Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 835, Getting Shocking News.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 835.
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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This episode is a dialogue between Carla and Chris about some surprising or shocking news.
Let's get started.
You look like you've had a shock.
Yeah, that phone call threw me for a loop.
My ex-girlfriend is pregnant, and she wants me to take a paternity test.
Wow, that's quite a bombshell.
Are you going to do it?
Of course.
If the baby is biologically mine, I want to take responsibility for it.
I wanted to start a family with my ex, get married and have children, the whole shebang.
So if the baby is mine, I'll provide child support, no question.
I might even fight for custody.
Really?
That's astounding.
Most guys would be hoping that the baby isn't theirs.
What did your ex-girlfriend say when you told her?
She thought I would be outraged or something.
Instead, she was the one who was left stunned.
I'm surprised too.
Not many guys would want to have a child without being married.
One part of me hopes the baby isn't mine only because my relationship with my ex-girlfriend is over and I don't want to rekindle it.
But I'm not getting any younger, and another part of me really wants to be a father.
Well, the DNA test will give you proof, one way or the other.
Just cross your fingers.
I would, but I'm not sure which outcome I want more.
Our dialogue begins with Carla saying to Chris, you look like you've had a shock, S-H-O-C-K.
A shock is a surprise, usually a negative surprise.
A shock can also have other meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some of those.
Chris says, yeah, meaning yes.
That phone call threw me for a loop.
The expression to throw someone for a loop.
L-O-O-P means to surprise someone, often with negative or confusing information.
When my neighbor told me he was buying a new cat, I didn't realize that he was buying a lion which, of course, is a large animal, not the kind of cat you would want to have at home if you would want a cat in the first place.
Chris says the phone call threw him for a loop.
He says my ex-girlfriend meaning my former or past girlfriend is pregnant and she wants me to take a paternity test.
Chris says his ex-girlfriend is pregnant.
P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T.
To be pregnant means that for a woman only you are going to have a baby, that there is a baby growing inside of you.
That is to be pregnant.
Most pregnant.
Women are pregnant for about nine months before the baby is born, before it comes out of the woman's body.
Chris's ex-girlfriend is pregnant, showing Chris perhaps not to have the best sense of judgment and responsibility.
The ex-girlfriend wants him to take a paternity test.
A paternity, P-A-T-E-R-N-I-T-Y, test comes from the Latin word pater, P-A-T-E-R, meaning father.
A paternity test is a test to see whether you are the father of the baby.
Once again, we get a little bit more than what we need to know about the life of Chris and his ex-girlfriend.
The ex-girlfriend wants Chris to take this paternity test to see if he is the father of the baby that the ex-girlfriend is now pregnant with.
Okay, kind of like a soap opera today.
Carla says, wow, that's quite a bombshell.
A bombshell B-O-M-B-S-H-E-L-L.
One word here means a very important or surprising piece of news, something that everyone would go wow, I wasn't expecting that.
Carla says this news is quite a bombshell, meaning it's a very large bombshell.
It's a very important one.
Are you going to do it?
Carla asks, meaning are you going to take this test?
Chris says, of course.
If the baby is biologically mine, I want to take responsibility for it.
Biologically...
B-I-O-L-O-G-I-C-A-L-L-Y refers to, in this case, the real father, if you will, the actual father, the father that contributed his half of the baby's genetic code to That would be a baby that is biologically mine.
You could also adopt a baby.
Perhaps some woman or some couple is not able to take care of their baby, and so they give it to another family and the family adopts that baby.
We would say that that baby is adopted but not biologically from the new parents.
Chris wants to see if the baby is biologically his, meaning it's his.
And if it is, he wants to take responsibility for it.
I wanted to start a family with my ex, get married and have children, the whole shebang.
Chris is saying that before he and his ex-girlfriend separated, before they broke up, He wanted to have a family with her, to get married and to have children.
The whole shebang.
The expression the whole W-H-O-L-E shebang S-H-E-B-A-N-G is an informal phrase meaning everything, including everything.
It's a little less common now than it was probably twenty, thirty years ago, but you'll still hear it, the whole shebang meaning everything.
You could say this about a lot of things.
It could be for something as unimportant as your hamburger at mcdonald's.
You go to mcdonald's and you order a hamburger and The person says do you want everything on it?
Do you want all the ingredients in it?
And you say, yes, give me the whole shebang.
I'm getting kind of hungry talking about hamburgers.
It's almost lunchtime here in Los Angeles as I record this, so maybe time to go and get myself a hamburger.
Anyway, back to our dialogue.
Chris says...
If the baby is mine, I'll provide child support, no question.
