Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1186.
Being in a severe storm.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1186.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com.
You can download a learning guide when you go to our website for this episode and all of our recent episodes.
That contains a complete transcript of everything I say.
This episode is a dialogue about being in a severe or serious storm.
Let's get started.
Hey, did you hear that?
There's a severe storm coming.
Let's hope for the best.
Yeah, I hope it doesn't leave a lot of damage.
We haven't recovered from the aftermath of the last big storm.
No, when I said I was hoping for the best, I meant I'm hoping to catch it on film.
The weather forecaster says that their radar has detected a big cyclone forming over this area.
Let me get this straight.
You're hoping for a big storm?
Yeah, I'm a storm chaser.
I've captured lots of tropical storms on film and even a small tornado, but never a hurricane or typhoon.
You mean you actually chase after storms?
Yeah, it's fun.
I hope one day to be there for a really big one and somehow get into the eye where it's calm.
You understand that with big storms come strong winds and floods, resulting in the destruction of homes and general chaos.
I don't want anyone to get hurt.
I'm just looking for a thrill.
Right.
Just a little harmless fun.
Our dialogue begins with Shana asking Aesio, Hey, did you hear that?
There's a severe storm coming.
Anything that is severe, S-E-V-E-R-E, is serious or, in this case, very strong.
A severe storm S-T-O-R-M would be a serious weather event, often one that comes with strong winds and heavy rain.
Although you could also have a severe snowstorm, where you get a lot of snow in a short period of time.
Shana says, let's hope for the best, meaning let's hope things don't get too bad.
Aesio says yeah, I hope it doesn't leave a lot of damage, meaning I hope the storm doesn't cause too much harm doesn't, for example, cause any houses to fall down or any buildings to lose their roofs.
Or He says we haven't recovered from the aftermath of the last big storm.
Aftermath A-F-T-E-R-M-A-T-H is what happens after something else, usually the bad things or negative consequences of something.
The aftermath of a storm would be what happens after there's a big storm.
In the aftermath of the big storm, the price of gasoline went up because it wasn't easy to get gasoline in that area.
Shana says, no, when I said I was hoping for the best, I meant I'm hoping to catch it on film.
To catch it means to be able to video the event or to use your camera to make a movie of it.
She says.
The weather forecaster says that their radar has detected a big cyclone forming over this area.
A weather forecaster, F-O-R-E-C-A-S-T-E-R, is a person who tries to predict what the weather will be in the future, which is always a very difficult thing to do.
Radar R-A-D-A-R is a technology that allows a machine to detect the speed of things that cannot be seen by your eyes or that cannot easily be observed or noticed.
In an airport, they use radar to keep track of all of the airplanes that are flying in and out of the airport to make sure that they don't hit each other.
Radar can also be used to see where the clouds are and where it is raining.
The weather forecaster uses radar to try to figure out what the weather will be in the near future.
In the dialogue, Shana says, The weather forecaster's radar has detected a big cyclone.
To detect D-E-T-E-C-T means to see, notice or observe something that would not otherwise be seen.
The radar has detected or noticed or seen or indicated on its screen a big cyclone, C-Y-C-L-O-N-E.
A cyclone is a kind of storm that has winds that go around in a circle.
Usually, we use this word cyclone to refer to a tropical storm, a storm that is coming off from the ocean onto the land.
When cyclone refers to a tropical storm, it's usually called a hurricane if it is in the Atlantic Ocean and a typhoon T-Y-P-H-O-O-N if it is in the Western Pacific or Indian Oceans.
IACO says, let me get this straight.
You're hoping for a big storm?
The expression to get something straight, S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T, means to understand something completely.
Usually we use this expression when someone is explaining something to you and perhaps at first you're not really clear about what that person is saying.
And so you want to repeat what the person is saying in your own words to make sure you really understand it.
It may also be used when you are so surprised by something that someone is telling you that you can't really believe it's true, and so you're repeating it or you're summarizing it so that you're sure you understand it.
In this case, Aesio is surprised that Shana actually wants there to be a big storm.
That's why he says, let me get this straight.
You're hoping for a big storm?
Shana says, yeah, I'm a storm chaser.
