节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-05-11
难易度:Low
关键字:housekeeper, psychologist, salary, average, arithmetic, worth one's weight
in gold, priceless
What is a mother worth?
Do you think about that often?
What does your mother do for you?
Today we've been talking about many different jobs that a mother has at home.
She could be a psychologist, a housekeeper, a tutor, a manager, so many
different things.
Well, now we're going to learn about salary.com and how much they think a mother
should be paid.
Let's get started with our next reading for today.
(Music).
What's a Mother Worth?
Last year for a stay-at-home mom it was US$17.80.
And the workweek for a mom was 94.7 hours!
Do some simple arithmetic and you get a yearly salary of US$112,962!
Moms who also work outside the home did not put in as many hours, so their "mom
salary" was US$66,979.
Either way, hiring someone to perform all the jobs that mom does is expensive!
Of course no one can put a dollar value on the love and support that moms
provide.
Those qualities are priceless!
Take time this Mother's Day to thank you mom!
Well, that is a great idea.
So we've been talking about the hourly wage, or the average hourly wage that a
mother might make for all of the jobs that she does.
OK.
At the beginning of this section we read:
Last year for a stay-at-home mom it was US$17.80, US.
That's US dollars.
And so that's quite a bit, $17.80.
That's not a bad salary.
In fact, it's much higher than the minimum wage, which is about $7 and some
cents.
So this is $10 more. This is great!
That's right.
And we're talking about a "stay-at-home" somebody.
That means you don't have an outside job.
You're a stay-at-home mom or maybe a stay-at-home dad.
Well, we continue with this lesson.
And the workweek for a mom was 94.7 hours.
Wow!
Carolyn, um, how much is the average... how many hours do people usually work a
week?
Well, most people just work 40 hours a week.
But I see that moms work 94.7 hours.
That's more than double.
Exactly! So moms really are busy.
They're busy workers.
So do some simple arithmetic and you get a yearly salary of US$112,962.
Wow! That's a lot that a mother could be making based on all of the things that
she does for her family.
That's right.
And we get this by doing some simple arithmetic.
"Arithmetic" is a word from our Word Bank.
We'll bring it up here.
"Arithmetic" means that you do some math.
You just add things together, subtract, multiply or divide.
It's not too complicated, but we call that arithmetic.
That's right.
So this is simple arithmetic.
But usually I do just use the word "math." Anyway, I don't know if you're good
at math.
I'm not usually very good at math, but maybe some simple arithmetic is OK.
Maybe I'll come to the same conclusion.
I will get this answer as well.
Let's take a look at this other word in the sentence, "get." Now I know this may
be an easy word.
Of course you know that when you get something, you receive something.
But it's used a little differently here, right, Carolyn?
That's right.
Here "get" is being used to show the result of something or the outcome.
Here, if you do some math, then you get an answer.
So it's not just receiving something that you can hold that you get a gift or
you get a present.
Here you are getting an answer.
That's right.
So you could say 9 + 3 + 4 is, let's see... 16.
Is that right?
So I got "16" for my answer.
That's the answer that I got, G-O-T.
So that's how you use this word - to get an answer, or I got this answer.
That's right.
Well, now it is time for us to get some information from Steve and Ken in the
Info Cloud.
In today's lesson we get a monetary value of a mother's worth.
We know how many hours mothers work a week, and we also have an average hourly
wage, so.
If we do the math, an average mom is worth an annual salary of $112,962.
That's right.
Just do the math, and we get this astonishing figure.
Steve, are you good at math?
Oh, I can't say that I am, Ken.
But thankfully, we don't need to be good at math to do the math.
No, you don't.
"Do the math" is, in fact, an idiom.
And it means "figure it out." It's similar to saying put two and two together.
That's right.
"Do the math" just means to reach a logical conclusion, or add up the facts and
see what you conclude.
It doesn't have to be about mathematics.
If I say X is my conclusion, and you dispute it, I might say to you "Do the
math," implying that you will arrive at the same conclusion that I did.
But in today's lesson, it is about mathematics.
And having done the math, we should thank our mothers for the hard work they
perform every day.
Yes, we should.
(Chinese).
Well, thank you, guys.
Right now we're continuing to learn about moms.
And let's read this next sentence.
Moms who also work outside the home did not put in as many hours, so their "mom
salary" was US$66,979.
Still quite a bit of money.
That's right.
It is still quite a bit of money.
And the next sentence says: Either way, hiring someone to perform all the jobs
that mom does is expensive.
So at the beginning of that sentence, we see two words: either way.
Either way.
So this is a phrase that means it's still true.
It doesn't matter about this other fact, it's still true that this happens.
That's right.
No matter how you look at it, it's still true.
So for instance, maybe someone makes a lot of money, you could say:
Well, I'm not sure if he makes his money more at his job or because he invests
in stocks.
Either way, he's making a lot of money.
That's true.
Or you could say: Well, I think it might rain today. But either way, I'm still
going to go to the park and exercise.
All right.
So now you know how to use this phrase.
Either way, you know how to use it.
Well, we're going to continue learning about moms.
Of course no one can put a dollar value on the love and support that moms can
give, that they "provide," here it says.
So you can't put a dollar value on these things.
Sometimes we want to say: Oh, this is worth this much.
But we can't put a dollar value on what our moms provide.
That's right.
We see that those qualities are priceless.
You can't put a price on them, it's just not possible.
They are priceless.
This is a great word to know for something or someone who is very valuable to
you.
Maybe someone's friendship is priceless.
Maybe their words of advice are priceless.
That means they're too wonderful.
Well, take some time this Mother's Day to thank your mom.
That is a great idea.
Right now it's... it's time for us to continue learning something with Michelle
in the Language Lab.
She's also a pretty good mom, actually.
OK.
(Chinese).
And let's head back to our teachers now.
What's a mother worth?
Well, I hope after today's lesson, you at least appreciate your mom a little bit
more.
Well, I have a question for you.
Which of your mom's jobs is most important to you?
Think about all the things that she does for you or your family, and which of
these things is most important to you?
Carolyn, what about you?
What's your answer?
Well, I really appreciate the time that my mom takes to talk to me.
It's not easy living so far away from home.
And when I get to talk to her, we chat for hours.
Man, I was going to say that, Carolyn.
I think it's maybe normal for us to appreciate our mothers because they are good
listeners and they love talking with us.
Well, I think it's time for us to say... actually Carolyn, we... we planned
something.
Here we go. You ready?
Yes!
OK, here we go.
I love you, Mom.
OK. We hope you get a chance to tell your moms you love them, too.
Now it's time for us to say goodbye.
But we see you... we will see you next time right here at Studio Classroom.
See you.