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The Car 就是這輛車！(上)
空中英語教室 20241111
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
Here is the corrected version with the grammar fixed and simplified Chinese converted to traditional Chinese:
Hello, friends, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
We’re so glad that you’ve joined us for our program today.
My name is Ann Marie, and my name is John, friends.
Today is a great day to learn something new, so let’s do that together.
Today is also a great day to start off with a question.
Here’s today’s question:
Have you ever shopped for a new car?
I have actually never shopped for a new car. Now, I’ve done something called window shopping for a new car that we’ll learn about in today’s lesson.
But I have always found a friend who’s getting rid of their old car and tried to fix that car up to save money.
Okay, I have shopped for a new car before, a new second-hand car.
So I have visited used car lots and looked through ads on a website called Craigslist.
My dad’s helped me find a used car before, but it’s really stressful trying to find a new car.
What about you, friends? Have you ever done this before?
We’re talking about this because that is what our article is all about today.
It’s called The Car.
Let’s get into our first reading for the day:
The Car: There’s Something for Everyone
Amelia was experiencing a crisis. Her trusty old car, nicknamed Bessie, had finally died. Public transportation wasn’t a choice in her rural town, and Amelia couldn’t afford to be stranded.
It was time to shop around for a new car, and she wasn’t happy about it. Cars cost an arm and a leg nowadays.
Hi everyone, welcome to Language Lab.
I’m Jack. 首先來看 "nickname" 這個字。
當動詞是指起綽號或給昵稱，譬如：
“My parents nicknamed me Sunshine because I always had a bright smile.”
我父母給我取了個綽號叫「陽光」，因為我的笑容總是很燦爛。
或是：
“The team’s star player was nicknamed ‘The Machine’ because he was very consistent in how he played.”
這支球隊的明星球員綽號是「機器」，因為他在比賽中的表現非常穩定。
"Nickname" 也可以作為名詞，指的是綽號或昵稱，譬如：
“Everyone called me by my nickname until I went to college, where I started using my real name.”
大家都叫我的綽號，直到上了大學，我才開始使用真名。
Okay, friends, let’s get right into our lesson here. We read,
There’s something for everyone.
This is a great phrase for you to know.
John, can you define it for us?
Okay.
This phrase means that everyone will probably find something that meets their needs in a specific location, often at a shop or a restaurant, right?
Yeah, that’s right.
We often say, “There’s something for everyone at that store.”
This makes me think of 7-Eleven. Pretty much anyone could find something that they want to buy when they go to 7-Eleven.
But we read on here: Amelia was experiencing a crisis.
Now, what is a crisis?
Well, it is a time of intense difficulty or even danger.
How could we use that in a sentence?
Ooh, what is a crisis?
I could say, "My wedding had a crisis. We ran out of drinks for the guests.”
There are all kinds of crises.
(Thats the plural of crisis.)
That’s right.
So, her trusty old car, named Bessie, had finally died.
Public transportation wasn’t a choice in her rural town, and Amelia couldn’t afford to be stranded.
Being stranded is never a good thing. What does it mean if you’re stranded?
Being stranded means you are left without a way to move somewhere. You don’t have transportation.
This word came from the idea of a sailor being stranded on an island. Now, we use it for different kinds of transportation.
Yeah, that’s right! Or even if you’re just hiking in the mountains, maybe you hike in the mountains and then a snowstorm happens and you get stranded.
There’s no way for you to get off that mountain.
And as John said, it just means you can’t get from one place to another.
So you could be stranded on an island, or you could be stranded in the middle of downtown without a way to get home as well.
So Amelia wants to avoid this situation.
So it was time to shop around for a new car.
Hop around is another great phrase for you to know, friends. Let’s talk about that one.
Shopping around means to compare prices or the quality of different items before deciding to buy.
It’s kind of the opposite of a phrase we use to make an impulse buy. An impulse buy is when you just look and buy something without really thinking about it much.
Do you shop around?
I usually do shop around, and usually, we use this phrase when you’re buying something more expensive.
