2010年ESL之就医和人际交往 19 Resembling One’s Parents_在线英语听力室

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19 Resembling One’s Parents

GLOSSARY

photo album – a book with special pages that hold photographs under plastic sothat they are protected and can be viewed easily

* Did you make a photo album for your baby’s first year?

incriminating – making someone seem guilty of something; showing that onehas done something wrong

* We know you stole a camera from the store. We have incriminating footage ofyou from the security video cameras.

baby picture – a photograph taken of a very young child, usually less than oneyear old, to remember what he or she was like at that time

* Patricia took a lot of baby pictures of her daughter in the bathtub.

family portrait – a photograph of all the members of a family, taken in a studioby a professional photographer

* Every year they have a family portrait taken so they can send it to friends andrelatives with their Christmas card.

spitting image – with a very similar physical appearance; looking almost thesame

* Soren is the spitting image of his big brother.

to resemble – to look like someone or something

* This building’s architecture resembles city hall, don’t you think?

a chip off the old block – a child who is very similar to his or her father either inappearance or actions

* When I was growing up, I was a chip off the old block, always interested infishing, carpentry, and whatever else my father liked.

candid – a photograph taken as something is happening, without asking peopleto stand in a certain way or look at the camera

* Candid photos are always so much more interesting than posed photos,because they show how people actually behave.

cute – attractive and pretty; pleasant, often used to describe young children andsmall animals

* Your baby girl would look so cute in this pink dress!

adorable – very pretty and attractive, making one love someone or something

* Those shoes are adorable! I’m going to buy a pair, too.

a face only a mother could love – a phrase used to describe an unattractive orugly person

* Heather always tells people that when she was growing up, she had a face onlya mother could love, but seeing how pretty she is now, I don’t believe her.

profile – the way one’s face appears when viewed from the side

* Soriah never realized how nice her nose looked until she saw a photograph ofherself in profile.

likeness – a similarity in the way something appears; what something looks like

* Who drew the likeness of George Washington that appears on the one dollarbill?

statue – a large sculpture made of metal or stone in the shape of a famousperson or an animal

* Who was the model for the Statue of Liberty?

to brown-nose – to be very nice to someone, usually because one wants him orher to do something for oneself

* Wahid always brown-noses his teachers, hoping to get better grades.

What do you say? – a phrase used to ask for one’s opinion about something orto find out if one is interested in doing something

* A group of us are going skiing this weekend. What do you say? Do you wantto come?

to look like (someone) – to be similar in appearance to someone else; to sharesomeone’s physical characteristics

* Hattie’s new boyfriend looks a lot like Mr. Taylor, but he’s younger and taller.

two peas in a pod – two things that are very similar in appearance or behavior

* Ward and his best friend are two peas in a pod – they both like watchingbaseball and collecting old records.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. What is a photo album?

a) A way to display the photos a person has chosen to keep.

b) A portfolio of professional modeling photos.

c) A collection of photos by a professional photographer.

2. What does Susanna mean when she says, “You’re the spitting image of yourmother”?

a) Khaled is less attractive than his mother.

b) Khaled looks just like his mother.

c) Khaled is more attractive than his mother.

______________

WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

candid

The word “candid,” in this podcast, means a photograph taken as something ishappening, without asking people to stand in a certain way or look at the camera:

“My hair is such a mess in those candid photos! If I’d known you were takingpictures, I would have brushed my hair.” Candid Camera was a populartelevision show that secretly recorded people’s reactions in very strange orunusual situations and then told them they were being recorded: “Did you see theCandid Camera episode where people tried to close desk drawers, but otherdrawers kept opening?” Finally, the word “candid” means honest or frank:

“Please give me your honest opinion. Do you think I’d look better with a beardand moustache?”

profile

In this podcast, the word “profile” means the way one’s face appears whenviewed from the side: “Today the art teacher taught us how to draw betterprofiles.” The word “profile” also means a short written description of someone orsomething, especially for a social networking site: “I’m going to update my profileon LinkedIn when I accept a new job.” The phrase “high profile” describessomething that is well-known and gets a lot of attention, possibly because it hasa lot of power or influence: “Tina wants to work for a high-profile law firm.”

Finally, the phrase “to keep a low profile” means to be unnoticed, or to do thingsin a way so that other people won’t notice: “Some successful investors keep alow profile, investing small amounts in many unpopular stocks that other peoplearen’t interested in.”

CULTURE NOTE

Many Americans like to go to professional photography “studios” (rooms orbuildings where art is created) to have family portraits or children’s portraitstaken. Often this is done at the end of the year so the photos can be “enclosedin” (put into) holiday cards that are mailed to friends and relatives. Children’sportraits are also taken at important “milestones” (important moments oraccomplishments), such as when a child turns two months, six months, or oneyear old, or when a child starts going to school or graduates from high school.

