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Cooking at Home or Eating Out？在家煮 vs. 外出吃(上)
空中英語教室 20241104
修正英文文法，保留中文部分，同時將簡體中文修改為繁體中文
Sure! Here’s the text with grammar corrections and simplified Chinese converted to traditional Chinese:
Hello friends, and welcome to Studio Classroom! We’re so glad you’ve joined us for our lesson today. My name is Ann Marie, and my name is John. Friends, today is a great day to learn something new. It certainly is, so let’s do that together!
The title of our article today is called "Cooking at Home or Eating Out." Let’s begin our lesson today with a discussion about it. Why do you choose to either eat at home or eat out? Normally, I eat at home when going out seems too inconvenient. Right? Convenient means if something is easy and quick. But I’m so busy; I’ve got three little kids, and sometimes going out is less convenient. But sometimes it’s the opposite. Yeah, that’s true. Usually, I choose to cook at home four or five times a week because it’s a lot healthier than eating out. But like John said, sometimes if it’s more convenient, it certainly is a lot easier to grab takeout or order something off of Uber. What about you, friends? This is a good lesson for you to think about your opinion on this topic. So let’s follow along on this interesting conversation: cooking at home or eating out.
Where is the best place to eat? Dave and Ivy run into each other after work.
“Hi, Dave!”
“I’m so glad this week is over.”
“Me too! Do you have fun plans for tonight?”
“I’m on my way to the store to pick up some chicken for dinner. I want to try a new recipe.”
“Nice! I’m eating out, like I usually do. There’s a new Vietnamese restaurant downtown I want to try.”
Hi everyone, welcome to Language Lab! I’m Jack. 我們首先來看 downtown 這個字。當副詞的時候，指的是在市中心，例如 “To get away from the crowds downtown, we wandered to a quiet side street lined with cafes.” 為了遠離市中心的人群，我們來到了一條安靜的小巷，兩旁都是咖啡館。downtown 也可以當名詞，意思是市中心，例如 “The busy downtown offered a mixture of shops, restaurants, and street performers.” 繁忙的市中心有著各種商店、餐館和街頭藝人。downtown 也可以當形容詞，意思是市中心的，例如 “The historic downtown district had beautiful old buildings from the early nineteenth century.” 歷史悠久的市中心區擁有19世紀初的美麗古老建築。
street performers 街頭藝人 Okay, thank you so much, Jack. Well, we see right here in the title, friends: cooking at home before eating out. Before we get into our lesson, let’s talk about what that means to eat out. Okay, eating out first of all means you are definitely not eating at home, but you are eating at a restaurant or some kind of other business, usually a restaurant. So if you went to a friend’s house to eat, I don’t think that counts as eating out. No, we would usually say, “I’m going to eat at my friend’s house,” or “Just my friend invited me over for dinner.” But here’s an example of how you could use that phrase “eating out” in a sentence: “He is taking me to eat out at a fancy restaurant for my birthday.” Okay, so this, like we said, friends, is our “What’s Your Opinion” article. So we’re going to see two opinions about which is better. So we read here, “Where is the best place to eat?” We have two characters in this lesson. Who are they, John?
“They are Dave and Ivy. Ivy is a fun name for girls. Ivy is actually a plant that grows on the walls.”
But we read they run into each other after work. Does that mean they literally hit each other?
“Well, it can mean that, but it usually doesn’t. The definition of this phrase is when you see someone by accident or not on purpose. This is usually while you’re doing something else. For example, maybe you’ll be out at the store, and you weren’t going to the store to see your friend or your colleague, but you run into them. They’re also at the store at the same time.” I see!
So you could say, “I ran into John from college the other day. Wow, what a surprise!” You can run into people by accident. Ivy is the first one to speak. She says, “Hi, Dave! I’m so glad this week is over.” That’s another kind of confusing phrase because the week is not necessarily done.
“Yeah, that’s true. We usually say this at the end of the work week or the school week, so this is usually said on Friday. It doesn’t really include the weekend when we say this.”
“Yeah, that’s right. ‘Oh, I’m glad the week is over’ is something you’ll hear from students or workers.”
So Dave then asks a question, doesn’t he?
“He does. He says, ‘Me too! Do you have fun plans for tonight?’” When Ivy says, “I’m on my way to the store to pick up some chicken for dinner,” well, I like this phrase “on my way to.” Let’s talk about that one for a moment.