Someone who chases C-H-A-S-E-S someone is someone who goes after another person, who tries to catch another person.
A storm chaser C-H-A-S-E-R is a person who follows storms, usually to take videos of them or photographs of the storm.
There are some people who like to chase people Tornadoes.
T-O-R-N-A-D-O-E-S.
A tornado is a storm that has clouds that move quickly in a circle in what is called a funnel F-U-N-N-E-L, which is a cone-like shape.
You have tornadoes over land that are usually... only going to last a certain amount of time.
It's not like a cyclone.
A cyclone is a larger storm that can last for days.
Shana says she's a storm chaser.
She says I've captured lots of tropical storms on film and even a small tornado, but never a hurricane or typhoon.
Shana says that she has been able to make a video of tropical storms and even a small tornado, but never a hurricane, H-U-R-R-I-C-A-N-E or typhoon.
Remember, a hurricane is a cyclone that is in the Atlantic Ocean.
A typhoon is a cyclone in the Indian or Pacific Oceans.
In the United States we used to give hurricanes, storms coming out of the Atlantic Ocean, names of women.
But more recently they've started giving men's names to hurricanes as well, because men want to be equal to women when it comes to storms, I guess.
I don't know.
Typhoons are also given names, but there the system is much more complicated.
It isn't just the name of a man or a woman.
Back to our story.
Aesio says, you mean you actually chase after storms?
Shana says, yeah, it's fun.
I hope one day to be there for a really big one and somehow get into the eye where it's calm.
The eye E-Y-E of a cyclone is the central part of a hurricane or a typhoon, where the wind is moving around you.
You're in the middle of where the wind is moving.
Apparently, in the eye of a cyclone, it is calm, C-A-L-M, meaning there aren't any strong winds.
Aesio says, Aesio is reminding Shana that these large storms cause a lot of problems.
They have strong winds, that is, strong movement of air. and can also cause floods, F-L-O-O-D-S.
A flood is when the water in a river goes onto the surrounding land where it doesn't normally go.
This results in the destruction, D-E-S-T-R-U-C-T-I-O-N, of homes.
Destruction comes from the verb to destroy D-E-S-T-R-O-Y, which means to cause damage to something so that it no longer exists or it no longer has the same shape or form.
If you destroy a home, you take the walls down so that the home is no longer standing.
You can no longer use it.
Chaos, C-H-A-O-S, refers to confusion or disorder.
These storms can cause general chaos, meaning lots of problems in a certain area.
Shana says, I don't want anyone to get hurt.
I'm just looking for a thrill.
A thrill, T-H-R-I-L-L, is a feeling of excitement.
It's something that is pleasurable because perhaps it's a little dangerous and you like a little danger.
A thrill can simply be, however, something that is very exciting.
It doesn't have to be dangerous.
But the thrill that Shana is seeking is definitely a dangerous one, not only to her but to other people.
That's why Aesio at the end says right, just a little harmless fun, something that is harmless.
H-A-R-M-L-E-S-S is something that will not cause problems, something that will not cause harm.
Iacio is being sarcastic here.
He's making a joke.
He's saying that these storms cause a lot of problems and that you shouldn't hope for a big storm, because the storm could cause destruction of houses and general chaos, which would not be a good thing.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hey, did you hear that?
There's a severe storm coming.
Let's hope for the best.
Yeah, I hope it doesn't leave a lot of damage.
We haven't recovered from the aftermath of the last big storm.
No, when I said I was hoping for the best, I meant I'm hoping to catch it on film.
The weather forecaster says that their radar has detected a big cyclone forming over this area.
Let me get this straight.
You're hoping for a big storm?
Yeah, I'm a storm chaser.
I've captured lots of tropical storms on film and even a small tornado, but never a hurricane or typhoon.
You mean you actually chase after storms?
Yeah, it's fun.
I hope one day to be there for a really big one and somehow get into the eye where it's calm.
You understand that with big storms come strong winds and floods, resulting in the destruction of homes and general chaos.
I don't want anyone to get hurt.
I'm just looking for a thrill.
Right, just a little harmless fun.
We hope listening to our dialogues always gives you a thrill.
If it does, you can thank our 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 Podcasts.
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.
