This is ESLPod.com's A Day in the Life of Lucy.
Episode 4. Doing Hair and Getting Dressed I'm your host, Dr.
Jeff McQuillan, from the Center for Educational Development in Beautiful Los Angeles, California.
In Episode 3, Lucy ate breakfast.
In this episode, she does her hair and gets dressed.
Let's start. I go back into the bathroom to finish doing my hair.
Before I put the hot curlers in, I had put a little gel in my hair to give it some volume.
I also like to use my hair dryer to give my bangs a little more shape.
I take out the curlers one by one and brush through them into the style I like.
I finish it off with a little hairspray and I'm ready to get dressed.
In my bedroom, I look in my closet for a skirt and blouse to match.
The office I work in is pretty casual, so I don't need to wear suit to work.
On Fridays, we're allowed to be even more casual, so most people wear jeans and sweaters to the office.
But no one dares to show up in t-shirts and shorts.
I put on the skirt and blouse and opened the top dresser drawer to get some pantyhose.
I wish I could wear my tennis shoes to work, but I pick out a pair of heels and put them on.
I was ready to go. Episode 4 is entitled Doing Hair and Getting Dressed.
Lucy begins by going into the bathroom to finish doing her hair.
To do your hair means to make your hair look nice.
We may also say to fix your hair, but the most common expression is to do your hair.
Well, if you remember from the previous episode, Lucy had put hot curlers or hot rollers.
A roller, R-O-L-L-E-R, is another name for a curler.
And those are things that women put in their hair so that their hair is not straight.
It has curls in it. Lucy now needs to finish doing her hair.
She says that before she put the hot rollers or the hot curlers in, she had put a little gel in her hair to give it some extra volume.
Gel G-E-L is a thick liquid that you put on your hair.
Because you put it on your hair because you want your hair to go in a certain way, you want it to be flat, for example.
You put the gel on top. It's a thick liquid.
When I was in high school back in the 1950s, it was very popular for high school students to have gel, a type of gel in their hair.
One of the more famous movies in the United States about the 1950s and 1960s in high school was called Greece, G-R-E-A-S-E.
And in Greece, which starred, I think, Olivia Newton, John and John Travolta, I'm not sure I, as a man, have not watched it as much as most American girls and women have.
But in the movie, I remember that the boys had gel, a type of gel on their hair, to make it very flat on their head.
Getting back to Lucy, she says that she put a little gel in her hair to give it some extra volume.
Volume, V-O-L-U-M-E means she made it thicker or fuller or bigger to add volume to your hair means to make it thicker.
She also likes to use her hair dryer to give her bangs a little more shape.
Bangs, B-A-N-G-S, always plural, is the hair that is on the part of your head above your eyes, between your eyes and the top of your head.
We call that part of your head, your forehead, F-O-R-E-H-E-A-D.
So bangs are hair that goes over your forehead.
Lucy is trying to give her bangs a little more shape.
That is, she doesn't want them just flat.
She wants to give them a different shape than what they have right now.
So she takes out the curlers, meaning she removes the curlers from her hair, one by one, and brushes her hair into the style that she likes.
To brush BR-USH as a verb means to take something and put it through your hair so that your hair goes in a certain direction.
The noun brush BR-USH is the thing that you put in your hair.
We also use the word BR-USH for someone who is painting.
The thing you use to put paint on a wall or on a picture, that would be also called a BR-USH, a paint brush.
This is a hair brush. Lucy likes to finish it off, meaning she likes to finish doing her hair with a little hair spray.
Hair spray, H-A-I-R-S-P-R-A-Y, one word, is liquid that you put on a large area in order to make the liquid go in a larger area, you spray it on, and you spray it by using something called a nozzle.
The bottle that has the hair spray on the top has a nozzle, NO-Z-Z-L-E, and a nozzle is something that takes the liquid and spreads it out, puts it over a wider area.
This is hair spray that Lucy is putting on her head.
It's a liquid that keeps the hair in the same place, so that if you go outside in the wind, your hair doesn't get, we'd say, messed up to mess, M-E-S-S-S-UP, your hair, means that your hair goes in a different style or it moves so that it doesn't look good.