So for example, if I need to buy a new coat for the wintertime, new coats can be kind of expensive, I generally shop around first to make sure that I get the right price.
Okay, well, Amelia was not happy about shopping around for a new car. Why? Because cars cost an arm and a leg nowadays.
What does it mean if something costs an arm and a leg?
Well, of course, you know what your arm and your leg literally are, but this means something is extremely expensive and normally kind of implies that it would hurt you financially.
So you could say, “Wow, that steak cost an arm and a leg. I’m getting something cheaper on the menu.”
The new iPhone cost an arm and a leg. You need a lot of money if you want to buy that new phone.
Alright, friends, so we have more to learn. Let’s go to our next reading:
The Car
She spent a few days window shopping online. New cars were out of the question; purchasing one would break the bank. Buying a used car was a gamble, but it was that or nothing. One Saturday, armed with a little hope and a lot of doubt, Amelia set out for a used car lot.
It resembled a shopper’s paradise, with rows upon rows of gleaming vehicles whispering promises of freedom.
A salesman, Mr. Jones, appeared at her side and launched into a sales pitch, assuring her each car was a good value.
接下來看 "gamble" 這個名詞，意思是賭博或者冒險，譬如：
“It was a big gamble for Irene to open a new cafe in that area of town, but it paid off, and the cafe became very popular.”
對艾瑞來說，在市區那一帶開一家新咖啡館是很大的賭注，但她成功了，咖啡館非常受歡迎。
或是：
“It was a big gamble for Zheng Yiling to leave her group Gfriend and release her own album.”
對鄭瑞玲來說，離開Gfriend女團，發行自己的專輯是一個不小的賭注。
Gamble 也可以當動詞，譬如：
“Francy gambled everything on the success of her new cafe, using her life savings and many hours to make it work.”
Francy把畢生的積蓄都押在了新咖啡館的成功上，她花了大量的時間來經營它。
再來看名詞 "paradise"，意思是天堂或樂園，例如：
“The busy city was a shopping paradise to the girls who lived in a small town.”
對生活在小鎮的女孩們來說，繁忙的城市簡直就是購物天堂。
或是：
“Lost in a good book, Hillary found paradise in another world for the afternoon.”
希拉里沉浸在一本好書中，於下午在另一個世界中找到了天堂。
再看一句：
“Despite their long flight, the couple finally reached their island paradise, ready to relax and enjoy the beach.”
儘管飛行時間很長，這對夫妻終於到達了他們的島嶼天堂，準備放鬆並享受沙灘。
Well, how does Amelia go about shopping for a new car?
We read here that she spent a few days window shopping online.
John, websites don’t have windows, so how can you window shop online?
Oh, good question!
This expression means looking without buying, and yeah, originally, this idea came from shopping on the street. You look in a window, but you’re not going to go into the store and buy it.
You could kind of do that online just by scrolling through options.
I guess window shopping!
I like to go window shopping on the weekends sometimes.
I do end up buying things, though, because I get too tempted.
But usually, the original plan is just to window shop.
But we read here: new cars were out of the question.
If something is out of the question, it’s an event that cannot possibly happen.
It’s impossible for Amelia to buy a new car.
That’s right!
And you can also use this for something that you’re just not going to do.
You could say, “Going outside is out of the question for me. It is raining too much.”
That’s right!
So it says here that for Amelia to purchase a new car would break the bank.
Break the bank is another great useful phrase for you to know. What does it mean if something breaks the bank?
It means it costs more than you can afford.
I think the idea comes from like a piggy bank, where you’d actually have to break it to get your savings.
So something is so expensive, you have to break your piggy bank.
Yeah, that’s right!
And you could use this in a lot of different ways. You could say, “Buying a new phone would break the bank,” or you could say, “Buying a new phone doesn’t have to break the bank. It just depends on what kind of phone you are buying.”
But we read on here: buying a used car was a gamble, but it was that or nothing.
So often, people talk about buying a second-hand car, which might leave you with some other problems, because you might have to fix some other things.
So we say it’s a gamble.
How does our lesson continue though, John?
