Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 569, Traveling for Singles.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 569.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to our website at wwweslpodcom and download a learning guide for this episode, and It will help you improve your English even faster.
You'll be glad you did.
This episode is called Traveling for Singles.
It's a dialogue between Ray and Samantha talking about someone who is going on a vacation by themselves.
Let's get started.
You should go on a singles cruise.
I'm not going on a singles cruise.
Everybody will be on the make.
That's the point, isn't it?
You can take your pick of single guys.
What could be better?
I'm not interested in having a fling.
You'll never meet anybody if you don't get out there and mingle.
Look, here's a ten-day tour through Asia, and the tour company will even match you with someone before the trip.
You can use the time on the tour to get better acquainted.
That sounds awful.
What if I don't like the person I'm matched with?
I'm stuck with him for ten days and we'll both be miserable.
Okay, here's something you'll like.
A singles adventure vacation.
You can enjoy the great outdoors while you get to know the single guys on the tour.
The worst case scenario is that you don't meet a guy you like.
You'll still have a great vacation.
What do you have to lose?
My peace of mind.
Okay, you're my brother and you're trying to look out for me.
But leave me alone and stop trying to marry me off.
I'm happy being single.
Can't you get that through your thick skull?
Sure, you're happy.
That's why you're always such a ray of sunshine.
Ray says to Samantha, I have a great idea for your next vacation.
You should go on a singles cruise.
Someone who is single is someone who is not married, typically.
A cruise is when you go on a very large boat trip And usually it travels for three days or seven days.
For example, here in Los Angeles.
You can go on a cruise from here down to Mexico and back in three or four days.
Cruises are popular ways that some people like to take their vacation.
Not me, but some people.
Singles cruises are cruises where everyone is single, or most of the people are single, and the idea is that it will help you find a boyfriend or a girlfriend.
Samantha says, I'm not going on a singles cruise.
Everybody will be on the make.
The expression to be on the make M-A-K-E means that you are looking not just for a relationship, but specifically for a sexual relationship, not necessarily a permanent one.
Ray has a different opinion of life.
He says that's the point, isn't it?
Meaning that's the purpose of the singles cruise.
You can take your pick of single guys, meaning men.
To take your pick means that you have many choices to You can decide what you want and choose from many different things.
In this case, from many different men.
Ray says, what could be better?
Meaning, there is no better situation for you than to have love.
The choice of all of these single guys.
Samantha says, I'm not interested in a fling.
F-L-I-N-G
A fling as a noun is a romantic relationship, but not a serious one, one that you do not think will last very long.
Fling actually has several different meanings in English.
You know where to find those in the learning guide.
Ray says, To get out there means to go out where other people are.
In this case, to go out and try to meet men.
To mingle means M-I-N-G-L-E, means to interact socially with other people, even if you don't know them very well, usually at a party.
Someone invites you to a birthday party and you don't know most of the people there.
You can go and talk to them.
You would mingle.
Go from one person to the next very informally and have conversations.
Ray says, look, here's a 10-day tour through Asia.
And the tour company will even match you with someone before the trip.
A tour is an organized trip to see different places, usually with what we would call a guide, a leader that explains everything to you.
This is a 10-day tour through Asia, and the tour company is Matches you with someone.
To match, M-A-T-C-H, two people or two things means to put them together.
There are companies on the Internet, for example, where you can try to meet someone else and you can describe the person you want to meet.
The company then tries to match you, to find someone who fits or who matches that description.
Match has other meanings as well in English.
Guess where you can find those?
That's right, in the learning guide.
I knew you knew the answer.
This tour is going to match...
So they're going to say, you should talk to this man.
Ray says, you can use the time on the tour to get better acquainted.
The expression to get better acquainted means to become more familiar with another person, to learn more about someone else.
Samantha, however, is not interested.
She says, that sounds awful, terrible.
What if she is matched with someone she doesn't like?
Then she says To be stuck with someone or something is a phrasal verb meaning to be forced to have to be with someone or to be forced to have to have this situation.
To be stuck with someone means here that she would have to be with this person even if she doesn't want to be.