“Okay, it’s one you need to know. It means in the process of going somewhere. If you’re on your way, you’re actively going.”
“Yeah, so for example, you could say to your friend, ‘I’m on my way to get coffee. Can I get you any?’ That means you’re already going there. This is different from saying, ‘I’m going to go on a coffee run,’ which means you’re planning to go get coffee.”
Well, Ivy says here that she wants to try a new recipe. Now, what is a recipe, Jon?
“A recipe is a list of instructions for making some kind of dish or food. Sometimes people are really good at making food without a recipe, but if you want that special taste, you follow the recipe. Do you usually follow recipes or just improvise as you go?”
“I normally improvise and make it up, but I found a really good pancake recipe that I love to use.”
“Do you use a recipe?”
“That is one way to cook a good meal at home.”
Dave says, “Nice! I’m eating out, like I usually do.” So I think Dave likes to eat out. He says, “There’s a new Vietnamese restaurant downtown I want to try.”
“That’s right! Okay, friends, we’re going to get into the discussion part of our article here in just a moment. Let’s listen to the next part of our conversation: cooking at home or eating out.”
“I’m on a pretty tight budget, so I usually cook at home. Restaurants are expensive, and tipping adds at least 20 percent to the cost.”
“Not all restaurants are expensive. This Vietnamese place actually looks pretty reasonable. Did you make a reservation?”
“No, they don’t take reservations.”
再來看 budget 這個名詞，意思是預算，例如 “Sticking to a monthly budget helped them to save enough money to buy a house.” 堅持每月的預算幫助他們存夠了買房子的钱。或者 “We planned our vacation on a tight budget, so we went to some free activities and explored local markets.” 因為度假計劃的預算有限，所以我們只去一些免費活動並逛逛當地的市場。budget 也可以當動詞，意思是做預算，例如 “Pam and Larry budgeted four hundred dollars a month for food, but because food costs are rising, they may need to adjust the amount.” Pam 和 Larry 每月的食物預算是400美元，但由於食品價格上漲，他們可能需要調整這個金額。
接下來看 reasonable 這個形容詞，意思是合理的或可接受的，例如 “It is reasonable to expect traffic to be heavy during rush hour, so give yourself enough time to get to work.” 在巔峰時段，交通擁塞是意料中的事，所以要給自己留出充裕的時間來上班。或者 “Emily couldn’t find any hotels for a reasonable price in the downtown area, so she stayed on the edge of town.” Emily 在市中心找不到價格合理的酒店，所以她住在城市的邊緣。再來看一句 “With a reasonable amount of practice, anyone can learn to play a basic song on the guitar.” 透過適量的練習，任何人都可以學會用吉他彈奏一首簡單的曲子。
All right, friends! We are learning some of the reasons why Ivy likes to cook at home. We see here in this first sentence she says, “I’m on a pretty tight budget, so I usually cook at home.” Now, this word tight here has a very specific meaning. Can you tell us about that, John?
“Well, normally the word tight is the opposite of loose. Like you could say, ‘Oh, my shoes are really tight. There’s not a lot of extra space here.’ It has a very specific meaning when we’re talking about things like money or time or an idea. You say tight means limited, without anything extra.”
“So you could be on a tight schedule, right?”
“Yeah, exactly. And we learned about this word budget in the Language Lab. So if you’re on a tight budget, it means that you don’t have a lot of extra money or just that you don’t want to spend any extra money.”
So Ivy says, “Restaurants are expensive, and tipping adds at least 20 percent to the cost.” There are several cultural things we need to talk about in this sentence, friends. First of all, the fact that restaurants are expensive. John, in my opinion, this really depends on where in the world you live.
“Yeah, I think in the States, restaurants are relatively more expensive compared to grocery stores, and part of that might be because the pay rate might be a little bit higher. There are different factors, though, so eating out is thought of as more expensive. But a lot of places in Asia, I would say, eating at a restaurant could be a lot cheaper than cooking at home. So this sentence is very relative.”
“Absolutely! Here we’re talking about the English you might use if you are traveling in a place like the U.S. There’s also a word here that you won’t see unless you’re at a really fancy restaurant in certain parts of Asia, and that is the word tipping. Tipping is something people do when they’ve already paid for the price of the food, but they give a little tip, a little bit of extra money to their server or the person that has given them the food. It’s a way of blessing, and basically, you tip more if the service was better. So it’s a way of kind of having a relationship with the server.”
