Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 870, Using Caffeine as a Stimulant.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 870.
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 Joan and Roberto about using caffeine what people often have in their coffee to keep them awake as a stimulant.
Let's get started.
Hi, how are you?
What are you doing?
What is this?
Whoa.
You're very high-strung this morning.
You don't seem tired at all for having been up all night.
In fact, you seem to be bouncing off the walls.
Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you.
I've been drinking a lot of coffee and energy drinks.
I still have a lot of caffeine in my system.
That's for sure.
Well, I needed to stay awake so as soon as I felt drowsy, I'd have another dose of caffeine.
It gave me an instant jolt.
But you're done with your assignment now, right?
Yes.
And you have a few hours before your class, so why don't you get some sleep?
Sleep?
Sleep?
I don't know the meaning of the word.
Joan begins our dialogue by saying to Roberto, Hi, how are you?
What are you doing?
What is this?
Roberto says, whoa, you're very high strung this morning.
Whoa, W-H-O-A, is just an expression of emotion when you're surprised about something.
Joan seems to be very excited.
She's coming in and she starts asking all of these questions.
Hi, how are you?
What are you doing?
What is this?
That's why Roberto says, whoa often said as well, when we want someone to slow down, to speak slower.
Roberto says to Joan, you're very high strung this morning.
To be high, H-I-G-H hyphen strung, S-T-R-U-N-G, means to have a lot of tension, a lot of anxiety.
Someone who is not relaxed, someone who is very tense.
A young child, for example, who's always jumping up and down and yelling and running around and all the things my neighbor's children do.
We might describe those children as being high strung.
Joan says, am I?
Am I high strung?
I'm just a little wired, she says.
Wired W-I-R-E-D here means you have a lot of energy, a lot of excitement, usually because you are using some sort of drug or medicine that is making you very excited, very energetic, we might say.
Joan says, I've been up all night trying to finish an assignment for one of my classes.
To be up all night means to stay awake throughout the entire night.
You never go to bed.
You never go to sleep.
Joan is obviously a typical student who has waited until the very last day to finish an Her homework.
In this case, she calls it an assignment, which is basically something you're required to do for your classes.
Roberto says you don't seem tired at all.
You don't seem even a little bit sleepy or tired.
In fact, you seem to be bouncing off the walls.
The expression to bounce B-O-U-N-C-E off the walls means again to have a lot of energy to be very active, almost too active, like you can't quite control yourself.
To bounce is to take an object like a ball...
Throw it down on the ground or against a wall and have it come back to you.
We talk about bouncing a basketball, for example.
Well, the expression to be bouncing off the walls means that you're like a ball that is hitting one wall and then it bounces.
It hits another wall and it bounces.
It doesn't stop moving.
It's very active.
Jones says, what are you trying to imply here?
To imply I-M-P-L-Y means to say something indirectly, not in a direct way.
To suggest something, but not to say it specifically or in detail.
He implied that I wasn't doing my work.
He didn't say to me, you're not doing your work, but he made other comments.
He made other statements that gave me the idea that that was what he was really trying to tell me.
Joan is asking what Roberto is implying by his statement that she seems to be bouncing off the walls.
Then she apologizes, since the expression or the question what are you trying to imply?
Is often one someone will use when they think the other person is criticizing them.
She says, sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you.
To snap S-N-A-P at someone means to say something to someone in an angry way when you are mad, when you are upset, without thinking about it first.
If you're tired, you might sometimes snap at your husband or snap at your wife or snap at your children.
Because you're not thinking.
You get angry with them.
And before you can really think about it, you say something negative to them.
Energy drinks are drinks that have ingredients that are supposed to keep you awake and give you more energy.
These are very popular among, for example, college students, who are always going out and drinking and partying.
And then when they have to do their schoolwork, they have to stay up all night, just like Joan did.
So they have these energy drinks.
The most common ingredient, the most common thing you will find in these drinks is caffeine.
And that's what Jones says.
I still have a lot of caffeine in my system.
