Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 690, Types of Views.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 690.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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Go to our website eslpodcom, to find more information on becoming a member and getting the learning guide that comes with each episode.
This episode is called Types of Views.
Views here refers to what you can see out your window from a home or a hotel room.
Let's get started.
Help me decide on which type of hotel room to book.
I want the one with a bed.
Very funny.
We have a choice of different views, and each one is a different price.
For instance, a room with a city view is $175 a night, and a panoramic view is $275 a night.
$275 a night?!
!
That's highway robbery.
If you think that's too steep, there are a few other options.
We can get a courtyard room with no view for 120 a night, or a room with obstructed or peekaboo ocean views for 130 a night.
I don't really care which type of room we get, as long as we don't end up with a room on the ground floor.
I don't like having people walking back and forth outside my window all night.
Okay, I can request a room on an upper floor.
You really don't have a preference?
No, not really.
There is a penthouse room for $400 a night.
What?
For that price I'd better get a view of the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon and the Great Wall of China.
The dialogue begins with Andrea saying to George help me decide on which type of hotel room to book.
To book as a verb means to reserve, to make arrangements to have something done at a particular date or time in the future.
For example, I book a hotel room, meaning I am reserving that room.
I am saying that I am going to use that room on a certain date.
George says, I want the one with a bed.
He's saying that he wants a hotel room that has a bed in it.
George, of course, is trying to be funny.
Andrea then says, very funny, which here means that's not very funny.
You are joking when I am trying to be serious.
She says we have a choice of different views, and each one is a different price.
For instance, she says, meaning for example, a room with a city view is $175 a night.
And a panoramic view is $275 a night.
A city view is a, in this case, hotel room that gives you a view of the buildings of the city.
If you ever go to New York City and you stay in Manhattan, the downtown area, you will have from any hotel room a city view.
That is, you will be able to see the lights of the city, of other buildings in the city.
A panoramic view is where you have the ability to see a very wide area, usually because you are high up in the building or you have lots of windows around the room.
That allows you to see a much wider portion or section of whatever it is you're looking at.
That's a panoramic, P-A-N-O-R-A-M-I-C view.
George is surprised at the price.
He says $275 a night.
Notice a night here means per night or each night.
He says, Robbery is when someone steals something from you.
Usually one where you travel fast.
But the expression highway robbery refers to previous times where people traveled and it wasn't safe to travel.
You might be robbed by someone as you were traveling down the road.
That's what George thinks the price of the hotel is.
He says it's highway robbery, meaning it is too expensive.
It costs more than it should.
Andrea says if you think that's too steep, there are a few other options.
Steep, S-T-E-E-P, means very expensive here. at a very high price.
Steep has some other meanings as well.
You can find those in the learning guide for this episode.
Andrea says we can get a courtyard room with no view for $120 a night.
A courtyard, one word, is an outdoor area that is completely surrounded by buildings.
Usually, a courtyard is square or rectangular.
There are sometimes plants or trees inside the courtyard.
When you have a courtyard room, of course, you are looking just at other rooms in the same building.
So there really isn't a view.
That's why Andrea says we can get a courtyard room with no view for $120 a night.
She says they could also get a room with obstructed or peekaboo ocean views for 130 a night.
Obstructed O-B-S-T-R-U-C-T-E-D is blocked, not able to be seen because something else is in the way.
In some theaters or stadiums there are things in front of your seat that block block your view, that do not allow you to see what is on the other side.
That would be an obstructed view.
Peekaboo P-E-E-K hyphen A, hyphen B-O-O is actually a child's game, or a game that an adult plays with a very young child or baby.
Peekaboo is when you hide yourself so that the child can't see you and then suddenly you put your head in a position where the child can see you and then back again.
And small children often find this amusing.
They think it's fun.
A peek-a-boo view would be a view that you would have sometimes and sometimes not.
It's a partial view of something.
Similar to obstructed, but not obstructed all the time.
Perhaps there is a tree in front of the window and when the wind blows you can see through.
So sometimes you can see.
This is a peekaboo ocean view, a view of the ocean or the sea, such as the Pacific or Atlantic.
George says I don't really care which type of room we get, as long as we don't end up with a room on the ground floor.
To end up with means to get a particular thing after waiting or making an effort.
It's a very broad general expression that can be used in many different instances.
For example, if you are selling something at your store, at the end of the day, after many hours, someone may say to you well, how much did you end up with today meaning, after working those many hours, how much money did you have?
The expression here refers to what will happen after Andrea makes the reservation, after they travel to the hotel, once they get to their room.
What did they end up with?
What did they finally or ultimately get?
What George does not want to end up with is a room on the ground floor.
And in the US the ground floor is the first floor, the floor that is the lowest in the building, not including what is below ground, the basement.
George does not want a room on the ground floor.
He says Back and forth means going in two different directions, repeatedly moving in one direction and then walking back in the other direction.
He's saying that he doesn't want other people at the hotel walking by his window throughout the night, as would be perhaps more common on the ground floor.
I'm not sure if that's true, but that's what George thinks.
Andrea says, okay, I can request a room on an upper floor.
Upper here would mean above the first floor, high up in the building.
Upper has a couple of different meanings.
Take a look again at our learning guide for some more explanations.
She then says you really don't have a preference here, meaning there isn't one particular kind of room that you want besides an upper room or upper floor room.
George says no, not really.
Andrea says there is a penthouse room for $400 a night.
The penthouse, especially in an expensive hotel or condominium building, is the highest floor, usually much bigger than the other rooms.
It is also, of course, the most expensive.
George says, what?
For that price, for $400...
I'd better get a view of the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon, and the Great Wall of China.
Once again, George is making a joke here.
He's saying that if he has to pay 400 a night, he should have a view of some of the great landmarks or places in the world.
He should be able to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Parthenon in Athens or the Great Wall of China.
Obviously, George doesn't stay in expensive hotels very often.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Help me decide on which type of hotel room to book.
I want the one with a bed.
Very funny.
We have a choice of different views, and each one is a different price.
For instance, a room with a city view is $175 a night, and a panoramic view is $275 a night.
$275 a night?
That's highway robbery.
If you think that's too steep, there are a few other options.
We can get a courtyard room with no view for 120 a night, or a room with obstructed or peekaboo ocean views for 130 a night.
I don't really care which type of room we get, as long as we don't end up with a room on the ground floor.
I don't like having people walking back and forth outside my window all night.
Okay, I can request a room on an upper floor.
You really don't have a preference?
No, not really.
There is a penthouse room for $400 a night.
What?
For that price, I'd better get a view of the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon and the Great Wall of China.
You'll definitely end up with better English by listening to the scripts written by our own wonderful Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again, won't you, on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