Well, we learn what she does one Saturday. We read:
“Armed with a little hope and a lot of doubt, some questions, Amelia set out for a used car lot.”
The word set out is really helpful at the beginning of a journey.
That’s right, and that’s pretty much what this means.
It means that you’re starting a journey or you’re starting to go somewhere else.
So we use this to say that she is going on a journey.
She is not just going to the used car lot. She is setting off.
She is setting out for the used car lot.
It resembled a shopper’s paradise, with rows upon rows of gleaming vehicles whispering promises of freedom.
Gleaming is a really great adjective for you to know, friends. Let’s talk about that.
Yes, it is!
Gleaming means to reflect the light or to be shiny. You probably know that word shiny.
So gleaming is very similar. It kind of implies that something is very clean or polished.
Right, yeah. That’s right!
Here’s another example:
“She cleaned her necklace so much that it was gleaming.”
Well, we hear here about another character that enters our story:
A salesman, Mr. Jones, appeared at her side and launched into a sales pitch.
I’m sure this has happened to you before, friends, where you’re shopping somewhere and you start to hear someone give you a sales pitch.
A sales pitch is some kind of talk or a way of talking that’s intended to make you want to buy something.
Sometimes we do use this in another way as well, not just when you’re buying an item, but when someone’s trying to convince you to do something else or trying to convince you of their idea.
They could give you a sales pitch.
That’s right!
And you can even just use the word pitch by itself.
You could say, “The businessman came up with a pitch for their boss to convince her.”
Alright, friends, we have more to learn in just a moment, right after today’s InfoCloud!
Hello friends, welcome to InfoCloud.
Did you buy that bicycle you were looking at, Rex?
Hi Garrett
I sure did! I got a great price too. You always get good deals.
You must really drive a hard bargain.
I certainly try to! It’s interesting you use that phrase, "drive a hard bargain."
I was thinking we should talk about it today.
Sure! "Drive a hard bargain" means to be very determined and tough when negotiating.
Yes. I think of it as a way of saying you got the best deal possible. When someone drives a hard bargain, they are persistent and often unwilling to compromise easily. As a result, they tend to get really good deals.
Interesting! Can you give an example of how its used?
Sure! Let’s say you are buying a car. If the seller insists on a high price and won’t lower it much, you might say, "He really drives a hard bargain."
I see. So, it can be used in any situation where there is negotiation or bargaining.
That’s right! For instance, in a business deal, you might say, "She drove a hard bargain during our contract negotiations."
Driving a hard bargain is a positive thing, right?
Yes, it means a person is strong and effective, but it can also suggest that a person is inflexible or unreasonable. Those are negative things.
| drive a hard bargain 狠狠的殺價 當一個人買東西的時候，很會殺價，總是能夠買到便宜貨，
或許你可以用今天分享的用語 "drive a hard bargain" 來形容。
"Bargain" 有議價的含義，"drive" 是執行或推動，
"drive a hard bargain" 代表非常堅定地在議價，完全不退讓。
Tony drove a hard bargain with the car salesman.
Tony對那位汽車銷售員狠狠的殺價。
當一個人 "drive a hard bargain" 那代表他的議價能力很強，
但也有可能他不講道理或是沒有彈性。
這就是今天的 Foot Cloud，我們下次雲端見！
The Car Amelia wasn’t easily convinced. She politely excused herself, wanting to look around on her own.
She spent the next hour searching through the sea of vehicles. The ones that caught her interest were a little pricey. Discouragement settled over her.
最後來看 "discouragement" 這個名詞，意思是灰心沮喪，
譬如：
"The cold weather and the difficult landscape filled the hikers with discouragement, but they continued to the top of the mountain."
寒冷的天氣和崎嶇的地形讓徒步旅行者感到沮喪，但他們還是繼續向山頂前進。
"Discouragement" 也有劝阻的意思，
譬如：
"Despite facing discouragement from her family, Anna pursued a career in art."
儘管面臨家人的勸阻，安娜依然追求她的藝術事業。
"Discouragement" 的動詞是 "discourage"，意思是劝阻和阻止，
譬如：
"The teacher’s unkind comments discouraged the shy student from participating in class discussions."
