Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 39, Cleaning and Relaxing.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 39.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
In this episode, we're going to see Lucy clean up around the house and then relax.
Let's get started.
I am feeling pretty energetic when I finish my three cookies and decide to do a little cleaning.
I take out a rag and start dusting the living room.
I dust the TV and the lamps.
I wipe the coffee table, too.
The rug looked filthy, so I get out the vacuum and vacuum it.
I pick up around the room and put things away.
The bathroom needs cleaning too, but by this time, I'm starting to feel tired.
Mopping the bathroom floor and scrubbing the tub will have to wait for another day.
I turn on the TV to watch the newscast, but I miss the national news.
I flip through the channels, but all I see are commercials.
My favorite reality show doesn't come on for another hour, so I turn off the TV.
I put down the remote and pick up a magazine.
I thumb through it for a few minutes, and then the phone rings.
It's my best friend Marlene, so I put down the magazine and spend the half hour chatting with her.
There's nothing like a good talk with a good friend to end a busy day.
Lucy starts by saying that she's feeling pretty energetic or very energetic.
Energetic, E-N-E-R-G-E-T-I-C, comes from the word energy, E-N-E-R-G-Y.
Energy is the same as power.
When we say someone is energetic, usually we mean that they have a lot of willingness to do something.
They have A lot of energy.
We also use that expression.
She has a lot of energy.
That means she has a lot of strength to do things.
She doesn't get tired very easily.
It's the opposite of being tired.
It's to be energetic.
Like the host of ESLpod.com's courses.
Very energetic.
When I finish my three cookies.
Lucy says that is when I finish eating my three cookies, I decide to do a little cleaning.
She says
So Lucy takes out a rag and starts dusting the living room.
A rag, R-A-G, or a rag depends on what part of the country you are from.
In my part of the country, we say rag.
I take out a rag and start dusting the living room.
A rag is a small towel.
Usually, it's a small towel you use for cleaning.
To dust D-U-S-T means to take a rag or a small towel and remove the little bits of dirt what we call dust off of a table or a television or other furniture.
Dust can be both a noun as well as a verb.
As a noun, it's the little dirt, pieces of dirt.
As a verb, it means to remove those pieces of dirt.
Lucy says that she dusts the TV and the lamps.
She wipes the coffee table, too.
To wipe, W-I-P-E. is similar to dust.
It means taking a rag or a towel and cleaning something up.
The difference is that dusting is only used when we are talking about these little pieces of dirt that you find after a few days in your house.
When you say I'm going to wipe something however, usually that means there's some water or some other dirt, something bigger than just little pieces of dust.
So Lucy says she will wipe the coffee table also.
The rug that Lucy has looks filthy.
Filthy, F-I-L-T-H-Y, is another word for dirty.
So the rug on the floor looks dirty.
So she gets out the vacuum and vacuums it.
The vacuum V-A-C-U-U-M is a machine that removes dirt from the floor, from carpet or rugs by sucking the dirt out.
Vacuum can also be a verb.
So when you say I'm going to vacuum my rugs, you mean you're going to use a vacuum to clean your rugs.
Lucy picks up around the room and puts things away.
To pick up can mean to take with your hand and grab something and lift it.
But in this case, to pick up means that Lucy is going around and putting things where they belong, taking the newspaper out and throwing it away, or making sure that the table looks nice, that it's been dusted.
This is to pick up, to take things that don't belong in the room and move them somewhere else.
When you move them somewhere else, we say that you are putting them away.
So to put something away means to put it where it belongs.
Often this means putting it in a closet or somewhere where you store it or keep it so that people can't see it.
So Lucy picks up around the room and puts things that don't belong there, that should not be there, away.
The bathroom needs cleaning as well, Lucy says.
Lucy sure does have a dirty apartment.
The bathroom needs cleaning also.
But by this time she says Mopping comes from the verb to mop M-O-P.
A mop is both a noun and a verb.
As a noun, it is the thing you use to clean floors with water and soap.
It looks a little like a broom.
A broom, B-R-O-O-M, is what you use to clean dust and dirt off the floor.
A mop is what you use with water to clean a floor.