Caffeine C-A-F-F-E-I-N-E is a chemical substance found in coffee, in black tea, in certain kind of sodas, in chocolate drinks.
That gives a lot of people energy when they consume it, when it enters into their body.
I drink coffee now every day.
For a while i was just drinking tea, but now i've switched back to coffee and i have caffeine in my coffee.
In the morning i like to have a cup of coffee and that caffeine wakes me up.
A The expression to be in your system means the same as to be in your body.
The chemicals are still in your body and they're affecting you still.
Roberto says that's for sure.
Yes, you do have a lot of caffeine in your system, he's saying.
You seem to be agitated from too many stimulants.
To be agitated...
A-G-I-T-A-T-E-D means to be nervous, to be excited, perhaps to be a little upset with a lot of extra energy.
Similar to being wired, except agitated, can often be something negative when someone is upset about something.
Stimulants.
S-T-I-M-U-L-A-N-T-S is any food, medicine or chemical substance that makes your body more alert, more active, that allows you, for example, to stay awake longer.
Caffeine is a kind of stimulant, but there are other chemical stimulants as well.
Joan says, well, I needed to stay awake.
To stay awake means not to fall asleep, not to allow yourself to fall asleep.
Remember, Joan was staying up all night to finish her homework.
She says, as soon as I felt drowsy, I'd have another dose of caffeine.
Drowsy, D-R-O-W-S-Y, is very sleepy, very tired.
It means you're almost falling asleep.
I feel really drowsy or I am very drowsy.
That means you're just about to fall asleep.
I hope none of you are feeling drowsy right now.
I'll try to keep you going, wake you up.
Our next expression will help do that.
It's a dose of caffeine.
Dose.
D-O-S-E is usually a word we use in medicine, talking about the amount of medicine you should take at a certain time.
So if the doctor gives you some pills to take, he may say take two doses of these pills every morning.
That is your dose.
That is the amount of medicine you're supposed to take.
Well, a dose of caffeine would be an amount of caffeine that will keep you awake.
Jones says, it gave me an instant jolt.
Instant means suddenly, immediately, something that happens right away.
A jolt means J-O-L-T, is a large and sudden increase in energy or enthusiasm or sometimes activity.
So someone says, I'm going to give you a jolt.
I'm going to give you a lot of energy, get you moving again.
We often use the word jolt with another type of stimulant, a jolt of caffeine, a jolt of adrenaline, which is sort of your body's natural way of getting you excited, getting you energized.
That's a jolt.
Roberto says, but you're done with your assignment now, right?
You're finished with your homework.
Joan says yes.
Roberto says, and you have a few hours before your class, so why don't you get some sleep?
He's suggesting that Joan sleep for a few hours until her class begins.
Joan says, sleep?
Sleep?
I don't know the meaning of the word.
This expression, I don't know the meaning of sleep.
The word, or of sleep in this case, is used to show that what that person is talking about, that word or phrase, isn't applicable to you.
It doesn't apply to you.
You can't really understand it.
We use it as a joke, this expression, when we say, I don't know the meaning of the word work.
That would be someone who is making a joke, saying that they're very lazy, that they don't like to work.
They don't even know what work is.
That's the idea.
I'm a little like that.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hi, how are you?
What are you doing?
What is this?
Whoa, you're very high strung this morning.
Am I?
I am a little wired.
I've been up all night trying to finish an assignment for one of my classes.
You don't seem tired at all for having been up all night.
In fact, you seem to be bouncing off the walls.
What are you trying to imply?
Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you.
I've been drinking a lot of coffee and energy drinks.
I still have a lot of caffeine in my system.
That's for sure.
You seem agitated from too many stimulants.
Well, I needed to stay awake, so as soon as I felt drowsy, I'd have another dose of caffeine.
It gave me an instant jolt.
But you're done with your assignment now, right?
Yes.
And you have a few hours before your class, so why don't you get some sleep?
Sleep?
Sleep?
I don't know the meaning of the word.
Her scripts are always stimulating, interesting, and exciting.
I speak, of course, of our wonderful script writer, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