老師刻薄的評語讓那個害羞的學生不願意參加課堂討論。
Alright, so we just met Mr. Jones, and he is giving Amelia a sales pitch. He wants her to buy something very specific.
Let’s hear how our story continues.
Amelia wasn’t easily convinced. She politely excused herself, wanting to look around on her own.
Okay, so if somebody excused themselves,
it specifically means that you politely say that you need to leave and youre going to leave that situation or walk away.
That’s right! For all kinds of reasons, you could say:
"I excused myself to go outside and get some fresh air,"
or
"I excused myself from the meeting to take a phone call."*
So she politely excuses herself. She does it in a way that’s not confrontational, and she wanted to look around.
Yeah, you could also excuse yourself to another location as well.
So you could say, "I excused myself to the bathroom," if you want to emphasize the place that you are going.
So we see here that she wants to look around on her own.
When you’re shopping for something big like a car, John, do you usually like to look around yourself or do you prefer that a salesperson kind of follow you around and explain things to you?
I used to be in sales. I hate it when people follow me around in the store because I don’t want them to feel like they’re doing a bad job if I don’t buy something. So I try to politely excuse myself sometimes.
No one likes it; there’s an expression: "No one likes to be sold, but everyone likes to buy." And she does want to buy something, right?
So, she spends the next hour searching through the sea of vehicles.
I absolutely love this expression, "the sea of something."
If there’s a sea of something, it means a wide expanse of something or just lots of things in a big area.
Yeah, you could have a sea of people at a concert. That means there were so many people there it basically looked like the ocean or the sea because you can’t tell where one person ends and another person starts. They’re packed in very tightly.
So this is a sea of vehicles here. There are so many vehicles that she has to choose from. The ones that caught Amelia’s interest, though, were a little pricey.
Pricey is a great word that we use to describe if something is expensive.
Yeah, I love this word. So you have the word price in there, right? How much something costs. So if something is pricey, it means that it’s just a little too much, or well, it’s not necessarily a little too much, but it’s definitely expensive.
So you could say, "Wow, I really want to buy those shoes, but they’re pretty pricey." You might still buy them, but it might break the bank.
Exactly! So Amelia is in a situation where what she is seeing doesn’t match her budget.
And what happens? Well, we learned this word in the Language Lab, didn’t we?
Discouragement settled over her.
She is not quite sure what to do next.
And there’s this phrase here, "to settle over", which kind of implies that something is resting in the air. You might not be able to see it.
So you could say "Sadness settled over them."
Or "Quiet settled on the room."
Or "Darkness settled over the field as the sun went down."
In that case, you can actually see darkness coming down on the field.
Alright, friends, we’ll be right back, but first, we want to go to today’s Fun Fact!
Ah, hello Fact Friends!
I am Detective Ernest Finder, and I have a fun fact for you today!
Did you know that there are many funny names for used cars? One is a lemon.
Hahaha, get it? A lemon!
A lemon means a used car that does not work well. It is a sour deal, like a lemon.
So you don’t want a lemon when you buy a used car!
And that is today’s Fun Fact!
I think a great way to end our lesson today would be by looking at today’s "Talk About It" question here.
It is: When you need something, do you shop around or go with the first option?
How would you answer this question, John?
Well, my wife and I are a team. She’s really good at shopping around, and I’m pretty good at just going with the first thing, depending on how much time we have. Sometimes she’ll shop around and find a really good price, and sometimes I’ll just make a quick decision so we can move on to the other things. So, the teamwork works out.
I do a similar thing. If I have time, I’ll shop around. If not, I’ll just buy the more expensive thing so that I don’t have to shop around.
How would you answer this question, friends?
Talk about it in English!
We’ll see you next time right here on Studio Classroom!
The Car 就是這輛車！(下) 空中英語教室 20241112
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
Hello friends, and welcome to Studio Classroom!
My name is Ann Marie.
And my name is John. Friends, today is a great day to learn something new, so let’s do that together!
You are just in time for day two of our article called The Car.
Let’s talk about the story we learned about yesterday, okay?