Again, if you don't have hair like me, you don't have to worry about this.
Lucy goes into her bedroom and looks in her closet for a skirt and a blouse to wear.
A closet, C-L-O-S-E-T, is a space in your bedroom where you can keep your clothes.
The clothes that you put in a closet are usually ones that you hang H-A-N-G.
To hang your clothes means to put them on something so that the clothes are not folded.
They are vertical and they are hanging down from a bar, a pole that is at the top of your closet.
The thing you put your clothes on is called a hanger, H-A-N-G-E-R.
So you put your clothes or you hang your clothes on a clothes hanger and you put them into your closet.
Closets can also just be places to store things, places to keep things.
It's like a big box in your room, but it's very tall, usually as tall as the person or taller.
In Lucy's closet, she's looking for a skirt and a blouse that match.
Remember to match means the clothes have the similar or same colors.
A skirt, S-K-I-R-T, is a piece of clothing that goes around a woman's waist in the middle of her body and then it goes down and covers the top of her legs or perhaps all of her legs.
You can have a long skirt that goes all the way down to the bottom of your leg.
You could have a short skirt that goes up only covering the top of your legs.
Lucy's looking for a skirt and a blouse.
A blouse, B-L-O-U-S-E, is a special kind of shirt that a woman wears.
See it is a shirt that has a collar, C-O-L-L-A-R on the top.
A collar is the part of the shirt near the neck and it makes the shirt look a little more formal.
A woman's blouse also usually has buttons in the front so that when you put the blouse on, you put the buttons together to keep the shirt on your body.
We say you fasten the buttons, F-A-S-T-E-N.
You fasten the buttons so that the shirt stays on.
The buttons are little pieces of plastic or metal that go usually through a hole and that keeps the shirt on.
A men's formal shirt would also have buttons and a collar.
For a woman we call it a blouse.
This is the office she works in is pretty casual or very casual.
To be casual, C-A-S-U-A-L means to be less formal, to be informal, to be more relaxed.
Because Lucy works in an office that is casual, she doesn't need to wear a suit to work.
A suit S-U-I-T for a woman is a formal piece or formal set of clothing usually with a blouse and then you have a jacket over the blouse.
Then you have a nice skirt or pants that go with the jacket.
This is a suit. For men when they wear a suit usually they have shirt, pants, jacket, and a tie.
Lucy says that on Fridays she is allowed to be even more casual and many people at her work wear jeans and sweaters to the office.
To wear means to have on your body.
Jeans G-E-A-N-S are a popular type of informal pants.
Perhaps the most famous type of jeans are Levi's and they're usually blue and sometimes black.
Sweaters S-W-E-A-T-E-R-S are like very warm shirts, shirts that keep you warm.
Often you put a shirt on and then if you are cold you put a sweater on top of your shirt.
Lucy says no one dares to show up in t-shirts in shorts.
The expression to dare D-A-R-E to do something means that no one attempts to do that.
The verb to dare to means that it is something that you shouldn't do or it is something that is risky you could get in trouble.
Your mother may say don't you dare go to the movies tonight.
Would mean you better not, you are not allowed to go to the movie.
If you do you will be in big trouble.
You will have a lot of problems from me.
Well the story says that no one at Lucy's work dares to show up or to go to work in t-shirts and shorts.
T-shirts T-Hyfin S-H-I-R-T-S are shirts that you wear that don't have a collar that are very informal.
T-shirts S-H-O-R-T-S are like pants but they do not go to the bottom of your leg.
They only go and cover the top of your leg.
Those would be shorts. Lucy puts on a skirt and a blouse and opens the top dresser drawer to get some panty hose.
The dresser D-R-E-S-S-E-R is a place where you can keep clothing such as socks, underwear, shirts, perhaps some pants.
You have to fold your clothes up.
You have to put the clothes together and put them in the drawer.
In the closet you hang your clothes often.
In a dresser you put your clothes in a little box which we call a drawer.
D-R-A-W-E-R. So a dresser is a piece of furniture that has several drawers or several boxes that you can pull out and put clothing into.
T-Hose P-A-N-T-Y-H-O-S-E, one word, is like a combination of a pair of pants and a sock.
