Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1185, Smuggling Across Borders.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1185.
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 Harry and Christina about people who try to bring things or bring people into another country illegally.
Let's get started.
What is the holdup?
There are cars backed up for half a mile.
I bet the border patrol is looking for smugglers.
It might be drugs, but it could be any kind of contraband.
I've heard that there's a problem with gun running and other kinds of arms trafficking across these borders.
Maybe they're looking for people trying to sneak into this country without permission.
Or they could be looking for people trying to import exotic species without permission.
Plants and animals that aren't allowed to be brought into this country, at least not without quarantine.
You mean like these herb plants I bought?
I doubt if they're prohibited.
Wait, you can't leave the car.
What if this is contraband and they catch me with it?
They'll confiscate it and send us on our way.
Are you sure?
Sure, I'm sure.
They'd be much more interested in the bats I'm smuggling in my pants anyway.
What?
Christina says to Harry, what is the holdup?
There are cars backed up for half a mile.
A holdup.
H-O-L-D-U-P is a source of delay, something that slows you down, something that puts you behind schedule.
There's a holdup in the front of the line because someone is having a problem with his credit card.
So the line isn't moving.
Nothing is going forward.
A holdup is a reason for something that isn't happening that should be happening.
I should mention there's a very different meaning of holdup, which is when people go into a store or a bank and try to get the money from the store or bank with a gun or some other sort of weapon.
That is, if someone tries to steal money by going into the business, usually with some sort of weapon.
It doesn't even have to be a business.
It could be a car or somewhere else.
Here we're just talking about a delay.
Christina says there are cars backed up for a half a mile.
To be backed up means that you have a lot of cars that are stopped or moving very slowly.
Instead of going at the normal speed on that particular road or freeway.
There are backed up cars on the freeways of Los Angeles every day of the week.
Harry says, I bet the border patrol is looking for smugglers.
Now we understand that Christina and Harry appear to be entering into another country.
Maybe they went to Canada and are returning to the United States.
Maybe they went to Mexico and are returning to the United States.
The border, B-O-R-D-E-R, is the line that divides two countries.
A patrol.
P-A-T-R-O-L is a group of police officers, soldiers or government officials who who are usually there to prevent crime or to do some sort of inspection.
In the US, the Border Patrol is responsible for preventing people and things from coming into the United States illegally.
If you drive from Canada or Mexico into the United States, you have to stop and at the border patrol on the border or right inside of the United States and you will be asked a bunch of questions and they may look inside of your car.
This happened to me several times as I came back from Mexico.
The Border Patrol is sometimes looking for smugglers, S-M-U-G-G-L-E-R-S.
A smuggler is a person who tries to bring things or bring people illegally into another country.
Christina says, do you really think so?
I wonder if there could be a drug mule in one of these cars carrying illegal drugs.
A drug mule m-u-l-e is a person who carries illegal drugs from one place to another, usually by hiding those drugs somewhere on or even in his body.
We won't talk about the places where the drugs may be hidden.
Illegal drugs are drugs that are against the law.
Chemical substances whose sale and or use is against the law.
Examples would be heroin or cocaine in the United States.
Here he says it might be drugs, but it could be any kind of contraband.
Contraband, C-O-N-T-R-A, B-A-N-D, is anything that is brought into a country illegally.
It could be drugs, it could be guns, it could even be electronics or certain kinds of food or cigarettes.
Anything that is illegal to bring into another country.
Harry continues Gun running.
G-U-N-R-U-N-N-I-N-G is bringing guns and other weapons into a country illegally.
Arms, A-R-M-S, refers to guns and other weapons.
Trafficking, T-R-A-F-F-I-C-K-I-N-G, is buying and selling things that are illegal to buy and sell.
So arms trafficking would be illegally buying and selling guns and other weapons.
Sometimes we sadly talk about human trafficking, buying and selling of human beings, such as the world we live in.
Christina says maybe they're looking for people trying to sneak into this country without permission.
To sneak S-N-E-A-K into means to go into somewhere without being seen or observed, usually because you don't have permission to go into that place.
But it could just be to go into a place unobserved.
Your teenage son may sneak into his room after midnight, not wanting you to know that he didn't get home by the time you told him to be home.
In this case, we're talking about people sneaking into a country, going into a country without permission and without being seen.
Harry says or they could be looking for people trying to import exotic species without permission.
