Tuesday, October 07, 2008

#848 Scent Of A Woman, Naked Man Swims In Palace Moat


Show 848 Tuesday 7 October
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


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

Today we’re going to do a conversation from the movie Scent of a Woman. We’ve done a few conversations from this movie before. (Shows 787 and 794)

Today’s conversation is a very simple one. It’s a good one for practicing the situation of … when you meet someone for the first time.

A university student, called Charlie, is going to a woman’s house for the first time. She put up a notice for a job advertisement at his university and he answered the ad and then he goes around to her house. It’s Thanksgiving weekend and the job is to look after somebody, while the rest of the family goes away for the weekend.

When he arrives at the house, Charlie says: I’m here about the weekend job.

I thought it would be interesting to study the structure of the questions the woman asks Charlie.

She says: You're available for the whole weekend?
And: Not going home for Thanksgiving?

Normally, those questions would be: Are you available for the whole weekend?
And: Are you going home for Thanksgiving?

But she’s expecting the answer to be yes – because he wouldn’t have applied if he was not available for the whole weekend, or if he was going home for thanksgiving – so she’s just checking or confirming.

You’ve probably learnt that to make a question, you usually need to use a word like: who, when, what, why, where, how. But, of course, it doesn’t always have to be that way. You can also make a question by adding a question tag, like:

Conrad’s very sexy, isn’t he?

And, like in today’s conversation, you can make a statement into a question, just by raising your voice.

You're available for the whole weekend?

Remember if you make a question like this, you have to raise your voice. It doesn’t work if you don’t raise your voice at the end.

You’re available for the whole weekend. You’re available for the whole weekend?



STICK NEWS


Kia Ora in Stick News today, a Spanish man was arrested after he went for a naked swim in the moat around the imperial palace in Tokyo.

This morning, a Spanish man visited the imperial palace in Tokyo, Japan, with a group of Spanish friends. At 11:20am, he approached the police and said, in English, that he had dropped his bag in the moat. Then he jumped in the moat and started taking his clothes off while swimming. The police went to pick him up in a boat. But the naked man tried to escape. Stark naked, he climbed up the palace wall, while throwing rocks at police officers. Police called in reinforcements and about 50 emergency services personnel arrived at the scene. It them an hour and forty minutes to capture the naked Spaniard. According to news reports a crowd of around 300 people gathered to watch the shenanigans.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 7th of October.
Kia Ora.

* NOTE: At the time of writing the media were reporting he was Spanish ... but it turns out that he was actually a British guy who lives in Spain.




Word of the Day

Today’s word is moat.
A deep, wide defensive ditch surrounding a castle or town, typically filled with water.

If you visit the imperial palace in Tokyo, it’s probably not a good idea to go swimming in the moat.



conversations with sarah
#524 I'm here about the weekend job.


Step 1: Repeat Mrs Rossie's lines.
Step 2: Read Mrs Rossie’s lines and talk to Charlie.

Charlie Hi, Mrs Rossie?

Mrs Rossie Yes?

Charlie I'm here about the weekend job.

Mrs Rossie Come on in. I'm sorry, the school gave me your name, but I've forgotten it.

Charlie It's Charlie. Charlie Simms.

Mrs Rossie How are you Charlie?

Charlie Fine, thanks.

Mrs Rossie Right this way. You're available for the whole weekend?

Charlie Ah, yeah.

Mrs Rossie Not going home for Thanksgiving?

Charlie No.

Mrs Rossie Good.



links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

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

qa bgm
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack3
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

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