Coffee Break English season four episode 10.
Hi everyone and welcome to Coffee Break English.
My name is Josie and my name is Mark.
This is the final episode in season four of our show and we hope that you have been enjoying each of these episodes and learning lots about the English language.
Yes, and in today's episode we're talking about Niagara Falls.
That's right, Josie have you ever been to Niagara Falls?
I have. Niagara Falls is technically in the US and in Canada and I've been to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
What about you? Interesting, I've been to the American side of Niagara Falls.
So we've seen it from different perspectives.
We have indeed. Let's listen to our text and should we be listening out for anything in particular?
Yes, today's language point is phrasal verbs and expressions including the word go.
Excellent. Let's listen to Ryan as he reads the text about Niagara Falls.
Hi everyone. This is Ryan and I'm delighted to be back on Coffee Break English with another article about a landmark we share with our friends in the USA.
Let's have a listen.
The Niagara Falls are some of the most incredible natural landmarks in the world.
The three huge waterfalls are known all over the world for their size and beauty.
The largest and most famous of the three is Horseshoe Falls.
The 820 meter wide giant which sits on the border between Canada and the USA.
Some of the most famous stories about the falls' history are the attempts to cross them.
The very first person to try it actually succeeded.
63 year old school teacher Annie Edson Taylor went across the falls in a barrel in 1901 and reached the other side without any serious injuries.
After her achievement, Taylor became famous and many other people wanted to have a go at the dangerous adventure.
But it was illegal on both sides of the falls.
This is for good reason.
More than a dozen people have gone for it and tried to cross the falls since 1901 and not all of them have survived.
Another well -known story about the Niagara Falls is that of the Niagara Scow.
On 6th August 1918, Gustav Lofberg and Frank Harris went out to clear the banks of the Niagara River on board the scow, which was an old flat bottomed boat.
When it was time for the scow to go back to shore, the line attaching it to its tugboat broke and the scow began floating towards the falls.
Lofberg and Harris managed to stop the boat on some rocks, which they held on to to avoid falling over the waterfall.
Eventually, the fire department and coast guard arrived to rescue the men from the boat.
The wreck of the scow is still in the river today, reminding people of the experience that two men went through.
While many stories you hear about the Niagara Falls and their history are about danger and excitement, don't underestimate the beauty of the falls themselves.
The magnificent white cascades of water have an amazing roar.
So a visit to Niagara Falls is a truly unforgettable experience.
You won't go away disappointed.
Thank you, Ryan. I think Ryan is exactly right when he says, you won't go away disappointed.
Definitely. When I visited Niagara Falls, I was amazed.
Let's go back through the text now and we'll talk about the interesting language in it.
The Niagara Falls are some of the most incredible natural landmarks in the world.
Yes, we're describing the Niagara Falls as plural, so we're using a plural verb.
The Niagara Falls are some of the most incredible natural landmarks.
Yeah. And what does incredible mean, Josie?
Incredible means very good, amazing.
And this is an example of an extreme adjective, which we focused on in the previous episode.
And a landmark? A landmark is a noticeable natural thing or a building in a place.
OK, the three huge waterfalls are known all over the world for their size and beauty.
Yes, so the three huge waterfalls, the three very big waterfalls, the largest and most famous of the three is Horseshoe Falls, the 820 meter wide giant, which sits on the border between Canada and the USA.
Yes, so the Horseshoe Falls, this is an 820 meter wide giant.
What's a giant, Mark?
Giant means very big.
So a giant is something or someone who is very big.
Like in the children's story, Jack and the beanstalk, the giant lived at the top of the beanstalk.
That's right. I'm not sure how famous that story is outside the UK and the US.
But anyway, hopefully it makes sense.
The giant, the waterfall, sits on the border between Canada and the USA.
Yes, so the border, the dividing line between Canada and the USA.
Some of the most famous stories about the falls history are the attempts to cross them.
The attempts to cross them.
So an attempt is a try or to attempt something is to try something.
And in this case, people are trying to cross the falls.
What's cross, Mark?
Cross is going from one side of a road or a river to the other side.
That's right. The very first person to try it actually succeeded.
Yes, so the first person to try to cross the falls succeeded.
They managed to do this difficult thing.
Sixty -three year old school teacher Annie Edson Taylor went across the falls in a barrel in 1901.
And reached the other side without any serious injuries.
So this school teacher, she went across the falls.
This is our first example of a phrasal verb with the word go.
And to go across something just means to cross, as we spoke about before.
OK, and she went across the falls in a barrel.
What's a barrel, Josie?
Yes, a barrel is a big round container for liquid or food.
It's made of wood. OK.
Now when Annie did this, she did it without any serious injuries.
An injury is damage done to a person's or an animal's body.
Yes, so well done her.
That's impressive. After her achievement, Taylor became famous and many other people wanted to have a go at the dangerous adventure.
But it was illegal on both sides of the falls.
Yes, so many people, they wanted to do what Annie had done and they wanted to have a go at crossing the falls.
What does have a go mean, Mark?
It's another of our expressions involving go, and have a go simply means to try.
That's right. To try.
To try to attempt to have a go.
Yes, they all have the same meaning.
Now, crossing the falls was illegal on both the American and the Canadian sides.
And this is for good reason.
More than a dozen people have gone for it and tried to cross the falls since 1901.
And not all of them have survived.
Yes, so more than a dozen people have tried this.
A dozen means 12. And so more than 12 people have gone for it.
They've tried to cross the falls.
They've gone for it.
Go for it. What does that mean, Mark?
Go for it means to make a big effort to do something.
If you encourage someone, you can say, go for it.
Yes, but unfortunately, some of these people who went for it, not all of them survived, not all of them lived.
OK, there are more well -known stories about the falls, but we'll find out about them after the break.