It's something that women put on.
Usually it goes over their feet and goes all the way up to their waist.
Then they put a skirt on so that it covers the top part of their legs.
Again this is something only worn by a woman.
P-A-N-T-Hose are usually a color that is brown or a color of your skin and they are more formal type of clothing.
You would use P-A-N-T-Hose for going to a business meeting if you were a woman.
If you were a man you wouldn't wear P-A-N-Hose unless you wanted to look like a woman but that's a different story.
Lucy says she wishes she could wear her tennis shoes to work.
She wishes she could is a conditional construction.
I wish I could. I wish I could wear my tennis shoes.
S-T-E-N-N-I-S is you probably know a sport but tennis shoes are the kinds of shoes you wear to go running or to play sports or to walk around your neighborhood.
You would put on tennis shoes.
Lucy can't wear tennis shoes to work.
So she has to pick out or select a pair of heels to put on.
Heels H-E-E-L-S refers here to a pair of shoes that have a little stick at the back of the shoe that makes the woman taller.
We sometimes call these high heels.
So Lucy puts on a pair of high heels or a pair of heels and now she's ready to go to work.
Now let's listen to the story this time at a normal speed.
I go back into the bathroom to finish doing my hair.
Before I put the hot curlers in I put a little gel in my hair to give it some volume.
I also like to use my hair dryer to give my bangs a little more shape.
I take out the curlers one by one and brush through them into the style I like.
I finish it off with a little hairspray and I'm ready to get dressed.
In my bedroom I look in my closet for a scort and blouse to match.
The office I work in is pretty casual so I don't need to wear a suit to work.
On Fridays we're allowed to be even more casual so most people wear jeans and sweaters to the office but no one dares to show up in t-shirts and shorts.
I put on the skirt and blouse and open the top dresser drawer to get some pantyhose.
I wish I could wear my tennis shoes to work but I pick out a pair of heels and put them on.
I was ready to go. We've come to the end of episode 4 of a day in the life of Lucy doing hair and getting dressed.
In episode 5, Lucy takes public transportation to work.
This course has been a production of the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at pslpod.com.
This course was produced by Dr.
Jeff McQuillan and Dr. Lucy Say.
Copyright 2006. This is ESLPod.com's A Day in the Life of Lucy.
Episode 5. Taking public transportation to work.
Hello I'm your host Dr. Jeff McQuillan coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
In episode 4, we heard how Lucy got ready for work, did her hair and got dressed.
In this episode, we're going to follow her to work while she takes public transportation.
Let's get started. I like my job but it takes over an hour to get there from my part of town.
First, I walk three blocks to the subway station and swipe my monthly pass to get through the turn style.
I wait on the platform for the first express train.
I get on and since it's so crowded during the morning hours, there aren't any seats and I stand holding onto a handrail.
At my stop, I get off and transfer to a second train that will get me to Union Station.
This one isn't as crowded and I manage to find a seat.
When the train gets to Union Station, I get off the train, go up the stairs and go out of the front exit to the bus stop.
I get on the B bus to downtown and show my bus pass to the bus driver.
I sit down near the front of the bus and when three more people get on board, the driver starts on the route.
When we get close to my stop, I press the button to signal to the driver that I need to get off and the bus pulls up to the next stop.
I get off and walk half a block to the building where I work.
It's a long commute, but I look around every morning and I see that I'm not the only one who has to do it.
Episode 5 is called Taking Public Transportation to Work.
Public transportation is anything that the government runs or operates such as buses, trains and subways.
Lucy says that she likes her job, but that it takes over an hour to get there from her part of town.
To get there means to arrive.
Her part of town is her area of town.
First she says she walks three blocks to the subway station and swipes her monthly pass to get through the turn style.
A subway, SUV, w-a-y, one word, is a train usually that goes underneath the ground.
In some cities such as Chicago, they have an elevated train, which they call the L.
Subways are usually, however, below the ground.
They're underground. In fact in London the subway is called the Underground or the Tube.
In this story Lucy walks to the subway station.
A station, STATIN, is a place where you can get on and off the subway.
That's called the subway station.
To get into the subway station, Lucy swipes her monthly pass.
