Welcome to a new episode of English Vocabulary Booster.
My name is Lara and I'm a SALSA certified English teacher.
Learning new vocabulary usually takes a long time, but we'll do it in a way that's easy, quick and efficient.
In every episode, we'll learn how to use five new English words or expressions, so that you too can start speaking like a native.
So let's get learning.
Hello, you guys.
What's up?
And welcome to all the new followers.
Um, you know what i'm actually recording sitting at a desk, could you believe it?
Because i'm finally in a room where the acoustics are good enough for me to be recording in this room, and i actually have both a bed and a desk, so i am sitting down like a normal person.
So this feels different and i feel so much more professional.
Okay, let's listen to today's story.
Today we're talking about eyesight.
Dad?
Dad, did you read the news?
Look at this.
Here, on my phone.
I just can't believe that they would... What?
There's something wrong with your screen, honey.
It's a little blurry.
What?
Let me see.
No, it's fine.
What do you mean it's fine?
I'm telling you, I can't read a single word.
Oh, Dad, I think it might be time for some reading glasses.
What?
No.
What are you talking about?
I have 20-20 vision.
I don't need glasses.
Oh, really?
Okay.
Let's see.
Here, Liberty Christmas card.
What does he say?
Um, I was, no, no, no, sorry.
I went, uh, no, wait.
Dad, you're as blind as a bat.
Oh, stop it.
I'm serious.
I can see you're squinting.
It can't be good for your eyes.
Fine.
Perhaps I can't see very well, but I don't need glasses yet.
Please don't tell your mom.
Otherwise, she's going to make me... Oh, I can't believe it.
Okay, ready to take a look at the expressions?
Let's begin with expression number one, blurry.
There's something wrong with your screen, honey.
It's a little blurry.
If something is blurry, like an image or a word, will you be able to see its edges or not?
No, if something is blurry, that means you cannot see its edges.
It kind of looks like a spot.
It's not very well defined, so you can't see it very well.
Was there ever a time when you couldn't see very well and everything looked blurry to you?
Why?
What had happened before?
Well, I can't see very well.
So if I look in the distance, even now, things are going to look blurry to me.
But I remember back in the day when I was younger and I used to go to swimming classes and I wouldn't wear goggles.
So my eyes would be in the water for literally an hour.
And so after coming out of the pool, I remember everything looked blurry for I think about an hour.
Expression number two, reading glasses.
I think it might be time for some reading glasses.
Who usually needs reading glasses?
Children, young adults, or adults?
So reading glasses, there's different types of glasses, okay?
Obviously, children may need glasses as well, but reading glasses usually are specific for adults.
I'm talking like people that are over 40, that's when they usually start needing reading glasses.
Do you need to go to an eye doctor before buying a pair of reading glasses?
No, not necessarily.
You can if you want to.
But that's the thing about reading glasses is that you can go to a store or the pharmacy and you are going to be able to buy your own pair.
You know, you don't need to have a prescription.
You don't need to go to an eye doctor anymore. to buy a pair of reading glasses.
Do you need to wear reading glasses from time to time or not?
No, I don't, not yet.
My mom does and she has, like I don't know, like five or six pairs, because every week she loses a pair.
So she bought a few and she, I don't know if she's lost them all already, maybe.
But there's one pair that's really funny because they're normal reading glasses.
But then on the sides, on like each side, they have a little light that she can turn on.
And I remember this one night I got up, went into the other room and I was staying at my mom's.
And I looked at her and she turned around and she looked like, you know, one of these fish that live in the abyss.
And the only thing that I could see because it was all dark, it was these two little lights.
It was hilarious.
Expression number three, 20-20 vision.
I have 20-20 vision.
I don't need glasses.
If you have 20-20 vision, does that normally mean you can see very well or very poorly?
When people say they have 20-20 vision usually not always, but usually means that they can see very well.
It's a lot more complicated than that, but I'm not going to get into the details of it because I'm not an expert.
Do you have or do you know someone that has 20-20 vision?
I think my sister has 20-20 vision.
I definitely don't, because she actually had very bad, she had very poor eyesight a few years ago and then she got eye surgery and now she has 20-20 vision and doesn't need glasses anymore.
Good for her.
Expression number four, be as blind as a bat.
Dad, you're as blind as a bat.
If you say that someone is as blind as a bat, does that actually mean that they are blind?
No.
When you say that someone is as blind as a bat, it just means that they see very poorly.
They don't see well at all.
But it doesn't mean that they're blind.
And it's also something that you would say as a joke.
You wouldn't say that to offend someone.
Do you know someone who is as blind as a bat?
Uh, my boyfriend is as blind as a bat, the poor thing.
The other day he took off his glasses, which he never does, but for some reason he did, and then he was looking for them.
He had gotten up to do something, and then he was looking for them, and he was patting The couch.
He was literally trying to find them using only his hands because he couldn't see a thing.
And I thought it was really funny because that's usually something that you see, you know, in cartoons and stuff, where you would see the character that has lost their glasses and they can't find them.
My eyesight is not that bad, so I don't know what that feels like.
But the poor thing, my poor boyfriend Marcos, yes, he is as blind as a bat.
Expression number five, squint.
I can see you're squinting.
It can't be good for your eyes.
When you're squinting, do your eyes open even more or do you partly close them?
When you're squinting, try to do it now.
You're closing both of your eyes just a little bit, okay?
You still need to be able to see.
Why would someone squint?
One of the main reasons for someone to squint is because they want to try and see better.
Either something that's very close to them or something that's very far from them.
For example, I have to squint when I'm looking in the distance, because if I'm not wearing my glasses, if I don't squint, I'm not going to be able to see clearly.
If you have to see something that's far away, do you need to squint to see clearly?
What about something that's really close?
Yes.
Like I said every time that I – and that's actually most of the times, because I never wear my glasses
But if I'm walking around and I need to read something that's far away or see something that's far away, I will have to squint.
And sometimes it's embarrassing, because sometimes I want to take a good look at a person and I'm not wearing my glasses, so I will squint.
But that's also really rude because then the other person might turn around and it's happened to me.
They might turn around.
They might look at me and notice that I'm looking at them very intensely and that's a little awkward.
But if something's really close, no.
For now, I don't need to squint to see things clearly if they are close to me.
And that is it for today.
And remember, if you want to access the transcript, as well as lots of other resources, visit enboocom.
That is E-N-B-O-O-O dot com.
Have a great day.