“And in the States, we often use this as a way to encourage service to give good service. The thing about tipping culture is this is not just for restaurants. People tip as well if you go get a haircut, if you get a massage, if you get a tattoo—anything that is surrounded around some type of service usually expects to have a tip. Now, when I was living in the States, you were supposed to give about 10 percent as a tip, maybe a little bit more if the service was really, really good.”
Jon and I were talking about how 20 percent is a pretty high tip.
Yeah, over the years, there’s been a conversation about how much is the right amount to tip. Normally, I think about 10 percent is what they say is the minimum polite amount these days. Sometimes restaurants will add a tip automatically. You know, one time I worked as a professional driver. I drove people from the airport or to fancy parties, and they would sometimes tip. So you’ll see tipping, like you said, in a lot of different contexts.
That’s right! Okay, so let’s move on from this conversation, friends. Not all restaurants are expensive. Dave says this Vietnamese place actually looks pretty reasonable. Ivy says, “Wait a minute, did you make a reservation?” This is another word kind of like tipping that is focused on restaurants and service. A reservation means arranging in advance to have a place at a location, like a hotel or definitely a restaurant. That’s right! I really love that a lot of restaurants now have a service where you can make a reservation on an app and then get some kind of confirmation notification or email later. That makes things really convenient.
All right, friends, well we have more to learn from this lesson in just a moment, but right now it’s time for today’s InfoCloud.
Hello friends, welcome to InfoCloud. Hi Rex! You seem a bit concerned about something today. What’s up?
Garrett, I overheard a very serious conversation. They kept talking about pinching pennies.
Okay, that is an interesting term. To pinch pennies is to be very careful with money and to spend as little as possible. It’s about saving money wherever you can, so it’s like trying not to spend or waste money.
Why pinch pennies?
Hmm, you pinch something when you hold it very tightly with your fingers. The phrase likely comes from the idea of holding on to your money so tightly that you pinch even the smallest coins, the pennies. That’s interesting! It’s like saying you are working hard to save every single cent.
Can you give an example of how it’s used? Sure! For instance, someone might say, “We need to pinch pennies this month to save for our vacation.” It means they need to reduce their spending to save money.
I see. So I could say, “During the economic downturn, many families had to pinch pennies to get by.” Yes, if you are pinching pennies, it suggests you are making sacrifices and finding extreme ways to cut costs. So pinching pennies is not usually a pleasant experience, even if you are doing it for a good reason.
pinching pennies 善用每一分錢 當一個人的經濟不好，身上沒錢的時候，那就必須省吃俭用，才能夠應付生活的開銷。今天跟大家分享的用語是 pinching pennies。penny 是一分錢，pinch 是掐住或抓得緊緊的，pinch pennies 就是把手上的錢掐得緊緊的，每一分錢都花在刀口上，一毛錢都不浪費。
Many families had to pinch pennies during the recession. 在經濟大蕭條的時期，許多家庭必須省吃俭用地過日子。這就是今天的 InfoCloud，我們下次雲端見！
Cooking at home or eating out means you may have to wait for who knows how long to eat. If I cook at home, I can eat pretty quickly. That depends on how involved your recipe is. But I usually choose quick and easy ones, so stove to table is less than an hour. But after you cook, you have to clean up the kitchen and do the dishes. When you eat out, you just eat and leave.
最後來看 stove 這個名詞，意思是爐子。例如，Fanny cooked a pot of soup on the back of the stove, filling the room with a delicious smell. Fanny 在後面一排的爐子煮了一鍋湯，整個房間充滿了香味。或者，Paula carefully lifted the heavy pot off the stove and poured hot chocolate into the children’s cups. Paula 小心地將沉重的鍋子從爐子上拿下來，把熱巧克力倒在孩子們的杯子裡。又或者，the smell of the bacon cooking on the stove is making everyone hungry for breakfast. 爐子上煎培根的香味讓每個人都餓了，想吃早餐。
All right, thank you so much, Jack. Let’s finish out our conversation for today. Friends, we see here that Ivy says, “That means you may have to wait for who knows how long to eat.” This is an interesting way to say it, friends. Let’s talk about what Ivy means when she says “who knows how long.”
Yeah, okay, this idiom is really fun! Who knows how... blank? You can say “who knows how long,” “who knows how many,” or “who knows how something else.” The definition for that is an expression that suggests something is uncertain and emphasizes that it is unpredictable.
