englishpod_B0085pb

欢迎关注微信公众号“xitongyingyu", (系统英语笔记），后台回复 "Englishpod”领取pdf 完美打印版用来复习哦。

***

M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

E: And I’m Erica.

M: And today we’re bringing you another lesson on our sports series.

E: Uhu. We’re talking about baseball today.

M: Baseball – the American national pastime. [NOTE: pastime = an activity or

entertainment that makes time pass pleasantly]

E: Is it?

M: Yes, it is.

E: Okay.

M: So, we’re gonna be looking at this interesting sport that is played mainly in the

Caribbean and, well, it’s actually very popular in the United States and Japan.

E: That’s right.

M: Korea.

E: Yeah. So, we’re not only gonna learn a bunch of baseball language, but we’re also going

to see how baseball has a big influence on English in general. [NOTE: a bunch of something

= a lot of something]

M: That’s right, so, we’re gonna learn a lot of great things today. So, why don’t we start and

listen to our dialogue?

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

E: Alright, well, a pretty exiting game there at Richie Stadium

M: Exactly, and we have some interesting players: Roger Vargas and Brian Okami.

E: Uhu.

M: Alright, so, well, we saw some great words and, well, it’s time for us to take a look at

them now in “language takeaway”.

Voice: Language takeaway.

E: Okay, we’re gonna look at some, uh, common sports and baseball words here. And the

first phrase – we’ll hear this almost at any sort of international sports event, right?

M: Exactly, and it’s the national anthem.

E: National anthem.

M: National anthem.

E: So, this is a song, right?

M: Exactly, it’s the song that you sing about your country. And many people confuse it,

right?

E: Yeah, a lot of people might say “national hymn”.

M: Okay, hymn. Because in some languages it might be like a hymn.

E: Uhu.

M: Like literally translating.

E: Yeah

M: But in English it’s called the national anthem.

E: The national anthem.

M: Alright. So, what about our next word?

E: Well, we were talking about the pitcher.

M: Pitcher.

E: P-I-T-C-H-E-R.

M: The pitcher.

E: Pitcher.

M: Okay, and now this is one of the players on a baseball team. And his job is to…

E: To throw the ball.

M: To throw the ball really fast.

E: So that the guy can’t hit it with the bat.

M: Okay, so, that’s the pitcher.

E: Uhu.

M: Now, the interesting thing is that the baseball commentator said “the pitcher winds up”.

E: Winds up.

M: To wind up

E: To wind up. Okay, well, let me paint you a picture.

M: Okay.

E: So, imagine a clock.

M: Aha.

E: And you’re turning, turning and turning the clock to wind it up, to get it ready to go.

M: To make it work.

E: Exactly.

M: Uhu.

E: So, imagine the pitcher doing the same sort of a thing – bringing his arm back behind

them, getting ready to throw the ball.

M: Okay, so, that is to wind up.

E: Uhu.

M: Very good. So, you can use this word not only in baseball, but for other things that

require you to do this action.

E: Right, to turn something and get it… get it ready to have lots of power.

M: Like some toys.

E: Yeah.

M: Or maybe like a m… a music box.

E: Uhu.

M: Okay, wind up. What about our next phrase?

E: Well, Roger Vargas hit a line drive.

M: Line drive.

E: Line drive.

M: Okay, so, what is a line drive?

E: Well, it’s a term from baseball and when you hit a line drive, you hit the ball sort of low…

M: Uhu.

E: On towards the ground and it… it travels along the outside of the field.

M: Right, so, the ball basically travels along the foul line.

E: Uhu, the white line.

M: The white line.

E: Yeah.

M: Exactly. Very good, so, that’s a line drive.

E: And, so, the players on the field were scrambling to get the ball.

M: Scrambling.

E: Scrambling.

M: Now, we know scrambled eggs form one of our lessons.

E: Yes, uh, but the verb to scramble means to, um, move quickly in a disorganized way to

do something.

M: Okay, so, the players are moving very fast, trying to get the ball, but they’re not dong it

very well. 

E: Right. And you can use this other ways, right? Not just in baseball.

M: Right, for example, we can say “the people are scrambling to buy their tickets for the

concert”.

E: Yeah, or I’m going on vacation tomorrow and I’m scrambling to get everything ready.

M: Exactly, it’s a very good term that you can use also in your daily life.

E: Exactly.

M: Alright. And what about our last word for today on language takeaway?

E: Well, they were in the fifth inning of the game.

M: Okay, so, inning.

E: Inning.

M: Inning.

E: Alright, this is another baseball term.

M: Uhu.

E: And, um, it… it just means the period of play.

M: Okay, so, we learned, for example, that in soccer you have two halves.

