ESL之人际交往 10 Telling Secrets to Parents（打印版）

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10 Telling Secrets to Parents

GLOSSARY

to be supposed to do (something) – to be expected to do something; to havean obligation or agreement to do something* The person who leaves the house last in the morning is the one who is supposed to lock the door.

deal – an agreement that one person will do one thing if another person does another thing* Sonya and Dmitrius made a deal that she would help him with his mathhomework if he would help her study history.

to tell on (someone) – to tell someone that another person has done somethingbad; to tell someone about a bad thing that another person has done* Brothers and sisters often tell on each other to their parents.

tattletale – a child who often tells an adult when another child does somethingwrong* Katya was the tattletale when she told the teacher that Billie had put frogs in theclassroom.

to swear – to promise that what one says is true* I swear that I didn’t know that your ex-boyfriend would be at this party.

to hold up (one’s) end of (something) – to do what one must do in anagreement; to do what one has said that he or she will do* I held up my end of the agreement by completing the work, so now Kathy needs to hold up her end and pay me for it.

off – canceled; over; finished; ended; no longer valid; not valid anymore* Chandler and Rachel got in a fight and broke up, so the marriage is off.

to spill the beans – to accidentally tell a secret; to accidentally say somethingthat shouldn’t have been said because another person asked one to keep it asecret* Who spilled the beans about Gwen’s surprise birthday party?

to put the blame on (someone) – to say that something is another person’s fault; to say that another person’s actions are the reason that something badhappened* You can’t put the blame on Jeremy for breaking the vase. It wasn’t his fault thathe fell down and accidentally hit it.

liar – a person who tells lies; a person who lies; a person who does not tell thetruth* If you are a liar, other people won’t trust you.

to mean to do (something) – to intend to do something; to have the intention todo something; to want to do something; to do something on purpose* Colleen didn’t mean to be late for the show. She was stuck in traffic.

come on – a phrase used to show that one doesn’t believe what another personhas said; a phrase to encourage someone else to do something* Come on, Desmond. Stop saying that. We both know it isn’t true.

chore – something that one has to do regularly, usually around the home* When Rob was a child, his chores were to milk the cows and feed the pigs every morning.

to warn – to tell someone to do (or not do) something because something badwill result* Steve warned everyone to work hard yesterday, because the boss was very angry.

on notice – aware of something; given a warning* The government put people in southern Florida on notice for hurricanes.

to be dead to (one) – to no longer be part of one’s family or one’s friend; to nolonger be important to someone else* A mother must be very angry to tell her son that he is dead to her.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1. Why does Therese say, “The deal is off”?

a) Because she turned off the deal.

b) Because Stephen broke the deal.

c) Because Stephen wants to go to the movies.

2. Why does Stephen say, “Come on, please”?

a) Because he wants Therese to come to the movies.

b) Because he wants Therese to stop saying bad things about him.

c) Because he wants Therese to put the blame on him.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

to swearThe verb “to swear,” in this podcast, means to promise that what one says is true: “Chandler swore that he didn’t steal the money.” The verb “to swear” canalso mean to make a very serious promise to do something: “I swear that I will doeverything I can to help you.” Another meaning of “to swear” is to make anofficial promise before beginning to work in a public office: “Supreme Courtjudges swear on the Bible when they accept the position.” The phrase “to swearsomebody in” means to bring someone into a public office: “He was sworn in as the new governor of Ohio.” Finally, “to swear” can mean to say bad words whenone is angry: “Please don’t swear in front of the children.” offIn this podcast, the word “off” means canceled, finished, or ended: “The meetingis off, because too many people are on vacation that day.” The phrase “to be off”

means to begin a race: “They’re off, and Jackson is already leading the otherrunners.” The phrase “to be off” can also mean to be on vacation and not in theoffice: “Juliet is off today, but I can give her your message when she returns.” The word “off” can refer to a piece of equipment that isn’t working or in operation:

“The radio is off, but the TV is on.” We also use the word “off” to talk aboutpieces of clothing that are removed: “Please take your shoes off before you walk into the house.”

CULTURE NOTEYoung children often keep secrets from their parents. These are things that they want to keep “private” (known only to them), but they often share them with theirfriends.

