Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 319, Being Under Stress.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 319.
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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In this episode, we're going to have a dialogue between two people, one of whom is having problems because he is under stress.
Let's get started.
What's wrong?
You look like you're in pain.
My stomach is acting up again.
It's all of this stress.
I don't know how anyone can cope with the pressures you're under.
It's nothing.
I'll just take a pill for my stomach.
That won't solve the problem.
Look at you.
You look worn out.
Are you losing sleep too?
I have had trouble sleeping.
It's no wonder.
At home, you have the demands of raising two kids on your own, and at work you're in a dog-eat-dog environment every day.
I have to admit that My nerves are shot.
But what can I do?
Maybe we can work something out.
To start, how about if I watch your kids for a few hours this weekend so you can get some rest?
I couldn't ask you to do that.
You have to take care of your own kids.
So what's two more?
If you really don't mind, I'll take you up on that.
I could really use a breather.
It's set then.
Here, take one of these pills.
If it doesn't kill you, it'll make you stronger.
Thanks begins with way saying to jason what's wrong.
You look like you're in pain.
You look like you're having some painful experience.
Jason says my stomach is acting up.
Again when we say something is acting up, We mean it's not working correctly.
In this case, his stomach is causing him pain.
You can also use the verb to act up when we are talking about a machine.
My car is acting up again.
If a person is acting up, especially a young child, we mean that that child is causing problems yelling fighting screaming, etc.
So, to act up has those different meanings.
Jason says, My stomach is acting up.
It's causing me pain.
Wei says, It's all of this stress.
Stress is the feeling of being worried, nervous and anxious, usually because you have a lot of responsibilities or things that you have to do, a lot of pressure.
Wei says, I don't know how anyone can cope with the pressures you're under.
To cope C-O-P-E means to be able to manage a difficult situation, to be able to succeed when things are very difficult.
Wei says, Pressure in this case means things that you need to do but that are difficult and make you feel worried, nervous and anxious.
I'm under a lot of pressure is the expression we would use.
I have a lot of things that people want me to do and that I have to do.
Jason says, it's nothing, meaning I don't have that many problems.
I'll just take a pill for my stomach.
A pill that has medicine that will help my stomach.
Way says, that won't solve the problem.
That won't end the problem.
Look at you.
You look worn out.
When someone says, look at you, they're saying there's something wrong with you.
You need to realize something that you are not realizing yet.
You look worn out, Wei says.
To be worn, W-O-R-N, out, is when you are very tired, when you're exhausted.
I was playing with my five-year-old nephew and now I'm worn out.
I'm very tired.
He has a lot of energy.
And I, as you know, am an old man or getting older.
Wei says, are you losing sleep too?
To lose sleep means to not be able to sleep at night, usually because you are under a lot of stress, under a lot of pressure.
There's an expression I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, which means I'm not going to worry about it.
It's not going to bother me.
Here Wei is asking, are you losing sleep?
Jason says, Way says, When we say something is no wonder, we mean it's not surprising.
It's not unexpected.
She says, You have the demands of raising two kids on your own.
The demands are the things that Jason has to do.
He has many things in raising his two kids on his own, meaning there's no mother or wife at home.
He is the only one who is helping the children grow up.
She continues, at work, you're in a dog-eat-dog environment every day.
The expression dog-eat-dog means very competitive, very aggressive.
Someone says this is a dog-eat-dog business.
They mean competitive.
It's a very difficult business.
There's a lot of competition, a lot of people trying to do better than the other people.
Jason says, I have to admit that my nerves are shot, but what can I do?
Your nerves here are your feelings of being anxious, worried and stressed.
We have another expression, to get on someone's nerves.
It means to make them feel anxious or worried, to bother them.
Jason says his nerves are shot.
When we say something is shot, we mean it's worn out, it's tired, it doesn't work anymore correctly.
Schott has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Wei says, maybe we can work something out.
To work something out is an expression that means to be able to find a solution for a problem, to find a way to be able to do something.
Way says to start.
How about if I watch your kids for a few hours this weekend so you can get some rest?
Way is offering to go over and take care of Jason's two children so Jason can have some time to rest and not worry about taking care of the children.
Jason says, I couldn't ask you to do that.
Meaning, no, it's not right for me to ask you to do that.
He says, you have to take care of your own kids.
Wei has children that she has to take care of.
Wei says, so what's two more?
Meaning, having two more children means Jason replies, means to accept someone's offer, to agree to do what someone else has suggested to you.
Usually it's when someone is offering to help you.
Jason says I could use a breather.
A breather.
B-R-E-A-T-H-E-R is a break, a rest, a short period of time when you don't have to do anything.
If you're working very hard with someone, you might say, let's take a breather.
Let's take a break.
Let's stop working for a short time so we can rest.
Wei says, it's set then, meaning okay, we've agreed.
Here she says, take one of these pills for Jason's stomach, we can guess.
She says, if it doesn't kill you, it'll make you stronger.
This is sort of a funny expression.
If it doesn't kill you, it'll make you stronger.
It means that...
Things that are difficult often help people be better as long as they're not too difficult.
Jason says, thanks.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
What's wrong?
You look like you're in pain.
My stomach is acting up again.
It's all of this stress.
I don't know how anyone could cope with the pressures you're under.
It's nothing.
I'll just take a pill for my stomach.
That won't solve the problem.
Look at you.
You look worn out.
Are you losing sleep, too?
I have had trouble sleeping.
It's no wonder.
At home, you have the demands of raising two kids on your own, and at work you're in a dog-eat-dog environment every day.
I have to admit that my nerves are shot.
But what can I do?
Maybe we can work something out.
To start, how about if I watch your kids for a few hours this weekend, so you can get some rest?
I couldn't ask you to do that.
You have to take care of your own kids.
So what's two more?
If you really don't mind, I'll take you up on that.
I could really use a breather.
It's set then.
Here, take one of these pills.
If it doesn't kill you, it'll make you stronger.
Thanks.
The script for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2007.
