2010年ESL之餐饮娱乐 09 Eating at a Casual Restaurant_在线英语听力室

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09 Eating at a Casual Restaurant

GLOSSARY

something the matter with – a problem or issue with something; something thatisn’t right or correct

* Is something the matter with your leg? You’re walking strangely.

how to put this – a phrase used when one is uncomfortable because one wantsto say something that might hurt another person’s feelings or be awkward

* I don’t know how to put this, but you should know that you don’t look very goodwhen you wear orange or yellow colors.

diner – a restaurant that serves informal, inexpensive meals

* This diner serves great fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

hole in the wall – a business, restaurant, or store that doesn’t look very nice andis not fancy

* I know this place looks like a hole in the wall, but it has very good service.

mom and pop – referring to a small business owned by a married couple or asmall family

* As a teenager, Ross spent each summer working in a mom and pop grocerystore down the street from his house.

it’s the (something) that counts – a phrase used to show that one particularthing is what really matters or what is really important, and nothing else is asimportant as that one thing

* It’s too bad you didn’t like his gift, but it’s the thought that counts. Wasn’t it anice surprise that he remembered your birthday?

ambiance – environment; the way that a place looks and how it feels to be there

* We could improve the store’s ambiance by changing the lighting and hangingsome plants from the ceiling.

greasy spoon – a small restaurant that serves a lot of inexpensive, informalfood, such as fried foods

* Can you recommend a greasy spoon in this town where I can get a hamburgerand really good French fries?

fancy – very nice, luxurious, and expensive; nicer than normal; nicer than otherversions of something

* The actress wore a very fancy dress that was made from silk and covered indiamonds.

tablecloth – a large piece of fabric or plastic placed over a table to protect it fromspilled food and drink and/or to make it look more beautiful

* Putting a lace tablecloth over that old table would make your dining room lookreally nice.

mood lighting – lights that are put in certain positions and turned on to specificlevels of brightness to make people feel a certain way

* To prepare for his date, TJ tried to use mood lighting to make his living roommore romantic, hanging small red cloths over the lamps to dim the light.

snooty – snobby; stuck-up; thinking that one is better than other people and nottreating those other people very well

* The people at the country club are really snooty to anyone who isn’t amillionaire.

booth – one part of a restaurant with two long, soft benches facing each otherwith a table in between, not a table with individual chairs

* Would you prefer one of these booths along the back wall, or a table by thewindow?

jukebox – a large machine that people put money into so that they can choosewhich song will be played next

* Old jukeboxes used to play records, but nowadays, they play CDs or even MP3files.

counter – a long, flat surface like a table, but attached to the floor or anotherpiece of furniture so that it cannot be moved, often used for preparing foods or forselling products

* The girl behind the counter said the store was sold out of umbrellas, but that anew shipment would arrive next week.

ahead of time – in advance; before something else happens; with early planning

* If you had told us you were coming ahead of time, we would have cleaned thehouse for your visit.

pie – a dessert made by baking fruit and sugar in a round, deep plate lined withpastry or dough, usually covered with pastry or dough, too

* Most Americans eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. What is a mom and pop restaurant?

a) A restaurant where the food reminds one of what one ate as a child.

b) A restaurant that was purchased for the owner by his or her parents.

c) A restaurant that is owned by a married couple or a small family.

2. Where would you expect to find a jukebox?

a) In a diner.

b) In a store.

c) In a fancy restaurant.

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WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

it’s the (something) that counts

The phrase “it’s the (something) that counts” is used to show that one particularthing is what really matters or what is really important, and nothing else is asimportant as that one thing: “It’s the employees’ performance that counts. If theycan’t do their job well, we’ll have to fire them, no matter how much we like themas individuals.” The phrase “to count (someone or something) as (someone orsomething)” means to think of a person or thing in a certain way: “I countMichelle as one of my dearest friends.” Finally, the phrase “to count on(someone or something) among (something)” means to rely on a person or thing:

“We’re counting on your donation to fund our programs for the poor this year.”

ahead of time

In this podcast, the phrase “ahead of time” means in advance or beforesomething else happens: “We plan to go to the mall a few hours ahead of time sothat we’ll have time to shop before the movie starts.” The phrase “ahead of(one’s) time” means futuristic, or relating to ideas or technologies that aren’t inuse yet: “Newton’s ideas about gravity were ahead of his time.” The phrase“behind the times” means old-fashioned or outdated, referring to something thatis no longer used or is no longer popular: “The style of their living room is reallybehind the times, so their children are trying to get them to paint and buy newfurniture.” Finally, the phrase “past the time” describes something that is late oroverdue: “It’s past the time for you to go to bed!”

CULTURE NOTE

Traditionally, a “diner” was a special kind of “prefabricated” (built with standardsizes; not customized) restaurant building. These were long, narrow buildingsthat could be moved down the road or pulled by trains, and they made it easy forrestaurants to be opened very quickly. Many of the diners had a “stainless steel”

(made from a shiny, silver-colored metal) “exterior” (outside part) and a lot ofstainless steel “accents” (decorations; accessories) on the “interior” (inside part),too.

