2011年ESL之餐饮娱乐 07 Eating a School Lunch_在线英语听力室

(单词翻译:双击或拖选)

07 Eating a School Lunch

lunch line – the line of people waiting to receive food and pay for it in a cafeteria,especially in a school or hospital

* If you like the food and want more of something, you’ll need to stand in thelunch line again.

lunchbox – a container used to bring food for lunch from home to one’s schoolor workplace

* Sofia’s daughter wanted a lunchbox with a picture of Mickey Mouse.

to brown-bag it – to bring food for lunch from home to one’s school or workplaceinstead of paying for a lunch in a restaurant or cafeteria

* They realized they could save hundreds of dollars each year by brown-baggingit instead of going to restaurants

nutritious² – healthy; referring to food that has many vitamins, minerals, andfiber, without too much sugar, fat, or salt

* Most people prefer cookies and candy over more nutritious sweet foods, likeapples and bananas.

to suck – to be bad, unpleasant, disappointing, or unwanted

* This sucks! I waited in line for almost two hours, and now when I finally reachthe ticket counter they’re telling me the show is sold out!

gross³ – yucky; icky; disgusting; very unpleasant or unattractive

* That bathroom is so gross! The shower is covered with mildew⁴ and it doesn’tlook like the toilet has ever been cleaned in months.

sucker – a rude word used to describe a person who has been tricked, used, ormanipulated by another person

* Did you really buy that old car for $7,500? Sucker! I bet it breaks down the firsttime you take it on the highway.

to throw a fit – to have a temper tantrum; to express one’s anger ordisappointment loudly by screaming or yelling⁶ and generally behaving badly

* The little boy threw a fit in the toy store when his mother said he couldn’t buy atoy gun.

to take (something) lying down – to accept something without protesting oropposing it even though one is unhappy about it or disappointed by it

* Did you hear the company plans to cut everyone’s salary by 10%? We won’ttake it lying down!

to ditch – to get rid of something; to throw away something; to not use or havesomething

* Sheila finally ditched her old computer and bought a newer, faster one.

lunch money – money used to buy lunch in a cafeteria or restaurant, especiallywhen referring to money given to a young child by his or her parents

* Becca accidentally left her lunch at home this morning, but her teacher lent hersome lunch money.

to trade – to exchange; to give someone something so that he or she will giveone something else

* Blue is my favorite color, but I was given a red balloon. Would you trade withme?

you’re dreaming – an informal phrase used to show that whatever anotherperson has just proposed or suggested is completely unacceptable and silly ornaive; no way

* If you think I’m going to clean your room for you, you’re dreaming!

slice – a piece of food that is cut from a larger piece of food, especially whentalking about bread, pies, cakes, cheese or meat

* How many slices of turkey would you like on your sandwich?

to drive a hard bargain – to be a good negotiator⁷; to be good at getting otherpeople to agree to what one wants

* The sellers drove a hard bargain and we ended up paying the full asking pricefor the house.

to split⁸ – to share something, with each person getting one part of something

* When you go out on a date, do you always let the man pay, or do you split thebill?

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. What does Chris mean when he says, “I wouldn’t have taken it lying down”?

a) He would have refused to bring a lunch from home.

b) He would have stayed in bed if his mother made his lunch.

c) He would have eaten the food while lying down.

2. What will Chris do if Sybil does his homework?

a) He will buy a piece of pizza for Sybil.

b) He will give Sybil his pizza.

c) He will share his pizza with Sybil.

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WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

gross

The word “gross,” in this podcast, is an informal word meaning yucky, icky,disgusting, and very unpleasant or unattractive: “Don’t pick your nose! That’sgross!” The phrase “to gross (someone) out” means to do something that makesanother person feel disgusted: “It really grosses⁹ me out when I see you chewwith your mouth open.” When talking about money, “gross” is the amount ofmoney earned or received before subtracting any expenses or taxes: “His grossincome was over $150,000, but after paying rent, wages, and insurance, hisactual income was just around $43,000.” The verb “to gross” means to make acertain amount of money: “Our business should be grossing¹⁰ a million dollars peryear within three years.” Finally, the word “gross” can also mean very wrong,unethical, or immoral¹¹: “Those shootings were a gross violation¹² of the law.”

to split

In this podcast, the verb “to split” means to share something, with each persongetting one part of something: “I don’t think I can eat an entire order of Frenchfries. Do you want to split them with me?” The phrase “to split hairs” means toargue over a very small, unimportant¹³ difference: “Is there really an importantdifference in beliefs between the two churches, or are they just splitting¹⁴ hairs?”

