2010年ESL之日常生活 04 Being Forgetful_在线英语听力室

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04 Being Forgetful

GLOSSARY

to forget – to not remember something; to have no memory of something

* Was your wife mad when you forgot her birthday?

etched in my brain – memorized; permanently “written down” in one’s mind sothat one cannot forget something

* The joy I felt when my son was born will always be etched in my brain.

to slip (one’s) mind – to forget something; to not remember something; to haveno memory of something

* Davy forgot to do the homework assignment and told the teacher it had justslipped his mind.

preoccupied – worried or thinking about something else; distracted

* Lately Shaun has been preoccupied with his mother’s health, and hisperformance at work is suffering as a result.

to remind – to help someone remember something, especially to remember todo something

* Cristian wrote himself a note to remind himself to pick up milk at the grocerystore on his way home from work.

to be wrapped up in (something) – to be busy with something; to be veryinvolved in a project or task

* The children were so wrapped up in watching the movie that they didn’t heartheir parents calling for them.

absentminded – forgetful and easily distracted; not able to remember things

* He’s so absentminded that he’d forget his own head if it weren’t attached to hisneck!

to jog (one’s) memory – to remind someone of something; to help someoneremember something

* Seeing photos of old friends sometimes jogs our memory and helps usremember things that happened long ago.

committed to memory – memorized; known so well that one can repeat thedetails without looking at written notes

* Do you have any favorite poems committed to memory?

a repeat of – a recurrence; something that happens again just like it did before

* Last night, I had a repeat of that scary dream where I’m running away from apurple monster with sharp teeth.

to show up – to arrive at a particular place at a particular time; to come,especially if one is expected to be there

* Please show up for your medical appointment 15 minutes early so you’ll haveenough time to fill out all the insurance paperwork.

amnesia – a medical condition in which one cannot remember what happenedduring a certain period of time, usually because one was hit on the head or had avery traumatic and frightening experience

* After the car accident, Lorenzo had amnesia and couldn’t remember what hadhappened.

incident – event; something that has happened

* Please describe the key incidents that led to the beginning of World War I.

to throw in (someone’s) face – to remind someone of something, especiallywhen it is something that he or she would rather forget

* Yes, I know I failed my driving test, but you don’t have to throw it in my face. Ialready feel bad enough.

to give (someone) a hard time – to tease someone; to do and say things thatmake another person feel uncomfortable or sad

* Why do all the kids at school give Fabio a hard time?

scatterbrained – easily distracted and unable to concentrate or focus

* Roxana is so scatterbrained that she forgets to pick up her kids from schoolunless they call to remind her.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. What does Pete mean when he says that he was wrapped up in work lastweek?

a) He has new and unfamiliar duties at work.

b) It was his first week in a new job.

c) He was very busy with work last week.

2. Which of these phrases means “etched in my brain”?

a) Slipped my mind.

b) Committed to memory.

c) Absentminded.

______________

WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

to be wrapped up in

The phrase “to be wrapped up in (something),” in this podcast, means to be busywith something, or to be very involved in a project or task: “Every year at thistime, they’re really wrapped up in preparing for the holidays.” The phrase “towrap (something) up” means to package something, or to fold a piece of coloredpaper around something to give it away as a present: “Could you please wrap upthree steaks for me?” Or, “You did a beautiful job wrapping up Uncle Bernardo’sbirthday gift.” The phrase “that’s a wrap” means that something is finished, andis often used in Hollywood: “That’s a wrap! Good work, actors. I think we haveeverything we need on tape.”

to show up

In this podcast, the phrase “to show up” means to come or arrive at a particularplace at a particular time: “What time did Santiago show up at the office?” Thephrase “to show (someone) up” means to do something better than anotherperson, or to make another person look worse or less important than oneself:

“Gwen showed us all up, wearing her most beautiful dress and most elegantjewelry to the dinner party.” Finally, the phrase “to show off” means to drawattention to something, especially if it is something that other people don’t have,but would like to have: “Did you see the way Mandy was showing off her expensive engagement ring, practically putting her finger in front of our eyes allevening?”

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CULTURE NOTE

There are many popular children’s card games, and some of them require a goodmemory. “Concentration” is a popular children’s card game with many “pairs”

(groups of two) cards that have an image on one side. The cards are placed“face down” (with the image hidden) in a “grid” (with straight rows and columns).

The children take turns “flipping” (turning) over two cards at a time, looking for a“match” (two cards with the same image). The player with the most matchingpairs at the end of the game is the winner.

