Welcome to English as a Second Language.
Podcast number 1217 Fighting the Effects and Signs of Aging.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,217.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to ESLPODcom to become a member of ESL Podcasts.
When you do, you can download the learning guide for this episode that contains, among other wonderful things, a complete transcript of everything we say.
You can listen and follow along at the same time.
Are you on Facebook?
So are we.
You can like us on Facebook by going to facebook.com slash ESL POD.
This episode is a dialogue between Javier and Aliyah about getting old.
Let's get started.
What crazy new creams are you trying this week?
I'll have you know I only use anti-aging products that are scientifically proven.
Yeah, like that cream that promised to restore your youthful appearance...
In just two weeks.
When are you going to realize beauty products are sold using false claims and promises?
What about you?
You jump on the bandwagon of every health fad.
Aren't you eating a bunch of so-called superfoods?
That's based on science.
The goal is longevity.
And this expensive new computer program?
It's to ward off dementia and Alzheimer's.
I'm keeping my mind active.
So we're both trying to fight the effects of aging.
I guess that's true, but I'm going to outlive you.
Yes, but before I kick the bucket, I'm going to look marvelous.
Javier says to Aaliyah, What crazy new creams are you trying this week?
Cream, C-R-E-A-M, is another word for lotion, L-O-T-I-O-N.
Cream or lotion is a very thick liquid that you put on your skin either as medicine, because you have some problem with your skin, or to make your skin look more beautiful.
Javier is asking Aaliyah what crazy new creams she's trying this week.
The word crazy here probably just means unusual or strange or different.
Aaliyah responds, I'll have you know I only use anti-aging products that are scientifically proven.
The phrase I'll have you know is used to present information to another person, that When you think that other person doubts you or perhaps is attacking you and you want the other person to know the truth, you want to tell the other person that he is wrong to attack you.
Aaliyah believes that Javier is criticizing her.
That's because he uses that word crazy new creams.
Aaliyah says, I'll have you know, I only use anti-aging products that are scientifically proven.
Anti-aging refers to efforts to slow down or prevent the effects of getting older.
Some companies sell certain creams or lotions that people can put on their skin that are supposed to prevent your skin from looking old, from looking as though you are getting old.
Anti-aging has become popular, a popular commercial idea in the US as people are getting older, especially people my age who have money to buy things that will, they think, prevent them from looking as old as they really are.
I don't buy these products myself, but other people do, and Aaliyah is one of them.
She only buys products that are scientifically proven, that is, for which there is some scientific research or scientific studies that show that this particular thing will actually help you.
Javier doesn't believe Aaliyah.
He says yeah, like that cream that promised to restore your youthful appearance in just two weeks.
To restore r-e-s-t-o-r-e is to return something to the way it was before, to return something to its previous condition.
Javier refers to a cream that Aliyah bought that was supposed to restore her youthful appearance.
Youthful, Y-O-U-T-H-F-U-L, refers to looking or feeling younger than you actually are.
Javier says, when are you going to realize beauty products are sold under false claims and promises?
Something that is false, F-A-L-S-E, is something that is not true, a lie.
Acclaim, C-L-A-I-M, is when someone makes a statement about something.
When someone says something is true about a certain product or thing or person.
A false claim, then is the same thing as a lie, a false statement, an untrue statement about something.
Javier is saying that beauty products are sold using false claims, meaning the companies say things that aren't true.
Aaliyah says to Javier what about you meaning you are doing some of the same things that you are telling me not to do.
She continues The expression.
To jump on the bandwagon B-A-N-D-W-A-G-O-N means to begin doing something that is popular among a lot of other people, or to start doing something just because a lot of other people are doing it.
A fad, F-A-D, is something that becomes popular very quickly but lasts only a short period of time.
A common example of this would be certain popular dances.
Everyone starts doing this dance and then six months later nobody is doing it.
Here in the U.S., there are always dance fads.
The Macarena from the 1990s would be an example of a dance fad where everyone was dancing it and then two or three months later no one was dancing it, or at least here in the US.
So there are dance fads, there are clothing fads, there are all sorts of fads, things that become popular very quickly but are only popular for a short period of time.
Aaliyah says, aren't you eating a bunch of so-called superfoods?
Aliyah is criticizing Javier for jumping on the bandwagon of a health fad.