Usually people choose a “standard” (normal; regular) “background” (what is seenbehind the people in the photograph) like a grey or blue cloth. But sometimespeople choose “themed” (with a certain idea) backgrounds, like a photograph of aliving room decorated for Christmas.

Portrait studios usually advise people to wear “solid-colored” (all one color)clothing that “contrasts with” (is different from) the background. They adviseavoiding “busy prints and patterns” (fabric with a lot of designs) or “stripes”

(horizontal or vertical lines) because they can be a distraction from the person’sface. Sometimes people choose to have everyone in the portrait dress the sameway. For example, they might all wear white shirts.

Portrait studios normally have several “props” (objects to interact with) to selectfrom. These might include flower “petals” (the small, colored pieces of a flower),chairs, and sofas. People can also bring their own props, such as a child’sfavorite toy or stuffed animal. These objects can “personalize” (make somethingunique) the photographs, reflecting the person’s personality.

______________

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – a; 2 – b

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast episode 634: ResemblingOne’s Parents.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 634. I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Our website is eslpod.com. Consider supporting this podcast by becoming amember. If you do, you will learn English faster – and live a longer life!

This episode is a dialogue about how people look like their parents – seemspretty obvious. But, we’ll be using some phrases and expressions related to yourfamily and looking like members of your family. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Khaled: Hi, what are you looking at?

Susanna: Your photo albums. Your roommate let me in and said I could makemyself comfortable while I waited for you.

Khaled: There are some really incriminating pictures in there. You’d better givethose back to me.

Susanna: Not yet! I’m looking at your baby pictures and your family portraits.

You’re the spitting image of your mother.

Khaled: That’s not my mother. That was our neighbor.

Susanna: Oh, now that I look a little closer, I can see that you resemble yourfather. You’re a chip off the old block.

Khaled: That’s not my father. That’s my father’s friend. Now, why don’t I takethose…Susanna: Wait! These candids of your birthday parties are so cute! You wereso adorable!

Khaled: Right. When I was a kid, I had a face only a mother could love.

Susanna: That’s not true! You have a great profile. I’d expect to see yourlikeness in paintings and on statues.

Khaled: Okay, enough with the brown-nosing. What do you really want?

Susanna: I don’t want anything…okay, just one little thing. My cousin is in town.

I want to go out with Rick tonight and I thought we could double date. Me, Rick,my cousin…and you. What do you say?

Khaled: I knew it had to be something. Does she look like you?

Susanna: We are like two peas in a pod.

Khaled: Then, forget it!

Susanna: Hmph!

[end of dialogue]

Our dialogue opens with Khaled saying, “Hi, what are you looking at?” Susannasays, “Your photo albums.” A “photo (or photography) album” (album) is a bookyou use to keep your photographs in; usually they have plastic that you put overthe photographs to protect them. Susanna says, “Your roommate let me in andsaid I could make myself comfortable while I waited for you.” “Your roommate”

would be the person that Khaled lives with. He let Susanna in, meaning heopened the door and said, “Sure, come in,” and probably left. The roommatesaid that Susanna could make herself comfortable, meaning could sit down,could relax while she waited for Khaled.

Khaled says, “There are some really incriminating pictures in there.”

“Incriminating,” literally, is when you are made to look guilty of something. If youcome out of a room and there is blood on your hands and you have a gun in yourpocket and someone has been killed in the next room, the gun and the blood areincriminating; they show that you did something wrong. In this case, however,Khaled means that the pictures are embarrassing, that they are ones that hedoes not want other people to see. He says, “You’d better give those back tome,” meaning I want them back now.

Susanna says, “Not yet! I’m looking at your baby pictures and your familyportraits.” “Baby pictures” are, of course, photographs of a very young child, usually less than one year old. Many of us have baby pictures; I have a babypicture, that was the first picture my parents took of me back in 1963. They tookanother photograph again in 1973, and there aren’t very many photographs inbetween those 10 years. But I have one picture: my baby picture. Do I lookcute? I won’t tell you! “Family portraits” are when your whole family getstogether and they take a picture of your whole family together. This we did acouple of times when I was growing up. Unfortunately, there weren’t camerasbig enough to take a picture of I and my 10 brothers and sisters!

Anyway, Susanna says to Khaled, “You’re the spitting image of your mother.”

