开始为期两周听力训练

lamjin

ESL Podcast 847 – Experiencing a Blackout

http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=12816729

Blow a fuse:   means that you're using  too much electricity in a certain part of your house.
Blackout:  is, when in entire area, sometimes  entire city loses power, loses electrical power. There is no electricity  available anywhere. Blackout could also be when you don't remember something after drinking a lot of alcohol. That's also called blackout.
Pitch black:  means extremely black with no light whatsoever.
Power outage:  is the same as blackout. It's a period of time when there is no electricity available.
Circuit: is a path that electricity follows between two points.
Overloaded:  means that there is too much demand, in this case, for electricity and   the place that's generating electricity can't produce it fast enough.
Electricity:  you probably know , is power energy that's carried through wires and cables used to operate almost everything.
Power grid: is a network of power companies and use of electricity that are connected together.
Citywide: is one word, meaning across or covering an entire city.
Candle: is a small object, usually made of wax that has something that you can light  so that it burns.
There is no telling:  is used to mean that it isn't possible to know what will happen or when will it happen.
Rolling blackout: is when a power company decides to stop giving power to different areas.
Surge: is a sudden increase in something that usually only last for a short time.
Perfectly: here means completely. It's a word used for emphasis here.

lamjin

ESL Podcast 848 – An Unscrupulous Partner

http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=12826672


The  benefit  of hindsight:  means  if I had known  then what I know  now.
To be trusting: means to believe  that  another person is telling  you  the truth.  You don't demand anyproof.  You don't ask for any  evidence.
Downfall: is  the  reason why  something  fails. It's  a  source of  the  problem, the reason why something  goes  bad.
To work  your  butt off:   is  an informal  expression  meaning to work  very  hard. You're  working  so hard,  you  can't work  any   more. You're  very  tired because  you're  working so  hard.
To get  anything  off  the  ground:   means to  get  it started,  to,  In this  case,  start a  business  and make  it  successful.  
To  turn  on someone :   means  to suddenly  change  your relationship  or  your altitude   towards  another person ,  so  that you  begin  to attack  that  other person,  you  begin to  become  mean or  aggressive  towards that  person.
To  deceive:   means to  lie  to someone,  not  to be  honest  with someone.
Agreement :  is  when  two people  sign  something, basically  like  a contract.  It's  a formal legal document.
Partnership: refers  to  two people  working   together.
Verbal: means  the  same as  spoken,  not written  down,  not written  on  a piece  of   paper.
50-50: fifty  hyphen  fifty means  fifty  percent for  him, fifty  percent  for  me .  We might  also  say half  and  half.
Out  of  the blue:   meaning  unexpectedly and  very  suddenly.
Co-owner:  is  someone  who own  the  business with  you.
Sole: means  only.   In this  case  single without  anyone  else. He's  the   only owner.
To  get  cheated out  of  something:   means that  you're  tricked so that  you  do not get  what  you're  supposed  to   get. You're  deceived  in such a   way  that typically  you  lose   money  or  you lose  something  of  value.
To  be  unscrupulous:  means  to  not  be careful.  But  really we  use  it  to  mean dishonest.  To  be unscrupulous  means not  to  worry about  what's  right or  wrong,   just to  do  things that  are  good for  you.  
To  watch  your  back:   means  to protect  yourself   against other  people,  to be  looking   for dangers  that  other people  might  present  to  you.
To  look  out for  your  own interests:   means  to do  what  is most beneficial  to  you without  caring   about what  happens  to the  other  people.
To  stab  someone in  the  back: means  to  hurt someone,  to  deceive someone  in  such a  way  that they  didn't  see it  coming.  They didn't  realize  what you  were  doing and  suddenly   they did.  It  doesn't mean  to  actually kill  someone  with a  knife  although it   could.   But it  means   more commonly  to  be deceived   or  cheated  by  another    person, especially   a  person that  you  had trusted   and  therefore  didn't   expect  to deceive  you.

