EC042_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 42

TOPICS

Topics: Online dating, Pulitzer Prize winners, sitting duck, pronouncing cheap vs.

chip and thank vs. tank, to cross your fingers

_____________

GLOSSARY

stigma – a negative opinion people have about a something, some action, or

activity; to be thought of in a negative way

* In the past, there was a stigma attached to being a single mother in the United

States.

matchmaker – a person who finds a romantic partner (boyfriend, girlfriend) for

you

* My cousin was my matchmaker. She introduced me to my new girlfriend at a

party.

lucrative – an activity or business that makes a lot of money

* Being a teacher in the United States is not as lucrative as being a doctor or a

lawyer.

to fill out a survey – to answer questions or complete a form asking for

information or your opinions about something

* After I completed my meal at the restaurant, the manager asked me to fill out a

survey about the food and the waiter who served me.

skeptical – adjective used to describe a situation or idea that you find difficult to

believe; doubt about the truth of someone or something

* I’m skeptical about what you said last night about the moon. I don’t really

believe that it is made of cheese, like you do.

to wink – to close and open one eye quickly; sometimes used to indicate that

you like someone; can also be used to indicate to someone that what you are

saying is a joke or is a secret

* I think that beautiful woman looked at me and winked, but I’m not sure.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 42

specialty – some skill or area of specialization; a very specific talent or area of

interest

* I wanted to find a specialty dating website for people who like Star Wars.

speed dating – a meeting where you get to talk to several possible romantic

partners for a short amount of time to see if you want to date any of them

* My friend Roy met his girlfriend at a speed dating night.

to hurry – to go quickly

* I have to hurry so I won’t be late for my dentist’s appointment.

to blink – to close and open both eyes quickly; sometimes used to mean a very

short amount of time

* I blinked and suddenly, she was gone.

executioner – a person who kills a prisoner with the permission of the

government

* The executioners in the French Revolution killed the family of the king and

queen.

sitting duck – used to describe someone who is easy to attack; someone

without any defense against enemies

* The president usually has people who guard and protect her. If she went

somewhere without the police, she would be a sitting duck.

rifle – a gun used to hunt animals or used by soldiers in a war

* My brother-in-law is going to go deer hunting with his new rifle next week.

to cross your fingers – to wish for good luck or good fortune

* I am crossing my fingers that I will pass my exam.

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 42

ENGLISH LEARNING TIPS

Listening to podcasts is a good way to improve your English listening and

speaking ability. Some Internet news websites provide special programs for

people who are trying to learn English. One of these is called Voice of America’s

(VOA) Special English. VOA’s Special English uses easy vocabulary to talk

about different news stories in the United States and in other countries. These

stories are easier to read and understand than regular news stories in English.

Everyday, the VOA also has an audio podcast with that day’s news. These news

stories on their podcast are read at a slow rate, like ESL Podcast, so that you

can understand them more easily. Although there are no explanations like you

find on ESL Podcast, they are still a good way to listen to more comprehensible

English.

Another website that provides special English help is the British Broadcast

Company, or BBC. The BBC has a special section on its website to help people

learn English through the news. The BBC website has stories written in easy

language, with definitions of difficult words after some of their stories. You can

read the story and listen to an audio file of someone reading the story to you.

Websites:

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/index.cfm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2006). Posting of

these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 42

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café

Number 42.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast English Café. I'm your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in

the beautiful city of Los Angeles, California. On today's Café we're going to talk

about online dating, people who find their romantic partner on the Internet - talk

about some popular services here in the United States for that. We're also going

to talk about the most famous prize for writing in the United States, the Pulitzer

Prize. And as always, we'll answer a few of your questions.

Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com for a complete transcript of this

podcast. We provide an eight to ten page Learning Guide for every podcast that

we do, and you can get the definitions and example sentences and cultural

information, tips on learning English, lots of good things to help you with your

English by going to our website. Now, let's get started.

Well, our first topic on the Café today is an interesting one, I think. It's about

online dating, people who find a romantic partner on the Internet. Now, many

years ago when I was much younger, back in the 1920s, there was a certain

stigma about using the Internet for dating. A stigma, "stigma," it's a Greek word

originally, and in English it means that people don't think it's very nice, people

think that there's something wrong with it. That expression…that word rather, a

stigma, is often connected with the verb attach. We say, "There's a stigma

attached to online dating." There's a…it's like a bad reputation, a bad opinion

that people have of it. But, things have changed in the last ten years and now

many people, especially in big cities, like Los Angeles and New York, use these

online dating services. There are many possible reasons why that is. Many

people say that people today are not as close, the communities and families are

not as close, so the opportunities to meet people, for young people, is not as

great as it used to be. And so, online dating is what we call using the Internet as

a matchmaker. A matchmaker, "matchmaker," all one word, is or was

traditionally a person who helps find someone for you, a romantic partner for you.

So, I may know a friend of mine, who's looking for a girlfriend, and I know a

woman, who's looking for a boyfriend; I introduce the two people; I'm a

matchmaker.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 42

Now, in some places the matchmaker is a professional. And, you pay this

person to help you meet other people. Well, the Internet has become an

electronic matchmaker for these online dating services. And, there was an article

in the Voice of America website about some of these dating services, and they're

very sophisticated, that is, they use a lot of very complicated formulas. They ask

people many different questions, and then they try to match your answers with

answers that other people give. Many psychologists, professional psychologists,

work with these companies to help them ask good questions and to figure out

how to match people. It's a very, we would say, it's a very lucrative business.

Lucrative, "lucrative," is a business that you make a lot of money at, and because

there are so many people who want to find love, who want to find romance, they

are…these companies make a lot of money.

Usually, when you join one of these companies, you go on to their website and

you fill-out a survey. To fill-out, "fill-out," means to complete. You put your

answers in; how old you are, what's your height, what's your weight; usually

they'll ask for a picture, and then they'll ask you, sometimes, two or three

hundred questions about all the different things you may like or not like, and

these questions you have to fill-out. First, you have to answer these questions

and then you send it to the computer and then computer tries to match you with

someone.

I don't know the exact cost. Most of these services, I think, charge you anywhere

between 30 and 50 dollars every month to use them, and there are millions of

people who use these websites. One of the most popular here in the United

States is called Match.com, "Match.com." And, “match,” of course, is a verb -

means to put two people - in this case, to put two people together, to put

something together. And, they have more than 15 million members in a couple

of hundred different countries. It says in the article 240 different countries, and it

is in 18 different languages. So, Match.com is a worldwide operation and you

may have heard of it in your own country, if you are not listening here in the

United States. Well, according to Match.com, 60,000 people join every day -

60,000 people every day! And if you imagine each of those persons paying even

25 or 30 dollars, that's a very lucrative business.

Well, the article that I got this information from interviews someone who uses the

service, and she says that she was skeptical of meeting men on the Internet. To

be skeptical, "skeptical," means that you have doubts, that you're not sure, that

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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