The hero of our story is named Amelia, and her old car had a name too—Bessie.
Old Bessie broke down, and Amelia does not want to be stranded.
That’s right! Amelia needs to shop around for a new car.
She needs to look at lots of different cars and compare their prices.
So, to begin doing this, she started by window shopping online.
That’s right! Eventually, she went to a used car lot where lots of cars are sold and met a man named Mr. Jones.
Who was Mr. Jones? Well, Mr. Jones was a salesman, and he started to give Amelia a sales pitch.
She didn’t really like that, so she politely excused herself so that she didn’t have to hear it anymore.
That’s right! Now, she’s looking at a sea of cars. What will she find?
That’s today’s question!
Let’s get on with our first reading for the day: The Car.
Reading 1:
Feeling defeated, she was about to leave when a dusty car in the far corner caught her eye.
It wasn’t exactly what she was in the market for, but it had a certain charm.
As she slowly approached it, the ever-watchful Mr. Jones rushed over.
He admitted the car wasn’t a top-of-the-line model, but it had been well-maintained and was surprisingly a good value.
Hi everyone! Welcome to Language Lab.
I’m Jack. 我們先來看 defeat 這個動詞，意思是打敗或擊敗。
比如：
Feeling defeated by the difficult assignment, they sat down with a sigh, not knowing how to proceed.
(他們被困難的作業難倒，叹了口氣，坐下來不知道該如何繼續。)
When they were defeated in the season’s last basketball game, the team was disappointed but determined to improve for the next season.
(當球隊在本賽季最後一場籃球比賽中落敗時，他們很失望，但決心在下個賽季中力求進步。)
Defeat 當名詞時是指「挫敗」，例如：
The scientist researched a cure for the disease, saying she would never accept defeat.
(這位科學家研究如何治愈這種疾病，表示她絕不接受失敗。)
再來看 dusty 這個形容詞，意思是布滿灰塵的。
例如：
In the dusty basement, forgotten treasures like old toys and photographs told of stories of the past.
(在布滿灰塵的地下室裡，舊玩具和照片等被遺忘的珍寶訴說著過去的故事。)
Push it covered in a layer of dusty flour, the baker came out of the kitchen with a plate of warm cookies.
(烘焙師身上沾滿了一層面粉灰塵，從廚房裡端出一盤熱騰騰的餅乾。)
Dusty 去掉字尾的 y 就變成名詞 dust，也就是「灰塵」的意思。
例如：
He coughed as he entered the old house, the air thick with dust and the smell of old furniture.
(他一進入那棟老房子就咳嗽，空氣中彌漫著厚厚的灰塵和舊家具的味道。)
Alright, so Amelia is not feeling great right now.
We read here that she feels defeated.
She was about to leave when a dusty car in the far corner caught her eye.
Now, we just talked about that dusty in the Language Lab, and you know the idea here is that if a car is sitting in a used car lot with dust on top, it’s probably been there for a while.
Yeah, it’s definitely not gleaming—that’s a word we learned yesterday.
Gleaming means shiny and clean.
But this dusty car catches her eye now.
This is not literally grabbing her eyeball—this means to get someone’s attention, to catch their eye.
I use this phrase a lot when I’m shopping, and maybe I’m not looking for something specifically, but sometimes something’s hanging there on the rack, like a new dress or a new pair of shoes, or maybe sitting on a shelf, and it really catches my eye. It attracts me, and it makes me want to find out more about it.
I see! So this catches her eye. She’s looking for cars, but we read it wasn’t exactly what she was in the market for, but it had a certain charm.
Okay, the market—a market is a place where you buy and sell things, but what does this expression mean, in the market for?
Yeah, so if you’re in the market for something, it means that you’re interested in buying that particular thing or you’re specifically looking for that particular thing.
So, the idea here is that while Amelia is shopping around for cars, she isn’t necessarily in the market for this kind of old, beat-up car.
Oh, okay! So I could say, Hey guys, I’m in the market for a new pair of shoes. Does anyone know a good shoe store?
Exactly! So John is specifically looking for shoes and trying to buy them.