穆子

Every audio is lasted for 15 mins, therefore,not hard to follow. I have listened for two days,and will insist on doing this. Lamjin 's annotation is beneficial for me to understand,memorise and recall the contents.I really appreciated Lamjin's job.
用英文写回复好艰难哦。。。。

lamjin

Every audio is lasted for 15 mins, therefore,not hard to follow. I have listened for two days,and will insist on doing this. Lamjin 's annotation is beneficial for me to understand,memorise and recall ...
穆子 发表于 2012-12-9 10:44

                               
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其实主要是学习人家是如何用很简单的单词和句子，讲述和描述复杂的东西。 在国内和国外学英语的这个感觉很不一样，你可以对比一下你现在用的教程， 你会发现遣词造句和思路感觉都不一样。

lamjin

ESL Podcast 849 – Bargaining With Store Owners

http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=12836615#

Vase:  is a ceramic  or  glass   object .  Usually  used  for  putting  flowers   into .
Talk someone  down:   means  to  get  someone  to  agree  to  a  lower   price,  then he  has  offered  you.   To get  someone  to  lower  the  price  on  something  they're  selling.
The  starting  price:   is  the  price  that  the  seller  tells   you  first .
Negotiable:   means  that   they  can  be  changed.
Rock  bottom  price:   is  the  lowest  possible  price  you  will   accept;  the  least  amount  of  money.
Not  one  penny  less:    means  that   this  is  an absolute   minimum  or  lowest  price  that  the  person  is  not  going  to  lower   the  price  any  more  beyond   that   point.
Steal:   here  means  a very  good  deal;  something  that  is  sold  at  a  very  low  price;  something  expensive  sold  very  cheaply.
To  bargain:   as  we  said  before,  means  to  negotiate ;  means  to  get  a  lower  price  by  talking  to  someone.
Give  something  away:   it's  a  phrasal  verb,   meaning  to   give  something  for  free.  You're  not  even  asking   for  any   money  for  it.
To  budge:   means  to  move  a  small  amount   or  to  change  your  position .
To  haggle:   means  to  negotiate,  to  bargain,  to  try  to  get  a  lower  price.  So  it's  the  same  as  to  bargain.  
Good  things   come  to  those  who  wait:    this  is  an  old  expression.   If  you  wait   enough,  if  you  wait   a  long  time,  eventually  I'll  have  some   good  things  coming   to  you.
To  walk  away:    means , in  this  case,  to  end  the  discussion,  to  stop  the  negotiation.
Cheap:   is  a  low  price,   but   here  is  used  as  an  insult.  That  means   someone  who  doesn't   want   to  pay  very  much  money  for  anything,   even  though  that   thing  is  worth   the  money.  Someone  who  is  cheap  is  someone  who  doesn't   like  to  spend  money.

life007

i will have a two weeks vacation between december 23 2012 and janurary 5 2013.
so i can come here to study english with lamjin.

life007

It's a very good website for studying english,i will usually come there to listen and read  pure english for improving my english.

红酒

其实主要是学习人家是如何用很简单的单词和句子，讲述和描述复杂的东西。 在国内和国外学英语的这个感觉很不一样，你可以对比一下你现在用的教程， 你会发现遣词造句和思路感觉都不一样。 ...
lamjin 发表于 2012-12-9 12:08

                               
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我第二次烤鸭，作文没怎么复习，又遇到个陌生题目，只好使用了很多口语句子，简直就是大白话，我以为要考砸了，结果出来成绩比我要想的还好

lamjin

ESL Podcast 850 – Betting on Sports
http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=12866444


Smackaroos:  isan informal  term , meaning  dollars.  It's  a  little old.  You  don't hear  that  much any  more.   It was  much  more popular  in  20th, mid-20th  century.
To  bet:  is to  try  to win   money  by guessing  how  something is  going  to turn out in  the  future. Who is  going to  win  the game?  Who's  going to  win  the election?
Wager:   is  the amount  of  money that   you  bet.
High  Odds:  means that  the  probability or   likelihood  of  something  happening  was very  small.
Pools:  refers  to   betting pools.  A  betting  pool  is  when everybody  puts   in a  small  amount of  money.
Bookie:  is   someone  whose job  is  to take  money   for people's  bets.
Serious:  here  will  mean significant ,  a  lot.
High-stakes:  means   a  lot of  money,  with usually  a  lot of  risks  involved.
Penny  ante:   would  be  a  very small  amount   of money.
Gambling:  is  when   you play  a  bet on  some  future event.  Gambling  and betting   are  basically  the  same  thing.
To  be  the favorites:  means  to  be  the  person or  the  team that  is  expected to  win  this game .
a  wide  margin:   means  by a  very   large amount  or  a significant  amount.
Point   spread:   is a  prediction  about   the  differences  in the  final  scores  of   the  games.
What   do   you  say?  :   is an   informal   phrase  used   to  ask someone's  opinion   or  to   ask  for their  decision  when you're  trying  to persuade  them  to do  something.
Too  rich  for  your  blood:   means it's  too  expensive  for   you.  It's too  much  money.
Minor  leagues:   are the  teams  with the  players   are good,  but  don't get  paid  that much.

