Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 890, Enjoying Nature.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 890.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development at in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there, become a member of ESL Podcast, and download a learning guide.
This episode is a dialogue between Charles and Rachel about going out and enjoying the world outside of your home, outside of any building, enjoying nature.
Let's get started.
This is what I call the great outdoors.
Look at that stunning view.
This is truly jaw-dropping.
We're in the middle of one of the most pristine areas of the world, where wildlife lives in its natural habitat.
It's almost like living in the middle of the wilderness, isn't it?
I bet those ponds and forests have amazing biodiversity.
It is beautiful, and it's great to be away from all of the pollution of the city.
I've never seen foliage like this.
This is truly a majestic landscape.
You're right.
I feel like I'm at one with nature here.
And go for a walk?
A walk?
Why?
We have the best view of nature right here.
We don't want to spoil the effect by getting too close.
Charles begins our dialogue by saying to Rachel...
This is what I call the great outdoors.
The phrase the great outdoors refers to the beauty of the natural world mountains and rivers and flowers, and everything that's natural out in the world that you can go see the ocean, the Trees, forests all of these things are part of what you could call the great outdoors, meaning the wonderful world of nature.
Charles says, look at that stunning view.
Stunning, S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G, means very impressive, very beautiful.
A view refers to the things you can see when you look in a certain direction.
Some people who live near the ocean have a view of the ocean.
They can look out of their window and see the ocean.
Charles is talking about a stunning or amazingly beautiful view.
Rachel agrees.
She says, this is truly jaw-dropping.
The term jaw dropping, used as an adjective here, means very surprising, very shocking, but in a good way.
Something that is really good, really beautiful.
Your jaw, J-A-W, is the lower part of your face.
It's what you move up and down when you talk and when you eat your food.
That whole thing is called your jaw.
To drop means to go down quickly.
Jaw dropping would be when your jaw drops down and your mouth is open.
That's the expression that we have on our face when we see something very surprising or very amazing.
That's why we have this term jaw-dropping, to describe something that is amazing.
Rachel says, we're in the middle of one of the most pristine areas of the world.
Pristine.
P-R-I-S-T-I-N-E means perfect, just like new, something that hasn't been touched, something that hasn't been altered or changed in any way.
Rachel says they're in one of the most pristine areas of the world where wildlife lives in its natural habitat.
Wildlife, W-I-L-D-L-I-F-E, one word, refers normally to the animals that live in nature.
Not your dog or your cat in your house, but bears and moose and I don't know wolves that live out away from any human area, away from any area where the humans live.
That would be wildlife.
Wildlife is any animal that doesn't live inside of a house or inside of a cage.
Rachel says this is an area where wildlife lives in its natural habitat.
The natural habitat H-A-B-I-T-A-T is the area where a certain kind of animal lives, normally lives, or a certain kind of plant normally grows.
This again would be typically an area where there aren't any humans or very few humans.
And so the animals and the plants live and die as they would normally do, without any humans interfering or any humans getting involved.
Charles says it's almost like living in the middle of the wilderness, isn't it?
Wilderness, W-I-L-D-E-R-N-E-S-S, is a large area of land that doesn't have a lot of humans in it.
It That would be wilderness.
Large parts of the state of Alaska here in the United States could be described as wilderness.
They're areas where no humans have ever even gone, or at least that we know of.
Charles says this is like living in the middle of the wilderness.
He says, refers to the variety, the different kinds of life in a certain area.
It might be different kinds of plants.
It might be different kinds of animals.
Typically, it's both of those things.
That's what biodiversity refers to.
To be diverse means to be different.
To have a biodiversity then, refers to a lot of different types of life.
Rachel says it is beautiful and it's great to be away from all of the pollution of the city.
Pollution P-O-L-L-U-T-I-O-N is refers to something that is dirty, something that is harmful, perhaps even something that is poisonous.
When we talk about pollution here in Los Angeles, we're usually referring to air pollution where you look in a distance towards downtown and you see this sort of brown air that That would be pollution.
We have a lot of it here in Los Angeles.
It's the part of the city that isn't so beautiful.
Rachel then says, That's foliage.
F-O-L-I-A-G-E are the leaves of trees and other plants.
That's foliage.
This is truly a majestic landscape.
Majestic, M-A-J-E-S-T-I-C, refers to something that is very beautiful, very lovely, very impressive.
Landscape is the same as scenery.
It's the things that you can see in a distance.
Usually when there aren't a lot of buildings or houses that are blocking your view, you can see out onto the land.
That would be the landscape.
Charles says, you can't really appreciate, you can't really understand and enjoy the outdoors, until you come to a place like this.
Rachel says you're right.
I feel like I'm at one with nature.
To be at one with something means that you feel connected to it.
You feel united with that thing or that idea or that group of people even.
In this case, Rachel feels at one with nature, with the natural environment, the natural world.
Charles says, That, of course, is the funny part of the dialogue.
We imagine in the first part of the dialogue that they're out somewhere by a lake or in the mountains or in a forest.
But instead, they're still in their hotel.
Charles says, Should we leave the hotel and go for a walk?
Rachel says a walk?
Why?
We have the best view of nature right here.
We don't want to spoil the effect by getting too close.
To spoil, S-P-O-I-L, the effect, E-F-F-E-C-T, means spoil. to change or to ruin some perception or illusion that you have, to change the way you are thinking about something in such a way that it would be worse, that it would be not as good.
That would be to spoil the effect.
Rachel says, we don't want to spoil the effect, the effect of this beautiful nature.
By getting too close, by actually leaving their hotel and going out into the nature that they are looking at through their window.
That's kind of my view of enjoying nature.
I like to enjoy nature from my hotel room, from my car maybe.
An airplane would also be a place I could enjoy nature from.
I'm not so much interested in going out into the actual nature. nature itself.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
This is what I call the great outdoors.
Look at that stunning view.
This is truly jaw-dropping.
We're in the middle of one of the most pristine areas of the world, where wildlife lives in its natural habitat.
It's almost like living in the middle of the wilderness, isn't it?
I bet those ponds and forests have amazing biodiversity.
It is beautiful, and it's great to be away from all of the pollution of the city.
I've never seen foliage like this.
This is truly a majestic landscape.
You can't really appreciate the outdoors until you come to a place like this.
You're right.
I feel like I'm at one with nature here.
Should we leave the hotel and go for a walk?
A walk?
Why?
We have the best view of nature right here.
We don't want to spoil the effect by getting too close.
She's at one with the English language.
Her scripts are majestic.
They're stunning.
I speak, of course, of our very own 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 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.
