Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 721, A Widespread Epidemic.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 721.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
You can become a member of ESL Podcast and download a learning guide for this episode, all on our wonderful website.
This episode is a dialogue between Alan and Katja about sicknesses or illnesses that spread very quickly, that affect many people in a short amount of time.
Let's get started.
Did you see today's news?
There's been an outbreak of podcaster's disease in the city.
Oh, my God.
Not podcaster's disease.
I would not want to come down with that.
The first outbreak was at the local high school and the health authorities thought it was localized.
But a second, more widespread outbreak has been reported at the city's government offices.
That's terrible.
I thought podcaster's disease was very rare.
It is, and that's why the authorities are so alarmed.
It's highly communicable, so they're hoping it won't turn into an epidemic, or worse, a pandemic.
I've heard that this disease is horrible, but I'm not sure what the symptoms are.
Do you know?
From what I've read, sufferers of podcaster's disease can't stop talking and they speak in an announcer's voice all the time.
Oh my God, what a terrible fate.
Our dialogue begins with Alan saying to Katja, Did you see today's news?
There's been an outbreak of podcaster's disease in the city.
An outbreak O-U-T-B-R-E-A-K.
One word is the moment when something begins and it starts to affect many people quickly.
Usually an outbreak is related to some illness or sickness that people are starting to get.
A disease is just another word for an illness, a sickness.
So this is an imaginary disease called podcaster's disease.
Katya says, oh my God, not podcaster's disease.
I would not want to come down with that.
The expression to come down with something means to get a particular illness, to become sick with something.
I'm coming down with a cold means that I am starting to get a cold.
I'm coming down with...
The flu means I'm starting to get the influenza illness, the flu.
The first outbreak, Allen says, was at the local high school and the health authorities thought it was localized.
The health authorities would be the government, doctors and other important officials who make decisions about issues of health in a state or area.
To say something is localized means it's just affecting one small particular area.
It doesn't affect things around it.
Because the first outbreak was at the local high school.
The local high school kids got sick.
They thought it was just there.
But a second, more widespread outbreak has been reported at the city's government offices.
So there are now two places where people are getting sick.
When we say something is widespread, one word, we mean it covers or affects a very large area.
Katja says, Something that is rare is unusual, uncommon, not typical.
Allen says it is, meaning it is rare.
And that's why the authorities are so alarmed.
To be alarmed means to be surprised and worried.
You might be worried about something bad that is happening.
You might be shocked, we would say.
Alan says that this disease is highly communicable.
When we talk about an illness or a disease being communicable, we mean that it can be passed from one person to another or from one animal to another very easily.
Highly communicable diseases are diseases that can spread very easily from one person to another.
Another word for this is contagious.
C-O-N-T-A-G-I-O-U-S.
Allen says that the health authorities are hoping that this disease won't turn into, won't develop into or become an epidemic.
An epidemic.
E-P-I-D-E-M-I-C is when many people become sick from a particular disease in a short period of time.
An epidemic can affect a large group of people.
A pandemic P-A-N-D-E-M-I-C is an illness that affects people in many different parts of the whole world.
So a pandemic would be a disease that many people suffer in many different countries.
Katja says, I've heard that this disease is horrible. but I'm not sure what the symptoms are.
A symptom.
S-Y-M-P-T-O-M is something that is wrong with your body.
That indicates that there's a problem.
If you have a cold, your symptoms might be a sore throat or sneezing a lot, Katja says.
Do you know what the symptoms are?
Alan says, from what I've read, sufferers of podcaster's disease can't stop talking.
A sufferer, S-U-F-F-E-R-E-R, comes from the verb to sufferer.
It's a person who has a disease that feels pain and discomfort.
Sometimes we use the expression, I suffer from.
I suffer from allergies.
That means that allergies bother me.
They affect me.
I have that disease.
Sufferers are the people who have a disease.
Alan says that the sufferers of podcaster's disease can't stop talking and they speak in an announcer's voice all of the time.
An announcer is a person usually who presents information, especially on a television or radio program.
The sports announcer is the person who describes what is happening in the game to the people watching or listening.
A news announcer is someone who announces or gives, tells people about the news.
So podcaster's disease causes people to talk as if they were announcers all of the time.
An announcer usually has a certain voice on television.
Hello and welcome to the news.
My name is Jeff McQuillan.
In tonight's top stories, that's kind of an announcer's voice.
Some people say I talk in an announcer's voice.
Usually my wife tells me that sometimes.
Not always.
Sometimes.
Maybe I have podcaster's disease.
Katya. says once again, oh my God.
Oh my God is a very common expression nowadays, especially among young people, on email or in text messages or instant messages.
It's sometimes abbreviated O-M-G.
And now people even talk in abbreviations.
Someone might even say to you, O-M-G. meaning, oh my God, it's an expression of shock, of surprise.
It's become popular in the last, I don't know, maybe 10 or 15 years.
It's always been an expression in English but, for whatever reason, it's become more popular among younger people on the Internet.
Some people don't like the expression.
Religious people think that you shouldn't use the name of God that way.
It is, however, a very common thing that you will hear.
Katja says, oh my God, what a terrible fate.
Terrible is very bad, awful, horrible.
Fate, F-A-T-E, is...
The outcome of a particular situation, what happens as a result of a certain situation.
Some people talk about fate as being what will happen to you that you cannot control.
Some people believe that there is someone controlling you or something controlling you and you can't avoid it and you can't do anything about it.
You can't control it in any way.
This is a very old idea.
It goes back at least to the ancient Greeks who believed in a form of fate.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Did you see today's news?
There's been an outbreak of podcaster's disease in the city.
Oh my God, not podcaster's disease.
I would not want to come down with that.
The first outbreak was at the local high school and the health authorities thought it was localized.
But a second, more widespread outbreak has been reported at the city's government offices.
That's terrible.
I thought podcaster's disease was very rare.
It is, and that's why the authorities are so alarmed.
It's highly communicable, so they're hoping it won't turn into an epidemic, or worse, a pandemic.
I've heard that this disease is horrible, but I'm not sure what the symptoms are.
Do you know?
From what I've read, sufferers of podcaster's disease can't stop talking and they speak in an announcer's voice all the time.
Oh my God, what a terrible fate. are rare.
That's why we're so happy to have one here at ESL Podcast in our own Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
