Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,257.
Repairing damage to an auto body.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 1,257.
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 Miles and Yuki about getting your car fixed when someone has hit it.
Let's get started.
It's something, isn't it?
Yeah, it's something, all right.
Where did you get this heap?
My uncle sold it to me.
This car has been sitting in his garage for years and he finally said I could have it for a good price.
I need some auto body work done on it.
There's a little damage, And I want to make it look good again.
A little damage?
The bumpers are falling off and the frame is bent.
Was this car in an accident?
I'm worried about its structural integrity.
It was in a small accident.
But none of these cosmetic things affects how it runs.
I mean there are dents and dings everywhere and paint scratches so deep you might need to get a whole new paint job.
I'm sure you can work your magic on it and make it look new again.
Wait a second.
There's rust all over the undercarriage.
It's ready now.
Now?
Yes, this car is ready for you to pick up and take to a salvage yard.
Miles begins with saying, It's something, isn't it?
The meaning of this expression depends on how it is said and the context or situation in which it is said.
It could mean it's something really good, it's something fantastic.
It could also mean that it isn't very good.
I think Miles says it in a way that suggests that it is something good.
He's talking about a car that his uncle sold to him.
Yuki, however, doesn't agree.
She says, yeah, it's something alright.
The addition of that expression alright is used here to indicate that perhaps what the other person said isn't correct, or perhaps isn't complete.
Yuki says, where did you get this heap?
H-E-A-P.
A heap is usually a large number of objects that are on top of each other that aren't organized in any way.
You could have a heap of papers, a bunch of or collection of papers on your desk that aren't organized in any way.
It looks rather messy.
In this case however, she's referring to the car as being a collection of pieces that aren't organized very well.
It's just another way of saying this piece of junk, J-U-N-K, which is something you would normally throw away.
If we use the word heap to describe a car, we mean it's not a very good car.
Miles says, my uncle sold it to me.
This car has been sitting in his garage for years and he finally said I could have it for a good price.
Miles says, I need some auto body work done on it.
There's a little damage, and I want to make it look good again.
Auto body refers to the outside of the car or, more specifically, work done to repair the way a car looks.
So if you say you need auto body work, you mean you need the outside of your car fixed.
We're not talking about the motor or the engine part of the car.
Yuki says, a little damage.
She is surprised that Miles is describing his car as having a little or not very much damage.
She says, the bumpers are falling off and the frame is bent.
The bumpers, B-U-M-P-E-R-S of a car are the parts that are in the front and the back that are supposed to protect the car if you get into an accident, if you hit something or some other car.
The bumpers are falling off, she says, meaning they are about to come off of the car because they're not attached properly or because they're so old.
The frame is bent, B-E-N-T, Yuki says.
Something that is bent is something that is not straight the way it should be.
The frame of a car is the basic structure of the car.
If you can think of the car without any of the doors or engine or other parts that make the car run, that would be the frame of the car, sort of like your skeleton in your body consists of the bones in your body and then you have everything around and on top of your bones.
Well, the frame of the car is like the skeleton of the car.
Was this car in an accident?
Yuki asks.
I'm worried about its structural integrity.
The structure S-T-R-U-C-T-U-R-E of something is similar to the frame or skeleton of an object.
It gives it its basic shape.
Structural integrity.
I N T E G R I T Y refers to how strong that structure is, how well that structure will survive say, other damage.
The structural integrity of a bridge refers to how strong the bridge is, whether the bridge is going to stay up or not.
Yuki's talking about the structural integrity of the car.
Miles says it was in a small accident, but none of these cosmetic things affects how it runs.
Cosmetic, C-O-S-M-E-T-I-C, is an adjective that describes the way something looks.
In this case, we might think of it as the outside part of the car, not how it functions, not how it works.
Miles uses the verb run, R-U-N, to describe how the car functions.
He says, none of these cosmetic things or cosmetic damage affects or has any influence on how the car operates, how it runs.
Yuki says I mean, there are dents and dings everywhere and paint scratches so deep you might need a whole new paint job.
A dent D-E-N-T is created when you take something that is flat and you hit it, say with a hammer or another hard object.
If you do that to a piece of metal, it will create a dent in the metal.
It's not a hole.
It doesn't go through the metal, but it bends the metal, causing a dent in the metal.
A ding, D-I-N-G, is a very small dent in a car.
If you park your car next to another car and the person in the car next to you opens his door and it hits the side of your door in a very strong or forceful way, it might cause a ding in the side of your door, a small dent.
Yuki also mentions paint scratches.
S-C-R-A-T-C-H-E-S.
A scratch is a small line in a painted object.
So if you have red paint on the side of your car and there's a scratch in it, you may see white paint.
That would be the metal underneath the paint.
The scratches are so deep, Yuki says, that Miles might need a whole new paint job.
A paint job is when you have to repaint or put new paint on the entire car.
A deep scratch is one that goes far into the metal, so that it can't be easily fixed by just putting a little paint on top of that area.
Miles says, I'm sure you can work your magic on it and make it look new again.
Apparently, Miles is asking Yuki to do the auto.
Body work means to use your skills in such a way as to make something better again or perfect again.
Yuki says, wait a second.
There's rust all over the undercarriage.
Rust.
R-U-S-T is another word for rust, what we could also refer to as oxidation in a technical sense.
It's a reddish-orange powder that appears on metal when it has been damaged by having water on it.
Rust is not a good thing for the metal, of course, because it can make the metal weaker.
It can actually cause the metal to disintegrate or to break up into small pieces.
The undercarriage U-N-D-E-R-C-A-R-R-I-A-G-E of a car is the bottom of the car, usually including the bottom of the frame and the wheels.
Miles says, when do you think you can have it ready for me to pick up?
So we learn now that Yuki works at the auto bar body shop, the place where he is bringing the car to be fixed.
He wants to know when yuki can finish fixing it.
Yuki says it's ready now.
Miles says now he's confused because he just, of course, brought the car to yuki.
Yuki is making something of a joke.
She says yes, this car is ready for you to pick up, meaning to take away and to take to a salvage yard.
A salvage S-A-L-V-A-G-E yard.
Y-A-R-D is is a place where there are a lot of old cars and other machines that no longer work and that are used only for their parts.
P-A-R-T-S meaning people take the cars apart or the other machines and they reuse the different parts from those cars or machines for other things or for other cars and machines.
What Yuki is saying is that it is not possible to fix this old car, that it would be better for Miles simply to take it and perhaps sell it to the salvage yard, since no one would want to drive the car anymore as it is.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
It's something, isn't it?
Yeah, it's something all right.
Where did you get this heap?
My uncle sold it to me.
This car has been sitting in his garage for years and he finally said I could have it for a good price.
I need some auto body work done on it.
There's a little damage, and I want to make it look good again.
A little damage?
The bumpers are falling off, and the frame is bent.
Was this car in an accident?
I'm worried about its structural integrity.
It was in a small accident, but none of these cosmetic things affects how it runs.
I mean there are dents and dings everywhere and paint scratch is so deep you might need to get a whole new paint job.
I'm sure you can work your magic on it and make it look new again.
Wait a second.
There's rust all over the undercarriage.
When do you think you can have it ready for me to pick up?
It's ready now.
Now?
This car is ready for you to pick up and take to a salvage yard.
Our scriptwriter works her magic every week by writing us these wonderful scripts.
Thank you, 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 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