To swipe SWIP means to take a card such as a credit card and to put it through a machine very quickly so that the machine can read or understand the information on the card.
In the subway system, Lucy has a monthly pass, P-A-S-S.
A pass is like a ticket. It's a ticket for an entire month, for 30 days.
So she swipes the card through the card reader, we would call it, and that card is her monthly pass.
After she swipes her monthly pass, she can walk through the turn style.
The turn style T-U-R-N-S-T-I-L-E, one word, is a machine that prevents you from walking through somewhere.
It has a bar. And after you pay, you can then push the bar and the bar will move forward.
The bar is just a piece of metal.
And then the next person has to pay and they can push through the turn style.
One person goes through at a time and you'll find turn styles at subway stations sometimes at train stations.
If you don't have any money, you can just jump over the turn style.
I would not recommend that, however, because they might arrest you if you don't pay.
Lucy says she waits on the platform for the first express train.
The platform PL-AT-F-O-R-M, one word, is the place where you wait for the train or the subway to stop and then the doors open and you walk onto the train.
The platform is the place where you wait right next to the tracks T-R-A-C-K-S.
The tracks are what the trains go on.
Lucy is at the platform and she's waiting for the first express train.
Express E-X-P-R-E-S-S.
Here means the train that makes the fewest number of stops.
Most trains such as New York will only stop at some of the subway stations, not at all of them.
If you want a subway train that stops at all of the stations, you would get what we would call a local train.
This is true especially in New York City.
If you look at their map of the subway, you will see that some subway trains are express, meaning they make fewer stops.
They don't stop at every subway station and some are local.
Lucy gets on and since it's so crowded or because there are so many people there, there aren't enough seats and so she has to stand.
And she stands by holding on to a hand rail, H-A-N-D-R-A-I-L, one word.
A hand rail is a piece of metal that is in a subway train that you can grab onto.
You can hold your hand around this piece of metal so that you don't fall when the train goes forward and stops.
This is called a hand rail because it's where you put your hand.
Of course you could also put your hand on the person next to you but they may not like that.
So use the hand rail. Lucy says that at her stop or the place where she leaves the train leaves the subway, she gets off or exits and transfers to a second train.
To transfer T-R-A-N-S-F-E-R as a verb means to go from one train to another or from one bus to another.
Your train may not go all the way where you want to go so you may need to transfer to a different train.
Lucy says that she needs to take a second train in order to get to her final destination which is Union Station.
This train, Lucy says, isn't as crowded.
There aren't as many people.
It isn't as crowded and she manages to find a seat.
She is able to find a seat.
When the train gets to Union Station, Lucy gets off or exits leaves the train, goes up the stairs, walks up the stairs and goes out the front exit to the bus stop.
The front exit, E-X-I-T as a noun means the door where you leave.
You can also use exit as a verb to mean to leave.
Lucy walks out the front exit to the bus stop.
The bus stop is the place where you can guess the bus stops to pick up people and to drop them off or to leave them.
The bus stop is like the subway station but we don't call it the bus station.
We call it the bus stop. There is actually an expression the bus station but that's a place where you take a bus to another city.
That would be a bus station.
Usually there's only one or two of those.
A bus stop is anywhere or any place where the bus stops to let people on the bus and let people off the bus.
Lucy gets on the B, the letter B bus to downtown and shows her bus pass to the bus driver.
Your bus pass is like your subway pass.
In this case you show the pass to the driver.
The driver looks at the pass to see that it is a good pass.
Lucy then sits down near the front of the bus and three more people get on board.
One board B-O-A-R-D means to be on a plane or a train or a bus or a ship.
You may say I need to get on board my plane.
That means you need to get on to your plane.
You need to go into your plane.
Here Lucy talks about three people getting on board or coming on to and sitting in the bus.
After three more people get on board or get on the bus, the driver starts on the route.
The route R-O-U-T-E sometimes called the route.
All pronunciations are possible, is the path or the direction that the bus goes.
It goes down main street, then goes on first street, then goes down central avenue, then takes a left on seventh street and comes back on water view drive.
That would be a route, the streets where the bus goes.
In general, a route is a list of the streets or freeways or roads that you take to get somewhere.