Yeah, here’s an example, friends: “Who knows what he was thinking when he made that decision?” As you can see, after “who knows,” you can put a question word there and change the meaning of this phrase. Pretty useful!
But we read on here, Ivy says, “If I cook at home, I could eat pretty quickly.” I think that depends on what you’re cooking, and that’s exactly what Dave says. He says, “That depends on how involved your recipe is.” If something is very involved, it means it’s difficult or complicated. A sandwich is not a very involved recipe, right?
That’s true! Now, “involved” is a really interesting word. Here’s another example of how you could use that in a sentence: “I wanted to try the DIY project myself, but it looks too involved.” So here, what we mean by “involved” is that there are too many steps or it’s too complicated.
That’s right! The word “involved” can also mean to participate in something. You could say, “I’m involved in a club where we go pick up trash in the park.” You’re part of it! So being involved in a complicated thing like a recipe means that you just have to really be there and do a lot of work. Exactly! We sometimes use this about people too. If we say that two people have become involved, it means that they are now in a relationship of some type. So that’s another interesting way to use this word, friends!
But we read on, “But I usually choose quick and easy ones, so stove to table is less than an hour.” “Stove to table” is really interesting!
Yeah, we’ll often see this phrase or a similar phrase like “farm to table.” So it’s describing normally the time or the process that it takes for food to go from somewhere to somewhere else. It doesn’t have to be food, but you will definitely see this phrase “farm to table” a lot when we’re looking at restaurants or groceries.
Exactly! So if you say “stove to table,” it basically means the time it takes to cook to the time that the food is actually sitting on your table. It’s just a different way to measure time in this situation.
Okay, so Dave says, “But after you cook, you have to clean up the kitchen and do the dishes.” Let’s talk about cleaning up the kitchen. It’s a phrase you really need to know. You probably know the word “to clean” already, right? There’s another fun word, “to tidy,” which means to make things organized. And of course, “clean.” So it’s one of my least favorite things—cleaning up the kitchen. But it’s a very important job. Do you like doing dishes?
I do not like doing dishes at all! Growing up, it was my main chore, and I came from a really big family, so I did a lot of dishes growing up. Thankfully, I have a husband who does the dishes when I cook. I’m very, very thankful for that!
But Dave says when you eat out, you just eat and leave. That is one of the more convenient things about eating out. So we’ll be back right after our fun fact!
Hello, friends! I am Detective Ernest Finder, and I have a fun fact for you. Today, did you know that there is a restaurant in the Maldives, an island country, that is underwater? It’s true! It’s not easy to get to, but you can watch fish swim and eat fish that are not swimming, of course. Ha ha! Does that sound like fun? Well, it would be if the restaurant didn’t leak! Ha ha! And that is today’s fun restaurant fact.
All right, friends! I just said a moment ago, “Who cleans up the dishes in my house?” It’s not me; it’s my husband. Is the same true in your house, John?
Well, sometimes I’ll do the dishes, but we have a dishwasher, and my wife is a lot better at doing the dishes. So maybe I need to learn from your husband and do more dishes.
Definitely something that you have to do, and doing dishes is one of the downsides to eating at home. But there are a lot of other reasons why maybe you should eat at home or eat out. Who knows?
That’s right! We have more to talk about in this lesson, so make sure, friends, you come back and hear all parts of the story before you decide which is better. We’ll talk about that more tomorrow. We’ll see you then right here on Studio Classroom!
Cooking at Home or Eating Out？在家煮 vs. 外出吃(下)
空中英語教室 20241105
修正英文文法，保留中文部分，同時將簡體中文修改為繁體中文
Sure! Below is the revised version with grammar corrections while keeping the Chinese portions intact and changing Simplified Chinese to Traditional Chinese:
Hello, friends, and welcome to Studio Classroom!
Were so glad you joined us for our lesson today. Its going to be a good one.
My name is Ann Marie,
and my name is John. Friends,
today is a great day to learn something new.
Let’s do that together. We are on day two of our article,
where we’re talking about what’s better: eating out or cooking at home.
That’s right!
We have a conversation between two friends, Dave and Ivy,
and they ran into each other after work. That just means meeting by accident.
Now, they are debating: Should it be better to eat at home or to dine out?
That’s right, and here,
Dave has already decided to go to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner.
Ivy says that’s going to be a problem because you didn’t make a reservation.
That’s right!
