The Daily English Show: #1051 Bridge Over Troubled Water, Smile Ban, Down And Out, Japanese Vlog

Saturday, June 06, 2009

#1051 Bridge Over Troubled Water, Smile Ban, Down And Out, Japanese Vlog

Show 1051 Friday 5 June
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

Today we’re studying a song called Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel.
This song came out in 1970. And it’s a pretty famous song – you’ve probably heard of it. It’s been covered by lots of people too, like: Elvis, Aretha Franklin, and Johnny Cash.

When you’re weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all

Weary means tired and I think the singer trying to comfort someone and to reassure them that they will be there to support them when they need it - when they’re tired or when they’re having problems.

I’m on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can’t be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

So, what does that mean? And what does a bridge have to do with anything?
I think this is a metaphor.

Firstly, troubled means worried and anxious or having a lot of problems.

So the image is of some rough water and a bridge. And the rough water is your troubles, the difficult things that are happening in your life – and the bridge is the thing that is there to support you, so, your friend that will help you get over the troubles.

And the use of the word rough is interesting – because rough is a word that is used to describe situations to mean difficult and to describe the sea to mean wild and stormy.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today smiles have been banned from driver’s license photos in four states in America.

USA today reported that 31 states in America do computerized matching of driver's license photos to try and stop license fraud. Apparently, face-recognition software can fail to match two photos of the same person if facial expressions differ in each photo. So four states allow only dull expressions in license photos. Virginia has a no-smile policy. But in Arkansas, Indiana and Nevada slight smiles are allowed.

And that was Stick News for Friday the 5th of June.
Kia ora.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is down and out.

Down and out is an adjective which means destitute.

And what does destitute mean?

extremely poor and lacking the means to provide for oneself

When you’re down and out
When you’re on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you

friday joke

Tom was late for work.
His boss yelled at him: You should have been here at 8:30!
Tom replies: Why? What happened at 8:30?

conversations with sarah
#665 How’s the experiment going?

Step 1: Repeat Tim’s lines.
Step 2: Read Tim’s line’s and talk to Sarah.

Tim How’s the experiment going?

Sarah Good.

Tim Has your Japanese improved yet?

Sarah Well it’s not going to magically improve after just a few days …

Tim Right. Yeah.

Sarah But my confidence is gradually improving.

Tim That’s good.

Sarah Yeah, I think the less you care about how silly you look and sound, the more potential there is for you to improve.

Tim That’s so true. That’s why drinking is good for language learning.

Sarah Yeah, a lot of people say that. Because you stop worrying about how you look and you just go for it. You’re more willing to take risks, which is a good thing for language learning. Not so good for other things, maybe.

Tim Yeah … and you can’t drink all day.

Sarah Exactly. So you need to somehow recreate that reckless feeling when you’re sober. I mean, for some people it comes naturally, like kids, and some lucky adults. But for the rest of us we have to work at it.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Future Cha Cha
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site

WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

friday joke start
artist: AdHoc
album: Toutes directions
track: Sumbala
from: Annecy, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: The Jazz Woman
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Cliffhanger
album: Comb your hair
track: Up against some hard fellows
from: Sweden
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo

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