E: Uhu. Or in hockey, you have three periods.

M: Alright. And in baseball you have nine innings.

E: Okay, great, so, some interesting sports and baseball vocabulary. Now, I think it’ll help

us to hear this again slower. So, let’s listen to the dialogue.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: Alright, so, as we said, there’re a lot of English terms that come form baseball, but we

use them in business context or in your daily life, right?

E: Yeah, why don’t we look at those now in “fluency builder”?

Voice: Fluency builder.

M: Alright, so, the first phrase that we have is up to bat.

E: Up to bat.

M: Up to bat.

E: So, literally in this dialogue it means the guy is standing on home plate ready to hit the

ball, right?

M: Right. He has the bat and he’s ready to hit it.

E: But what about in other contexts?

M: So, for example, you can be at a meeting.

E: Uhu.

M: And maybe it’s your turn to talk.

E: So, you’re up to bat.

M: So, the b… yeah, exactly. Your boss will say “okay, Erica, you’re up to bat”.

E: Okay, so, it means sort of like it’s your tern.

M: It’s your turn.

E: Yeah.

M: Very good.

E: Uhu.

M: Alright, so, that’s another term that is used in baseball, but very commonly used in other

circumstances.

E: So, we also saw, um, in the dialogue that Roger Vargas, um… he hit the ball, but he

missed and that was strike one.

M: Right. Strike one.

E: Uhu.

M: So, in baseball you have three strikes.

E: Three tries.

M: Three tries before you’re out.

E: Yes.

M: And, so, now the same thing happens in daily life.

E: So, um, if someone says “that was strike one”.

M: It means you made the first mistake.

E: Yes, and if you make two more, you will be fired, for example.

M: Maybe.

E: Yeah.

M: Aha. Or maybe your parents will say “okay, you… that wasn’t nice, strike one”.

E: And then two more times and you’ll have a time out. [NOTE: a time out = sort of a

punishment when a child must stop playing for a while]

M: Or you’ll be grounded. [NOTE: to be grounded = sort of a punishment when a child

must stay home for a certain period of time; i.e. they can’t go out and hang out with their

friends]

E: Yes.

M: Okay, so, that’s also called a strike. And the pitcher threw a curve ball.

E: A curve ball.

M: Curve ball.

E: So, okay, pretty clear. A curve ball is when you throw the ball and it sort of goes on a

curve, it doesn’t goes straight, right?

M: Right, exactly.

E: But how can this be used outside of baseball?

M: So, you can say “oh, my boss threw me a curve ball today”.

E: So, he gave you an unexpected problem.

M: Aha, or something that was difficult to handle.

E: Okay, um, this one is pretty interesting. I’d like to hear a few more examples.

Voice: Example one.

A: My boss threw me a curve ball today, so I have to stay in work late.

Voice: Example two.

B: It was a huge curve ball when she asked me how many kids I wanted to have. How am I

supposed to know?

M: Alright, so, that’s basically a curve ball. You can say a non-expected problem…

E: Yeah.

M: Or situation.

E: That’s right.

M: And our last phrase - and, well, probably one that’s you already know – home run.

E: A home run.

M: A home run.

E: From baseball we know that that’s when you hit the ball really far.

M: And you hit it outside of the… of the playing area or outside the park.

E: Yes.

M: And now if you use it a business context or in your daily life…

E: Uhu. It means something similar. Why don’t we take a listen to the examples and see if

we can figure it our.

Voice: Example one.

A: Great job on that sales presentation. You really hit a home run.

Voice: Example two.

B: Our sales team hit a home run this month by doubling our revenue.

M: Okay, so, basically, a home run is a success.

E: A victory.

M: A victory.

E: Yeah, something a big accomplishment.

M: That’s right. So, we’ve seen a lot of these great phrases and as you can see a lot of

them from baseball are used in your daily life and there many, many more.

E: Okay, well, why don’t we hear them again in the baseball context and we listen to the

dialogue one more time?

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

M: Alright, so, an interesting dialogue; a very interesting sport.

E: Uhu.

M: And, well, personally I never played this as a child.

E: Uh, me neither, really.

M: I don’t really like it too much, but it is kind of fun to… go to a game and especially in the

United States have those hot dogs and all that stuff.

E: Okay, yeah.

M: Hehe.

E: Well, a cultural event; a really important piece of American culture.

M: Exactly. So, well, we encourage you to come to our website englishpod.com; tell us

what you think and also, of course, if you have questions or doubts, be sure to tell us.

E: If you have any other sort of baseball-related phrases, let us know about them on the

website.

M: Okay, so, we’ll see you guys there.

E: Thanks for downloading and until next time… Good bye!

M: Bye!