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Welcome back to Coffee Break English.
We're talking about stories of people who have tried to cross the Niagara Falls.
Another well -known story about the Niagara Falls is that of the Niagara Scow.
Yes, another well -known story.
Another famous story is the story of the Niagara Scow.
So a scow is just a type of boat.
We'll find out more about that now.
On the 6th of August 1918, Gustav Lofberg and Frank Harris went out to clear the banks of the Niagara River on board the Scow, which was an old flat -bottomed boat.
Yes, so these men, Gustav Lofberg and Frank Harris, they went out.
To go out is just to leave your house to do something.
And the something they were going to do is to clear the banks of the Niagara River.
What are the banks of a river, Mark?
The banks of the river is the land on either side of the river, like the shore.
That's right, exactly.
And they went on board, they went on the scow, which was an old flat -bottomed boat, a boat with a flat bottom.
When it was time for the scow to go back to shore, the lane attaching it to its tugboat broke and the scow began floating towards the falls.
Yes, when it was time for the scow to go back to the shore, to return to the land next to the falls, the line attaching it, the line joining it to its tugboat broke.
What's a tugboat, Mark?
A tugboat is a boat which helps to move other boats by pulling them.
That's right, yeah.
Tug means pull. And it started to float towards the falls.
What's float? Yes, so to float is to be on the surface of a liquid like water.
Without sinking, without going under.
That sounds quite scary.
Lofberg and Harris managed to stop the boat on some rocks, which they held onto, to avoid falling over the waterfall.
Yes, this does sound scary.
So they stopped the boat on some rocks and they held onto the rocks to avoid falling over the waterfall, to stop them from falling over the waterfall.
And then what happened next?
Eventually the fire department and coast guard arrived to rescue the men from the boat.
Yes, so eventually after some time, the fire department and the coast guard, they arrived.
What are or what is the coast guard, Mark?
The coast guard is the organisation which watches the sea near the coast or indeed on rivers.
And helps people in trouble.
That's right. Like these two men, they were definitely in trouble.
But the coast guard, they managed to rescue the men.
They saved them. OK.
The wreck of the scow is still in the river today, reminding people of the experience the two men went through.
Yes, the wreck of the scow.
So the scow, the boat.
But now obviously it is broken and it's still in the river today.
And the experience the men went through, that's to go through something.
Yes, to go through is a phrasal verb and it means to experience something difficult.
OK, let's continue.
While many stories you hear about the Niagara Falls and their history are about danger and excitement, don't underestimate the beauty of the falls themselves.
Yes, don't underestimate the beauty of the falls.
What does underestimate mean, Mark?
If you underestimate something, you don't realise how big or how powerful something may be.
That's right. Yes. So all of these people who tried to cross the falls, they underestimated how powerful the falls could be.
Exactly. But the falls are also incredibly beautiful.
The magnificent white cascades of water have an amazing roar.
So a visit to Niagara Falls is a truly unforgettable experience.
Yes, some difficult vocabulary in this sentence.
The magnificent white cascades of water.
Magnificent means very good or very beautiful.
And we have magnificent cascades of water.
A cascade is just a waterfall.
And these cascades of water, they have an amazing roar.
What's a roar, Mark?
It's a very loud noise.
For example, a lion roars or a tiger roars.
It's the word that's used to talk about the sound that these loud animals will make.
That's right. And the beauty of the falls and their amazing roar make a visit to Niagara Falls an unforgettable experience, an experience that is impossible to forget.
You won't go away disappointed.
Yes. And here's our final phrasal verb with go.
Go away just means leave.
Exactly. OK, before we leave you with this podcast, we will listen one more time to the whole text.
The Niagara Falls are some of the most incredible natural landmarks in the world.
The three huge waterfalls are known all over the world for their size and beauty.
The largest and most famous of the three is Horseshoe Falls, the eight hundred twenty meter wide giant which sits on the border between Canada and the USA.
Some of the most famous stories about the falls as history are the attempts to cross them.
The very first person to try it actually succeeded.
Sixty three year old school teacher Annie Edson Taylor went across the falls in a barrel in 1901 and reached the other side without any serious injuries.
After her achievement, Taylor became famous and many other people wanted to have a go at the dangerous adventure.
But it was illegal on both sides of the falls.
This is for good reason.
More than a dozen people have gone for it and tried to cross the falls since 1901 and not all of them have survived.
Another well -known story about the Niagara Falls is that of the Niagara Scow.
On 6th August 1918, Gustave Lofberg and Frank Harris went out to clear the banks of the Niagara River on board the scow, which was an old flat bottomed boat.
When it was time for the scow to go back to shore, the line attaching it to its tugboat broke and the scow began floating towards the falls.
Lofberg and Harris managed to stop the boat on some rocks, which they held onto to avoid falling over the waterfall.
Eventually, the fire department and coast guard arrived to rescue the men from the boat.
The wreck of the scow is still in the river today, reminding people of the experience the two men went through.
While many stories you hear about the Niagara Falls and their history are about danger and excitement, don't underestimate the beauty of the falls themselves.
The magnificent white cascades of water have an amazing roar.
So a visit to Niagara Falls is a truly unforgettable experience.
You won't go away disappointed.
Thank you, Ryan and thanks everyone for listening to this episode of Coffee Break English.
As ever, there's also an extra episode of Coffee Break English in which you'll be able to practise your English further and we'll be talking more about the Niagara Falls.
This is the last main episode of Coffee Break English for this season, but we'll be back with more content.
You can look forward to that in the meantime.
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We are Coffee Break English on Instagram, and you'll find us on Facebook too.
And you can get the free lesson notes for every episode in this series by going to coffeebreakenglish .com.
Until the next time, thank you and goodbye.
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