To import I-M-P-O-R-T means to bring something into another country, usually to sell it in that country.
Species, S-P-E-C-I-E-S, refers to a kind of plant or animal.
Exotic E-X-O-T-I-C species refers to species that are not normally found in a given area or a given country.
They're from another part of the world or another country.
Christina then asks, what kinds of exotic species?
Harry says plants and animals that aren't allowed to be brought into this country, at least not without quarantine.
That's not a very good definition by Harry of exotic species.
There are plants and animals that you're not allowed to bring into a country without that are not exotic, meaning that are found normally in that country, but for a variety of reasons you're not allowed to bring them in.
This, by the way, is also sometimes the case when you go from state to state in the United States.
Normally, when you go from one state to another, there is no person there checking to see if you have certain items that you are bringing into that state.
But there are exceptions to that.
Here in California, if you drive into the state of California, you will be stopped by a California officer, a government official, who will ask if you are bringing in certain kinds of plants or fruits.
Because California has a large agriculture industry, that is, it grows a lot of food.
It has to be careful that you're not bringing in certain diseases with your plants that would affect the plants here in California.
Hawaii also has a similar system where they may check to make sure you're not bringing in certain kinds of fruit or plants into the state of Hawaii when you arrive at the airport.
Here he also mentions...
Animals coming into the country that cannot be brought in without quarantine.
Q-U-A-R-A-N-T-I-N-E.
Certain animals can be brought into a country if they are allowed to spend time separated from other animals, to make sure that they don't have any illnesses or diseases.
Christina says plants.
You mean like these herb plants I bought?
Herbs are basically plants whose leaves are used to season or flavor food.
Things like parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Just like the song.
You remember?
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Simon and Garfunkel, people.
Look it up on YouTube.
Anyway.
Here he says, I doubt if they're prohibited.
If something is prohibited, P-R-O-H-I-B-I-T-E-D, it is not allowed.
It is forbidden.
Harry then says to Christina, wait, you can't leave the car.
Apparently, Christina starts to get out of the car, probably to get rid of her herb plants that she thinks are prohibited.
Christina says what if this, meaning her herbs is contraband and they catch me with it, meaning they find her with it?
Harry says they'll confiscate it and send us on our way.
To confiscate C-O-N-F-I-S-C-A-T-E is to take something from another person because you have the legal right to do so.
A teacher may confiscate a student's cell phone if he's using the cell phone in class, against the rules of the school.
The police may confiscate illegal guns or drugs if they find you with them.
To send someone on his way means to simply let someone leave without doing anything to them, without stopping them.
To release someone whom you could have kept but decided not to.
In this case Harry, is saying that the people at the border who in this case would be the customs officials, I think would confiscate or take the illegal items but would not arrest them.
They would let the people go, in this case, let Christina go.
Christina says, are you sure?
Harry says, sure, I'm sure, meaning yes, I am sure.
The officials, Harry says... would be much more interested in the bats he is smuggling in his pants.
A bat, B-A-T, is a small flying mammal.
It's kind of like a mouse with wings that flies at night.
You know Batman?
Well, Batman is based on the animal called a bat.
And apparently Harry has bats in his pants which sounds very painful that he is trying to bring illegally into the country.
He's trying to smuggle them into the country.
Christina apparently didn't know that and is quite surprised at the end of the dialogue, as are all of us.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
What is the holdup?
There are cars backed up for half a mile.
I bet the border patrol is looking for smugglers.
Do you really think so?
I wonder if there could be a drug mule in one of these cars carrying illegal drugs.
It might be drugs, but it could be any kind of contraband.
I've heard that there's a problem with gun running and other kinds of arms trafficking across these borders.
Maybe they're looking for people trying to sneak into this country without permission.
Or they could be looking for people trying to import exotic species without permission.
What kinds of exotic species?
Plants and animals that aren't allowed to be brought into this country, at least not without quarantine.
Plants?
You mean like these herb plants I bought?
I doubt if they're prohibited.
Wait, you can't leave the car.
What if this is contraband and they catch me with it?
They'll confiscate it and send us on our way.
Are you sure?
Sure I'm sure.
They'd be much more interested in the bats I'm smuggling in my pants anyway.
What?
None of the English you learn from the dialogues by our wonderful scriptwriter, Dr Lucy Say, are prohibited in any way.
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 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