Lucy says when she gets close to her stop, she presses the button to signal to the driver that she needs to get off.
To signal S-I-G-N-A-L means to indicate to tell the driver that she needs to get off.
In many American buses, there's a button or sometimes there's a string that you pull and it makes a noise in the front of the bus and that allows the bus driver to know that you want to get off.
It tells the bus driver you want to get off at the next stop.
You can also ask the driver, can I get off at the next stop?
Remember a stop is anywhere the bus goes to pick up or let out people.
A Lucy signals to the driver that she needs to get off at the next stop and the bus pulls up to the next stop.
To pull up towards means to drive up to go to.
We use that verb especially when we are talking about cars or buses.
Your car can pull up to the house that means it drives up to the street where your house is and it stops.
The idea of pulling up usually means to go forward and then stop.
Lucy gets off or leaves the bus and walks a half a block to the building where she works.
A block, B-L-O-C-K, is the area between two streets.
In most American cities the blocks are square.
You have two streets on both sides and that whole thing is called a block.
The block that I live on is not square.
It's a very strange, unusual shape.
But most cities have blocks that are square.
We also use that expression when we are talking about distance.
Someone may say how many blocks is it to the train station?
You could say it is four blocks from here meaning you have to walk four streets to get there.
Lucy says that she has a long commute but she looks around every morning.
She looks at the other people and she sees that she is not the only one who has to do it meaning there are many people who have to commute a long distance.
Some companies now allow their employees to telecommute.
Telecommute T-E-L-E-C-O-M-M-U-T-E.
One word means that you work at home but you call the office to talk to people.
Now let's listen to the episode this time at a normal speed.
I like my job but it takes over an hour to get there from my part of town.
First I walk three blocks to the subway station and swipe my monthly pass to get through the turn style.
I wait on the platform for the first express train.
I get on and since it's so crowded during the morning hours there are any seats and I stand holding onto a handrail.
At my stop I get off and transfer to a second train that will get me to Union Station.
This one isn't as crowded and I manage to find a seat.
When the train gets to Union Station I get off the train, go up the stairs and go out of the front exit to the bus stop.
I get on the B bus to downtown and show my bus pass to the bus driver.
I sit down near the front of the bus and when three more people get on board the driver starts on the route.
When we get close to my stop I press the button to signal to the driver that I need to get off and the bus pulls up to the next stop.
I get off and walk half a block to the building where I work.
It's a long commute but I look around every morning and I see that I'm not the only one who has to do it.
That's the end of episode 5 of a day in the life of Lucy.
In our next episode, episode 6, Lucy goes to her desk, to her office and she goes to lunch.
This course has been a production of the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at pslpod.com.
This course was produced by Dr.
Jeff McQuillan and Dr. Lucy Say.
Copyright 2006. This is ESLPod.com's A Day in the Life of Lucy.
Episode 6, At My Desk and At Lunch.
Hello I'm your host Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Welcome to the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
In episode 5 of our series, Lucy took public transportation to her work.
In this episode, she's going to work and go to lunch.
Let's get started. I get to the office and sit down at my desk.
I share a cubicle with another employee, Jim.
But he only works in the afternoons so we don't usually get in each other's way too much.
I boot up my computer and look at my agenda for today.
I had about 30 new emails in my inbox, but I decided not to read them right away.
There were some new inter-office paperwork in my inbox too, but I decided to look at them a little later.
First, I wanted to start in on a report that I had to finish today.
I had a conference call at the end of the day with the head office, but I had most of the day to get it done.
After a long, it was the lunch hour.
I didn't pack a lunch, so I asked my supervisor if she wanted to have lunch together.
We head down the street to a sit-down restaurant.
The hostess shows us to a table in the back of the restaurant.
The waiter arrives a few minutes later and we order on trays.
No appetizers since we need to get back by one o'clock.
The waiter was very busy, so I had to wave him down to get the check.
He brought the bill and my supervisor and I split the check.
We walk back to the office and I get back to work.
Just four more hours until quitting time.
Episode 6 is called at my desk and at lunch.
When we say we are at our desk, we mean we are sitting next to or by our desk.
Lucy gets to the office and sits down at her desk.
