Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1206, Outdoor Vacation Sports and Activities.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1206.
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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The Learning Guide contains a complete transcript of everything we say, in addition to a complete glossary with definitions and sample sentences.
This episode is a dialogue between Emma and Ricardo about doing things I never do outdoor sports and activities while on vacation.
Let's get started.
Are you ready?
Sure, but why are you dressed like that?
I thought we were going to play golf with Kareem and Karen.
I told them we're going rock climbing instead.
I was really looking forward to a game of golf.
You play golf all the time.
How often do you get the chance to do other outdoor activities, such as horseback riding and zip lining?
We can do both this afternoon if you're up for it.
I thought the point of this vacation was to rest and recharge.
We do need to recharge, but what we need is excitement, not rest.
Maybe Kareem and Karen will want to join us tomorrow.
Why?
What are we doing tomorrow?
How about a water sport?
Maybe kayaking, windsurfing, or water skiing?
Too bad we can't go scuba diving, but we can do some snorkeling.
I like the idea of spending some time on the water, but whale watching is more my speed.
Don't you want to feel the wind through your hair and the excitement pumping through your veins?
I didn't know you were such an adrenaline junkie.
Guilty as charged.
I'm going to take skydiving lessons next month.
Want to join me?
I consider skydiving a spectator sport.
There are two kinds of people in the world.
There are those who like going outdoors and doing things, and then there are those who like being indoors and doing things that don't require being in the sun or getting bitten by mosquitoes.
I am one of the latter.
That is, I am one of those who doesn't really like being outdoors.
But many people do like being outdoors, and so we'll talk today about outdoor sports and activities, especially the sorts of things that people do on their vacation, or so I am told.
Our dialogue begins with Emma saying, Are you ready?
Ricardo says, Sure, but why are you dressed like that?
Ricardo can't understand the way in which Emma is dressed, the clothing she has on.
Ricardo says, I thought we were going to play golf together. with Kareem and Karen.
Golf G-O-L-F is a game in which players hit a small white ball with a long metal stick, called a club C-L-U-B.
My father loved golfing.
He used to go golfing two or three times a week after he retired from his job when he was older.
Emma says, I told them, meaning Kareem and Karen, we're going rock climbing instead.
Rock climbing is a sport that involves going up a rock wall or a side of a large rock, and usually with ropes and other instruments for safety.
Some people go rock climbing on the side of a mountain or a large rock say, in the middle of the desert, which you can do here in Southern California.
Other people go rock climbing on a wall where...
It isn't actually a rock you're climbing on, but rather a wall that is made to look like a big rock.
I tried going rock climbing once.
I was trying to impress a beautiful girl, the sister of a woman I was working with at the time.
This was, oh, 25 years ago.
I absolutely hated it and I wasn't very good at it.
The girl was much better than I was and, well, I never saw her again.
Anyway, rock climbing is what Emma is planning on doing.
Ricardo says, I was really looking forward to a game of golf.
To look forward to something is to anticipate something in the sense that you want to do it.
I'm looking forward to having a glass of wine this afternoon.
I really want to have a glass of wine.
Thinking about it makes me happy.
That would be what Ricardo is doing here.
He's looking forward or was looking forward to a game of golf.
Emma says, you play golf all the time.
How often do we get the chance to do other outdoor activities, such as horseback riding and zip lining?
Horseback, H-O-R-S-E-B-A-C-K, riding, is when you get on top of a horse...
And go with the horse, usually at a slow speed, but sometimes at a fast speed, depending on how good you are at riding a horse.
I have never been horseback riding.
I'm kind of scared of the idea of getting on top of a horse.
Maybe I should try a donkey or some animal that moves a little more slowly.
Emma mentions horseback riding and zip lining.
Zip Z-I-P hyphen lining L-I-N-I-N-G is an activity in which you are attached.
You are connected to a long cable C-A-B-L-E, a metal rope you can think of it as that is high up in the air and you actually ride, if you will, on this cable.
You go down the cable, often over a beautiful area out in nature.
I, of course, have never been ziplining.
It looks like fun.
Maybe someday I'll try it.
Emma says we can do both this afternoon if you're up for it.
To be up for something is to be ready to do something, especially something that might be a little difficult or challenging.
Ricardo says, I thought the point, the reason of this vacation was to rest and recharge.
To recharge means to get your energy back, to make you feel like you can do something again, to make you feel as though you are ready to go back to work, for example.
Many people go on vacation to recharge, to get their energy back by relaxing and doing things that are fun.
Emma says we do need to recharge.
But what we need is excitement, not rest.
Some people go on vacation to rest.
Some people go on vacation to do things that are exciting.
Emma wants to do something that is exciting.
She says, maybe Kareem and Karen will want to join us tomorrow.
Ricardo asks, why?
What are we doing tomorrow?
Emma says, how about a water sport?
A water sport is an activity that takes place in, of course, the water.
Emma mentions some water sports including kayaking, windsurfing, and water skiing.
