Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 737, Kitchen Appliances.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 737.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there.
You know why.
The episode today is about kitchen appliances.
Appliances are the machines that you may have in your house that do certain things, and we'll find out what those things are in this episode.
The dialogue is between Victoria and Justin, although those aren't their real names.
Let's get started.
As you can see, this executive apartment is fully equipped.
When you called and asked for the best available apartment, I thought of this one immediately.
Just look at this kitchen.
All of the appliances are top of the line.
Do you mind if I take a closer look?
I like to cook.
No problem.
The refrigerator has a high capacity with the freezer on the bottom.
But there's no ice maker.
No, that's one of the few things it doesn't have.
Hmm.
Is this range gas or electric?
It's gas and it has a broiler on the bottom.
See?
Is the stove self-cleaning?
I'm afraid not, but it's stainless steel, as you can see.
That's too bad.
Is the dishwasher new?
It's not brand new, but it's in very good condition.
The microwave, toaster, and coffee maker also come with the apartment.
What do you think?
Do you think it'll suit your needs?
When I asked for your best, I expected the Cadillac of apartments.
You've shown me a Pinto.
Victoria begins by saying When we say something is an executive apartment, we're referring to an apartment for someone important, someone who would be a leader or a manager in a company.
That's what an executive is, usually a large company or organization.
Victoria seems to be showing Justin this apartment.
Maybe she's the owner.
Maybe she's just a real estate agent, someone who shows you different properties you may want to rent or buy.
Victoria says that this executive apartment is fully equipped.
To be equipped, E-Q-U-I-P-P-E-D, means to have certain equipment or certain features.
To be fully equipped means to be completely equipped.
It has all the equipment that you would want.
When you called and asked for the best available apartment, I thought of this one immediately.
Just look at the kitchen.
The use of the word just here is just for emphasis.
Look at the kitchen.
Just look at the kitchen.
They mean the same, but just adds a little bit more emphasis to the statement, a little bit more power.
She says all of the appliances are top of the lines.
An appliance is a piece of equipment that you use in your home, especially in the kitchen.
Victoria says these are top of the line.
The expression top of the line means to be the best type of something, the highest quality and sometimes often the most expensive.
Justin says, do you mind, is it okay if I take a closer look?
To take a closer look means to inspect or examine or look at something very carefully.
You want to make sure it is what they say it is.
Justin says, I like to cook.
Victoria says, no problem.
The refrigerator has a high capacity.
A refrigerator, sometimes called simply the fridge.
When I was growing up it was called in my house the icebox.
An icebox is an old style of refrigerator before there was electricity.
Now, we had electricity in Minnesota in the 1960s.
However, that's what my parents called it, perhaps from their own childhood, and so that's what we called it.
The refrigerator was called the icebox.
Ice, of course, was put in to keep things cold when you didn't have a motor inside to make the air cold.
Well, Victoria says that the refrigerator in this apartment is high-capacity.
Capacity is the amount of something that you can put in a certain place, the amount of space.
High capacity would mean, I think, the same as large capacity, meaning it's a big refrigerator.
With a freezer on the bottom, she adds.
A freezer, F-R-E-E-Z-E-R, is a large appliance that keeps food frozen.
In a refrigerator.
The temperature is probably going to be around 40 degrees, 38 to 42 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a freezer, it's going to be below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, so things freeze.
They become solid.
Water becomes solid below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
Well, that's what a freezer is.
It freezes things.
Most people have a combination refrigerator-freezer, with the freezer on the top or the bottom and the refrigerator on well, where the freezer is not.
In my house growing up we had a separate freezer and a separate refrigerator because well, we needed a lot of food to feed all of the people in my family.
Justin says, but there's no ice maker.
An ice maker is a part of the freezer that some freezers have.
Not all of them do.
That makes ice cubes for you.
So you don't have to put water into a little what we would call an ice cube tray, but in order to have ice cubes, it will make them for you automatically.
I always thought that ice makers were for people who were kind of lazy.
I mean, how difficult is it to put the water into a little container?
The problem is people forget, of course.
I have a new freezer that has an ice maker and I love it, so I understand now why people like ice makers.
I keep talking about myself.
Do you notice that?
I don't know why that is.
Let's get back to our dialogue.
Justin says, There's no ice maker.
Victoria responds, no, that's one of the few things it doesn't have.
It does not have.
