Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,234, Traveling with Pets.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1, 2, 3, 4.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit ESLPODcom to download the learning guide for this episode.
That will give you a complete transcript of everything we say.
This episode is a dialogue between Ava and Amin about traveling with your pets.
Let's get started.
I can't stand to be away from Fifi for two weeks.
Can't we bring her along?
We've talked about this before.
Our dog does not like to travel.
We'll board her.
What if we get a really big crate or carrier that Fifi will feel comfortable in?
It won't make a difference if she's left out on the hot tarmac and has to spend hours in cargo hold.
It'll be well ventilated and the crate will be large enough for her to turn around in.
She'll still bark and whimper and you know it.
Do you want her to suffer?
Of course not.
What if she can travel in the cabin with us?
She's too big.
We could change our travel plans.
Drive instead of fly.
We're not changing our travel plans.
She'll be fine at the kennel.
She'll have separation anxiety.
Are you talking about the dog or about you?
Amin begins our dialogue by saying to Ava, I can't stand to be away from Fifi for two weeks.
Can't we bring her along?
The expression, I can't stand, means I am not able to deal with or I'm not able to tolerate.
We can use this expression in a lot of different ways.
If someone is making a lot of noise next to us, you might say I can't stand the noise you're making.
That means it really bothers me.
It makes me upset.
It makes me perhaps angry.
In the dialogue, Amin is saying that he isn't going to like to leave Fifi for two weeks.
Fifi, we learn, is the name of his dog.
Can't we bring her along, he asks?
To bring someone along.
A-L-O-N-G means to bring someone with you, to take someone with you on a trip.
Eva says, We've talked about this before.
Our dog does not like to travel.
We'll board her, she says.
To board B-O-A-R-D means to pay someone to take care of your animal, usually a dog, for a certain amount of time.
If you own a dog and you are going to be traveling, you can take it to a place that will take care of it while you are gone.
The verb we would use there would be to board the dog.
These places are usually called kennels, K-E-N-N-E-L-S.
Amin says, what if we get a really big crate or carrier that Fifi will feel comfortable in?
Amin is trying to think of a way to take the dog with them.
So he suggests getting a big crate, C-R-A-T-E.
A crate is a large wooden box.
A carrier is C-A-R-R-I-E-R is any sort of box that can be lifted up using what we would call handles H-A-N-D-L-E-S.
Handles are basically straps, pieces of material that are connected to the box, that you can use to put your hands around in order to lift the box up.
Ava says it won't make a difference if she's left out on a hot tarmac and has to spend hours in cargo hold.
We're talking now about an airplane.
When you travel on an airplane, the airplane in the airport is is parked on or sits on what's called a tarmac T-A-R-M-A-C.
A tarmac is a large area at the airport that the airplanes drive on or go across on before they go up in the air.
A cargo.
C-A-R-G-O hold H-O-L-D is a large area on the bottom of an airplane, although it could be in a ship as well.
That is used to keep or store suitcases, boxes, and other large objects.
Ibn is saying it won't be very practical to try to do what Amin is suggesting.
But Amin isn't giving up.
He says it'll be well ventilated. and the crate will be large enough for her to turn around in.
Ventilated, V-E-N-T-I-L-A-T-E-D, means having a lot of air going through a certain space or a room.
If you are inside a room, you want the room to be well-ventilated, air moving in and out of it so that you're not breathing in the same air.
The opposite of ventilated would be stuffy, S-T-U-F-F-Y.
Amin says that this crate he's thinking of will be well ventilated and will be large enough for the dog to turn around in.
To turn around is a two-word phrasal verb, meaning to move 180 degrees in the opposite direction.
So if you are looking north...
You will turn your body so that you are looking south.
The verb we would use here actually would be facing south and facing north.
To face F-A-C-E means to turn your body in a certain direction, so that the front of your body, Your face, is pointed in a certain direction.
Interestingly enough, the verb to face can also mean to deal with.
We have to face our problems.
We have to deal with or take care of our problems.
Eva says the dog will still bark and whimper.
To bark, B-A-R-K, is the verb we use to describe the way a dog makes sound.
There's also a noun, which is bark.
A dog barks.
The sound made by a cat is is described by using the verb to meow, M-E-O-W.
Meow, meow.
That, at least in English, is the sound that a cat makes.
Cats make different sounds in different languages.
It's very strange, but then again, so are cats, which is why you should never own one.
Ava is saying that even in this crate, the dog is still going to bark and whimper.
W-H-I-M-P-E-R.
To whimper is to make a soft sound that usually indicates you are sad or scared or perhaps in pain.
Ava then asks Amin, do you want her, meaning the dog, to suffer?
To suffer S-U-F-F-E-R means to experience some sort of pain or to be in a difficult situation or undergoing a difficult experience.
Amin says, of course not.
He doesn't want her to suffer.
Then he says, what if she can travel in the cabin with us?
The cabin, C-A-B-I-N, is the part of an airplane in which the human beings are located.
It's where you sit in an airplane.
The cabin is usually on the top part of the airplane and the cargo hold is on the bottom part of the airplane.
Ava says, however, that the dog is too big to travel in the cabin with them.
Amin says, we could change our travel plans, drive instead of fly.
Ava says, we're not changing our travel plans.
She'll be fine at the kennel.
Amin says she'll have separation anxiety.
Separation, S-E-P-A-R-A-T-I-O-N, comes from the verb to separate, which means to take two things and pull them apart or put them apart so that they are not next to each other.
Anxiety is a feeling of sadness or fear or perhaps just worry about something.
Separation.
Anxiety then, is the feeling of sadness or fear that you feel when you are separated from another person.
In this case...
Amin thinks the dog will have separation anxiety being away from her owners.
Ava then asks, are you talking about the dog or about you?
Meaning, of course, that it is Amin who will feel the separation anxiety because he won't be near his dog.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
We've talked about this before.
Our dog does not like to travel.
We'll board her.
What if we get a really big crate or carrier that Fifi will feel comfortable in?
It won't make a difference if she's left out on the hot tarmac and has to spend hours in cargo hold.
It'll be well ventilated, and the crate will be large enough for her to turn around in.
She'll still bark and whimper, and you know it.
Do you want her to suffer?
Of course not.
What if she can travel in the cabin with us?
We're not changing our travel plans.
She'll be fine at the kennel.
Are you talking about the dog or about you?
If you can't stand bad English lessons, you should listen to our English lessons.
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That's because our scripts are written by the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
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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.