This health fad refers to eating so-called super foods.
A super food, S-U-P-E-R, F-O-O-D, is a food that is supposed to be very good for you, very healthy.
You may read in the paper about how blueberries are a super food.
They are supposed to do all sorts of wonderful things for you if you eat them.
Aliyah calls them not superfoods, but so-called superfoods.
The phrase so-called C-A-L-L-E-D is used to refer to something when you don't really approve of or like that name or term or you think it is somehow inappropriate or even wrong.
His so-called friend hit him on the head.
The term so-called is used there because your friend doesn't normally hit you on the head, so you would be sort of odd describing that person as a real friend.
So you would say his so-called friend.
Perhaps he thought that person was his friend.
Aaliyah is referring to these foods as so-called superfoods, meaning she doesn't really believe they are superfoods.
Javier disagrees.
He says that's based on science.
The goal, he adds, is longevity.
Longevity, L-O-N-G-E-V-I-T-Y refers to the ability to live for a long time.
So we find out that Javier has been eating things so he can live for a long time, and Aaliyah has been putting things on her skin so it will look like she is not old.
Remember, this episode is all about fighting the effects and signs of aging.
The things that will happen because you get old... and indications that you are getting old.
Aaliyah says to Javier, and this expensive new computer program?
She's asking about some new piece of software that Javier bought.
Javier says that the computer program is to ward off dementia and Alzheimer's.
To ward W-A-R-D off.
Something is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to prevent something so that it doesn't cause damage, or to stop something from having negative effects on you.
The computer program is supposed to ward off dementia, D-E-M-E-N-T-I-A.
Dementia is when people have difficulty remembering things.
They may even have changes in their personality habits.
These are conditions that are sometimes associated with people getting very old, although not everyone who gets old has dementia.
It's when your mind begins to lose its memory and perhaps change your behavior.
Alzheimer's is a disease that that causes a person's brain to weaken over time.
It also makes it more difficult to remember people, to remember facts, even to recognize people in your life.
Javier thinks that this computer program will help ward off the effects of dementia and Alzheimer's.
He says I'm keeping my mind active.
Active, A-C-T-I-V-E, has a couple of different meanings.
Here it refers to someone actually doing something either with his body or with his mind.
Javier believes that if he keeps his mind active, if he keeps thinking about things and analyzing things, doing things with his brain, he will somehow be able to ward off the effects of old age.
Aliyah then says, so we're both trying to fight the effects of aging.
That is, we're trying to stop the bad things that might happen to us as we get older, both to our bodies and to our minds.
Javier says, I guess that's true, but I'm going to outlive you.
To outlive, O-U-T-L-I-V-E, someone, is to live longer than another person.
Women typically outlive men of the same age or who were born at the same time.
We're not sure if Javier and Aaliyah are married to each other, but from the way they talk to each other it certainly sounds like it.
Aaliyah says, yes, but before I kick the bucket, I'm going to look marvelous.
The phrase to kick, K-I-C-K, the bucket, B-U-C-K-E-T means to die.
It's an informal expression meaning to die.
If someone kicks the bucket, someone has died.
It's sort of a funny phrase.
You wouldn't want to use it to describe the death of someone close to you.
Aaliyah is kind of making a joke.
She's saying that before she dies, before she kicks the bucket, she's going to look marvelous.
M-A-R.
L-O-U-S.
Marvelous means wonderful.
Very good.
Aaliyah says she may die before Javier, but she's going to look wonderful when she does because, of course, she's using all of this anti-aging cream on her skin.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
What crazy new creams are you trying this week?
I'll have you know I only use anti-aging products that are scientifically proven.
Yeah, like that cream that promised to restore your youthful appearance in just two weeks.
When are you going to realize beauty products are sold using false claims and promises?
What about you?
You jump on the bandwagon of every health fad.
Aren't you eating a bunch of so-called superfoods?
That's based on science.
The goal is longevity.
And this expensive new computer program?
It's to ward off dementia and Alzheimer's.
I'm keeping my mind active.
So we're both trying to fight the effects of aging.
I guess that's true, but I'm going to outlive you.
Yes, but before I kick the bucket, I'm going to look marvelous.
Your English will be marvelous if you listen to the scripts by our marvelous script writer, Dr Lucy Saye.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
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.