Justin says, hmm, is this range gas or electric?
A range, R-A-N-G-E, in this dialogue means...
A large surface in the kitchen that has several places to cook things.
It has several burners that have fire or flame or heat that you can cook food with.
You put a pan... a large metal object that's flat or rounded, slightly rounded.
You can cook things like eggs or hamburgers on a range.
It's usually on the top of what's called a stove S-T-O-V-E, which is a combination of a range and an oven.
An oven is a box that you heat basically, and it cooks food things like cakes, or if you were going to prepare and cook a turkey, you would put it in an oven.
It's a big box that gets very hot and you close the door and it cooks the food.
That's an oven.
A range is on the top where you cook food in pans.
The combination is called a stove where you have a range and an oven.
Most houses in cities large cities have gas at the house and the ranges, the ovens, the stoves, they're all powered by gas.
However, there are some places that do not have gas.
Newer cities.
For example, when I was living in Arizona for a while, they had electric appliances, so there was no gas line that went to the house.
Justin asks if this range is gas or electric.
Victoria says it's gas and it has a broiler on the bottom.
See?
Some stoves, in addition to having an oven and a range, have something underneath the oven called a broiler.
It's a place where the heat becomes more intense and More quickly.
If you are going to cook some steaks, you may want to broil them.
Put them in this very hot oven, underneath the main oven typically.
Usually the fire is closer to the food and therefore cooks it more quickly as well as gives you a certain brownness on the food, if that's what you want.
Well, Justin asks if the stove is self-cleaning.
Victoria says I'm afraid not, which is a polite way of saying no, but it's stainless steel, as you can see.
Stainless steel is a silver-colored metal that doesn't rust and it's very popular in modern kitchens.
The stove is stainless steel, but it's not self-cleaning.
Justin says that's too bad.
Is the dishwasher new?
A dishwasher is a large machine that washes dishes.
That seems pretty obvious.
A dishwasher could be a human being if you don't have a machine.
I am the dishwasher in my household.
Victoria says it's not brand new, meaning the dishwasher isn't new out of the store, but it's in very good condition.
The microwave, toaster and coffee maker also come with the apartment are included in the rent of the apartment.
A microwave is a special kind of oven that uses electric waves to cook or heat food quickly.
A toaster, T-O-A-S-T-E-R, makes toast, which is bread that is browned when it is cooked.
There are some other meanings of toast and toaster, as well as the word range that we used earlier.
Those can be found in the learning guide for this episode.
The apartment also comes with a coffee maker.
Again, obviously something that makes coffee, a small machine, a small kitchen appliance.
Victoria asks Justin, what do you think?
Do you think it'll suit your needs?
And Justin says, The expression the Cadillac of means the very best of something.
In the United States, a Cadillac, at least used to be, considered one of the best cars.
Only very rich people drove Cadillacs.
That's not true anymore.
It's not one of the best cars in most places, but we still have that expression, the Cadillac of...
Podcasters, the Cadillac of laptops, the Cadillac of coffee cups, whatever.
Well, Justin wanted the best, the Cadillac of apartments.
Instead, he says, Victoria has shown him a Pinto.
A Pinto is another kind of car, but the opposite of a Cadillac.
It was a very poorly made car.
I believe it was made by Ford Motor Company back in the 70s.
They don't make Pintos anymore, but because it had the reputation for being such a bad car, people may still use it as an example of something of very poor quality.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
As you can see, this executive apartment is fully equipped.
When you called and asked for the best available apartment, I thought of this one immediately.
Just look at this kitchen.
All the appliances are top of the line.
Do you mind if I take a closer look?
I like to cook.
No problem.
The refrigerator has a high capacity with a freezer on the bottom.
But there's no ice maker.
No, that's one of the few things it doesn't have.
Hmm.
Is this range gas or electric?
It's gas, and it has a broiler on the bottom.
See?
Is the stove self-cleaning?
I'm afraid not, but it's stainless steel, as you can see.
That's too bad.
Is the dishwasher new?
It's not brand new, but it's in very good condition.
The microwave, toaster, and coffee maker also come with the apartment.
What do you think?
Do you think you'll suit your needs?
When I asked for your best, I expected the Cadillac of apartments.
You've shown me a Pinto.
All of our scripts are top of the line.
That's because they're written by the wonderful...
Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here at the Cadillac of podcasts, 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.