But this car? Amelia was not in the market for it, but it had a certain charm.
Let’s talk about what it means if something has a certain charm.
Yeah, if something has charm, it means it’s kind of appealing. We learned this word, I think, two months ago.
If someone is charming or they’re a charmer, there’s sort of like an attraction to that.
And so, she slowly approaches it.
As she slowly approached it, the ever-watchful Mr. Jones rushed over.
To rush means you hurry in an urgent kind of way.
Here’s another example of how we could use that in a sentence:
When the boy fell down, many people rushed over to help.
(當那個男孩跌倒時，很多人迅速過來幫助。)
That’s right! So Mr. Jones admitted the car wasn’t a top-of-the-line model, but it had been well-maintained and was surprisingly a good value.
There’s a great expression here: a top-of-the-line model.
What does top-of-the-line mean here?
Well, top-of-the-line here is an adjective, so it describes something.
Top-of-the-line means it’s the best quality or it’s among the most expensive available.
So, the idea here is that it’s one of the best.
This car is not top-of-the-line; it’s not like the best kind of car.
This is not a Ferrari or whatever, exactly.
But there’s also an expression we sometimes use, especially with food and drinks: top-shelf.
And it’s a similar idea: it’s the best quality. For food, it means they put it on the top shelf of a grocery store.
But here, top-of-the-line is for manufactured goods.
Alright, friends, we have more to learn, so let’s get on with our next reading:
The Car
Reading 2:
Intrigued好奇的；被迷住了的, Amelia opened the hood—more for show than anything else. To her surprise, the engine looked very clean.
When she took it for a test drive, she found that the car fit her like a glove.
Back at the lot, she played hardball at first.
Mr. Jones refused her offer, but after some haggling over the price, they settled on an amount Amelia could afford.
接下來看片語：
動詞 settle on 意思是「選定」或「決定」。
例如：
Tired after a long hike, they settled on a lovely spot by the lake to rest and enjoy the view.
(經過疲累的長途跋涉後，他們在湖邊選了個美麗的地方休息，並享受風景。)
Since they couldn’t agree on which movie to see, they settled on a TV show they both enjoyed.
(由於他們無法就看哪部電影達成共識，最終決定看一部兩人都喜歡的電視節目。)
After looking at the menu, Pad and John settled on sharing a salad and a pasta dish.
(Pad和John看過菜單後，決定共享一份沙拉和一份義大利麵。)
Alright, so this car has really caught Amelia’s attention.
We read here that she is intrigued. What a great word!
What does it mean, John?
If you’re intrigued, it means you’re interested and curious.
So often times, you could say, I heard a noise and I was really intrigued—what could it be?
You could be intrigued by something that someone says as well.
His comment made me intrigued.
And the idea here is that you want to know more or you want to know the explanation behind what he said.
So, Amelia was intrigued by this dusty old car.
What did she do? She opened the hood.
The hood of a car is the hinged metal covering that covers the engine of a car.
Now, this word is specifically used in America. In Great Britain, I think they call it the boot or something like that. I’m not sure.
But it’s something you should definitely know if you’re driving cars in America.
Pop the hood means to open up the front of your car.
By the way, that word hood is something that covers something normally.
We use it for hats that are attached to a sweater—you’d call that a hoodie, right?
It has a hood that goes over your head.
But here, the hood goes over the engine.
Why did she pop open the hood?
It says, more for show than anything else.
So this is really cute!
She doesn’t really know about engines, but she’s just doing it for show, which means for appearance rather than for use.
So she’s not really going to fix the engine, but she’s just doing something for show.
I think she’s doing this to show the salesman that she knows what she’s talking about.
She’s trying to make it look like, You can’t trick me—I know about cars!
I think this is kind of smart.
I’ve done that before.
I have too!
I think we’ve all done something like this before.
To her surprise, the engine looked very clean.
So, Amelia doesn’t know a lot about engines, but she can tell a dirty engine from a clean one.
And this engine? It’s clean.
When she took the car for a test drive, she found that the car fit her like a glove.