穆子

Bookie is usually working illegally,but because betting is so commen, it is difficult for the government to try to stop this thing.
Wow...

lamjin

ESL Podcast 846 – Donating Blood

http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=12806786#



Band-aid: is  actually  the name  of  a product  of  a company  here  in  United  States.  It’s just  a  small piece  of  cotton that  has   a  piece  of  tape on it   that  you put  over  a cut  on  your skin.
To donate  blood:   means to  give  some of  your  blood to  a  hospital or  to  an organization  like  the Red  Cross  to help  people  who need  blood .
Needle:   is  a  long, sharp  thing .  they put  inside  your body.  
Light- headed:  is  the  same as  dizzy,  a feeling   that  you may  fall  down.  It  feels  like the  world  is spinning  around  you.
To go  through  with something:   means  to do  something  that is  perhaps  difficult or  even  a little  dangerous.  But you  go  ahead and  do  it  anyway.  You have  the  courage , the   strength  to do  this  difficult  thing.
To  draw  blood :  meaning they  actually  take blood  out  of her.
To  faint:  is to  basically  lose consciousness;  you  fall asleep.   You,  If you're  standing,    fall down  and  become  unconscious.
Admirable:  is  something  that is  impressive,  something that   other  people respect, other  people  realize  it's   important.
Transfusions:  are  when  a doctor  at  a hospital  typically will  be  giving  you  new blood.  They're   transferring someone  else's   blood into  your  body for  some  medical reason.
Relief  organizations:  are organizations  like the  red  cross or  the  red crescent  that  go into    areas   where people  are  suffering , perhaps  because  of  war  or  hurricane or  some   other natural  disaster ,  some other  terrible  event. And  they  help people  in  those areas.  They  give them  food ,  water and  so  forth.
Disaster  area:  is an  area  where something   very  bad has   happened ,  a war,  a  hurricane, an  earthquake,  that's sort  of  thing.
To  be  injured:   means that  you’re  hurt. You  have  some of  your  body that  has  been hurt  or  been damaged.
Nurse:   is  a professional  who   helps doctors.  
Bloodmobile:  is  a  large van  or  truck that  travels  around from    place  to  place  and  inside of  it ,  it has  equipment  needed so  that  you can  donate  blood.

穆子

I prefer being drawn blood to going through with IELTS exam,because I feel light-headed in exercising vocabularies.

Dawn

Every audio is lasted for 15 mins, therefore,not hard to follow. I have listened for two days,and will insist on doing this. Lamjin 's annotation is beneficial for me to understand,memorise and recall ...
穆子 发表于 2012-12-9 10:44

                               
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Good job! Nicely done!

Another version may go as follows:
[Each] audio [material] [lasts] 15 [minutes], (therefore,not hard to follow) [Sorry I have no idea what you meant]. I [have been working on the materials over the past two days and will [continue to practice my listening based on these materials in the next few days].

Dawn

i will have a two weeks vacation between december 23 2012 and janurary 5 2013.
so i can come here to study english with lamjin.
life007 发表于 2012-12-9 20:11

                               
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I will be having a two-week vacation from December 23, 2012 to Janurary 5, 2013, so I can come here to learn English with lamjin.

lamjin

ESL Podcast 851 – Finding a House to Buy
http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=12876387#