We also learned another word about restaurants—at least in the U.S.—tipping. Tipping
is when you give a little extra money to basically tell the staff or the waiter at a restaurant
that they did a good job.
We talked a lot yesterday about how tipping culture is different in different countries.
That’s right! We also talked about the fact that
cooking at home can be better and cheaper,
but you have to clean up afterward. Alright, friends,
we’re not done talking about this,
so let’s get right into the first part of our conversation:
Cooking at home or eating out?
That’s another thing
Just what are you eating? Restaurant food is often loaded with fat and salt.
Eating at home is healthier.
I have full control over the ingredients,
and I can adjust recipes to my taste.
That sounds like a lot of trouble to me, but then my cooking skills aren’t very good.
Hey, everyone, welcome to Language Lab.
I’m Jack.
我們先來看片語動詞
be loaded with something 意思是富含、充滿
比如：This sweet roll is loaded with calories, but Joan ate the whole thing anyway.
這個甜點熱量很高，但Joan還是把它全部吃掉了。
或者是：Just before it started to rain, Sherry looked out the window and saw that the sky was loaded with black clouds.
就在開始下雨之前，Sherry望向窗外，看見天空布滿烏雲。
load with 也指裝滿某物
比如：Benji loaded his backpack with books to take home to study for three tests.
Benji把書裝滿背包，準備帶回家為三個考試復習。
再來看動詞 adjust，意思是調整。
例如：Branda always adjusts the amount of salt she puts in food because too much is not good for you.
Branda總是調整放進食物中的鹽量，因為太多鹽對健康不好。
或者是：Business must constantly adjust their strategies to keep up with consumer wants.
企業必須不斷調整策略，以滿足消費者的需求。
例如：As he began to heal from his operation, Justin adjusted the amount of pain medicine he was taking.
隨著手術後逐漸康復，Justin調整了止痛藥的用量。
OK, thank you so much, Jack.
Well, Ivy has another point to make here, friends.
She says, "That’s another thing. Just what are you eating?"
We’ll talk about this in just a moment, but first we need to talk about that first sentence: "That’s another thing."
Now, this is a phrase that is commonly used in the middle of an argument or some type of discussion.
The idea here is that you’ve shared several points already, and to add to your argument, you can say, "That’s another thing" to add another point to your argument.
Yeah, people will use this when they hear something that they don’t like, and it makes them think about something new.
So you could say, “Well, that’s another thing—I don’t even want to get pizza!” if you and your friend are talking about food and they mentioned pizza.
But it’s one that you can use in different contexts too.
So, “That’s another thing”—Ivy is giving Dave a hard time.
She says, "Just what are you eating? Restaurant food is often loaded with fat and salt. Eating at home is healthier."
Okay, she makes a decent point. But some restaurants can be kind of healthy—that’s true!
But it is pretty difficult to know what exactly is going into the dishes that you’re eating at a restaurant.
And a lot of times, it’s difficult to find that information out.
Or, if that information is available, it might feel inconvenient to ask about it.
I will say, this is one of the main reasons that I cook at home—just so that my family can eat healthier food.
Although it is a little inconvenient sometimes, I think I need to hear more points to this argument.
Okay, well, they go back and forth.
Ivy makes that same point. She says, "I have full control over the ingredients, and I can adjust recipes to my taste."
To someone’s taste means according to what they like.
You could say, "Oh, that movie is not really to my taste."
Or you could say, "The color of that room isn’t to my taste."
Maybe you wouldn’t paint the room that same color, but somebody else would because it is to their taste.
Dave says, "That sounds like a lot of trouble to me."
If something sounds like a lot of trouble, what does that mean?
Well, it means that it seems very difficult.
You can also say, "That sounds really fun" when you hear about some idea,
or "That sounds difficult."
That phrase, "That sounds," is really useful!
Yeah, well, John, a few months ago we got a new kitten and he’s a lot of fun, but he’s a lot of trouble.
"Oh, that sounds like a lot of trouble!"
A new baby animal!
But after a while, that does sound really fun. Yes, it is fun as well.
OK, what we read on here:
"But then my cooking skills aren’t very good."
So Dave says here this phrase, "but then"—he’s kind of adding a point to what he says.
He says, "That sounds like a lot of trouble to me," but he’s adding on here, "but the fact is, my cooking skills aren’t good."
So maybe that’s why it sounds like a lot of trouble.
Yeah, the fancy word for what he’s doing is to qualify his statement.