The phrase “to split the difference” means to divide an amount of money into twoequal parts: “He wanted to sell it for $50 and she didn’t want to pay more than$30, but in the end they decided¹⁵ to split the difference at $40.” Finally, thephrase “to split up” means to break up or to end a romantic relationship: “They’vedecided to split up and start dating other people.”

CULTURE NOTE

The Head Start ProgramThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services manages the “Head StartProgram” to help low-income children and their families become ready for school.

It focuses on education, health, nutrition, and “parent involvement” (encouragingpeople to spend more time interacting¹⁶ with their children). The program wascreated in 1965 as a “summer school program” (a program that runs in June, Julyand August to supplement what is taught during the school year) to prepare lowincomechildren for “kindergarten” (the first year of school, when most studentsare five or six years old). The program has grown significantly since then.

More than 22 million “preschool-age” (ages 3 to 4) children have participated inHead Start. Most of them attend a Head Start preschool, which is less expensivethan “comparable” (similar) preschools and offers programs to prepare childrenfor school.

Head Start also includes many health “screenings” (physical examinations todetermine whether one has a medical problem) for general medical, “vision”

(eyesight), hearing, and “dental” (related to teeth) problems.

Head Start’s social services include programs to help low-income familiesunderstand and receive “assistance” (help) from local community programs, suchas health insurance, “food distribution” (programs that give food to poor people),and “abuse” (hurting other people) “prevention” (efforts to not let somethinghappen).

Head Start programs mainly help children from families that are “slightly” (a littlebit) above, at, or below the “poverty level” (the amount of income officially definedas poor). However, some families with higher incomes can be “eligible for”

(meeting the requirements to participate in) the program if they are in anemergency situation or if the children have “disabilities” (physical or mentalproblems that affect their performance).

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

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT¹⁷

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 697: Eating aSchool Lunch.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode¹⁸ 697. I’m your host, Dr.

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

Visit our website at eslpod.com. Support this podcast by becoming a member ofESL Podcast and getting the Learning Guides for each episode.

This episode is called “Eating a School Lunch.” It’s a dialogue between Chrisand Sybil related to kids – high school students; elementary school students –eating lunch at their school. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Chris: What are you doing? Let’s get into the hot lunch line.

Sybil: See this lunchbox? My mom made me brown-bag it today. She says thatthe lunches served at school aren’t nutritious enough.

Chris: That sucks. What did she make you?

Sybil: A salad.

Chris: Oh, gross. I really feel sorry for you. What else?

Sybil: Let me see. There are some carrot sticks, too.

Chris: Sucker! You should have thrown a fit. I wouldn’t have taken it lyingdown. Listen to me. You should ditch that lunch and buy lunch instead, like me.

Sybil: I can’t. I don’t have any lunch money. Do you want to trade some ofyours for mine?

Chris: You’re dreaming. There’s no way I’m trading my pizza for your salad andcarrot sticks.

Sybil: Not even if I do your math homework?

Chris: Math homework? Now you’ve got my attention.

Sybil: Only if you give me the entire slice of pizza.

Chris: You drive a hard bargain. How about this? I’ll split the pizza with you, ifyou’ll do my homework.

Sybil: You must really think I’m a sucker if you think I’d agree to that!

[end of dialogue]

Chris begins by saying to Sybil, “What are you doing? Let’s get into the hot lunchline.” At most schools in the United States, the school gives students theopportunity – the option of buying their lunch, a hot lunch cooked at the school.

The school has a kitchen and a place where the students can eat called a“cafeteria.” My school, when I was growing up, did not have a hot lunchprogram. But this school, and most schools, do have them.

Chris says to Sybil, “Let’s get into the hot lunch line,” the line where people arewaiting to get their food. Sybil says, “See this lunchbox? My mom made mebrown-bag it today.” A “lunchbox” is a small, usually metal or plastic box orcontainer that put your food into. When I was growing up, as I said, there was nohot lunch program so many kids, especially the smaller children, had lunchboxes.

These were metal; they often had pictures of cartoons or sports figures on them.

I had one; I don’t remember what was on it. But, lunchboxes were the way thatyou took your lunch to school. The other way you could take your lunch is put itin a paper bag, a brown bag – I’m not sure why, but the bags were always brown– and that is what Sybil is referring to. In fact, she’s using this as a verb; “tobrown-bag it” means to bring your lunch – cold lunch in a bag, not to buy lunch atschool.

