Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,122, Making Peace.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 1,122.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to our website at eslpod.com.
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On this episode we're going to listen to a dialogue about two people trying to make peace, two countries trying to stop the disagreements between them.
Let's get started.
We need a ceasefire.
The violence is escalating and we need to put a stop to this.
I agree, but do you think our enemies will agree to a truce?
They're as embattled as we are.
They may welcome a suspension of hostilities until we can agree on a peace treaty.
I hate to think what their conditions will be for an armistice.
This war has dragged on for so long.
I suspect they feel the same as we do.
If we make a conciliatory gesture, I think they'll respond in kind.
Do you really think so?
We won't come off as weak?
I don't think so.
We're taking the first step to peace.
They'll see that.
If you say so.
All right, let's do it.
This war with our neighbors is getting old.
Do you want to bring them this fruitcake, or should I?
I'll take it.
But first I'll make sure their ugly dirty.
Mean barking dog that wakes me up in the middle of the night is tied up.
I don't want to become a casualty while bringing them this peace offering.
Vladimir begins our dialogue by saying to Hillary, We need a ceasefire.
A ceasefire.
C-E-A-S-E-F-I-R-E is an agreement between two countries, two nations or two groups to stop fighting against each other temporarily, for a little time.
Sometimes there's a ceasefire in order to try to end the war between two countries or two groups temporarily.
Sometimes the ceasefire is for other reasons.
But in any case, a ceasefire is when each side, each group, ceases to fire on the other.
That's where we get the noun ceasefire from the verb to cease C-E-A-S-E, which means to stop, and to fire F-I-R-E, which means to shoot a bullet at someone else from a gun.
At least that's what it normally means in the context of a war.
Vladimir says we need a ceasefire.
The violence is escalating, and we need to put a stop to this.
Violence is physical behavior that is meant to hurt or even kill people or to damage property, to damage things.
To escalate E-S-C-A-L-A-T-E means to quickly or suddenly increase something in size, value or even importance.
On the internet nowadays, when you have a problem and you contact the company, If the first person you contact isn't able to help you, sometimes that person will escalate your problem to a supervisor, to one of his or her bosses.
So we use the verb to escalate to mean to either increase something in size or to increase the importance, or to raise the importance of something.
In some sort of battle or conflict or war, to escalate would mean to increase the violence.
And that's what Vladimir wants to avoid.
He wants to put a stop to the violence.
To put a stop to something means to end it.
Hillary says, I agree, but do you think our enemies will agree to a truce?
A truce T-R-U-C-E is an agreement between two people, two groups or two or more countries to stop fighting each other.
It's sort of like a ceasefire.
A truce, though, is usually a signed agreement between two groups or two people even.
Though normally we use it when we're talking about two countries fighting each other.
Your enemy is the person you're fighting against.
It's the opposite of your friend.
Not your friend on Facebook.
That's a different thing.
Vladimir says that their enemies and notice that Vladimir and Hillary are on the same side, they're with the same group are as embattled as we are.
To be embattled, E-M-B-A-T-T-L-E-D, means to be involved in a war or prepared for a war.
The word comes from the noun battle B-A-T-T-L-E, which is a fight between two sides, two disagreeing groups or two countries that are fighting each other.
Vladimir says they, meaning the enemy, may welcome a suspension of hostilities until we can agree on a peace treaty.
A suspension, S-U-S-P-E-N-S-I-O-N, here means a period of time when you stop doing something.
Here it would be a suspension of hostilities, H-O-S-T-I-L-I-T-I-E-S.
Hostilities are angry, possibly violent actions against your enemy.
Vladimir says that we can suspend the hostilities.
We can have a suspension of hostilities.
Until we can agree on a peace treaty.
A treaty T-R-E-A-T-Y is a written formal agreement between two or more countries that ends some sort of war or fighting between or among the countries.
So a peace treaty would be a treaty that leads to peace.
After the two great world wars of the 20th century, there were peace treaties among the countries who were fighting.
Hillary says, I hate to think what their conditions will be for an armistice.
A condition is something that you have to agree to when you sign an agreement.
Often in business English, we'll talk about terms and conditions.
Terms refers to the meaning of things in the agreement.
The definition of certain words or phrases in an agreement.
Conditions are the things that you have to do in order to carry out or in order to be part of the agreement.