So you could use it in a sentence like,
"I really don’t think that the new building is a good idea, but then I’m not a city planner."
So you’re kind of showing the other side of the argument.
This is a great one to use when you’re having a conversation or a debate.
You could state your opinion and then just say, "But then I don’t know everything."
Let’s talk about cooking skills here, friends.
Of course, if you have good cooking skills, it means you know how to cook.
If you don’t have good cooking skills, you probably don’t know how to make anything!
That’s right! Skills are something you have to know.
Sometimes, if you’re on the internet, you might see "skills" spelled with a "z" at the end just to be funny.
So it still means the same thing: skills.
Kids don’t spell it with a "z" on a test, but it’s something you’ll definitely see people use for fun.
Alright, that is pretty fun, friends.
But let’s go right now to the next part of our conversation:
Cooking at home or eating out?
That’s another reason to cook at home.
It’s a chance to improve your culinary skills.
I’m afraid that’s not a priority for me.
Oh, another thing: When I eat out, I can try different kinds of food—things that I could never cook at home.
That’s true! When I do eat—once in a blue moon—I do like to try ethnic food.
接下來看 ethnic 這個形容詞。
它的意思是異國風味的。
譬如：The restaurant offered a wide variety of ethnic choices for diners to enjoy.
這家餐廳提供給客人各種異國風味的美食選項。
Ethnic 也指民族的或種族的。
譬如：Bob traced his family’s ethnic roots to a small village in South America.
Bob追溯他的家族種族根源，來自南美洲的某個小村莊。
或者是：New York City has the most ethnic groups of any city in the U.S.
紐約市擁有美國最多的族群。
Alright, so here we’re seeing that Ivy says,
“That’s another reason to cook at home.”
So what’s another reason? Well,
Dave has just said that his cooking skills aren’t very good.
Ivy says, “It’s a chance to improve your culinary skills.”
Now, this word culinary, it sounds fancy,
but it really just means something that’s related to cooking—just cooking in general.
Definitely! And you will see this word
if you’re talking about getting an education to be a chef.
The phrase is culinary school.
So you’d say, "He went to culinary school,"
or there could be a culinary class, I suppose, at a high school.
Culinary school is where people go to get a degree to be a chef.
Okay, so you could go to culinary school to get a degree to be a chef,
or you could just work on your culinary skills at home.
This is something I had to do when I first got married.
I didn’t really cook for myself before I got married,
and then after I got married, I realized that, okay,
I need to be able to feed my husband and feed my family,
so I had to develop my culinary skills over time.
I see, my wife, thankfully, has really good culinary skills
because mine aren’t good!
I think I gained ten pounds in the first month of our marriage.
That’s a good thing! OK.
So "ethnic food" is a term that’s used to categorize something as outside the norm, something different from what people in that region usually eat. The reason this isnt politically correct is because the United States is made up of many different cultures. If one culture says that something else is "ethnic food," youre essentially saying that the people who are eating that food are not from here and they are outside of the norm.
We often try to focus on the similarities to help people feel comfortable. That being said, there are many delicious foods—thank God for so many delicious foods! That’s right, and there are delicious foods from all around the world, and we can enjoy those foods without saying that they are strange or different. They’re just different from what we are used to.
All right, friends, we are going to continue now with our Info Cloud.
INFO Cloud:
Hello everyone, welcome to InfoCloud. Have you ever stayed in a five-star hotel or resort? It’s a great experience. It feels like you are living in the lap of luxury. The quality of the food, the service, and of course, the environment are all designed for your comfort.
I think a lot of people will be familiar with the word "luxury." It’s something expensive and pleasant, but not necessarily something you need. A luxury is an extra. If a product is labeled as "luxury," that means it is made with high-quality materials and probably has a brand name you recognize.
Now, even if you know the word "luxury," maybe you haven’t heard the phrase Rex used earlier—living in the lap of luxury. A child might like to sit on his mother’s lap or on her legs. It’s a place that is very safe and comfortable for him. So, saying someone is living in the lap of luxury means they are in a very comfortable situation that’s usually made possible by having lots of money.
