Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1260, Transport and Shipping Mishaps.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1260.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
How are you today?
Me?
Pretty good.
Thanks for asking.
This episode, like all of our episodes, has a learning guide.
You can get it by going to our website at eslpodcom.
This episode is a dialogue between Una and Jackson about problems that can happen when you are moving things from one place to another.
Let's get started.
Get on the horn and find out where our cargo is.
I've been trying.
Last week I finally reached someone at the transport company.
And all they would tell me was that, due to unforeseen circumstances, there will be a delay in delivery.
Didn't they give you any details?
None at all.
When I called again two days later...
I spoke with someone else who said there may have been a mishap in transit, such as a truck breakdown or accident.
But our cargo is being shipped by sea.
That's what I told her.
She said the delay could be due to something as simple as bad weather and that our cargo probably hasn't been captured for ransom or lost at sea.
Captured for ransom?
Lost at sea?
What kind of problem?
The person I spoke to didn't know, but thought that it could be a delay in customs clearance or even a loss of refrigeration.
I know, but then again...
Who thought transporting Alaska snow to California was a good idea?
Our wonderful director, remember?
Our dialogue begins with Una saying to Jackson, Get on the horn. and find out where our cargo is.
The expression get on the horn H-O-R-N is a somewhat old expression, but you will still hear people using it.
That means to make a phone call, or to call someone, by telephone.
Una tells Jackson to get on the horn and find out or determine where their cargo, C-A-R-G-O, is.
Cargo refers to things that are moved or transported by truck, train or ship, that are usually large and heavy.
We think about cargo as being large boxes or large containers that have things in them.
On an airplane, for example, the cargo usually goes on the bottom of the plane.
Your luggage, that is, your suitcases, are cargo, at least they are when they are put together with a bunch of other suitcases and placed on the bottom of the plane.
You can move cargo by train or ship or truck.
Cargo is usually, but not always, things that are being sold, that are being moved from one company to another.
Jackson says, I've been trying, that is, I've been trying to find out where our cargo is.
Last week, he says, I finally reached someone, meaning I finally was able to talk to someone.
At the transport company.
A transport, T-R-A-N-S-P-O-R-T, company is a business that moves things from one place to another.
The verb to transport means to move something.
So a transport company would be a company that moves things, usually for other companies, in a truck, a plane or perhaps a ship or train.
Jackson says the transport company said that due to unforeseen circumstances, there was going to be a delay in delivery.
Unforeseen, U-N-F-O-R-E-S-E-E-N, is something that you don't anticipate, that you don't predict.
Something that is unexpected is unforeseen.
Unforeseen circumstances would be a situation, usually when something goes wrong that you didn't expect.
And of course, we never expect anything to go wrong, do we?
There will be a delay in delivery, Jackson says, because of these unforeseen circumstances.
These unforeseen situations,
A delay, D-E-L-A-Y, is a period of time longer than expected.
When you go to the airport and your plane doesn't leave at the time it's supposed to, we would say the plane has been delayed, using it as a verb, or simply that there has been a delay, using it as a noun.
A delay is when things are taking longer than expected or are not happening at the time they should.
Delivery, D-E-L-I-V-E-R-Y, is...
Moving something from one place to another, usually from the company that sells the product to the company or person that is buying the product.
You can get food delivery.
You can get a restaurant to bring food to your house, or some other company will pick up your food at the restaurant and bring it to your house.
If you call a restaurant to order some food, they may ask you, is that for pickup or delivery?
Pickup means you will go and pick up or get the food.
Delivery means they will bring the food to you.
Una says, didn't they give you any details?
She's asking Jackson if the company explained why there was a delay.
Jackson says, none at all, meaning no, they didn't give me any specific information.
They didn't give me any details.
He says.
When I called again two days later, I spoke with someone else who said there may have been a mishap in transit, such as a truck breakdown or accident.
A mishap, M-I-S-H-A-P, is when something bad happens that creates a problem.
Another word for a mishap would be simply an accident.
Something bad that happens that you, of course, didn't expect.
In transit, T-R-A-N-S-I-T, means while you are transporting or moving something.
A mishap in transit means something bad happened during the process of moving things from one place to another.
One possible thing that might have caused this delay is a truck breakdown.
B-R-E-A-K-D-O-W-N.
A breakdown is when a machine stops working.
In this case, a truck.
Una says, but our cargo is being shipped by sea.
To ship S-H-I-P.
Something is usually to send something, either using the official government mail service or a private delivery system or service such as UPS or Federal Express or DHL.
Una says that their cargo is being shipped or transported by sea, S-E-A, meaning in a boat or ship.
So a truck accident couldn't be the reason why there is a delay.