When someone says you’re the “spitting (spitting) image of (someone)” thatmeans that you look almost exactly like that person. The other day I was at thecoffee shop, someone came up to me and said, “You are these spitting image ofBrad Pitt,” and I said, “No, George Clooney, not Brad Pitt!” Actually, I’m thespitting image of Chewbacca from Star Wars! By the way, the verb “to spit”

usually means that you take some liquid from your mouth and you use yourmouth to put it onto something else. That’s to spit. Why we say “spitting image”

I’m not exactly sure.

Khaled responds to Susanna, “That’s not my mother,” meaning the picture thatshe’s looking at is not a picture Khaled’s mother. He says, “That was ourneighbor,” who could have been your mother – you don’t know, really! Susannasays, “Oh, now that I look a little closer, I can see that you resemble your father.”

“To resemble (someone)” means to look like someone: “My neighbor resembleshis dog.” Susanna says, “You’re a chip off the old block.” This is an oldexpression; “a chip off the old block” means that you are very similar to yourparents, either by the way you look or by what you do – by your actions. If yourfather was a good football player, and you’re a good football player, someonemight say, “You’re a chip off the old block.”

Khaled says, “That’s not my father. That’s my father’s friend. Now, why don’t Itake those…” Susanna says, “Wait! These candids of your birthday parties areso cute!” A “candid” picture or photograph is something that is taken without you,typically, realizing it. Someone is taking a picture of you reading or a picture ofyou talking and you don’t know that they are taking a picture of you, that wouldbe a candid picture. “Candid” has a number of different meanings, some ofwhich are found in the Learning Guide. Susanna thinks these pictures ofKhaled’s birthday parties when he was younger are “cute,” meaning they’re niceto look at, attractive, pretty. We often use this word – this adjective to describeyoung children or small animals – or the children of small animals, or the animalsof small children! All of these could be described as cute – except my neighbors’

dog, of course! Susanna then says, “You were so adorable!” “Adorable” is like“cute,” it means very pretty, very attractive to you.

Khaled says, “Right,” meaning wrong. He uses the word sarcastically: “Oh, yeah.

Right!” It depends on the way it is said. Here, Khaled is saying that’s not true.

He says, “I had a face only a mother could love.” This is an old expression; “tohave a face only a mother could love” means that you are really ugly, that youare the opposite of cute and adorable, and that the only person who would loveyou because of the way that you look would be your own mother, because amother, we usually think, loves all of her children – regardless of how ugly theyare!

Susanna says, “That’s not true! You have a great profile.” Your “profile” is theway your face looks from the side – with someone looking at it from the side.

“Profile” has several meanings in English, some of which are in our LearningGuide for this episode. Susanna continues, “I’d expect to see your likeness inpaintings and on statues.” He’s so beautiful, Susanna is saying of Khaled, thathe could be in a painting or on a statue. She says she would expect to see hislikeness on a statute. “Likeness” is a similarity in the way that somethingappears; it’s what something looks like. A “statue” is a large piece of sculpturemade of stone or metal, usually of a famous person or animal. In Minnesota,they makes sculptures out of butter for the Minnesota State Fair. Bet you didn’tknow that; well it’s true!

Khaled says, “Okay, enough with the brown-nosing.” “To brown-nose(someone)” is to be very nice to someone because you want that person to helpyou. We use that term sometimes in school. “He’s a brown-noser with theteacher.” He says nice things to the teacher; he gives the teacher things so thatthe teacher will give him a good grade.

Khaled then says, “What do you really want?” Susanna says, “I don’t wantanything…okay, just one little thing.” So course, Khaled was right. She says,“My cousin is in town (meaning my cousin is visiting – is in the city where I live,she’s from somewhere else). I want to go out with Rick tonight (presumably herboyfriend) and I thought we could double date,” meaning you have a man and awoman who are dating – romantically involved – and then another couple whoare romantically involved, and the four of you go to dinner or to a movie orwhatever. That’s “double dating.” She says, “Me, Rick, my cousin…and you.”

Notice she says “me” instead of “I,” informally that’s very common. She says,“Me, Rick, my cousin…and you. What do you say?” meaning what is youropinion, what do you think. Are you interested, is what she’s asking.

Khaled said, “I knew it had to be something. Does she look like you?” meaningdoes your cousin have a similar physical appearance as you do. Susanna says,“We are like two peas in a pod.” “Peas” are small green vegetables that come in– or grow rather in something called a “pod” – a “peapod.” Kind of like a podcast!

Actually nothing like a podcast. So, “two peas in the pod” means two things thatare very similar. She’s saying that she and her cousin resemble each other; theylook alike.

Khaled, when he learns that the cousin looks just like Susanna says, “Then,forget it!” Khaled is insulting Susanna, saying that she isn’t pretty enough for himto go out with someone who looks like her. That’s not nice Khaled! Youshouldn’t say that sort of thing to a woman.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.