节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-11-18
难易度:Medium
关键字:consumer, risky, troublesome, impulse
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
Our lesson is called Consumer Conflicts.
Of course if you are a consumer, that means you are buying things, you are
buying products from someplace.
You could do this by going into a store and buying products.
Or maybe you like to shop online.
Hey, that's a good question.
Do you like to shop outside in the streets and in stores or do you shop online?
Carolyn, what about you?
Well, that is a good question, Gabe.
Um, I really like to shop in stores, actually.
I like to be able to look at things and hold them and see if it's good quality,
whether or not I really like all the functions it has.
So, not just clothes but really anything.
And if I really like it, then I'll go home and see if I can find a cheaper price
online.
That's really funny that you said that.
All right. Um, I can understand that.
Sometimes you might see something you like, but then maybe you can find
something better and cheaper online.
Well, usually I like to shop in stores, but I also shop online sometimes.
We have some things to learn from today's lesson as two girls will be talking
about this idea:
Is it better to shop at a store or to shop online?
Let's get started.
Consumer Conflicts.
(Music).
Consumer Conflicts.
Is shopping online better than buying things in a store?
Laura and Nellie are hanging out at Nellie's house.
Nellie is browsing some online stores from her laptop.
What are you looking for, Nellie?
I'm shopping for a new pair of jeans, Laura.
And maybe I'll buy some shoes.
You buy your clothes online?
Aren't you afraid they won't fit?
It seems pretty risky to me.
Not really.
If they don't fit, I'll just send them back.
That sounds really troublesome.
You have to pay the cost of shipping both ways.
I would rather try on clothes in the store.
Then I'll know right away if they fit or not.
(Music).
Well, our conversation is off to a very good start.
But before we get to discussing it, we want to look at our title: Consumer
Conflicts.
It's a nice "C. C." We have some great alliteration.
But the word "consumer" is from our Word Bank.
So let's look at that.
Now Gabe, you did a very good of explain... good job of explaining consumer
earlier.
Well, yes.
If you are buying something, you need to buy some products, you are a consumer.
Any kind of product, any kind of buying.
You walk into a convenience store and get something - you're a consumer.
So consumer conflicts.
What do different people think about buying and how should you buy your things?
That's right.
And so we see this question:
Is shopping online better than buying things in a store?
This is a very good question especially as buying things online becomes easier
and more and more popular.
I think you're right about that.
It is becoming more convenient.
And... you might be a consumer online.
Well, actually, you could go online and check out consumerreports.org and see
what other consumers are saying about certain products.
That's a good website to check out.
It is very good because we are all consumers, and we want to make sure that
things that we buy are good quality or helpful or necessary.
Well, getting into our conversation here, we learn about two friends.
Laura and Nellie are hanging out at Nellie's house.
Nellie is browsing some online stores from her laptop.
All right.
So these two friends, these ladies are just hanging out.
Do you ever use that phrase?
That means you are just spending time with somebody, not doing anything too
stressful.
You're just hanging out, maybe chatting.
Or in this case, Nellie is browsing something on her laptop.
Well, let's get started with this conversation, shall we?
Carolyn, how about you be Laura today?
Oh, great. Yes. I will start as Laura.
Uh... what are you looking for, Nellie?
I'm shopping for a new pair of jeans, Laura.
And maybe I'll buy some shoes.
Um, Nellie, Nellie, your voice is very deep.
Oh, I have a cold.
Don't worry about me.
Oh, OK.
Nellie is a girl's name.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes, it is.
But as Nellie says here, she's shopping for a pair of jeans.
Now that's a very interesting word.
It's something that you use maybe every day.
You wear jeans.
But let's have Steve and Ken talk about this word more in the Information Cloud.
A toponym is the name of a place.
Boston, Spain, Ontario are all toponyms.
A toponym can also be a word derived from the name of a place.
There's one word in today's dialogue that comes from a location's name.
It's the word jeans.
This English word has its origin in the old French word "Jannes," which is what
the French call the Italian city, Genoa.
Genoa is where the special cotton jean material was first manufactured in the
mid-1500s.
Other places that gave their names to things people wear include tuxedo, formal
clothing for men, from Tuxedo Park, New York.
And bikini, that two-piece bathing suit for women, named after the Bikini
Islands, which are located in the Pacific Ocean.
There are dozens of toponyms.
If you remember earlier this year, we talked about marathon, a Greek town's name
that's become the English word for long-distance foot races.
The word china with a lower case "c" is also a toponym.
Originally, chinaware, or ware is made in China.
The shortened version "china" now refers to fine porcelain bowls, cups and
plates that are made not just in China but all over the world.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
That is very important to know about all of these different words and where they
came from.
Now Nellie was talking about looking for jeans online.
She's browsing these online stores.
And Laura responds:
You buy your clothes online?
Aren't you afraid they won't fit?
That seems pretty risky to me.
It seems pretty risky to Laura.
Well, those are some good questions that she is asking.
OK. They might not fit.
If you buy something online, you're not sure if it will fit.
It might be risky to do that.
And that's a good word from our Word Bank.
If something is risky, that means you are taking a chance.
You don't know for sure how something will turn out.
How could you use that word?
Well, it means that there's a little bit of danger and uncertainty.
So if you go hiking during a storm, that can be very risky.
You could easily fall.
Maybe the path will become too muddy, and you can't get back down the mountain.
OK. Or maybe you go hiking at night without a flashlight.
That could also be pretty risky.
Another way you could use this word is when you're buying a ticket for
something.
Well, don't wait till the weekend at the bus station to get your ticket.
There might be a lot of people there.
It's risky to wait that long.
You might want to get your ticket in advance.
That's right.
Well, Nellie, would you like to respond to Laura's line?
Ah, yes, of course.
Not really.
If they don't fit, I'll just send them back.
Oh. Well, that's one way to do it.
You can just send the clothes back to the company in the mail.
And Laura says:
That sounds really troublesome.
Troublesome.
Well, that's a good word.
It's a troublesome word.
Well, it's from our Word Bank.
If something is troublesome, that means it bothers you or it's kind of
inconvenient.
You don't really want to do it.
That's right, so.
It causes a lot of problems.
Now people can be troublesome as well.
And you want to make sure that you are not troublesome.
You want to help people, not cause more problems.
Of course sometimes you might need some help.
But you might say: I'm sorry. I don't want to trouble you.
I don't want this to be troublesome for you.
However, you might be a gentleman or someone very nice, and you want to help.
You can say: Don't worry.
It's my pleasure.
It's not troublesome at all.
That's right.
Well, Laura is worried about how troublesome it is to send clothes back.
She says: You have to pay the cost of shipping both ways.
I would rather try clothes on in a store.
Then I'll know right away if they fit or not.
OK. Well, I can understand where both of these girls are coming from and how
they both feel.
And if you have to get the clothes and they don't fit, you have to pay for
shipping both ways. OK.
Let's go learn more with Liz... I mean, not Liz, Michelle, in the Language Lab.