Jackson says, that's what I told her meaning.
That's also the same thing I told the woman I spoke with.
She said the delay could be due to something as simple as bad weather and that our cargo probably hasn't been captured for ransom or lost at sea.
The woman Jackson spoke with said the delay could be due to something as simple as bad weather, meaning maybe the reason there is a delay is there was bad weather that prevented or slowed down the transport.
Then the woman at the transport company told Jackson that the cargo probably meaning most likely has not been captured for ransom or lost at sea.
Well, of course, these are two very bad things that you would not expect to happen.
One thing is that your cargo would be captured for ransom.
To capture...
C-A-P-T-U-R-E, something, is to take something, to steal something.
Ransom R-A-N-S-O-M is when you ask someone for money to get something, or someone returned to that person.
Usually we think about ransom with what is called a kidnapping, when someone is taken against his will and held until someone pays you money.
Here Jackson is talking about the possibility of their cargo being captured for ransom or, even worse, lost at sea.
If something is lost at sea, basically a boat or ship has sunk, has gone down into the water, and so has your cargo.
So you'll never get it back.
Una is shocked.
She's surprised that Jackson is talking about these terrible things that might have happened, such as captured for ransom and lost at sea.
Jackson says she said that probably hasn't happened.
When I called again yesterday, I was told the cargo had arrived at the port, but that there's a problem.
A port.
P-O-R-T is a place where many ships, large ships, come and bring cargo, which is then delivered to trucks or other means of transportation.
Here in Los Angeles we have the Port of Los Angeles, where ships from all over the Pacific, largely from Asia, come and bring things to the United States.
Cargo, which is then put on either trucks or trains and then delivered to different parts of the US.
Jackson says that their cargo has arrived at the port, so it was not lost at sea.
But still, there's a problem.
Una says, what kind of problem?
Jackson says customs c u s t o m s here refers to the process of a government approving entry of certain things into a country.
When you go to another country, you usually have to go through customs.
They make sure you're not bringing anything into the country you're not supposed to or that you're not paying for properly.
Clearance C-L-E-A-R-A-N-C-E is the process of the government officials approving your cargo, in this case saying yes, it's okay, there's no problem, you can bring this into the country.
Jackson says that maybe the delay in getting their cargo was due to customs clearance issues.
Or he says a loss of refrigeration.
Refrigeration r?
E f r, i g e r a t i o n is the process of keeping something cold.
So if your cargo is food and you are sending it in a ship over many, many miles, you will want it to keep cold so that the food doesn't go bad.
A loss of refrigeration would mean that for some reason the ship wasn't able to keep the food cold.
That's why Una says a loss of refrigeration means That would be disastrous.
D-I-S-A-S-T-R-O-U-S.
Disastrous comes from the word disaster, which is a terrible event, a terrible thing that happens.
An earthquake that kills many people is a disaster.
Una says that a loss of refrigeration would be disastrous for her and her company.
Jackson says, I know, meaning yes, I understand that that would be disastrous.
But, he says, then again, who thought transporting Alaska snow to California was a good idea?
The phrase then again is used when we are going to present a new idea after thinking about it some more.
Usually, we use this when we're going to present a different idea from the one we just talked about, or perhaps to provide a different perspective on things compared to what we just said.
I could say, for example...
Jackson says...
Now we find out what the cargo that is being sent to their company is.
It's snow from Alaska.
Jackson, of course, doesn't think this was a good idea.
Una says, We learn that this company doesn't belong to Una because she's not the boss.
The person who is the boss is the director, D-I-R-E-C-T-O-R.
A director is a person who leads an organization or part of an organization.
Una says, our wonderful director...
But she, of course, is making a joke.
She doesn't think the director is wonderful because he or she had this very dumb idea.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Get on the horn and find out where our cargo is.
I've been trying.
Last week I finally reached someone at the transport company, and all they would tell me was that, due to unforeseen circumstances, there will be a delay in delivery.
Didn't they give you any details?
None at all.
When I called again two days later, I spoke with someone else who said there may have been a mishap in transit, such as a truck breakdown or accident.
But our cargo is being shipped by sea.
That's what I told her.
She said the delay could be due to something as simple as bad weather and that our cargo probably hasn't been captured for ransom or lost at sea.
Captured for ransom?
Lost at sea?
She said that probably hasn't happened.
When I called again yesterday, I was told the cargo had arrived at the port, but that there's a problem.
What kind of problem?
A loss of refrigeration?
That would be disastrous.
I know, but then again, who thought transporting Alaska snow to California was a good idea?
Our wonderful director, remember?
Don't delay in improving your English.
Start listening to all of our wonderful episodes with the wonderful scripts written by our wonderful script writer, 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 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.
