach English EnglishPod is the best.

M: Of course.

E: Yeah.

M: No doubt about it.

E: I totally agree.

M: Right, or I can give you anther example “iPods are the most popular mp3-players in the market”.

E: So, of all the mp3 players in the world iPods are the most popular. So, let‟s move to our final word for today and it is…

M: It’ll never fly.

E: It'll never fly.

M: It'll never fly.

E: It will never fly.

M: So, this phrase sounds a little bit strange.

E: I know, fly? Are we talking about an airplane here? What's going on?

M: Hehe. Exactly, but we‟re not, so… so, we're gonna give you some examples and try and guess what it’ll never fly really means.

Voice: Example one.

A: This marketing plan will never fly. It’s just too expensive.

Voice: Example two.

B: What? You want to sell bikinis in Alaska? That’ll never fly.

Voice: Example three.

C: Brad told me his idea for film>

E: So, it means it won't work.

M: It won't work, it's not a good idea.

E: They'll never agree.

M: Exactly. Great, so, now we've seen a lot of useful phrases and we are ready to listen to our dialogue a second tine, but this time it's gonna be slow.

E: So, you'll be able to understand a little bit better and you'll be able to hear the ph… words and phrases we were just talking about.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: Okay, great, I hope everyone understands a lot better now.

E: And I hope everyone could listen out for some of those key words.

M: Right, so, now it's time for us to take a look at “fluency builder”.

Voice: Fluency builder.

E: So, with"fluency builder‟ we try to help you increase your fluency. We take a ph… word or phrase that you already know and show you how to say it a little bit more naturally, a little bit more like a native English speaker.

M: Right, and we have three of these words for you today.

E: Yeah.

M: Let's start with the first one. Okay, so, often students will say something like…

E: “I'll be here soon”.

M: Or…

E: “I will arrive soon”.

M: Right, and these sentences are correct.

E: They're totally fine, but I think there's a better way to say this.

M: Right, and we heard it in the dialogue, so, let's listen to what the person in the dialogue said.

Phrase 1: The CEO will be here any minute. The CEO will be here any minute.

M: Okay, so, be here any minute, he'll be here any minute. It just sounds a little bit more natural.

E: Yeah, I think I use this phrase quite often, he’ll be here any minute.

M: He'll be here soon.

E: Yeah.

M: Great. Okay, so, let's move on to our second phrase for fluency builder.

E: So, this phrase will help you to learn how to say “I'm thinking about something” in a better sounding way.

M: Right, so, you can say something like “We are thinking about a sales strategy”.

E: Or “That sounds like something we should think about”.

M: Right, and it's perfectly correct.

E: Yeah, there's no problem with this.

M: But in the dialogue we heard something a little bit different, so, let's listen to it.

Phrase 2: It sounds like something we should consider. It sounds like something we should consider.

M: So, consider sounds like a pretty natural way of saying it, right?

E: Yeah, and you know what, I think it sounds really kind of smart.

M: Yeah, it sounds more formal even, at times.

E: A little more professional.

M: Yeah.

E: Yeah.

M: It's a good word.

E: Yeah.

M: Okay, brilliant! So, let‟s move on to our third word.

E: Marco you already said our third word.

M: Hehe. Oh, yeah, I actually did. Brilliant, um, that's a great word right there.

E: Yeah. A lot of people might say “That's a great idea!” or “Great!”, but in the dialogue we heard another way of saying this same idea.

Phrase 2: That’s a brilliant idea. That’s a brilliant idea.

M: Okay, so, this is great, but I would have to say that it's a little bit more British English.

E: Yeah, I'd agree with you there, but I also think it sort of gives more power to this idea that it's a good idea. Brilliant idea!

M: That it's a really, really good idea.

E: Yeah, yeah.

M: And I like that word.

E: Yeah.

M: Okay, so, we're ready to listen to our dialogue again, a third time, but at its normal speed.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

M: Alright, so, listening to this dialogue makes you think about this boss. I'm pretty sure everyone has had a manger or a… supervisor that's similar to this guy.

E: Yeah, this boss - a clerk. I would have to say he sounds like a terrible person to work for.

M: Hehe. Yeah, that‟s true. If you're a manager, you want to motivate your employees.

E: I think it's the most important thing a manger does is to encourage his or her employees and to help support them to grow and to be better people in the job and this guys is totally not doing this.

M: And you can tell, because they are a little bit scared of talking and he cuts them off with saying “Oh, it's a bad idea, give me a better idea” and stuff like that.

E: Yeah, I could never work for guy like this.

Hehe.

E: You know, my first boss that I had when I first entered the workforce, um, I was in a very junior position and I was working for a large company and the General Manger of the company, he was amazing, he was so encouraging. He knew every single employee‟s name, first name, and he would, you know, make an effort to stop and say “Hello” and ask them how things were going. And, you know what, this left me with such a good feeling about the company that I really wants to work hard for this company and try my best. And I think that I‟ve never… met such a great boss as this guy.

M: No, I think that‟s true. Definitely, if you have a boss that‟s encouraging and motivating like that, it makes you work harder and makes you feel part of a really special team and that‟s something we can all agree on and I‟m sure all our managers out there do the same. Well, you know what, I hope some of our listeners log on to our website and maybe they can tell us some experiences with bad managers or good managers or if they are managers, how they handle things.

E: Yeah, and hopefully they can use some of these great phrases that we talked about today.

M: Great, so, be sure everyone to visit our website at englishpod.com and… where you can find a lot of other information and really good resources to continue improving your English.

E: That's right, so, thanks for listening today everyone, and until next time, this is… Good bye!

M: Bye!

【注释3】