Today, any restaurant that looks similar to a traditional diner and serves dinerstylefood might be called a diner, even if it isn’t “housed” (located) in aprefabricated restaurant building. Modern diners “tend to be” (are usually) largerand have more “seating” (the number of seats for customers) than moretraditional diners.

Traditionally diners were open 24 hours a day, at a time when few other“establishments” (businesses) were open all night long. This made them popular“gathering places” (places for people to meet and spend time together) late atnight and early in the morning. “Present-day” (modern) diners might also beopen 24-hours, but is no longer as common as it once was.

Traditional and modern diners tend to serve the same simple kinds of food:

hamburgers, sandwiches, French fries, pancakes, and eggs. It is also verycommon for diners to serve pie, ice cream, and coffee.

Many modern diners are decorated so that they look like diners from the 1950s.

The waitresses might wear “poodle skirts” (very large, full skirts that were popularin the middle of the century), the jukebox might play music from that time period,and any artwork hanging on the walls might “date back to” (come from a certainperiod in history) the “mid-century” (around the 1950s).

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Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 618: Eating at aCasual Restaurant.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 618. I’m your host, Dr.

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

Our website is eslpod.com. Go there to download a Learning Guide for thisepisode. If you are serious in improving your English, then you’ll want to look atour Learning Guide.

This episode is called “Eating at a Casual Restaurant.” It’s a dialogue betweenRussell and Nadia using vocabulary you associate with eating at a casual or lessexpensive restaurant. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Russell: Why aren’t you eating? Is there something the matter with your food?

Nadia: No, the food is fine.

Russell: What’s wrong?

Nadia: I’m not sure how to put this. I really like going to diners and hole in thewalls with you, and I love mom and pop restaurants as much as you do. For me,it’s the food that counts, not the ambiance, but…Russell: I thought you’d love this place. It’s my favorite greasy spoon.

Nadia: I do like it. It’s just that when you invited me out for my birthday and saidthat it would be something really special, I thought you might take mesomewhere else.

Russell: Is that why you wore that nice new dress? You thought I was takingyou to a fancy restaurant, with tablecloths, mood lighting, and snooty waiters.

Nadia: Well…

Russell: This is much better, don’t you think? We get to sit in this comfortablebooth, listen to the jukebox, and watch our food being cooked behind thecounter. I can’t think of a better dining experience. Don’t you agree?

Nadia: Uh, sure.

Russell: And don’t think you’re not getting something special for your birthday. Iplanned it all ahead of time.

Nadia: You did? Really? What is it?

Russell: I ordered you a whole pie!

[end of dialogue]

Russell begins our dialogue by asking Nadia, “Why aren’t you eating? Is theresomething the matter with your food?” The expression “something the matterwith” means a problem with something, something that isn’t right, something isn’tcorrect. This is a very common expression in American English: “Is there’ssomething the matter with you?” That means is there something wrong with you,is there a problem. Or you might say, “There’s something the matter with thetelevision. It isn’t working correctly.” It’s a good expression to know; it is verycommon in conversational English.

Nadia says, answering Russell’s question, “No, the food is fine.” The food isokay. Russell then says, “What’s wrong?” Nadia says, “I’m not sure how to putthis.” The phrase “how to put this” or “how to put it” is used when you want tosay something but you are afraid that what you are going to say will hurt theother person’s feelings or that it will make them angry or upset. So you mightsay, “Well, I don’t know how to put this, but you should really not wear that dress.

It doesn’t look good on you.” Husbands, I recommend this with your wives. Youshould just tell them that they don’t look good in their dresses. I’m kidding, ofcourse. If you believe that you won’t be married very long!

Nadia says, “I really like going to diners and hole in the walls with you, and I lovemom and pop restaurants as much as you do.” Nadia describes three kinds ofrestaurants, similar kinds of informal, casual, less expensive restaurants. Thefirst is a diner. A “diner” typically has a kitchen that is somewhat in the open; youcan see it. There’s typically a long what we would call a “counter,” which is aplace where people can sit, sort of like a bar where there’s a long piece of wood– a long piece of furniture that everyone sits in front of. In other words, it’s not like a table, where you sit on one side and I sit on the other. Now, diners will alsohave tables. Sometimes they’ll have a special kind of table, which we call a“booth.” Actually, what’s special about it is the seats. Instead of being individualchairs, a booth has sort of like a little couch on each side of the table.

Well, anyway. Diners serve informal, inexpensive meals. Diners are oftenassociated with the 1950s and 60s. That’s when they were very popular, whenAmerica started driving and diners were places you could drive to and eat andget a cheap meal. A “hole in the wall” describes any business, including arestaurant, that doesn’t look very nice, especially from the outside, and is notexpensive or fancy. A hole in the wall could be a bar, it could be a restaurant, it’san informal place. Somewhat of a negative description: a hole (hole) in the wall.