Usually it's a negative thing when someone says, I'm stuck with this or I'm stuck with her.
It means you're not very happy.
Samantha says, then we'll both be miserable, we'll be terrible, we'll feel bad.
Ray says, okay, here's something you'll like.
He's going to give her another idea for her vacation.
It's a singles adventure vacation.
Adventure, in general, means an exciting experience where you do many new things.
Maybe you will climb a mountain or you will hike, that is, walk a long distance through the forest.
I'm not sure.
I have never been on an adventure vacation before.
Ray says, you can enjoy the great outdoors.
The great outdoors is a term that means nature, the world outside of the cities and the towns.
He says, you can enjoy the great outdoors while you get to know the single guys on the tour.
So you can meet single men on this tour.
He says the worst case scenario is that you don't meet a guy you like.
The worst case scenario is the worst thing that can happen.
The thing that would be... more terrible than anything else.
So Ray is saying that it can't be that bad, because the worst thing that could happen is that she doesn't meet a man.
Ray says, you'll still have a great vacation.
What do you have to lose?
The expression what do you have to lose means that you should do something because there are no negative consequences or results and there might be something good.
Call the girl you met today at the party and ask her out on a date.
Ask her to go to coffee with you.
You have nothing to lose.
If she says no, well, then you'll probably never see her again.
Unless the party was at your office, in which case, maybe that's not a good idea.
Samantha answers the question, what do you have to lose, by saying, my peace of mind.
Peace, P-E-A-C-E, of mind, means tranquility, calmness, the feeling of relaxation, of satisfaction.
Samantha says she wouldn't be very relaxed on a singles adventure vacation.
She says to Ray, okay, you're my brother, and you're trying to look out for me.
To look out for someone is a phrasal verb meaning to make sure the other person is okay.
If you have a young brother or sister, you want to protect them.
You want to look out for them.
Samantha says.
However, To marry someone off is another phrasal verb meaning to try to find a husband or wife for someone, to arrange a marriage for someone.
A father may try to marry off his daughter, who is still living at home and doesn't have a job.
Probably won't be very successful, however.
Or you may try to marry off your older brother who doesn't do very well with women.
Samantha says, Can't you get that through your thick skull?
S-K-U-L-L.
When you say to someone to get something through their thick skull...
You're saying that you are frustrated with the other person who doesn't understand something, because they're too stupid or too slow.
The skull is the large bones in your head that keep your brain in.
When we say someone has a thick skull, we mean they're not very smart.
So this is an informal, very rude thing, not a nice thing to say to someone.
Why can't you get that through?
Your thick skull means that you are stupid and you don't understand what I am saying to you.
Ray says, sure, you're happy.
You're happy being single, Samantha says.
To be a ray, R-A-Y, of sunshine means to be a very happy person.
But usually we use this expression sarcastically. trying to make a joke.
And that's what Ray is doing here.
Samantha is not a very happy person.
She just insulted him.
So Ray is making a joke saying, you're such a ray of sunshine.
It really means you are not very happy.
You're not very cheerful.
I have a great idea for your next vacation.
You should go on a singles cruise.
I'm not going on a singles cruise.
Everybody will be on the make.
That's the point, isn't it?
You can take your pick of single guys.
What could be better?
I'm not interested in having a fling.
You'll never meet anybody if you don't get out there and mingle.
Look, here's a 10-day tour through Asia, and the tour company will even match you with someone before the trip.
You can use the time on the tour to get better acquainted.
That sounds awful.
What if I don't like the person I'm matched with?
I'm stuck with them for 10 days and we'll both be miserable.
Okay, here's something you'll like.
A singles adventure vacation.
You can enjoy the great outdoors while you get to know the single guys on the tour.
The worst case scenario is that you don't meet a guy you like.
You'll still have a great vacation.
What do you have to lose?
My peace of mind.
Okay, you're my brother and you're trying to look out for me, but leave me alone and stop trying to marry me off.
I'm happy being single.
Can't you get that through your thick skull?
Sure, you're happy.
That's why you're always such a ray of sunshine.
You can take your pick of great scripts here at ESL Podcast.
That's because they're all written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