One common way for children, and especially girls, to keep secrets is to use a“diary.” A diary is a small book with “blank pages” (pages without any writing onthem). Each day, the children begin with the words, “Dear diary,” and then writeabout what is happening in their lives, or what happened that day. Many diaries have “locks” so that they can be closed with a small key. Sometimes girls sharetheir diaries with their close friends, but they generally don’t share them with theirparents.

Another common way for children, and especially boys, to keep secrets is tobecome “blood brothers.” If two young boys share an experience that they don’twant other people to know about, each child will make a small cut in his “index finger” (the finger next to one’s thumb) and then they hold their fingers togetherso that they share their blood. Because diseases, such as AIDS, are transferredbetween people by blood, the practice of becoming “blood brothers” isn’t as common now as it used to be.

When children share secrets, they often ask each other to swear that they won’tshare them with anyone else. One common “oath” (the words that people say when swearing to do something) is “Do you swear to keep the secret? Cross your heart and hope to die?” This phrase means that the child should prefer todie than tell the secret. This is an “exaggeration” (what is said is much biggerthan what is actually done), but the idea is that the secret should not be sharedwith other people.

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – b; 2 – b

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 273: TellingSecrets to Parents.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 273. 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 for more information about this podcast. You canalso take a look at our ESL Podcast Store, which has some additional courses you may be interested in.

This episode is called “Telling Secrets to Parents,” and it's a conversationbetween a brother and a sister, and has some good vocabulary that we woulduse in a family. Let's get started.

[start of story]

Therese: I can’t believe you told Mom and Dad about me driving the car lastSaturday when I wasn’t supposed to. I thought we had a deal. You wouldn’t tellon me and I’d take you and Kathy to the movies this weekend. You’re such atattletale.

Stephen: I swear it wasn’t me! Why would I tell? We do have a deal and I’veheld up my end. Therese: Forget it. The deal is off. There’ll be no movie this weekend. Stephen: Hey, I told you it wasn’t me who spilled the beans. Are you sure itwasn’t Jeffrey?

Therese: Don’t try to put the blame on somebody else. I know it was you.

Stephen: How?

Therese: You’re a terrible liar. Stephen: Well, if I did tell on you, I didn’t mean to do it. Come on, please! Ireally want to see that movie this weekend. What can I do?

Therese: Hmmm...that’s a good question. How about doing my chores for twoweeks?

Stephen: Two weeks?! No way. How about one week?

Therese: You’ve got a deal. I’ll take you if you do all of my chores for a week. But I’m warning you. You’re on notice. If you tell on me one more time, you’ll bedead to me.

Stephen: Yeah, yeah. I heard you.

[end of story]

The dialogue begins with Therese saying to her brother Stephen, “I can’t believeyou told Mom and Dad about me driving the car last Saturday when I wasn’tsupposed to.” So, Therese is angry; she's upset; she's mad. That's why shesays: “I can't believe you did this,” that's an expression we would use if you wereangry. Therese is angry with Stephen because she thinks that Stephen told herparents, or their parents, that Therese had driven the family car when she wasn'tsupposed to. “To be supposed to do something” is to be expected to dosomething.

Therese then says to Stephen, “I thought we had a deal” (deal), meaning Ithought we had an agreement. A “deal” is an agreement, when two people agreeto do something. The deal between Therese and Stephen was that Stephenwouldn't tell on Therese, and she would take Stephen and their sister Kathy tothe movies this weekend. “To tell on someone” means to tell another person thatyou are doing something wrong; to tell another person that someone is doingsomething bad or doing something wrong. This is something that a brother and asister might do: “Mom, Julie didn't wash the dishes!” That's how we would say itjust with that – that tone – that intonation. A little child would be telling on hersister, saying that she didn't do what she was supposed to do; she did somethingwrong.

Another word we have for someone who does that is a “tattletale.” A “tattletale”

(tattletale) is a word we usually use for a child who tells their parents or anotheradult – their teacher – that another child is doing something wrong. Tattletalehas a somewhat negative connotation – a negative meaning. It's not a nice thingto be called a tattletale. Someone may say to you, “Don't be a tattletale” – don'ttell someone else that another person is doing something wrong, worry aboutyourself.

