ESL Podcast 847 – Experiencing a Blackout

 　　George: Whoa, what happened?

 

　　Inga: The lights went out. Did we blow a fuse, or is this a blackout?

 

　　George: Well, I don’t see any lights on in any of the houses down the street. It’s pitch black out there.

 

　　Inga: So it’s another power outage. Somehow the circuits got overloaded¹ again. I wonder how long we’ll have to do without electricity this time.

 

　　George: I wonder if it’s our power grid² or if this is a citywide blackout. All right, we’d better light a few candles. There’s no telling how long this will last.

 

　　Inga: No, it’s not like last summer when we had rolling blackouts because of the surge in demand due to the heat. Do you remember how we passed those hours of darkness?

 

　　George: Yes, I do. What are you suggesting?

 

　　Inga: I’m just saying that there’s no reason to waste a perfectly³ good blackout.

 

　　Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 overloaded   

a.超载的，超负荷的

参考例句：

• He's overloaded with responsibilities. 他担负的责任过多。
• She has overloaded her schedule with work, study, and family responsibilities. 她的日程表上排满了工作、学习、家务等，使自己负担过重。

2 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。