She shares a cubicle with another employee.
A cubicle C U B I C L E is a small space in a big office where you have walls that divide the different employees.
They don't have a separate office, they don't usually have a door, but they do have walls, three walls around them, so they have some privacy.
They have some quiet to work.
But the cubicles are in a larger office, so it's like a small part of an office that one person can work at or two people can work at.
In Lucy's case, she shares her cubicle with someone else, but he only works in the afternoons, so they don't usually get in each other's way too much.
To get in someone else's way means that you are interfering with each other.
You are causing problems for each other.
Lucy says that she boots up her computer and looks at her agenda for the day.
To boot B O O T up, two words, means to start your computer, to turn your computer on.
Your agenda, A G E N D A, is a list of things, a schedule of things that you need to do today.
Appointments, phone calls, and so forth.
All of these would be part of your agenda.
Lucy says she had about 30 new emails in her inbox.
Your inbox, I N B O X, is in your email program, and that is the place where you find the messages that people have sent you.
You can also have a inbox where you put papers that you have to work on.
The opposite of the inbox would be the outbox.
Lucy says that there are some new inter office paperwork in her inbox too.
Inter office I N T E R, hyphen O F F I C E, means between offices.
Inter means between two different offices.
So inter office paperwork would be things, letters, memos, other business forms that you would give to another office in your company.
If you are in the accounting department, you take care of the money, you might send information to the sales department that would be inter office paperwork.
Paperwork P A P E R W O R K, one word, just refers to any form, letter, memo, anything on paper that is related to your business.
Most people use this expression paperwork to describe unnecessary forms or paper forms that you have to complete that cause a lot of problems that take a lot of time.
Someone may say there's too much paperwork to get a visa to the United States.
A lot of paperwork. There's a joke in offices about putting paperwork in the circular file.
A file F I L E is usually a place where you put business documents that are related to each other.
C I R C U L A R means round. The expression circular file refers to a waste basket or a trash basket, a place where you would get rid of something, throw something away.
So someone may say, well, I'm going to put this in my circular file that is I'm going to throw it away.
Of course it's not really a file.
If it were a file, you would keep it in a filing cabinet.
I worked at a job many years ago where I had a small cubicle and we had lots of paperwork.
Many times we would joke about putting some of the sales paperwork into the circular file because it was more work for us to have to read it.
Lucy says that she wanted to start in on a report that she had to finish today.
To start in, two words, means to begin working on something.
To start something. I want to start in on the report.
I want to begin working on the report.
We often use this verb when we are talking about a big project or a project that is going to take a lot of time.
Lucy says that she has a conference call at the end of the day with the head office.
A conference call, C-O-N-F-E-R-E-N-C-E call is when you have three or more people talking on the telephone together at the same time.
You can have a conference call of three, four, ten, perhaps even more people.
Although it is difficult to hear everyone if you have more than five or six people talking.
A conference call is a way that businesses save money, of course, so they can have a meeting without actually having to leave your office.
To me, that is the best meeting when I don't actually have to go to it.
Lucy says that she has a conference call at the end of the day, meaning during the last part of the day with the head office.
The head office is the main office.
It's the headquarters for your company.
It's the most important office, the biggest office usually.
She does not work at the head office.
We can guess. She probably works at what we would call a branch of the company, BR-AN-CH, a branch.
The word branch is the same word we use for a tree.
The different parts of the tree, the arms of the tree, we call the branches.
They're smaller parts of the bigger tree.
This is a branch office.
It's a smaller office part of a larger company.
Lucy says that before long, it was the lunch hour.
Before long means very soon afterwards.
Before long, it was the lunch hour.
The lunch hour is the time that you eat your middle of the day meal, your lunch.
Some companies have a 30-minute lunch hour.
Some companies have an hour lunch hour.
Some companies don't have a set lunch hour for the more important bosses.
They may go on a long lunch, especially if it is a meeting, a business lunch.
We would call it. In Lucy's story, she says that she didn't pack a lunch.
She asks her supervisor if she wanted to go with her to lunch.
To pack P-A-C-K a lunch means to make food at home, put it in a bag or a small box, and bring it to work.
That's packing a lunch.