Sybil says her mother says that the lunches served at school aren’t nutritiousenough. “Nutritious” (nutritious) is another word for healthy, food that hasvitamins, minerals, other good things, and not too much sugar, fat, or salt – allthe things that taste good! That’s a nutritious lunch or a nutritious meal, andSybil’s mother says that the lunches at school are not nutritious. This hasactually been a common complaint or problem in the United States, especially inthe last few years. People have been saying that we need to change the lunchprograms in our schools so that they serve more nutritious food, because all theAmerican kids are getting fat. Well, maybe because they are sitting at homeplaying video games. Maybe it’s because their parents don’t let them go out anymore on a bicycle unless they have the latest safety equipment on their head.

I don’t know, but they are getting fatter.

Chris says, “That sucks.” The expression “that sucks” means that’s very bad orthat’s very disappointing. It’s a very informal term used by a lot of young people,not something you want to say to your boss, and it means that it’s veryunfortunate or very sad. Chris says, “What did she (your mother) make you?”

Sybil says, “A salad.” Chris says, “Oh, gross.” “Gross” means disgusting,something that is very unpleasant, usually related to food but not always.

Another informal term we might use is “yuck” or “yucky.” That’s the general idea.

Chris says, “I really feel sorry for you. What else?” meaning what else did shemake. Sybil says, “Let me see. There are some carrot sticks, too,” little carrotsthat are cut up.

Chris says, “Sucker!” “Sucker” is a rude word used to describe someone whohas been tricked or manipulated⁵ or used by another person. It’s definitely anegative description of someone; it’s saying that person is stupid, in a way, forbeing deceived, for being used or tricked. Chris says, “You should have thrown afit.” “To throw a fit” means to get very angry, to start yelling and screaming; it’ssomething you expect a little child to do. In fact, when a child does it it’ssometimes called also a “temper tantrum.” Chris says, “I wouldn’t have taken itlying down.” “To take (something) lying down” means to accept somethingwithout opposing or protesting it even though you’re not very happy. You don’tsay anything, you just accept it. That’s to take something lying down. Chrissays, “Listen to me. You should ditch that lunch and buy lunch instead, like me,”

like I am going to do. “To ditch” (ditch) here means to get rid of something, tothrow something away. “I’m going to ditch my old boxes in the garage,” I’m goingto throw them away. We also use this verb in schools, especially, to mean not togo to class when you are supposed to. “I’m going to ditch my chemistry classtoday,” I’m not going to go. That’s what we used to say, and that’s probablysomething I did when I was in school – ditch chemistry class, that is. Not myfavorite subject, if I’m being completely honest.

Chris says that Sybil should ditch her lunch, should throw it away and buy lunchinstead. Sybil says, “I can’t. I don’t have any lunch money,” any money you canuse to buy lunch, of course. She says, “Do you want to trade some of yours formine?” “To trade” means I give you something and you give me something else;we exchange it. Chris responds by saying, “You’re dreaming.” The expression“you’re dreaming” is an informal way of saying that what the person just said orjust suggested is completely unacceptable or silly. It’s another way of saying “noway, absolutely not.” “You’re dreaming. There’s no way I’m trading my pizza for your salad and carrot sticks.” So, Chris isn’t going to give Sybil some pizza inorder to get some salad and carrot sticks.

Then, Sybil tries to convince Chris to trade with her. She says, “Not even if I doyour math homework?” Sybil is offering to do Chris’s math “homework,” what theteacher gave them as work to do at home, in exchange for some of his pizza.

Chris says, “Math homework? Now you’ve got my attention,” meaning okay,maybe this is something I will do; I’m now paying attention. Sybil says, “Only ifyou give me the entire slice of pizza.” A “slice” is a piece of something, a pieceof food typically, cut from a larger portion or piece of food. We use “slice” whenwe’re talking about bread; we use it when we’re talking about cakes; we use itwhen we’re talking about pies, cheese, and sometimes meat. “I want a slice ofturkey on my sandwich, with a slice of cheese, on two slices of white bread. Fordessert, I’m going to have a slice of pie and two slices of cake.” Of course, herewe’re talking about pizza, which is also a type of food we use this word “slice”

(slice) with.

Chris says, “You drive a hard bargain.” “To drive a hard bargain” means that youare good at negotiating¹⁹ something; you get a lot of things when you negotiate,when you are trading with someone, when you are trying to get someone toagree with you. He says, “How about this? I’ll split the pizza with you, if you’ll domy homework.” Chris is saying, “Well, I don’t want to give you the entire slice ofpizza; I’ll give you half of that.” That’s what he means by saying, “I’ll split thepizza with you.” “To split” means to share it, each person gets half of it or somepart of it. “Split” has a couple of other meanings in English; take a look at thewonderful Learning Guide for some more information.

Sybil then says, “You must really think I’m a sucker if you think I’d agree to that!”

She’s saying here that Chris must think she is stupid, that she’s a sucker, if hethinks that she will do his homework for only half a slice of pizza.

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