节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-02-19
难易度:Low
关键字:bargain, resist, original, product, sell a bill of goods
Hello, everyone.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And welcome to Studio Classroom.
Now today we are starting our lesson, Shopping for Bargains.
Carolyn, do you like to shop for bargains?
I love to!
I always like to look for good deals when I shop.
Well, what about you?
If you do, then this is a great lesson for you.
And if not, there are still some great English points to learn.
That's right. So open up your magazines and let's get started.
Shopping for Bargains.
How to know a deal when you see one.
Can you resist a bargain?
For many people, a special sale is just too tempting to walk away from.
And that makes shop owners very happy!
But with sales items, how can you be sure you're really getting a good deal?
If you understand some sales tricks, you will be able to make smart choices.
Some tricks have been used by shopkeepers for ages.
One of the oldest is to make prices end in 99.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
Thank you, Michelle.
Hmm, you know, I didn't know there were seals tricks.
But before we talk about those, let's look at the very beginning where we see a
line that says: How to know a deal when you see one.
And there's a good word in that line: deal.
Usually we hear this word used when talking about an agreement in business.
You make a deal.
But that's not quite what it means here.
Right. Here the word "deal" is used to describe something that is a good price.
So you could say: I got a great deal on these pants.
They were only NT$300.
Wow! That is a great deal.
Or everything at the store is on sale right now, so you can find lots of great
deals.
Hmm. Did you get a good deal on anything recently?
Talk about it in English.
It's a lot of fun to get a good deal on the things you buy, but sometimes you
might not get as good of a deal as you think.
Right. In our lesson, we read that some people have a hard time walking away
from special sales.
And we should look at that phrase: to walk away from something.
If you walk away from it, that means that you resist the temptation or leave the
situation.
So you could walk away from an argument or walk away from a fight.
Walking away from a fight might be a good idea.
You should try to fix your problems in other ways.
You could also walk away from a tempting box of chocolates.
Otherwise, you might eat the whole box.
Hmm. That wouldn't be good, either.
So if you walk away from something, you avoid something that might be bad for
you.
And in our lesson, it can be difficult for people to walk away from big sales.
Which can be bad for your wallet.
You could end up spending a lot of money on things you don't need just because
they are on sale.
That's right.
Of course it could be good exercise to carry all of those things.
But in this case, you should just try to walk away.
You also want to be sure that you're getting a good deal.
You do.
Gabe, you just used a word that Steve and Ken want to tell us more about in the
Information Cloud: your.
Oh. Well, then let's go there now and see what they have to say about your and
you're.
Today let's take a look at something that's very basic but many people still get
wrong.
And that is the difference between your, spelled Y-O-U-R, and you're, spelled
Y-O-U (apostrophe) R-E.
Like you said, Ken, this is very basic, yet it's a mistake lots of people make,
including native English speakers.
And the reason people get these two words mixed up is simply that these words
sound the same.
So you have to remember their difference.
Your, Y-O-U-R, is the possessive form of you.
Does this pen belong to you?
Is this your pen?
Your, Y-O-U-R.
And you're, spelled Y-O-U (apostrophe) R-E, is a contraction of two words: you
and are.
You're my best friend; you're, Y-O-U (apostrophe) R-E.
So how do you know which one to use?
When in doubt, just replace "your" with you are and say it out loud.
If it makes sense, you should use the contraction.
If it doesn't, it's the possessive.
How about the sentence from our lesson?
How can you be sure you're getting a good deal?
Which "your" should we use?
Just replace "your" with you are.
How can you be sure you are getting a good deal?
Does it make sense?
It sure does.
So, "you're" getting a good deal should be spelled Y-O-U (apostrophe) R-E.
(Chinese).
Thanks, guys.
Now we won't get your, Y-O-U-R, and you're, Y-O-U (apostrophe) R-E, confused.
Those two words can be confusing even for native English speakers.
It's true, especially when you're writing something, they can be a little bit
tricky.
But we know Steve and Ken will be there to give a little extra information so we
will be able to use them correctly.
Something else that can be tricky is knowing a good sale or a good deal when you
see one.
Some tricks have been used by shopkeepers for ages.
And that's a great phrase that Liz wants to tell us about in the Grammar Gym.
So let's go there now.
Hi there, friends.
I hope you're all doing well today.
My name is Liz. And thanks for joining me here at the Grammar Gym.
In today's lesson we see this statement:
Some tricks have been used by shopkeepers for ages.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
And today our focus is on the phrase at the end of the sentence: for ages.
Ages is an informal way of saying a very long time.
So for ages means for a very long time.
So today's sentence just means some tricks have been used by shopkeepers for a
very long time.
So if you're in an informal setting and you want to describe how something took
a very long time, you can use "for ages".
You can use it to talk about waiting for something like:
A bus usually comes every half an hour, but today, we all waited for ages.
Or you can use this phrase to talk about how long someone has been doing
something.
Samuel can fix all kinds of car problems because he's been doing this for ages.
OK, friends.
If you have a copy of this month's Studio Classroom magazine with you, be sure
to check out today's Grammar Tip section for more example sentences.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
I'll see you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
There are a lot of sales tricks that have been around for ages.
And probably the oldest trick in the book is to make things end in 99.
So the price ends in 99.
All right.
And I like that phrase you used here: the oldest trick in the book.
It's not in our lesson, but it's a great phrase to know.
That means that it's something that people have practiced for a long time
because it is very effective.
Maybe it's the most effective way to do something.
So it can be called the oldest trick in the book.
It's very common; everybody knows about it, and yet it still works.
And so one of the oldest tricks that shopkeepers would use is to make their
prices end in 99.
And I see this all the time.
Like walking down the street, there's a lunch special at one of the restaurants
for NT$99.
That sounds like a great deal.
It sounds like a better deal than NT$100.
Ninety-nine somehow just seems better.
Well, friends, that is the oldest trick in the book.
Now sometimes I am a sucker for great deals.
That's another good word to know.
If you like to shop a lot, and maybe you spend too much money, maybe you're a
sucker as well.
S-U-C-K-E-R.
Sometimes I'm a sucker for great deals when I'm shopping, and I just spend too
much.
Well, I hope that you can resist these temptations and know a good deal when you
see one.
And of course we have a lot more to learn in the next part of our lesson
afterthis.