Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 945, Using Electronics While Traveling.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 945.
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 Justin and Marsha about using electronic equipment while you are traveling.
Let's get started.
Are you nearly packed?
Almost.
Let's see.
I have wall chargers for my cell phone and other devices, extra memory cards for my camera and noise-canceling headphones for the airplane.
Oh, yeah.
I forgot to pack my headphones.
I'd better dig them out right now.
I've also packed portable batteries for our devices in case we run out of power en route.
I've also brought a power strip to use in our hotel room.
Why?
That's true.
I hadn't thought of that.
Maybe I should bring one too.
Between the two of us, we have a lot of gadgets to plug in.
And I'm bringing some cables in case we want to hook up our devices to the TV.
Don't you think that's overkill?
Not at all.
How else will we entertain ourselves for an entire week?
Our dialogue begins when Justin asks Marsha, Are you nearly packed?
To be packed, P-A-C-K-E-D, here means to be ready for a trip, to be prepared to go somewhere.
We also use the word packed when something is very crowded.
If there are too many people in a small room, we might say it was packed.
Justin asks if Marcia has nearly packed, meaning is she almost... completed the task of packing.
Marcia says, almost.
Let's see.
I have wall chargers for my cell phone and other devices, extra memory cards for my camera and noise-canceling headphones for the airplane.
Marcia lists a couple of popular options. things that you might take with you on a trip.
One of them is a wall charger.
A wall W-A-L-L charger C-H-A-R-G-E-R is something you plug into the wall, usually with a small holes or a cord that allows you to provide power to a cell phone or some other electronic device, some other electronic piece of equipment.
They're called wall chargers because you plug them in or put them into what are called outlets that are usually found on a wall or in a wall.
An outlet.
O-U-T-L-E-T is a place where electrical wires have been run and connected to, so you can plug in a power cord or a wall charger in order to use some sort of electronic piece of equipment.
A memory card is a small flat piece of typically plastic and metal that you put into something like a digital camera that provides additional digital storage, a place where you can put more digital information, such as a digital photograph.
Marcia is also bringing with her Noise-canceling headphones.
Headphones refers to something you wear usually over the top of your head, that has things that go over your ear so that you can hear music, for example, from an iPod or from a smartphone.
When we say the headphones are noise canceling, we mean they have special technology that helps block out noise around you that you probably don't want to hear.
Noise canceling means it reduces or tries to eliminate that noise.
Justin says, oh yeah, I forgot to pack my headphones.
I'd better dig them out right now.
To dig D-I-G something out is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to take something out of a bag or container, especially where there may be a lot of other items that make it a little difficult to find what you are looking for.
To dig something out means to go into a place here where something is stored and take it out so you can use it.
Marcia says, I've also packed portable batteries for our devices here.
In case we run out of power en route, I've also brought a power strip to use in our hotel room.
So Marsha's really prepared here, isn't she?
She's bringing portable batteries.
When we say something is portable P-O-R-T-A-B-L-E, we mean it's easy to carry from one place to another.
So these are small batteries.
She's taking them because she wants to be prepared in case they run out of power, and To run out of something is to no longer have enough of something, usually because you've used it all up.
We've run out of milk means we no longer have any milk.
We did, but then we drank it, so now we don't have any more.
We've run out.
Enroute E-N-R-O-U-T-E two words is an expression that means on the way or along the way, while you are going from one place to another.
Sometimes people will pronounce this term enroute instead of enroute.
It's not quite as acceptable, but it's becoming more popular and probably is considered acceptable in most circumstances.
Marcia says also that she has brought a power strip to use in their hotel room.
A power strip.
S-T-R-I-P is a long rectangular device that has different outlets places you can plug in a cord to get power for your electronic device.
Power strips Sometimes, but not always, are also what is called a surge protector.
They protect your electronic devices in case there's a sudden surge, S-U-R-G-E or increase in power.
If you have lightning strike devices the building where you are, that could cause a power surge that might damage or hurt your electronic equipment.
That's one reason why people use power strips to prevent that from happening.
Justin asks Marcia why she brought the power strip.
And notice Marcia doesn't mention anything about protecting their equipment.
She doesn't mention anything about using the power strip as a surge protector.
She instead says hotel rooms never have enough outlets.
She wants the power strip so she can plug more things in, because the hotel rooms don't usually have very many outlets in the wall where you can plug things in.
Justin says, that's true.
I hadn't thought of that.
Justin didn't think about that idea.
Clearly, Justin is not the smart one here in this marriage.
Justin says, I hadn't thought of that.
Maybe I should bring one too.
Between the two of us, we have a lot of gadgets to plug in.
A gadget, G-A-D-G-E-T, is another word for a small electronic device.
An iPhone or a mobile phone or a digital music player.
These could all be called gadgets.
To plug in means to connect a cord, an electrical cord, between your electronic device and the outlet, so that you can get power to the device.
Marcia says, and I'm bringing some cables in case we want to hook up our devices to the TV.
A cable C-A-B-L-E is an electric wire, typically covered in plastic, that's used to connect two electronic devices.
If you have an external hard drive for your computer, you would connect it to your main computer with a cable.
If you have a television set and a DVD player, you will connect the TV to the DVD player with a cable.
Marcia is bringing some cables.
In case we want to hook up our devices to the TV.
To hook up is a two-word phrasal verb, meaning here to connect, to link or connect one thing to another.
Justin says, don't you think that's overkill?
The word overkill O-V-E-R-K-I-L-L means too much of something more than what is necessary for a given situation.
If the temperature is 60 degrees Fahrenheit, it's probably overkill to wear a big heavy winter coat.
It's just not that cold out.
That's more than what you need to keep warm.
It's overkill.
Justin thinks it's overkill for Marsha to bring all of these different things with her on the trip.
Marsha doesn't agree.
She says not at all.
How else will we entertain ourselves for an entire week?
We imagine that Justin and Marsha are going on vacation.
Normally, vacations are times where you get away from some of your electronic devices, but some people, like Justin and Marsha, want to bring everything with them, so they will be connected all the time.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Are you nearly packed?
Almost.
Let's see.
I have wall chargers for my cell phone and other devices, extra memory cards for my camera and noise-canceling headphones for the airplane.
Oh, yeah.
I forgot to pack my headphones.
I'd better dig them out right now.
I've also packed portable batteries for our devices in case we run out of power en route.
I've also brought a power strip to use in our hotel room.
Why?
Hotel rooms never have enough outlets.
That's true.
I hadn't thought of that.
Maybe I should bring one too.
Between the two of us, we have a lot of gadgets to plug in.
And I'm bringing some cables in case we want to hook up our devices to the TV.
Don't you think that's overkill?
Not at all.
How else will we entertain ourselves for an entire week?
We'll never run out of interesting dialogues as long as we have our wonderful scriptwriter, 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.