“Crazy Eights” is another popular game, but it is played with a “standard”

(normal) “deck of cards” (set of 52 playing cards). Each child begins with eightcards. One card is flipped over so everyone can see it, and the children taketurns laying down a card that has either the same number or the same “suit”

(hearts, diamonds, spades, or clubs). The child can also play an eight andannounce which new suit is now “in play” (being played). If a child doesn’t havean appropriate card to lay down, he or she must “draw cards” (adding cards toone’s hand from the pile) until he or she can. The winner is the child who “runsout of cards” (has no cards left in his or her hand) first.

In “Go Fish,” the cards are “divided evenly,” so that each player has the samenumber of cards. Any matching pairs (for example, two red threes) are put downon the table. The players take turns asking each other, “Do you have any twos?”

or “Do you have any kings?” If the answer is no, the player says “Go fish,” andthe asker has to draw a card. If the answer is yes, the player must give awaythose cards that match the request. Any matching pairs are put down on thetable. The child who runs out of cards first is the winner.

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – b

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 561: BeingForgetful.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 561. I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Go to our website at eslpod.com. Download a Learning Guide for this episodethat will help you improve your English even faster. You can also take look at ourESL Podcast Store with additional courses in English, and our ESL PodcastBlog.

This episode is called…uh…I forgot…oh yeah, “Being Forgetful.” Let’s getstarted.

[start of dialogue]

Charlize: You won’t forget that we’re going over to the Wong’s for dinnertomorrow night, will you?

Pete: It’s etched in my brain. I won’t forget.

Charlize: It slipped your mind last week that we were meeting Donna at themovies, remember?

Pete: I was preoccupied last week, but I won’t forget about tomorrow night.

Charlize: I’m reminding you because the week before that, you forgot to cashthat check at the bank. Remember that?

Pete: I didn’t forget. I was just a little wrapped up in work that week. I’m notusually absentminded, you know.

Charlize: Right. Do you want me to send you an email tomorrow morning to jogyour memory?

Pete: That won’t be necessary. I have the day, time, and even their addresscommitted to memory. Do you want to test me?

Charlize: No, I don’t, but I just want to make sure we don’t have a repeat of whathappened last month. You were supposed to meet me at the Donnelly’s at 8:00and you never showed up. Remember that?

Pete: No, I don’t. I have amnesia. I won’t remember any other incident youwant to throw in my face. I thought last week you said you would stop giving mea hard time about my bad memory. Remember that?

Charlize: Uh, no, I don’t.

Pete: I guess I’m not the only one who’s scatterbrained!

[end of dialogue]

Charlize begins our dialogue – I think this is the famous actress Charlize Theron,I’m not sure – by saying, “You won’t forget that we’re going over to the Wong’sfor dinner tomorrow night, will you?” “To forget” means not to remembersomething, to have no memory of something. Charlize is using one of the manyways to ask a question in English, using something called a “tag” question: “Youwon’t forget that we’re going over to the Wong’s for dinner tomorrow night, willyou?”

Pete says, “It’s etched in my brain.” Something that is “etched (etched) in yourbrain” means that you have memorized it, you have permanently written it downin your mind so that you cannot possibly forget it. Sometimes we use thatexpression for very happy things, sometimes for very sad things. Pete says, “Iwon’t forget.” Charlize responds, “It slipped your mind last week that we weremeeting Donna at the movies, remember?” “To slip (slip) your mind” means toforget something, not to remember something: John said, “I was supposed to getmarried this afternoon but it slipped my mind, just forgot all about it!”

Pete says, “I was preoccupied last week, but I won’t forget about tomorrownight.” “To be preoccupied” means to be worried about something else, to bethinking about something else; we might also say “to be distracted.” Charlizesays, “I’m reminding you because the week before that (meaning two weeksago), you forgot to cash that check at the bank.” “To remind (someone)” meansto help someone remember something, to remember to do something by tellingthem, perhaps over and over, or sending them an email: don’t forget to do this.

Charlize is reminding Pete because he forgot to cash a check at the bank. “To cash a check” means to go into a bank with a piece of paper called a “check,”

give it to the person working at the bank, and in exchange they give you backmoney.

Charlize mentions how Pete forgot to cash this check two weeks ago, and thenasks him, “Remember that (do you remember)?” Pete says, “I didn’t forget. Iwas just a little wrapped up in work that week.” “To be wrapped (wrapped) up in(something)” means to be very busy with something, to be very involved in acertain task – a certain thing that you are doing. The word “wrap” has a couple ofdifferent meanings in English; take a look at the Learning Guide for some moreinformation. Pete says, “I’m not usually absentminded, you know.” “To beabsentminded” (one word) means to be forgetful, to be easily distracted, not tobe able to remember things. There’s an old expression about the absentmindedprofessor, the idea is that university professors are so busy with their intellectualtasks that they forget to do basic things like get their car washed or buy food tomake dinner. That would be an absentminded professor.