A Single-family home :   is a  home designed   for just    one  family to live  in,  in a single  building.
A  Townhouse:  is a  tall , narrow  home usually  with  two or  three  levels, two  or  three floors,  but  it's built   right  next  to another   townhouse.  So it's  not  like a  single-family  home where  the  building is  separate  from anything   around  it.
Common  walls:   are when  two  different apartments  or  two different  townhouses  or two  different  condominiums  have  one  person on  one  side of  the  wall and  another   person on  the  other side.
A Yard:  is  an outside  area   next to  a  home.
Square  footage:   is the  number  of square  feet  in an  area.  It's how we  measure  the size  of    houses, or  the  size of   apartment  buildings or  apartments  within the  building,  more likely.
A  lot :  is the  land  that the  house  sits on.   Lot  size will  be  the size  of  that piece  of  land.
An  open  floor plan:  is  a design  of  a  home,  it could   be  an office  also,  that has  a  lot of  open  space.  There  aren't   that many walls.  The  floor plan  is  technically like   a  drawing of  where    things are  in  your house,  almost  like a   map.\
Curb  appeal:   refers to  how  attractive , how  good-looking  the house  looks  when you're  driving  by it  or  when you're  walking   down the  street.
Upgrades:  refer  to  when a  house  has new  things  done to  it.
A Fixer-upper: is  a  house that   needs  work. It's  a  house that  has    problems  that  you're  going to  have  to fix  .
Move-in  condition:   is when  you  can come  in,  and you  can  just live  in  a house.  You  don't have  to  fix anything.   Everything  is working.
Mortgage: a  loan  that you  use  to buy  a  house.
Hold   out  for something :   means  to wait  for   something that  you  really want.
A  mansion:   is  a  huge  house, a  very  large expensive  house .
A  step  up from:   simply  means an  improvement  over.  Something  that  is better  than  what you  used  to have.
Expectations: are  the  things that  you  believe  will  happen,  that you  want  to happen  about  the situation  what   you  anticipate  to  happen.

Dawn

这些词语还是很实用的！

lamjin

这才是比较真实的英语。 国内的都应该学这种材料， 才不会脱离实际。

lamjin

ESL Podcast 845 – Dropping Out of College

http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=12776957

To  drop  out : is  a  two- word phrasal  verb  meaning to  stop  going to  school  before you  have  completed your  education  , before you  have  received your  degree  or certificate.
The  real  world:   when people  say  the real  world,  they mean  not  inside of   a  school, to  be  out where   people   are working,  doing  things like  making  money.
To  graduate:   means to  complete  your program.
A  degree:   is usually   a  word we   use   when you  finish  some  sort  of  college program.
Earning  power:  is the  ability  to make  a  lot of  money  from your  work.
Long-term  prospects:    are your  opportunities  for the  future,  for  many  years  into the  future.
Life  is  passing  me  by:   means that  you  feel  that  your  life is  very  boring,  that  you're  getting older  but  you're not  getting  more out  of  life , you're  not  enjoying  life  the  way other  people  enjoy life.
The  high  life : is  a  relaxed, comfortable ,  exciting  life spending  a  lot of  money  on your  own  comfort,  your  own  entertainment ,  a good  life.
To  blow  your money  on  something :  means  to  spend  it on  something  that isn't  very  important or  to  waste your  money  on something   that  isn't very  useful.
Paycheck: is  the  money you  receive   for working  at  your job.
To  not  stretch very  far:   means they  won't  be able  to  pay for  everything  they want  and need ,  because they  won't  have enough  money.
To  out-earn:  means to  earn  more than ,  to  get more  money  at a  job  than the  other  people.
Right  of  the gate :   means  immediately .
Delayed  gratification:   is waiting  for  the good  things.
Suffering :   pain
To  pay  off :  means  to  be worthwhile,   to  have benefits.
In  the   long run:  means  in the  future,  in the  long  term which  is  an expression  we  used earlier.
Graduate   school:   is where  you  go after  you  finish your  Bachelor's,   if you  want  Master's or  Doctorate  in something.  
Don't  push  it : means  stop  right there;  don't  try to  get  a better  deal  or don't  try  to  get  even more  out  of this  negotiation  or this  conversation.

Dawn

ESL Podcast 845 – Dropping Out of College

http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=12776957

To  drop  out : is  a  two- word phrasal  verb  meaning to  stop  going to  school  befor ...
lamjin 发表于 2012-12-16 14:40

                               
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I love the podcast, but I love the definitions of words and phrases even more than the podcast. Thanks for sharing!

lamjin

I love the podcast, but I love the definitions of words and phrases even more than the podcast. Thanks for sharing!
Dawn 发表于 2012-12-16 15:26

                               
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他们解释词语都是在特定语境下进行解释。 不像国内，给个很general 的中文解释，剩下的就靠个人理解了。 这这是为什么，国内人用词和本地人用词不一样。