A “mom and pop” business refers to any business that is typically owned by afamily, usually a mother and a father. “Mom” is mother; “pop” is a old word forfather – dad. But we don’t say “a mom and dad store,” we say “a mom and popstore,” any business, restaurant, store that is owned by a family – a small family.

It’s their business; both mother and father, and often children work in thebusiness.

So, Nadia says that she likes going to diners and hole in the walls and mom andpop restaurants. “For me,” she says, “it’s the food that counts, not theambiance.” “The food that counts” is a form of a more general expression: “it’sthe (something) that counts.” This phrase is used to show that one particularthing is what is really important, what really matters. For some people, if they goon vacation they don’t care about how much it costs, they don’t care about whatkind of room they have at the hotel, it’s the temperature – it’s the weather thatcounts. That’s the most important for them, that it be warm for example. Wellthat’s what Nadia is saying, the most important thing is the food at a restaurant,not the ambiance. I should mention that there are some other meanings comingfrom that expression, “it’s the (something) that counts,” and those can be found inthe Learning Guide. Getting back to “ambiance” (ambiance), that’s a generalword to describe the environment, or more specifically here, the way that a placelooks, especially a restaurant or a bar. How it feels, what kind of lighting it has,what the furniture is like, all of these things are part of the ambiance.

So you can get the idea here that Nadia is probably going to complain about theambiance, even though she says the food is the most important thing, because atthe end of this sentence she says “but…” – “it’s the food that counts, not theambiance, but…” and Russell says, “I thought you’d love this place (meaning Ithought you would love this place). It’s my favorite greasy spoon.” A “greasy(greasy) spoon,” like the spoon you eat with, is a small restaurant that serves informal foods, so it’s similar to the other expressions we used, but specifically itoften serves fried foods such as hamburgers and French fries. Well, hamburgersaren’t fried, but the French fries are. That’s what a greasy spoon is. “Grease” isanother word here for “fat.” It’s usually a negative way of describing a restaurant.

Russell says that it’s his favorite greasy spoon, the restaurant where they arenow. Nadia says, “I do like it. It’s just that” – this is another way of saying“however” – “It’s just that when you invited me out for my birthday and said that itwould be something really special (really nice), I thought you might take mesomewhere else.”

Russell says, “Is that why you wore that nice new dress? You thought I wastaking you to a fancy restaurant.” “Fancy” (fancy) means very nice, veryexpensive. A fancy restaurant would have, for example, “tablecloths” on thetables. This is a piece of material – a piece of cloth you put on top of the table tomake it look nice, typically white. You might also find mood (mood) lighting.

“Mood lighting” is when the lights are used to create a certain atmosphere – acertain ambiance. Often the lights are lower than they would be, less bright forexample. A fancy restaurant might also have snooty waiters. “Snooty” (snooty)is a good word. Someone who is snooty is someone who thinks they are betterthan other people, and therefore does not treat the other people very well. I sayit’s a good word not because it’s a good word to describe someone, it’s anegative way of describing someone, but it’s a common word. Other words thatmean something similar are “snobby” (snobby), and more informally “stuck-up”

(stuck-up). All of these are describing someone who thinks they are better thanthe other people around them and doesn’t treat them very well. So, a fancyrestaurant might have snooty “waiters,” the people who come and ask what youwant to eat and bring you your food.

Nadia says, “Well…” Russell then replies, “This is much better, don’t you think?

We get to sit in this comfortable booth,” remember the booth is where you havetwo something like small couches, although they are usually made from plastic,around the sides of the table. Russell says, “We get to sit in this comfortablebooth, listen to the jukebox, and watch our food being cooked behind thecounter.” A “jukebox” (jukebox – one word) is a large machine that you putmoney into and it will play a song for you. Some bars and restaurants havejukeboxes, especially diners that we talked about earlier. A “counter,” we alsotalked about earlier, is like a very long table where the people sit on one side andon the other side there is usually part of the kitchen, and there is a waiter orwaitress that works on the other side of the counter, so everyone is facing thesame direction. That’s a counter.

Russell says, “I can’t think of a better dining experience (a better place to eat).

Don’t you agree?” Nadia, of course, does not agree, but she wants to be nice toRussell. She says, “Uh, sure.” Russell says, “And don’t think you’re not gettingsomething special for your birthday. I planned it all ahead of time (I planned it allin advance).” “Ahead of time” means before something happens. Nadia getsexcited about this special thing she’s going to get. She says, “You did? Really?

What is it?” And Russell, very disappointingly says, from Nadia’s perspective, “Iordered you a whole pie!” (pie), which is a dessert made usually by baking fruit ina round container that has what we would call “pastry” or dough on the bottomand on the top. There are different ways of making pies. Of course, a pie is notreally what Nadia was hoping for in terms of a special gift. So Russell, we think,clearly needs to understand women better!

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