Kayaking K-A-Y-A-K-I-N-G is going out in a little boat called a kayak that is designed for one person.
Windsurfing W-I-N-D-S-U-R-F-I-N-G is the sport of riding on a small surfboard that has a sail attached.
A sail S-A-I-L is a flat surface piece of material or cloth that is able to use the wind to help you move forward.
Wind surfing involves going fast on the water on a surfboard, a special kind of surfboard called a sailboard.
Another water sport Emma mentions is water skiing, S-K-I-I-N-G.
Normally we think of skiing as something you do in the wintertime or in a cold place where there is snow.
You move fast down a hill or a mountain.
That would be downhill skiing.
Water skiing is when you have skis and are being pulled by a boat.
And you move across the water holding on to a rope that is attached to a boat.
I have never gone water skiing or windsurfing or kayaking.
I'm not really much interested in water sports.
Emma continues.
Too bad, we can't go scuba diving, but we can do some snorkeling.
Scuba s c u b a diving, d i v i n g involves going underwater while using some special equipment that allows you to breathe underwater.
You have what's called an oxygen tank T-A-N-K on your back and that allows you to breathe for a long time while you are underwater.
Snorkeling, S-N-O-R-K-E-L-I-N-G, is swimming just below the surface of the water.
Your face is in the water, but you are breathing through a special tube T-U-B-E, that is above the water and allows you to keep your face underwater while being able to breathe.
Have I ever gone scuba diving or snorkeling?
Of course not.
I'm back at the hotel, reading and having a drink.
Ricardo continues I like the idea of spending some time on the water, but whale watching is more my speed.
Whales, W-H-A-L-E-S, are large mammals in the ocean.
Whale watching is when you go out on a boat and look for whales in the ocean.
You can do that here in Southern California, although I have never gone on a boat whale watching myself,
Ricardo says whale watching is more his speed, S-P-E-E-D.
The expression more his speed means more interesting to him, something that is a better match for his interests and his level of energy.
Emma says, And the excitement pumping through your veins?
Emma is describing the experience that Ricardo can have if he goes windsurfing.
She says Ricardo can feel the excitement pumping P-U-M-P-I-N-G through his veins, V-E-I-N-S.
To have something pumping through your veins means to, in this case, be filled with excitement that makes your body feel the excitement.
Your veins are filled, the parts of your body that move blood back and forth your veins and your arteries.
We use the verb to pump to describe the action the heart goes through in moving blood around the body, and therefore pumping through your veins describes the heart being so excited, pumping so much that the blood is moving through your body more quickly.
Ricardo says, I didn't know you were such an adrenaline junkie.
An adrenaline junkie is a person who enjoys excitement, who gets energy from sometimes dangerous activities.
Emma says, yes, she is.
But instead of just saying yes, she says guilty as charged.
The expression guilty G-U-I-L-T-Y as charged C-H-A-R-G-E-D is used to say that you agree with what someone says about you.
But it's a funny way of saying it, because normally to be guilty of something is to have done something wrong.
Emma doesn't think she's done anything wrong.
She's just trying to be funny when she says guilty as charged.
She says, I'm going to take skydiving lessons next month.
Skydiving S-K-Y-D-I-V-I-N-G is the rather insane activity of jumping out of an airplane and then opening up what is called a parachute.
P-A-R-A-C-H-U-T-E.
A parachute is a large piece of material that allows you to move down towards the ground slowly so you don't kill yourself.
That's skydiving.
Emma says, Ricardo answers.
A spectator S-P-E-C-T-A-T-O-R is someone who watches a sporting event or activity.
A spectator.
Sport then would be a sport you would only want to watch.
You wouldn't want to participate in.
Ricardo thinks that skydiving is a spectator sport, meaning he doesn't want to do it himself.
He thinks it's too dangerous.
And frankly, I agree with Ricardo.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Are you ready?
Sure, but why are you dressed like that?
I thought we were going to play golf with Kareem and Karen.
I told them we're going rock climbing instead.
I was really looking forward to a game of golf.
You play golf all the time.
How often do you get a chance to do other outdoor activities, such as horseback riding and ziplining?
We can do both this afternoon, if you're up for it.
I thought the point of this vacation was to rest and recharge.
We do need to recharge, but what we need is excitement, not rest.
Maybe Kareem and Karen will want to join us tomorrow.
Why?
What are we doing tomorrow?
How about a water sport?
Maybe kayaking, windsurfing, or water skiing?
Too bad we can't go scuba diving, but we can do some snorkeling.
I like the idea of spending some time on the water but whale watching is more my speed.
Don't you want to feel the wind through your hair and the excitement pumping through your veins?
I didn't know you were such an adrenaline junkie.
Guilty as charged.
I'm going to take skydiving lessons next month.
Want to join me?
I consider skydiving a spectator sport.
Our scriptwriter is always up for the challenge of writing another great script, just like today's.
We thank Dr. Lucy Say.
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 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
