Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 187, Enjoying the Outdoors.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 187.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
How are you today?
Remember you can go to our website at eslpodcom and get the learning guide for this podcast, which has the complete transcript available, all of the vocabulary, sample sentences, cultural notes and much more.
Today's podcast is called Enjoying the Outdoors.
Let's go!
My favorite time of year is the summer.
I like being outdoors. doing anything from hiking to going to the beach.
One thing about working in an office all week is that I don't get much fresh air.
With summer here, I plan to take full advantage.
Last week, I went to the beach with some friends.
I was glad I brought sunscreen, since it was a really hot day and I'm sure I would have gotten a sunburn within 15 minutes.
We set up our beach umbrella and beach chairs and played some volleyball.
A few of us went into the ocean for a swim, but most of my friends just lounged around on the sand.
This weekend, I'm going hiking.
I stopped by the store and got some insect repellent.
The last time I hiked in the mountains I came back with big mosquito bites all over my legs.
This time I'm going to be prepared.
I was going to try a new trail and I wasn't going to let a few mosquitoes get in the way.
In this podcast, we are enjoying the outdoors.
The outdoors.
O-U-T-D-O-O-R-S, which is all one word, is the same as outdoors, and both of those expressions mean to be outside of your house or outside of the building.
When people say the outdoors, they often are referring to or talking about going to the beach or going to a park or going camping.
That's all considered outdoors.
I say in the story here which is definitely a fictional story, because I am not like the person in this story at all I say my favorite time of year is summer.
Well, that's true for me.
The time of year is the same as the season in this case.
You can also talk about this if you are referring to, for example, Christmas time.
My favorite time of year is Christmas, the weeks around the Christmas holiday, for example.
I say that I like being outdoors, doing anything from hiking to going to the beach.
The expression anything from to anything from X to Y, anything from hiking to going to the beach means that you are talking about a variety or a range of possibilities.
There are many things you could do outdoors, and so the person in this story says, is giving some examples anything from hiking to going to the beach.
Hiking comes from the verb to hike H-I-K-E, and to hike is to walk, usually to walk out in a park or a, in a desert, I suppose, or in the mountains to walk somewhere, often to walk up and down a hill or a mountain.
So the person in this story, not me, likes to hike.
I don't like to hike.
But this person does.
They also like going to the beach.
I do like going to the beach, B-E-A-C-H.
The beach is where the ocean or a lake meets.
The land where you have area right by the lake or right by an ocean is the beach.
I live about two miles from Santa Monica Beach here in California.
The person in the story says that one thing about working in an office all week is that I don't get much fresh air.
The expression here, all week, is the same as the entire week.
You're trying to emphasize the length of time here.
So one thing about working in an office...
During the week or the entire week or all week is that I don't get much fresh air.
Fresh, F-R-E-S-H, air, A-I-R, two words, is fresh.
Being outside is going outside, and when we say something is fresh, we mean it's either new or it is in a very original or pure state.
In this case... the expression fresh air means being able to breathe the air outside.
Here in Los Angeles, breathing the air outside is not always a good thing because there's so much pollution.
But we'll go with the story here.
He wants to go outside to get some fresh air.
With summer here, He says, I plan to take full advantage.
To take advantage or to take full advantage.
Advantage is A-D-V-A-N-T-A-G-E, means to enjoy, to get the most that you can out of an experience.
There's another expression, to take advantage of someone, that has a negative meaning.
When you say I'm going to take advantage of a person, that can also mean that you are going to get something from them more than what you should, something that isn't fair from that person.
For example, I'm going to take advantage of our friendship today and ask you to give me your car for this afternoon, to let me use your car.
To take advantage of means I'm going to use my friendship to get something more than I should.
So it has a negative meaning.
The positive meaning in this story here means to enjoy or to make good use of something.
The story continues.
That One word is the usually white liquid that you put on your arms and your legs, maybe your face, so that the sun doesn't make your skin red.
For people like me who uh, come originally from northern europe, where the skin is very white, this is important, Because if I don't put sunscreen on when I go outside in the sun, after 15-20 minutes my skin becomes red.
And I look a little like a tomato.
So I have to put on sunscreen when I go outside for a long period of time.
And so does the person in this story.
Meaning it was a sunny day.
The sun was out.
You could see the sun.
He says, I'm sure that I would have gotten a sunburn within 15 minutes.