I think of a millionaire or billionaire as someone who lives in the lap of luxury. Not every millionaire lives in the lap of luxury, though—some try to have a simple life and give away a lot of their wealth.
living in the lap of luxury 養尊處優 如果一個人一出生就是含著金湯匙，在優渥的環境下長大，你可以用今天分享的用語living in the lap of luxury來形容他。Lap是大腿的部位，有時候小朋友坐在我們的大腿上，那個就是lap。還有luxury就是奢華，living in the lap of luxury就是活在奢華的環境中，也就是養尊處優的意思。
Max’s successful business allows him to live in the lap of luxury.
Max的事業成功讓他可以活在奢華當中。
這就是今天的 Info Cloud，我們下次雲端見！
Cooking at Home or Eating Out: I choose to eat out for another reason too—I try to support the local economy by eating at small local restaurants. That’s important, but cooking at home is more cost-effective and helps my economy. When I plan meals, I eat leftovers in one form or another for several days. If that works for you, great! But eating out is still one of my favorite pastimes.
leftovers 剩菜
最後來看leftovers這個名詞，它是指剩菜。譬如：Marta made so much fried rice last night that we are having leftovers today.
Marta昨晚做了很多炒飯，所以我們今天吃剩飯。
或者是: With three boys in the house, we never have leftovers.
家裡有三個男孩，我們從來沒有剩菜。
leftover 剩下的或留下的 如果把leftovers尾巴的s去掉，就變成形容詞，leftover是指剩下的或留下的。譬如：The night after Thanksgiving, we used some of the leftover turkey to make turkey noodle soup.
感恩節後的第二天晚上，我們用剩下的火雞做了火雞湯面。
Back to the Discussion: Okay, well, Dave has another reason that he likes to eat out, and I have to say I really agree with this reason. Dave says, "I choose to eat out for another reason too—I try to support the local economy by eating at small local restaurants." I think that this is great and really important to do, no matter where in the world you live.
Yes, support means to help, right? Normally when we use it when we’re talking about a store, it means go to be a paying customer. You could say, "I supported my friend at their shop."
We also see this word local as well. This doesn’t mean anywhere in your city, friends. If something is local, it means that it exists in or belongs to the area specifically where you live. You could say, "The local economy relied on farming and on making cloth or something like that."
There’s a word location that you might know already, right? That word location means the place something is. So, the local economy means the nearby economy in your place.
Okay, so Ivy says, "Okay, I agree that’s important, but cooking at home is more cost-effective and helps my economy." So, to be cost-effective means to be good value for the amount of money that you paid. It has this idea of getting something that’s worth the money that you’ve spent. I see, and sometimes having someone professional do something for you, even making a meal, can be very cost-effective.
There’s this saying in English: "Time is money." So sometimes eating out is actually more cost-effective than spending hours of your day preparing food and cleaning up because your time is worth something too.
So this is all part of this debate, isn’t it? Well, Ivy says, "When I plan meals, I eat leftovers in one form or another for several days." We already learned about that—the food that is leftover from a meal.
Finally, she says "leftovers in one form or another for several days." Okay, so she’s eating things in one form or another. Another way to say that is in one way or another, right? It means that you’re doing something in a way not mentioned, so you’re not getting specific, but something is still going to happen in one way or another.
Okay, so Dave ends our lesson by saying, "If that works for you, great! But eating out is still one of my favorite pastimes." Now, what is a pastime here, John?
It’s an activity, normally a leisure or fun activity—something to do for enjoyment. One of my favorite pastimes is reading books at cafes. I love to do that on the weekends.
Well, it’s time for us to do something fun right now, friends! Let’s go to today’s fun fact.
Fun Fact:
Hello, fact friends! I am Detective Ernest Finder, and I have a fun fact for you today! Did you know that in Spain, there is a restaurant that has a fake earthquake? That’s right, it’s a big earthquake too, and it happens from a special machine. It’s a 7.8 earthquake. Everything shakes! This restaurant is called Disaster Cafe, and it sounds terrifying. Who would want to drink when there was an earthquake?
Well, that is today’s fun fact!
Talk About It:
All right, friends, it’s time for our Talk About It question. Think about how you would answer this question in English. Here we go: What do you only do once in a blue moon and why?
John, how would you answer this question?
With three little kids, I only go to the movies with my wife once in a blue moon. It’s hard to find time.
So, you don’t go to the movies because it’s hard to find the time to go?
Exactly! And I’m sure there are things that you only do once in a blue moon.
Going to the movies is also one of the things I only do once in a blue moon. I only do it once or twice a year. Friends, what about you? What do you do once in a blue moon? Talk about that in English, and we’ll see you next time right here on Studio Classroom.
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