If something fits you like a glove, it means that it’s the perfect size or shape for someone.
That’s right! Often with clothes, you could say, Those shoes fit like a glove, which sounds weird, but it just means it fits perfectly.
Gloves normally fit perfectly on your hands.
So, what happens next?
Well, back at the lot, she played hardball.
To play hardball means to be firm or determined.
So, she’s not going to let Mr. Jones give her a high price, hopefully.
Here’s another example of how you could use this phrase, play hardball, in a sentence:
She played hardball with her landlord, threatening to leave if he didn’t do the repairs.
From this example, you can see that when you play hardball, sometimes it’s not very nice or it’s kind of seen as something that is aggressive.
So, here we’re seeing that Amelia is playing hardball.
And this expression, of course, comes from baseball, right?
There are two kinds of baseball: the small, hard ball (hardball) and a larger, slower ball (softball).
So, oftentimes people think that hardball is more difficult.
If you say, That question was a real softball question, it means it was easy.
You know, That was just a softball event means it was easy.
Sometimes we use that baseball metaphor.
But finally, we read that at first, Mr. Jones refused her offer, but after some haggling over the price, they settled on an amount Amelia could afford.
Okay, so the hardball paid off!
It sounds like this story is going to have a happy ending!
We’re going to hear that ending here in just a moment, right after today’s InfoCloud.
Welcome to InfoCloud, friends!
Do you spend a lot of time thinking about decisions, or do you leave them up to a roll of the dice?
By the time you’ve had your breakfast every day, you’ve already made hundreds of decisions, like what to eat, what to wear, and whether or not to push the snooze button on your alarm clock.
But sometimes there are decisions that are very difficult. Maybe two or more options sound good to you.
Some people might choose to flip a coin or roll a die to help them make a decision.
If they do one of those things, they are leaving the choice up to chance. A coin has two sides, so there’s a fifty percent chance for each choice. A die, however, has six sides, so it’s impossible to predict what will happen when you roll the dice.
So, when you make a decision but you’re not sure what the result will be, you can refer to it as a roll of the dice.
You are taking a risk.
Starting a new business is always a roll of the dice.
You don’t know if you will succeed, but hopefully, you have done enough preparation in something like a business venture.
You don’t want to leave too many things to chance.
That’s right!
Making decisions about your business should not be a roll of the dice.
a roll of the dice 掷骰子做決定 每個人做決定的方式不同，有些人喜歡等到 100% 確定會成功才行動，也有些人喜歡冒險。
你可以用 a roll of the dice 來形容這種決策方式。
dice 就是賭博用的骰子，a roll of the dice 就是掷骰子。
Making business decisions should not be a roll of the dice.
商業決策不應該是一種賭注，意思就是應該充分做市場調查，了解目標客戶後再做出決策。
這就是今天的 InfoCloud。
下次雲端見！
The Car As she drove away, she smiled, glad that she didn’t need to break the bank now.
It was time for her new cars first important mission: she needed groceries.
Weeks later, Amelia bumped into Mr. Jones at the market. After chatting a bit, they parted ways, each satisfied with how things had turned out.
最後來看 groceries 這個複數名詞。
它的意思是「食品雜貨」。
譬如：
While unpacking the groceries, Susan realized she had forgotten to buy milk.
(Susan 打開雜貨袋時發現忘記買牛奶了。)
The rising cost of groceries forced the family to cut back on snacks and other luxuries and to just buy what they really needed.
(食品雜貨價格的上漲，迫使這家人減少購買零食和其他奢侈品，只購買真正需要的東西。)
Groceries 如果去掉字尾的 s，就是指「雜貨店」，常與 list 或 store 聯用：
Penny quickly wrote her grocery list and then hurried to the grocery store to get what she needed for dinner.
(Penny 很快寫下她的購物清單，然後匆忙地趕到雜貨店買晚餐所需要的東西。)
Friends, I looked it up—the hood of a vehicle in Great Britain is not called the boot. That is what they call the trunk, the cargo area of the car.
Okay, do you know what the hood is called in Great Britain?
I have no idea.
It’s called the bonnet.
