Hello and welcome to the English Like a Native podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to week 27, day 4 of Your English Fiver Day, the second season.
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So thank you for being dedicated.
And thank you for tuning in.
And for those of you who are new here, I release content every day of the working week from Monday to Friday, on a mission to help you to expand your English and feel more like yourself when communicating in this language.
So, let's begin, as we always do, with a snapshot.
Ranjit hunched over his laptop, trying to wrap up the report before the deadline.
But the stress was too much, and he cracked under the pressure.
When his boss called to ask where he was, she was met with colourful language from a colleague who hadn't heard from him either.
It was as if he'd vanished without a trace.
Alright, let's dive into the vocabulary, starting with the phrasal verb hunch over.
over, hunch over. Hunch, we spell H -U -N -C -H, over, O -V -E -R.
To hunch over is to bend forward with your shoulders and back curved.
If you are sitting at a table and looking down at your phone, then you are probably hunched over.
This of course is not very good posture and can lead to all sorts of problems and pain in your back, shoulders and neck as you get older.
So try not to hunch over, try to lift your head up, pull your shoulders back and straighten your spine.
Now it's easier Easier said than done.
I spend most of my day sat at a desk and so I do hunch over often.
I feel it. How about you?
Are you hunched over right now?
If so, straighten up those shoulders.
Lift up that head. Here's an example sentence using hunch over.
Don't hunch over your phone.
It's bad for your back.
Next, we have the phrasal verb wrap up, wrap up.
Wrap, we spell W -R -A -P, up, U -P.
To wrap up is to finish something.
Now, we often wrap up our work for the day when we are finishing our work session.
For example, at work, you may wrap up around 5pm.
That's when most businesses end their working hours.
But some people have to work later.
Some people will wrap up around 6pm.
It really depends on the business, the type of role that you have. Personally, I need to wrap wrap up around mid -afternoon to get ready to pick up my children from school.
And when they come home, they will play with some toys or they'll start doing some craft activity at the table.
And when dinner is ready, I'll tell them to wrap up what they're doing and get ready for dinner.
Here's one more example using wrap up.
Let's wrap up the meeting before lunch. OK, next we have the idiom vanish without a trace.
To vanish without a trace.
Vanish. V -A -N -I -S -H.
Vanish. Without. W -I -T -H -O -U -T.
A trace. T -R -A -C -E.
To vanish without a trace is to disappear completely, leaving no sign or clue behind, as if you were never there.
Here's an example. My keys have vanished without a trace.
I've looked everywhere for them.
Have you ever experienced that?
Where you're trying to find something and it's just gone and there's no clue as to where it could have gone.
It's just vanished without a trace.
The other day I bought some delicious chocolate covered cherries.
They were so good. I wanted to save them so that I could enjoy them a little later so I put what was left of the pack into the the fridge.
Later when I came to the fridge, they were gone.
They had vanished without a trace.
There was no packet anywhere.
I couldn't see any crumbs anywhere.
I had no clue where these chocolate cherries had gone.
Well, I have an idea, but there was certainly no evidence.
evidence. They just vanished without a trace.
Next, we have the noun phrase colourful language.
Colourful language.
Colourful. We spell C -O -L -O -U -R -F -U -L.
Colourful. Language.
L -A -N -G -U -A -G -E. e.
Colorful language. Colorful language is a phrase that we use when words or expressions are very descriptive, but often in a rude or offensive way.
So for example, if someone is telling me how they feel about the new fence that's being put up and the words they're using are all offensive words, then I won't repeat those words exactly, but I'll say they used a lot of colourful language to tell me how they felt about the fence.
And you'll know from that phrase that I mean they're probably swearing.
They're probably using offensive language, so they're probably not happy.
Now, colourful language is a phrase you really have to take the context into consideration.
It doesn't always mean that the language was offensive.
Often it does, but not always.
It could just mean that the words or expressions are simply descriptive.
For example, my son might tell me a story about a dinosaur.
This is a story he's invented.
And he may use very descriptive words, words that I don't often hear him use.
And so I could say, wow, Jacob, I loved your story.
There was lots of colourful language in there.
But often, colourful language is referring to offensive or rude words.
Here's an example sentence.
The coach's colourful language shocked the young players.
Next, we have the idiom crack under the pressure.
To crack under the pressure.
Crack, C -R -A -C -K, under, U -N -D -E -R, the pressure, P -R -E -S -S -U -R -E.
pressure. To crack under the pressure is to fail or lose control because of too much stress.
Now, I have been known to crack under the pressure.
I'm normally quite a calm and reserved person.
I can hold back how I'm feeling.
I can cope in most situations.
But at times, especially in recent years, I have been known to crack under the pressure.
If a situation is becoming too stressful, too heated perhaps, if a debate goes on for too long and I'm feeling feeling incredibly stressed.
Then I might lose my composure.
I might allow my emotions to get the better of me and have an outburst. Have you ever felt like you might crack under the pressure?
Here's an example sentence.
The manager cracked under the pressure and quit.
