节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-09-23
难易度:Medium
关键字:interpret, fluent, preposition, get in touch
Today we are talking about Answering That Telephone, how to answer the phone in
English,
and some of the common words or phrases that you will hear or need to use when
you are talking or answering the telephone.
We're going to be getting into that in the next part of our lesson here.
So far we've already talked about how you do not need to be fluent in English to
answer the phone.
So let's calm those nerves and learn some about what you might hear when you
answer the phone.
(Music).
Answer That Telephone!
People use the word call a lot.
But by adding different prepositions, you get different meanings.
You can call someone or call someone up to reach them by phone.
They mean the same thing.
When someone is not in, you call them back later.
In England, you phone someone rather than call them.
Or you phone them up.
You can also ring or ring up someone.
So call, phone and ring all mean to use the phone to get in touch with someone.
Well, these are all great words to know for when you're speaking English on the
phone.
Let's go back to the beginning of this section here.
We see the sentence:
People use the word call a lot.
All right, it's true.
You make a phone call.
I need to call my friend.
But we continue here:
But by adding different prepositions, you get different meanings.
That's right.
And we've got that great word from our Word Bank, the word preposition.
Now a preposition is a word that usually goes with a noun or a pronoun to tell
you the direction or the relationship it has with another part of the sentence.
So prepositions could be things like at, before, behind, on, below, under.
Those are all different kinds or different prepositions that you can use with
nouns and pronouns.
That's right, or in, by, with, around.
There are so many different prepositions.
OK. Where can you find this thing?
Well, it's on top of the table or it's under the table.
It's behind the bush. All right.
We... we use prepositions all the time in English.
And there are more than 100 prepositions in English, and they're all very
useful.
And of course you use prepositions with the word call as well.
That's right.
And when you do that, you get different meanings.
We read on:
You can call someone or call someone up to reach them by phone.
And they mean the same thing.
They do mean the same thing.
"I need to call my friend," "I need to call my friend up," OK, has the same
meaning.
Now we continue.
When someone is not in, you call them back later.
But hold on a second.
In? When someone is not in, what does that mean, Carolyn?
Well, here it means that someone was not there when you called them.
So you know, not everyone has a cellphone or maybe their phone is off or you're
trying to call them at the office.
If they do not answer their phone, that means that they might not be in.
They aren't there at the place where the phone is.
All right.
So if you call, looking for your friend but someone else answers, they would
say:
I'm sorry. Your friend is not in right now, or your friend is not available
right now.
Well, we see here: In England, you phone someone rather than call them or you
phone them up.
So I guess there's a difference between English in England and English in the
United States when it comes to making phone calls.
Yes, there are certainly some differences between American English and British
English.
And you know, that's what Steve and Ken want to tell us about today in the
Information Cloud.
Let's go see them now.
There was a time when the languages of England and America were spoken and
written the same way.
Well, not anymore.
For years, linguists have predicted British and American English would one day
become mutually unintelligible.
Well, it's happening.
So let's take a quick look and see how these two languages are diverging.
OK. First, pronunciation: No question, very different.
Second, spelling: Many differences.
For example, "jail," in America, is spelled J-A-I-L.
In England, it's spelled G-A-O-L.
OK. Next is vocabulary.
"Crisps" in England are chips in America, while "chips" in England are French
fries in America.
Well, you get the idea.
Words are used differently as we see in today's lesson.
Right.
You'll never hear an American using "phone" as a verb.
OK.
Other smaller, less obvious differences between American and British English
involve grammar, verb usage, punctuation and preposition choice.
So you can see these two English languages are slowly diverging.
But right now, at least, the differences aren't really that big.
However, they are big enough that should you ever do some formal English
writing, you'll want to choose one version and stick to it for the sake of
consistency.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
Well, it is good to know the difference between U.S. English and English
English, or British English.
Anyway, moving along here:
You can also ring or ring someone up.
You can ring someone or ring them up.
So call, phone and ring all mean to use the phone to get in touch with someone.
Wow.
Well, there are so many ways to say that you want to get in touch with someone
by using the phone.
And here we have a great phrase: get in touch.
So if you get in touch with someone, that means that you contact them.
Maybe you write them a letter, you send them an email or a text message or you
call them on the telephone.
And it's good to get in touch with people, especially people, good friends or
family that you have not talked with in a long time.
Is there someone that you need to get in touch with, someone that you need to
contact?
I feel that way sometimes, so I recently got in touch with a friend from
college.
I contacted him recently, and soon we will be talking on Skype.
That's great.
And there are so many ways that you can get in touch with people.
Lots of people stay in touch by using Facebook or other social media like that.
And of course we want you to get in touch with us.
And you can do that on Facebook as well.
You can find Studio Classroom there.
You're right.
Now Carolyn used some different words here.
She talked about staying in touch with somebody.
We can also use another word: to keep in touch.
Hey, let's keep in touch.
I don't want to lose touch with you.
That means I want to stay in contact with you.
Well, right now it's time for us to get in contact with Michelle.
She's waiting for us in the Language Lab.
(Music).
(Chinese).
And keep watching as our lesson continues.
Well, in our lesson today Answer The Telephone, you learned about the word call
and how to use the word call or ring or phone to get in touch with somebody.
But we also talked about how important body language is.
And if you're talking on the phone with somebody, you can't see their body
language.
You can't tell how they're feeling from their body language.
All you have is... is their voice.
You're depending only on their voice.
So let's play a game.
Carolyn, how about this, let's... let's pretend we're on the phone.
OK. We'll play a game on the phone.
That means... that means you can't see me.
Oh, OK, I can't... I can't see you.
OK, good. You can't see me.
And you have to guess how I'm feeling just by listening to my voice. OK?
Oh... that sounds kind of difficult, but that's like being on the phone. So, OK.
OK, good. So our viewers on television, they can see how I'm feeling.
OK. You can see my body language, all right.
Hello... here we go.
Hello, Carolyn.
Uh... I want to invite you to a party tomorrow night.
Um, Gabe, you don't sound very excited.
Are you sure you want me to come to your party?
Ah, Carolyn, I wish you could see my face.
I'm really excited about this.
You don't believe I'm excited?
Uh, no. Gabe, do you want me to come?
Well... of course I want you to come, Carolyn!
Well, Carolyn, do you agree, is body language important?
I think body language is very important.
But you know, if you are listening closely, then you know what someone sounds
like when they're excited.
And he did not sound excited!
It's true. I didn't sound very excited.
But I was having fun with that little game.
Thank you for joining us today.
And of course we will see you next time right here at Studio Classroom. See you.