Means if he did not put on the sunscreen, he would have gotten a sunburn.
Sunburn, S-U-N-B-U-R-N, all one word, is when your skin gets very red.
Sometimes it gets so red that it begins to hurt you.
That's a sunburn, or to get a sunburn.
That's also a verb, to sunburn.
Usually it's an expression, we say, I got sunburned, or I was sunburned, with an ed at the end.
The story says that the person... went to the beach and they set up or put up their beach umbrella an umbrella u-m-b-r-e-l-l is something you use to keep the rain from hitting you that would be a rain umbrella A beach umbrella is something you use to keep the sun from hitting you or from getting to you.
So you can have shade, S-H-A-D-E.
Shade is when you have something that blocks the sun, like an umbrella, and it's dark underneath.
A beach chair is a kind of chair that you would use on a beach.
Usually these chairs are light and sometimes made of plastic.
Usually they are folding chairs, F-O-L-D-I-N-G.
Folding means the chair collapses or becomes smaller so you can carry it easily.
They also, in the story, played some volleyball.
Volleyball, V-O-L-L-E-Y-B-A-L-L, all one word, is when you have two teams, one on each side, and you have a net, N-E-T, in between you that's called a volleyball net, and you hit a little white ball back and forth. over the net.
That is the game of volleyball.
I'm not a very good volleyball player.
A few of us, according to the story, went into the ocean.
An ocean, O-C-E-A-N, is the same as the sea.
I live near the Pacific Ocean.
We went in for a swim and Here, swim is a noun.
To go for a swim.
We went in for a swim.
These both mean to go swimming or to swim.
We went swimming.
But most of my friends just lounged around in the sand.
To lounge, L-O-U-N-G-E, is a verb which means to relax.
To sit, usually in a chair, and not move, just to relax.
The sand, S-A-N-D, is what the beach is usually made of.
It's water.
We hope white or brown, and it's soft, and it is what you usually find near an ocean or a lake.
Well, this weekend, the story says the person is going hiking.
He says he stopped by the store, meaning he went to the store and he got, or he bought some insect repellent.
Insect.
I-N-S-E-C-T is a word which means the same as a bug or a fly little animals that fly around and can sometimes bite you or cause a mark on your skin.
A repellent R-E-P-E-L-L-E-N-T is something that stops the insects or the flies from biting you, from biting your skin.
Well, the last time this person went hiking in the mountains, he says he came back or he returned with big mosquito bites.
A mosquito, M-O-S-Q-U-I-T-O, is a type of bug, it's a type of fly, a type of animal that... likes to bite you and after it bites you you have a little red spot a little red area on your skin from the mosquito uh... taking a little bit of blood from you that's what they do when they bite you when i lived in minnesota growing up there were always lots of mosquitoes during the summertime And I always had a lot of mosquito bites because the mosquitoes liked my blood, I think.
Well, in the story he says that he's going to be prepared this time He wants to try a new trail T-R-A-I-L.
A trail is the same as a path or a little road that you can walk on, usually in a park or in the mountains.
There's a trail where other people have walked before, and that makes it easier for you to walk.
The story ends by the person saying that he wasn't going to let a few mosquitoes get in the way.
To get in the way here means to prevent you from doing something, to stop you from doing something.
Don't let that get in the way means don't let that stop you.
Don't let that prevent you from doing what you want to do.
Now let's listen to the story, this time at a native rate of speech.
My favorite time of year is the summer.
I like being outdoors, doing anything from hiking to going to the beach.
One thing about working in an office all week is that I don't get much fresh air.
With summer here, I plan to take full advantage.
Last week I went to the beach with some friends.
I was glad I brought sunscreen, since it was a really hot day and I'm sure I would have gotten a sunburn within 15 minutes.
We set up our beach umbrella and beach chairs and played some volleyball.
A few of us went into the ocean for a swim, but most of my friends just lounged around on the sand.
This weekend I'm going hiking.
I stopped by the store and got some insect repellent.
The last time I hiked in the mountains, I came back with big mosquito bites all over my legs.
This time, I'm going to be prepared.
I was going to try a new trail, and I wasn't going to let a few mosquitoes get in the way.
Our script today was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
That's all we have time for now on this edition of ESL Podcast.
Remember to visit our website for more information about our podcast at eslpod.com.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time 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.
