Your English Five a Day #49.5

🎙️ E394 of The English Like A Native Podcast.
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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 49, Day 5 of Your English Five a Day. This is the series that gives you a healthy daily dose of English vocabulary so that you can expand your knowledge of English as well as improve your listening skills and overall communication. So today we are approaching the 50th week of this series. I can't believe we've been doing this for 50 weeks. That's almost an entire year's worth of Five a Day. I do hope that you've gained access to the Database so you can have all of this vocabulary on your files. So to celebrate doing 50 weeks' worth of this podcast series, I'm going to be running a little competition every Friday, and you can take part, and if you win, then you'll be winning access to an exclusive Pronunciation Class. Now these classes I hold every fortnight in my Community. For Community Members. And so if you're not a Community Member, this is an opportunity for you to gain access to one of those classes. Now, all you have to do is listen out for something specific in the podcast. When you hear it, you drop me an email telling me what you heard. And if you've got the answer, right, you'll go into a draw, and I'll put all the names together and pick a name at random. And the following week I will announce the winner of the previous week's competition. So are you up for it? To be up for something means to be wanting to take part. So are you up for the challenge? In today's episode, I want you to listen out for a famous tourist attraction. So I'm going to mention a famous tourist attraction. And if you hear it, I want you to drop me an email at hello@englishlikeanative.co.uk and tell me what you heard. I'll then put your name into a draw and next Friday, I will announce the winner. Okay. So listen out for a famous tourist attraction. And with that, let's start today's episode. We begin with the phrasal verb, wind up. Woo hoo! We've had this a couple of other times, but wind up has many meanings. Let's quickly spell it. Wind, W I N D. Up, U P. This version of wind up means to end somewhere. So where your journey ends or where your situation ends. So you find yourself in an unexpected and usually unpleasant situation, and it's the result of what you've done. For example, I might say,"I was wandering around the streets of Paris, and I wound up in a bar on a back street that was full of lots of interesting characters, and I felt very uncomfortable, and I had to ask someone for directions to get back to my hotel." So I wound up, it was unexpected, in a situation where I was uncomfortable, on a back street in Paris in a bar full of interesting characters. So it was quite unpleasant for me because I felt uncomfortable and it was unexpected. I didn't mean to end up in this bar on a back street, but that's where I wound up. That was where I found myself after wandering the streets of Paris without a plan. Here's another example,"If you're not careful with your spending, you could wind up in debt." So, to wind up is very similar to end up, if you ever use that phrasal verb. You could end up in debt. You could find yourself in debt. Alright, let's move on to the next item, a verb, and it is to capsize, capsize. We spell this C A P S I Z E, capsize, capsize. Now this would happen if you are in a boat. So to capsize in a boat is to turn over in the water. So if the boat turns over and you see the bottom of the boat bobbing above the water and everybody inside the boat has been thrown into the water, then you have capsized. The boat has capsized. Here's an example sentence,"Larger ships don't capsize as easily as smaller ones." When I worked on the cruise ships, which I did for a couple of years, one of my concerns, especially when I was trying to get to sleep at night, as many of you know, I'm a bit of a worrier and I catastrophise a lot. So I think about all the worst-case scenarios. Many nights were spent lying in bed, thinking about what I would do if the cruise ship capsized because I was quite low down in terms of the levels on the ship. So if we capsized, I would be stuck quite deep in the belly of the boat or the belly of the ship. And I would have to go through in my mind what I would do to try and escape and not get caught and stuck if the ship capsized. Luckily it didn't. And I'm still here today. Phew. Okay. Next on the list is the verb row, row. We spell this R O W, and I straight away start thinking of the nursery rhyme,"Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream." To row is to move a boat forward using oars, which you move in a circular motion to push the boat through the water. Many people have rowing machines in their house. You'll find rowing machines at most gyms as well. I don't like the rowing machine so much. It just gives me backache. I don't like being in a kind of static position on any machine. I like to be able to move my body in a very dynamic way. But I do like the idea of being on the Thames and rowing in the morning on a nice calm morning. I have a row club close to where I live because I'm not far from the River Thames and I see them practising, the rowing club. They're out practising, but I know that they have to get up at like five o'clock in the morning and that just wouldn't work for my lifestyle right now. Okay, here's an example sentence,"After a long day at work, Janice decided to row her small boat across the lake to enjoy the peaceful scenery." Next on the list is the phrasal verb pick up, pick up. Two words, pick, P I C K. Up, U P. Now, this is referring to the wind. The wind. So if the wind picks up, then it means that it gets stronger. So I might be walking down the street and suddenly there's a gust of wind. It blows my hat off and it starts to become quite blustery, and I'd say,"Oh my goodness, the wind has really picked up." One place that I would not like to be when the wind unexpectedly picks up would be somewhere high and somewhere where I can't easily come down from. So for example, if I was at the top of the London Eye, I wouldn't want to be up there when the wind picks up all of a sudden. I'm sure places like that are very sturdy and safe, but I still wouldn't like to be stuck up there on the top of the London Eye or on a roller coaster. I recently got stuck on a roller coaster. And it was not pleasant because I'm claustrophobic and I did have a bit of a panic attack. But luckily, I was stuck as the ride came to a close. So I'd come down to the bottom and I was just stuck kind of halfway around the