Stephen says that “I swear it wasn’t me!” “To swear” (swear) here means topromise to say something that is true; to promise that what you are saying is true. “To swear” has some other meanings in English as well; take a look at theLearning Guide for those.

Stephen swears that he was not the person who told the parents about Theresedriving when she wasn't supposed to. He asks, “Why would I tell? We do have adeal and I’ve held up my end.” The expression “to hold up your end” means youdid what you agreed to do; you did what you said you were going to do. We alsohave an expression: “I held up my end of the bargain.” Here, “bargain” means agreement; my end of the deal.

So, Stephen is saying that he did what he was supposed to do, so Therese has to do what she agreed to do. Therese, however, says, “Forget it,” meaning no,I'm not going to do it. “The deal is off.” When we say something “is off,” in this case, we mean it's canceled; it's over; it's finished; it is ended; it's off. “Off” has acouple of different meanings, and you can take a look at the Learning Guide forsome more of those.

Therese says, “There will be no movie this weekend,” meaning they will not begoing to see a movie this weekend. Stephen says, “Hey, I told you it wasn’t mewho spilled the beans.” The expression “to spill the beans” (beans) means toaccidentally tell someone a secret; to accidentally say something that youshouldn't have said because the other person didn't want anyone else to know. So, to somebody a secret, but by accident, that's to spill the beans.

So, Stephen is saying that he did not spill the beans. He, of course, tries toblame Jeffrey, but everyone knows that Jeffrey is, perhaps, the most honestperson in the world. He would never do that! I should say that I have a brothernamed Stephen and a sister named Therese, but this story is not related in any way to anything that happened when I was a child! Back to the story: Therese says, “Don’t try to put the blame on someone else.” “To put the blame (blame) on someone” means to say that someone else did theaction; that someone else is at fault; they did the bad thing that happened. That's to put the blame on someone else: “It wasn't me, it was him!”

Therese says, “I know it was you.” And Stephen says, “How?' Thereseresponds, “You’re a terrible liar.” A “liar” (liar) is someone who lies; someonewho does not tell the truth.

Stephen says, “Well, if I did tell on you, I didn’t mean to.” Here, the truth comesout. Here we learn that Stephen probably did tell on Therese, that wasn't Jeffrey,who, as we know, was a perfect child! Stephen says, “I didn't mean to do it.” “Ididn't mean to do something” means I didn't have the intention to do something; Ididn't want to do something. “I didn't want to do it on purpose,” you could alsosay.

So, Stephen is saying here that it was an accident if he did tell the parents, andthen he says, “Come on, please!” The expression “come on” means that youdon't believe what the other person has said. It can also be used to encouragesomeone to do something for you or with you. You could say, “Come on, let's goto the movies,” meaning please come to the movies with me; I want you to comewith me. So Stephen says, “Come on, please,” meaning please do what I wantyou to do.

Therese says that she will take Stephen to the movies if he does her chores fortwo weeks. A “chore” (chore) is something that you do on a regular basis;something you do every week, for example, or every day. Usually it's somethingat home – in your house – that involves cleaning or washing; those are typicalchores. It could be anything, however, that you do at home that is usually notsomething pleasant.

Stephen says, “No way,” meaning absolutely not, I won't do your chores,Therese, for two weeks. He says, “How about one week?” Therese says,“You’ve got a deal,” meaning you have an agreement; okay. “But I’m warningyou,” she says, “You’re on notice.” “To warn someone” is to tell them not to dosomething because if they do, something bad will happen. To tell someonethey're “on notice” means that you are giving them a warning; you are warningthem not to do something. That's the general meeting here of “on notice.”

Finally Therese says joking to Stephen, “If you tell on me one more time, you’llbe dead to me.” “To be dead to someone” means that you no longer think of thatperson as being one of your friends or part of your family. That would only happen under a very serious condition, with a very serious problem. So, Thereseis joking here, saying to Stephen, “you'll be dead to me,” in order to warn him; tosay that this is serious. Stephen responds by saying, “Yeah, yeah. I heard you,”

meaning I understand what you said; I understood it.

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