Child support is money that one parent, usually the father, pays to the other parent, usually the mother, when the two of them are separated, divorced or were never married to begin with.
Legally biological fathers may be required in many places to provide child support to the mother of the baby.
It's one of the unfortunate consequences of our modern society that this has become necessary to legally require fathers to support their children.
But that's where we are.
Chris says, I might even fight for custody.
Custody, C-U-S-T-O-D-Y, is a legal right to have the child under the age of 18 living with you.
Normally, when a mother and a father get divorced and there are children...
It's typical for the parents to have joint custody, meaning the children spend some time with the mother and some time with the father.
Sometimes the woman is given sole custody, meaning basically the father has very little right to see the children or to have the children come live with him.
But it's also possible for the father to get sole custody.
So custody is the right to have a child, usually your own child, living with you.
And Chris says he might fight for custody, meaning he's going to try to have the baby live with him.
Carla is surprised.
She says, really?
That's astounding astounding.
A-s-t-o-u-n-d-i-n-g means very surprising incredible, Carla says most guys would be hoping that the baby isn't theirs.
Most men would hope the baby wasn't theirs so they wouldn't have to support it.
Carla says, what did your ex-girlfriend say when you told her?
Chris says, she thought I would be outraged or something.
To be outraged, O-U-T-R-A-G-E-D, means to be extremely angry, to be very mad.
Chris says instead, she was the one who was left stunned.
To be stunned, S-T-U-N-N-E-D, means to be very surprised.
Notice also the use of the verb left.
She was left stunned.
We would use that expression when you have told someone something and then you go away or you hang up the phone or you stop talking to them and they remain there.
If you will, surprised.
They stay surprised after that news.
Carla says, I'm surprised too.
Not many guys, here guys means men, would want to have a child without being married.
Chris says, one part of me hopes the baby isn't mine.
One part of me means I have two different opinions.
One opinion or one desire, really, is that the baby is not biologically mine.
Only because he says my relationship with my ex-girlfriend is over and I don't want to rekindle it.
To rekindle, R-E-K-I-N-D-L-E, means to kindle again.
And to kindle means to start.
Usually we use that word in describing a fire.
For some weird reason, there is a portable electronic reader called a Kindle, sold by Amazoncom.
That has to do with, of course, books.
But in any case, to rekindle means to restart.
Chris says, I'm not getting any younger.
And another part of me really wants to be a father.
So he has these two different desires.
One is to be a father and therefore he hopes the baby is his, even though he's not married to the mother, which causes additional problems.
But another part of him says, I don't want to be a father.
Of course, if he didn't want to be a father, he probably should have thought about that a little earlier.
Carla says, well, the DNA test will give you proof one way or the other.
A DNA test is a genetic test to determine, in this case, whether Chris is the actual father of the baby.
Proof, P-R-O-O-F, is evidence that something is true.
The expression one way or the other means whichever result is correct.
Here it means more generally there are only two possibilities.
There are only two ways that this could happen or two results.
The two results are either he is the father or he isn't, one way or the other.
The DNA test will give him proof.
Carla says, just cross your fingers.
To cross C-R-O-S-S.
Your fingers means to hold one finger over the other, like you are making an X, the letter X.
And that is to wish for something.
We want something to happen.
You hope you get a job.
And your friend says, well, I'll keep my fingers crossed, meaning I will hope that you get the job.
It's sort of like good luck.
Chris says, I would, meaning I would cross my fingers, but I'm not sure which outcome I want more.
An outcome, O-U-T-C-O-M-E, one word, is a result.
So Chris is not sure which result he wants.
Here's an idea, Chris.
How about the best result for the baby and not for you and your ex-girlfriend?
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Wow, that's quite a bombshell.
Are you going to do it?
Of course.
If the baby is biologically mine, I want to take responsibility for it.
I wanted to start a family with my ex, get married and have children, the whole shebang.
So if the baby is mine, I'll provide child support, no question.
I might even fight for custody.
Really?
That's astounding.
Most guys would be hoping that the baby isn't theirs.
What did your ex-girlfriend say when you told her?
She thought I would be outraged or something.
Instead, she was the one who was left stunned.
I'm surprised too.
Not many guys would want to have a child without being married.
One part of me hopes the baby isn't mine only because my relationship with my ex-girlfriend is over and I don't want to rekindle it.
But I'm not getting any younger and another part of me really wants to be a father.
Well, the DNA test will give you proof, one way or the other.
Just cross your fingers.
I would, but I'm not sure which outcome I want more.
Our script writer doesn't normally throw us for a loop.
That's Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
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.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