Oh, a bonnet—that’s also a term for a hat.
It is! It’s a special kind of hat.
So it’s kind of interesting that the hood of a car is called a bonnet in British English.
Okay, so the boot is the back, and the bonnet is the front in British English.
In America, we say the trunk and the hood.
Exactly! Interesting, right? A little extra fun fact for you right there.
But let’s hear the end of our story.
As she drove away, she smiled, glad that she didn’t need to break the bank now.
This is a phrase that you guys saw yesterday: to break the bank means that something is really expensive.
Yeah, she didn’t have to spend too much money. She figuratively did not have to smash her piggy bank. So, she’s happy.
We read that now, it was time for her new car’s first important mission. What was that mission?
She needed groceries!
She needed groceries!
That’s right, groceries—we learned about them already. The things you buy from a grocery store, normally food and drink.
That’s right. Here we go, the end of the story, friends.
Weeks later, Amelia bumped into Mr. Jones at the market.
If you bump into someone, it means that you meet someone by chance. You’re not expecting to see them.
That’s right! And you’re not literally hitting them or bumping into them.
You might, but it means that it’s a surprise meeting.
You could say, Wow, I bumped into an old friend from elementary school yesterday.
The other day, we bumped into my daughter’s classmate while we were at the mall. We weren’t expecting to see her there, but we bumped into her.
Amelia and Mr. Jones see each other, they chatted a bit, and then they parted ways, each satisfied with how things had turned out.
If you chat with someone, it means that you have a conversation with someone, but usually in a very light way. Sometimes we say it’s a very surface-level conversation.
The conversation doesn’t get very deep.
That’s right. It’s friendly and informal. We also use that word for talking online often, don’t we?
To chat or to be in a chat message, right?
That’s right! Here’s another way you could use that word:
They didn’t get much work done because they were too busy chatting.
That can happen if you’re too friendly with your coworkers, friends.
But we also see this other phrase at the end of the sentence: how things had turned out.
That’s right. We read that they parted ways, each satisfied with how things had turned out.
Parted ways is pretty easy to understand. It means leave the conversation and go do something else.
But turned out is a phrase you really need to know. It means to end or to develop in a particular way.
So, how did things turn out with your school project last week?
Here’s another example:
Although she thought she ruined dinner, what she cooked turned out fine in the end. The dinner was delicious.
Yeah, so how did things turn out?
Well, friends, I promise you, if you keep practicing your English, things will turn out a lot better for you, especially in your studies.
There’s a lot more we could say about shopping, but I hope you learned some fun phrases.
Let’s learn something else fun right now with today’s Fun Fact!
Fun Fact
Hello, fact friends!
I’m Detective Ernest Finder, and I have a fun fact for you.
Did you know that another joking name for an old car is a rust bucket?
That’s right! This means a car that is very old and looks rusty. Rust is the red stuff on old metal.
Don’t touch rust!
But that’s a rust bucket for you, and that is today’s fun fact.
Okay, friends, here’s a question to end our lesson:
When you buy something, are you more or less likely to buy it if a salesperson helps you?
The answer for me is absolutely yes, because I feel bad for salespeople. It’s a hard job. So, sometimes I’ll just buy something small that I don’t really want, but I just want to be friendly to the salesperson. How about you?
That’s so nice! You’re just the best kind of customer to have because you just buy it regardless of if you want it or not. Not always, though!
Okay, so for me, I actually think because I did sales in the past, it actually goes the opposite way for me. I know that for every person you try to sell something to, there are so many people who aren’t going to buy it.
And I just internalize that, thinking, "Okay, I guess I’m the one not going to buy it today."
But sometimes it is nice if I’m buying something more expensive.
Like, for example, when I buy my perfume, I do like it if the salesperson comes with me and shows me different options, talks about different price points, and explains the difference between cosmetics or perfume because it’s a bigger purchase.
When you’re in the market for something, it’s always nice to have a friendly salesperson that actually cares about things ending well for you or turning out okay.
Definitely, friends! What do you think? Talk about this in English, and we’ll see you next time right here on Studio Classroom!
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