Lucy says that she asked her supervisor if she wanted to have lunch together.
A supervisor, SU-P-E-R-V-I-S-O-R, is another name for your boss, the person who tells you what to do in my life that would be my wife.
Lucy says that she and her supervisor head down the street to a sit-down restaurant.
To head H-E-A-D somewhere means to go somewhere or to go in the direction of something.
To head down the street just means to go down or to walk in this case on the street to a sit-down restaurant, a restaurant where you can have a more formal meal.
The hostess shows them to a table in the back of the restaurant.
A hostess, H-O-S-T-E-S-S, is the woman in this case in a restaurant that says hello to you when you come in the restaurant that greets you and she asks how many people are in your party, meaning how big is your group, how many people are in your group, and then she takes you to a table.
The male version of this would be a host, H-O-S-T.
So a hostess is always a woman, a host is a man.
In very expensive restaurants, in what we would call fancy restaurants, restaurants where you have to dress very nicely and you pay a lot of money for your food, they sometimes have what's called a matredee, a matredee, which is the person that takes reservations and shows you to your table.
In this story, the hostess shows Lucy and her supervisor to a table.
To show someone to a table means to take them to a table.
And I go into a restaurant, sometimes they look at me and they show me the door, meaning they take me to the door and say, goodbye, we don't want you in our restaurant.
Happens to me all the time.
I'm not sure why. The waiter arrives at their table a few minutes later and Lucy and her boss order on trays, not appetizers.
An entree, EN-TR-E-E, is the main part of your meal, what we would call the main course, CO-URSE.
Your meal has different parts.
There's the main course, which is the entree.
That's the biggest part of the meal, where you would get, for example, chicken or steak or the largest part of the food you are eating.
An appetizer, A-P-P-E-T-I-Z-E-R, is something you eat at the beginning of the meal.
Usually it's a smaller portion of food.
Perhaps you would have some vegetables or in many restaurants they have appetizers that are fried food, food that you put in oil to make them brown.
These are appetizers. They are things that you eat before your entree, your main meal.
Lucy and her boss need to get back or to return by one o'clock so they do not have time to have an appetizer.
After they finished their meal, Lucy waved down the waiter.
She says, the waiter was very busy, so I had to wave him down.
To wave W-A-V-E, someone down, means that you put your hand up in the air or you say something to tell the person that you want him to come over to you.
To wave someone down could also be used, for example, if you had problems with your car, your car stopped working.
We would say it broke down and you park on the side of the road and you try to wave someone down to help you.
You wave your arm. You move your arm back and forth to get someone's attention.
The waiter brought the bill and Lucy and her supervisor split the check.
To split SPL-I-T is the same as divide.
The check, of course, is the bill, how much money you owe.
So to split the check means to divide the check.
Each person pays for the food that they ate.
Lucy and her supervisor walk back to their office.
Lucy says, just four more hours until quitting time.
Quitting time is the time that you stop working.
We're going to stop talking and now listen to the story at a normal speed.
I get to the office and sit down at my desk.
I share a cubicle with another employee, Jim, but he only works in the afternoons so we don't usually get in each other's way too much.
I boot up my computer and look at my agenda for today.
I had about 30 new emails in my inbox, but I decided not to read them right away.
There were some new inner office paperwork in my inbox too, but I decided to look at them a little later.
First, I wanted to start in on a report that I had to finish today.
I had a conference call at the end of the day with the head office, but I had most of the day to get it done.
Before long, it was the lunch hour.
I didn't pack a lunch, so I asked my supervisor if she wanted to have lunch together.
We head down the street to a sit-down restaurant.
The hostess shows us to our table in the back of the restaurant.
The waiter arrives a few minutes later and we order entrees, no appetizers, since we need to get back by one o'clock.
The waiter was very busy, so I had to wave him down to get the check.
He brought the bill and my supervisor and I split the check.
We walk back to the office and I get back to work.
Just four more hours until quitting time.
That brings us to the end of episode six of a day in the life of Lucy.
In episode seven, we're going to go to the bank and the market.
This course has been a production of the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at pslpod.com.
This course was produced by Dr.
Jeff McQuillan and Dr. Lucy Say.