Okay, that's our five so let's do a quick recap.
We started with the phrasal verb hunch over which is to bend forward with your shoulders and back curved.
To hunch over. We had the phrasal verb wrap up which is to finish something.
To wrap up. We had the idiom vanish without a trace which is to disappear completely, leaving no sign behind.
To vanish without a trace.
We had the noun phrase colourful language, which describes words or expressions that are very descriptive, but often rude or offensive.
Colourful language.
And we had the idiom crack under the pressure, which is to fail or lose control because of too much stress, to crack under the pressure.
Let's now do this for pronunciation purposes.
Please repeat after me.
Hunch over. Hunch over.
Vanish without a trace.
Vanish without a trace.
Wrap up. Wrap up. Colourful language.
Colourful language.
Crack under the pressure.
Crack under the pressure.
pressure. Fantastic.
OK, what phrasal verb would I use if I want to finish my work for the day?
Wrap up. Yes, I'm going to wrap up my work for the day.
And I noticed that I have neck pain, which is probably because I've spent the entire day bent forward, leaning over my keyboard. while working.
My posture is terrible.
What phrasal verb would you use to describe my posture?
I've been hunched over.
Yes, if I hunch over, I get neck ache.
And if something completely disappears and there's no clue as to where it's gone, what idiom could I use?
It has vanished without a trace.
Very good. Now I speak to my neighbour who is quite upset about the new speed restrictions that have been introduced on our road.
My neighbour swears quite a lot while talking about how he feels.
I don't want to repeat what he said exactly but he did use very descriptive words.
What noun phrase could I use when talking about how my neighbour reacted to these speed restrictions?
He used colourful language.
Very good. And finally, if I lose control of my emotions because I'm too stressed.
What idiom could you use?
What's happened to me?
I cracked under the pressure.
Very good. OK. Let's now revisit our snapshot.
Ranjit hunched over his laptop, trying to wrap up the report before the deadline.
line. But the stress was too much and he cracked under the pressure.
When his boss called to ask where he was, she was met with colourful language from a colleague who hadn't heard from him either.
It was as if he'd vanished without a trace.
Fantastic. OK, I would like you to listen out for our target vocabulary once more as we head into story time.
Bombas makes the most comfortable socks, underwear, and t -shirts.
Warning, Bombas are so absurdly comfortable you may throw out all your other clothes.
Sorry, do we legally have to say that?
No, this is just how I talk and I really love my Bombas.
They do feel that good.
And they do good too.
One item purchased equals one item donated.
To feel good and do good, go to bombas .com and use code audio for 20 % off your first purchase.
That's B -O -M -B -A -S dot com and use code audio at checkout.
the youngest partner in the company's history.
If she lost, her career might be over.
The document she had been preparing was perfect.
200 pages of carefully researched arguments, witness statements and legal precedents.
She had checked every fact twice, polished every sentence until it shone.
Tomorrow was the deadline to submit it to court.
Just need to wrap up these final changes, she muttered to herself, saving the file one last time.
It was nearly midnight and her eyes were burning from staring at the computer screen.
She closed her laptop and went to bed, feeling satisfied with her work.
The next morning, Rita woke up with excitement.
Today was the day. She made her usual cup of tea and opened her laptop, ready to make the final corrections before printing the document.
But when she clicked on the file, nothing happened.
She tried again. Still nothing.
A cold feeling crept into her stomach. She searched through all her folders, checking every possible location where the file might be saved.
The document had vanished without a trace.
No, no, no, she screamed, frantically clicking through folders and searching her computer.
She checked the recycling bin, the temporary files, even her email attachments.
Nothing. Three months of work had simply disappeared.
Rita's hands began to shake.
She had never felt panic like this before.
Her chest tightened and she could barely breathe.
The submission deadline was in six hours.
Without this document, she would lose the case, disappoint her clients and probably lose her job.
She called her colleague Jonas, using some rather colourful language to describe what had happened.
Jonas tried to help her recover the file remotely, but it was hopeless.
The document was gone, forever.
Maybe you have a backup?
Jonas asked, hopefully.
Rita closed her eyes.
She had meant to create backup copies, but she had been so focused on perfecting the document that she had forgotten.
It was the kind of basic mistake that first -year law students were taught to avoid.
As the hours passed, Rita felt herself beginning to crack under the pressure.
She had always prided herself on staying calm in difficult situations, but this was different.
This was her entire future disappearing before her eyes.
She tried to recreate the document from memory, typing frantically, but without her research notes and references, it was impossible.
What she managed to write was thin and unconvincing compared to her original masterpiece.
At 2pm, she submitted what she had managed to salvage.
It was barely 50 pages long and contained only the most basic arguments.
She knew it wasn't enough.
Two weeks later, she lost the case.
The Morrison family lost their home and Rita lost her chance at becoming partner.
As she cleared out her office, she wondered if she would ever trust technology again.
The lesson was harsh, but clear.
Always, always make backup copies.
And that brings us to the end of today's episode.
I do hope you found it useful.
And until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.