An armistice, A-R-M-I-S-T-I-C-E, is the same as a peace treaty or a truce.
It's an agreement to stop fighting.
For many years in the United States, November 11th was celebrated as Armistice Day in honor of the end of the fighting in World War I.
We change the name, now we call it Veterans Day.
A veteran is a man or a woman who has fought in a war.
Hillary says, So long here means very long.
To drag, D-R-A-G, on is a two-word phrasal verb, meaning to last a very long time.
Vladimir says, I suspect they feel the same as we do.
If we make a conciliatory gesture, I think they'll respond in kind.
A conciliatory gesture is an attempt to make someone feel less angry, to calm someone down, to do something nice for someone with whom you have some disagreement or argument.
Wadamer thinks that if they do that, if they make a conciliatory gesture, their enemies will respond in kind.
In kind here means in the same way.
Hillary says, do you really think so?
Won't we come off as weak?
The expression to come off as something means to appear in a particular way, to be thought of or perceived in a certain way.
Usually, but not always, I think we use this expression when the something that you come off as is a negative quality.
Here it would be coming off as being weak, W-E-A-K, meaning not strong.
That's what Hillary is afraid of, that by making a conciliatory gesture, they will come off as weak.
But Vladimir disagrees.
I don't think so, he says.
We're taking the first step to peace.
They'll see that.
Hillary says if you say so, we use that expression if you say so, usually when we don't agree with the other person, but we don't want to continue arguing about it.
She then says, all right, let's do it.
This war with our neighbors is getting old.
For something to get old in this sense means to become tiring, to no longer be interesting.
We learn at this point in the dialogue that we're not talking about two different countries.
We're talking about two different families or households that live next to each other.
Hillary says, do you want to bring them this fruitcake or should I?
Hillary is suggesting that they give a little gift to their neighbors as a conciliatory gesture.
One popular example gift of food during the Christmas holidays in the United States is, or used to be, fruitcake.
It's not actually a cake, it's more like a thick bread.
My mother used to make fruitcake every year so that we had something to give our teachers.
I don't think they liked it particularly.
Some people don't like fruitcake.
I love fruitcake because I grew up eating it, I guess.
Anyway, Vladimir says I'll take it, meaning I will take the fruitcake to our neighbors.
But first I'll make sure their ugly dirty.
Mean barking dog that wakes me up in the middle of the night is tied up.
Now we learn the problem between these two neighbors.
The neighbors have a dog who is Mean, that is, who's not very nice.
The dog is also a barking dog.
To bark, B-A-R-K, is to make a sound like a dog, something like woof, woof.
Well, the barking dog of the neighbors is waking Vladimir up at night.
He says...
He wants to make sure this dog is tied up, meaning there's some sort of rope around the dog so the dog won't be able to attack him.
He says I don't want to become a casualty while bringing them this peace offering.
A casualty, C-A-S-U-A-L-T-Y, is a person who is hurt, injured, or killed in a war.
Here it means a person who is negatively affected by something, in this case by the dog who might bite him.
A peace offering.
O-F-F-E-R-I-N-G is is a gift or something you give another person with whom you had a disagreement.
It's a way of trying to make a conciliatory gesture, a way of trying to make peace with the other person.
In the words of John Lennon, All we are saying is give peace a chance.
You knew I was going to sing that, right?
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
We need a ceasefire.
The violence is escalating and we need to put a stop to this.
I agree, but do you think our enemies will agree to a truce?
They're as embattled as we are.
They may welcome a suspension of hostilities until we can agree on a peace treaty.
I hate to think what their conditions will be for an armistice.
This war has dragged on for so long.
I suspect they feel the same as we do.
If we make a conciliatory gesture, I think they'll respond in kind.
Do you really think so?
We won't come off as weak?
I don't think so.
We're taking the first step to peace.
They'll see that.
If you say so.
All right, let's do it.
This war with our neighbors is getting old.
Do you want to bring them this fruitcake, or should I?
I'll take it.
But first I'll make sure their ugly dirty.
Mean barking dog that wakes me up in the middle of the night is tied up.
I don't want to become a casualty while bringing them this peace offering.
The scripts from our wonderful script writer never get old.
Thanks to Dr. Lucy Say for writing them.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