track at the bottom. But there were some people who got stuck all the way at the top of the roller coaster. It'd just come to a stop, and they were really high up and they had no idea what was going on and they were stuck there for about half an hour. And luckily for them, the wind didn't pick up and they weren't blown around. Here's another example,"The first sign of the approaching storm was the wind that suddenly picked up." Last on today's list is the verb drift, drift. We spell this D R I F T, to drift. To drift is to be moved slowly somewhere by currents of wind or water. So if you're on the water in a boat and the wind blows you or the tide starts to take you, then you are drifting. We often talk about drifting further and further away from the shore. I experienced a terrifying event where a young friend of mine, when I was just a child, was sitting in an inflatable boat, a little dinghy, and no one was paying attention, and she started to drift further and further away from the beach, and no one noticed. And then she started calling out to me, but she was too far away from where I was, and I wasn't a strong swimmer, so I couldn't bring her back. And she drifted further and further out to sea. It was absolutely terrifying. Luckily, a number of adults eventually clocked on to what was happening. They swam out and they managed to bring her back safe and sound, but it could have been an absolute disaster. It was very close to being a disaster. It was very dangerous. So you can drift to be slowly moved around. Here's another example,"The boat began to drift away from the shore as the wind became stronger." If you're wandering around town as well and you're kind of walking slowly, not really paying attention, not really with any purpose, you're just slowly wandering around and people are walking past you and their movement is taking you along a little bit. You're kind of following the crowd and someone says to you,"Oh, what are you doing?" You could respond with,"Oh, I'm just drifting, just drifting aimlessly around town, looking at things, not really, not really doing anything, just drifting aimlessly." Okay, that's our five. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the phrasal verb wind up, meaning to find yourself in an unexpected and often unpleasant situation, and it's usually the result of something you've done. Then we had the verb capsize, which is if a boat turns over in the water. Then we had the verb row, which is to move a boat forward with the use of oars. We had the phrasal verb pick up, referring to the wind, meaning that it becomes stronger. And we had the verb drift, which is to be moved slowly somewhere by the currents of the water or by the wind. Alright, let's now do this for pronunciation purposes. Please repeat after me. Wind up. Wind up. Capsize. Capsize. Row. Row. Pick up. Pick up. Drift. Drift. Very good. What's the verb I use when I'm trying to move a boat forward with oars? I row. Yes, very good. And if I decide to stop rowing and just let the currents and the wind take me along, what verb could I use to describe what I'm doing? Drift. I'm drifting now. Very good. And if after drifting for a while, I noticed the wind suddenly becomes a lot stronger, what phrasal verb could I use to describe this strengthening of the wind? The wind has picked up. I better pick up my oars and start rowing back to shore. But as I row, the wind really picks up and I've drifted so far that now I'm in tidal waters and there's waves. I might turn over in the water. What verb do we use when a boat turns over in the water? Capsize. Yes."Oh no, I've capsized." What phrasal verb could I use to say that I found myself in this dangerous situation? It was unexpected and it was very unpleasant. I was in the water. There was lots of speed boats and things going past me. I ended up in this awful situation, but what phrasal verb could I use instead of saying end up? Yes, I wound up. I wound up in the tidal waters, much further away from where I intended to be. It's not nice when you wind up somewhere unexpected and unpleasant. Very good. Let's listen out for these items once again in today's storytime. Let me tell you the story of how I wound up here, in hospital. It all started on a beautiful, if a little windy, day. I decided to take my boat out on the lake. I love rowing my boat across those calm waters, surrounded by nature. It's so peaceful out there, it gives me time to think. Anyway, there I was, rowing my boat, when all of a sudden the wind picked up. The sky went dark. A storm had arrived. We went from blue skies and sunshine one minute to dark clouds, heavy rain and strong winds the next. My boat started drifting across the lake. I couldn't control it anymore. Then the thunder and lightning started. The strong winds turned the lake into a sea of waves, high enough to capsize any boat, especially my small rowing boat. I normally stay calm in stressful situations, but I started panicking. Fortunately, I had the good sense to put on my life jacket. And it's a good thing too because, the next thing I knew, a wave hit me and capsized my boat. I don't remember any of this, of course. After I ended up in the water, the side of the boat hit my head and I was knocked unconscious. I'm lucky to be alive. Apparently, someone saw what was happening from the side of the lake and called the emergency services. They rescued me and took me to hospital. My life jacket saved my life. Without it, I would have drowned. I never thought I'd wind up in hospital because I did one of my favourite activities. I'm not sure when I'll go out rowing again, but when I do, I'll always wear a life jacket, even if the weather is nice. You never know what could happen. And that brings us to the end. Now, remembering the competition, did you spot the famous tourist attraction that I mentioned? If you didn't, you might need to go back and listen again. When you do hear it, remember to drop me an email hello@englishlikeanative.co.uk and tell me what tourist attraction you heard. It will help if you also give me your name. I'll have your email address on file and the following week I will tell you who the winner is and you'll get access to one of my Pronunciation Classes. Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining me. Until next time, take very good care and goodbye. I have added the vocabulary from today's episode, along with the definition and the example sentences, to the Five a Day database, which includes all the vocabulary from the whole Five a Day series. If you would like to access this database, then click on the link in the show notes.