ESL Podcast 513 – Snooping and Eavesdropping

Enrique: I don’t know how you talked me into coming with you to Dan’s apartment to rifle through his papers. This snooping is stupid! If you have suspicions, you should just talk to him.

Stella: Confront him without any evidence? That would be the height of stupidity.

Enrique: Instead, we’re holed up in this closet until he leaves. I thought you said he wouldn’t be home until 6:00.

Stella: That’s what I thought. Just sit tight. I think he just came home to pick something up. He’ll be gone in a minute.

Enrique: I don’t like confined spaces. If we don’t make a break for it soon, I’m going to suffocate¹.

Stella: Stop your kvetching. Now that we’re here, maybe we can do better than looking through his papers. We can eavesdrop² on his conversations.

Enrique: Have you lost your mind? Do you know what he would do to us if he found us here?

Stella: No guts³, no glory!


Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 suffocate   

vt.使窒息，使缺氧，阻碍；vi.窒息，窒息而亡，阻碍发展

参考例句：

• If you shut all the windows,I will suffocate.如果你把窗户全部关起来，我就会闷死。
• The stale air made us suffocate.浑浊的空气使我们感到窒息。

2 eavesdrop   

v.偷听，倾听

参考例句：

• He ensconced himself in the closet in order to eavesdrop.他藏在壁橱里，以便偷听。
• It is not polite to eavesdrop on the conversation of other people.偷听他人说话是很不礼貌的。

3 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》