So the floor would not have a carpet or not have a rug on it.
It would just be wood or linoleum or some other material.
Well, in the story, Lucy says that she needs to mop her bathroom and to scrub her tub.
Scrub S-C-R-U-B is a verb which means to clean something by using a lot of energy, by using a lot of force.
Taking a towel, for example, and rubbing it back and forth several times.
That would be to scrub something.
Lucy says that she's too tired, so that the mopping and the scrubbing will have to wait for another day.
Or, if this were my house, it would be another year.
Lucy turns on the television to watch the newscast.
A newscast N-E-W-C-A-S-T is the same as a news program or a television news show that you will watch, usually either on your television although you could have a newscast on the radio as well or on a podcast.
Lucy says that she was too late to watch the national news.
She missed the national news.
The national news, of course, would be news about the whole country, not just about your particular area.
If it is news just about your city, we would call that local news.
Lucy flips through the channels, but all she sees are commercials.
The channels, C-H-A-N-N-E-L-S, are the stations on the television.
If you have a cable television you may have 100 150, 200 channels, 200 different television stations you can watch.
In this case, Lucy is flipping through the channels.
To flip FLIP through the channels means to go from one channel to another channel, usually somewhat quickly.
You want to see what programs are on the television right now, so you flip through the channels.
Unfortunately, all Lucy sees are commercials.
Commercials are just advertisements.
These are things that you see on television that try to get you, usually, to buy something.
My favorite reality show, Lucy says, doesn't come on for another hour.
A reality show.
S-H-O-W is a television program that does not have professional actors or actresses.
It is a show where there is a contest between people or groups of people.
Lucy says her show doesn't come on or isn't going to be on the television for another hour, so she turns the television off.
She puts down the remote.
The remote, R-E-M-O-T-E, is the same as the remote control.
And that's the little thing you use to change channels, to flip through the channels.
It means the same thing, to change channels, to flip through.
It's also what you use to increase the volume, make it louder, or decrease the volume, make it quieter.
This is called a remote control.
Sometimes we just call it a remote.
In my house, for example, if I'm watching television, I have to have the remote control.
If my wife has the remote, it drives me crazy.
Back to Lucy.
Lucy says that she picks up a magazine and she thumbs through it.
To thumb through T-H-U-M-B through two words means to look at a magazine or a newspaper, but you're not looking at it very closely.
It's sort of like flipping through the channels.
You're flipping through or thumbing through the magazine to see what stories are in it or what pictures are in it.
That's what I do.
I just look at the pictures.
After a few minutes, Lucy's phone rings, and it's her best friend, Marlene.
And she says, well, come on, Marlene.
Let's talk.
And so she puts down the magazine, and she spends a half an hour chatting with her friend.
To chat, C-H-A-T, means to talk to someone, usually about something that isn't very important.
She ends her story by saying, There's nothing like a good talk with a good friend to end a busy day.
There's nothing like means that this is the best, the best possible thing.
The best possible thing is a good talk, a good conversation with a good friend.
There's nothing like listening to ESL podcast to improve your English.
There's nothing like it.
I hope you agree.
Even if you don't, we're going to listen to the story now at a native rate of speech.
I'm feeling pretty energetic when I finish my three cookies and decide to do a little cleaning.
I take out a rag and start dusting the living room.
I dust the TV and the lamps.
I wipe the coffee table, too.
The rug looked filthy, so I get out the vacuum and vacuum it.
I pick up around the room and put things away.
The bathroom needs cleaning too, but by this time, I'm starting to feel tired.
Mopping the bathroom floor and scrubbing the tub will have to wait for another day.
I turn on the TV to watch the newscast, but I miss the national news.
I flip through the channels, but all I see are commercials.
My favorite reality show doesn't come on for another hour, so I turn off the TV.
I put down the remote and pick up a magazine.
I thumb through it for a few minutes, and then the phone rings.
It's my best friend Marlene, so I put down the magazine and spend the half hour chatting with her.
There's nothing like a good talk with a good friend to end a busy day.
Thanks to our wonderful scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say, for her hard work.
And thanks to you for listening.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