Well, here Pete is saying that he is not absentminded. Actually, he says, “I’m notusually absentminded, you know.” Charlize says, “Right.” She says, “Right,”

which would normally mean I agree with you, but when you say it a certain way itmeans the opposite: I don’t believe you, I don’t agree with you. Often people willsay, “Yeah, right,” that means I don’t believe you. So Charlize says, “Right,” shedoesn’t believe him, then asks him, “Do you want me to send you an emailtomorrow morning to jog (jog) your memory?” “To jog (someone’s) memory”

means to remind someone of something, to help someone remember something.

If you are going out early tomorrow morning and you don’t want to forget yourlunch, you may put a little note on the door that says “bring lunch.” That note willjog your memory; it will remind you of what you are supposed to do.

Charlize is offering to send Pete an email to jog his memory about their dinner atthe Wong’s tomorrow night. Pete says, “That won’t be necessary (no, you do notneed to do that). I have the day, time, and even their address committed tomemory.” When we say something is “committed to memory,” it’s similar to theprevious expression “etched in my brain.” It means you’ve memorized it, youknow it so well you can repeat it without even looking at it. Most Americans havecommitted to memory, for example, certain patriotic songs. Because they’veheard them so often, they know them, we would say, “by heart,” they have thememorized. Pete then asks Charlize, “Do you want to test me (do you want meto answer questions so that I can prove that I know)?”

Charlize says, “No, I don’t, but I just want to make sure we don’t have a repeat ofwhat happened last month.” A “repeat of (something)” is when somethinghappens again, just like it did before. We would also use the word “recurrence.”

It “occurs,” or it happens, again. Charlize says, “You were supposed to meet meat the Donnelly’s at 8:00 and you never showed up.” Pete was supposed to meetCharlize at the Donnelly’s. Notice if we’re talking about someone’s house,especially a family in a house, we’ll often use the form “the” and the name of theperson with an “s” at the end: “We’re going over to the McQuillan’s.” We’re goingover to the McQuillan house, the house that belongs to the family namedMcQuillan. There is an apostrophe before the “s,” so it would be “McQuillan’

(apostrophe),” which is like a little comma, but up above the word, and then the“s.” It indicates possession; we’re really saying the McQuillan’s house.

Pete was supposed to show up, but didn’t. He never showed up. “To show up”

is a phrasal verb meaning to arrive at a particular place at a particular time, to gosomewhere when you are expected. “My friend told me that we would meet atthe café at 3:00, but I waited for an hour and she never showed up.” “Show” hasmany different meanings, including other phrasal verbs. You can get moreinformation in this episode’s Learning Guide.

Charlize says, “Remember that?” Pete says, “No, I don’t. I have amnesia(amnesia).” “Amnesia” is a medical condition where you can’t remember whathappened during a certain period of time. Usually this is because you were hiton the head or had a very frightening experience. You might forget everything;you might even forget who you are and where you live. That would be a seriouscase of amnesia. Pete says, “I don’t remember because I have amnesia.” He’sprobably joking, of course. He then says, “I won’t remember any other incident(any other event, anything else that happened) you want to throw in my face.” “Iwon’t remember any other (any additional) incident you want to throw in my face(or that you will throw in my face).” “To throw (something) in (someone’s) face”

means to remind someone of something, especially if it’s something that theperson wants to forget but you keep reminding them. Usually it’s something badthat happened or something that someone did wrong. They made a mistake,and you keep throwing that mistake in their face; you keep reminding them.

That’s what Pete thinks Charlize is doing; he says, “I thought last week you(Charlize) said you would stop giving me a hard time about my bad memory.”

“To give (someone) a hard time” means to do or say things that make the otherperson feel uncomfortable, to make a joke about them. We would also used theverb, here, “to tease” (tease), to make jokes about something that someone didwrong.

Pete says, “Remember that (remember when you said you weren’t going to giveme a hard time)?” Charlize says, “Uh, no, I don’t.” Pete then says, “I guess I’mnot the only one who’s scatterbrained!” “To be scatterbrained” is similar to “to beabsentminded,” you’re unable to focus, you’re easily distracted, you areconstantly forgetting things. That would be someone who is scatterbrained.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.