节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-12-22
难易度:Medium
关键字:smooth, trip somebody up, foul, slap, crab, in the doghouse, profane
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
I'm so happy you've joined us today.
My name is Steve.
How are you at minding your manners?
It doesn't matter if you're 5 or 55, it doesn't matter if you're sitting on the
sofa at home watching TV with your family,
or if you're in a formal business meeting with colleagues, manners are
important.
Manners have been described as the "grease" that makes the wheels of human
relationships run smoothly.
This is a good reason to make good manners a daily habit.
Let's learn more about that on the top of page 38.
Polishing Your Manners Can Improve Relationships.
It pays to practice excellent manners within your own family on a daily basis.
Otherwise, you'll swing back and forth between smooth manners and your casual
self.
You'll get tripped up at the worst possible time.
"I'm absolutely giving up swear words and bad manners," laughs a friend of ours
we'll call Jason.
"I was crabbing at my wife during a parent-teacher function a couple of weeks
ago.
I didn't know the microphone near me was on.
Hi, friends.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
And today we're looking at our third day on our article about MANNERS.
Being polite is important and can rescue some of your relationships.
Ryan, yesterday we saw just the most awkward and awful Mr. Big Mouth attending a
wedding.
That's right.
We heard from an attorney who we call James, and he said he brought a friend
along to a wedding.
And his friend was incredibly rude saying things to a second-time bride such as:
Was your last wedding as nice as this one?
That's right.
We said "as lavish as this one." Well, we learned that people... it seems that
in society, people are getting more and more rude and less polite.
And they will end up paying the consequences by... being ostracized by the rest
of society, by polite people.
So it's going to pay off to practice excellent manners.
Exactly. So friends, if you don't want to be the kind of person that is
ostracized because of your bad manners,
practice excellent manners at least within your own family on a daily basis.
That's right.
Now "on a daily basis" means everyday, not just when you feel like it because
manners aren't about feeling like it.
Manners are about respecting other people even when you feel kind of bad.
So every day, every day! That's how important it is to practice.
Exactly. Friends, if you do something on a daily basis, you do it every day.
If you do it on a monthly basis, you do it every... every month.
So that's the way the word "basis" is used with time.
And it does pay to practice.
That means it's worth it.
That's right.
Now your family is not going to actually give you money to practice, but
eventually you'll be really glad you did.
Yeah. If you don't, friends, or otherwise, you'll swing back and forth between
smooth manners and your casual self.
Now I think "casual" is a great word here because you know, Ryan,
we were talking yesterday about the Internet and how people communicate on the
Internet in a very casual way.
And that means they're relaxed and laid back, they're not focusing on having
nice, smooth manners.
Yeah. Now here the word "smooth" when it's used with "manners" refers to, well,
the way you're behaving.
It's usually very polite and confident.
So you're able to get people to like you and you can persuade them.
But there's something wrong with the word "smooth" here.
It's not really sincere.
What does "sincere" mean?
Sincere means honest.
So when you're smooth, that might mean you get people to like you, but really
there's something different going on underneath.
So if you're practicing every day, you don't... you won't worry about that.
It'll just be more natural to be polite to people.
Exactly.
If you just have smooth manners, then you might be smiling and being nice to
people, but really inside, you're thinking, well, really bad things.
And that puts you into your casual mindset.
You're thinking that way.
And eventually, you'll get tripped up at the very worst possible moment.
Yes. Now if you get "tripped up," that means you make a big mistake, and usually
there are bad consequences.
Another way of saying "tripped up" is you'll "fail" when it's important.
And it says at the worst possible time, which means in a situation that you
really, really, really want good manners, but you mess it all up.
Yep, usually in front of the wrong person, or you make fun of the person who is
in power, or maybe your boss or your wife, your husband, something like that.
Yeah, so it's import to practice every single day so you don't fail in front of
these important people.
OK, so we're going to talk with our friend Jason next.
Well, that's his name.
We're going to call him Jason.
Now he says: I'm absolutely giving up... giving up swear words and bad manners.
Ooh. That's a big promise.
Right. Now this is a friend of the author's.
And he says: I'm giving up swear words.
If you give up something, that means you are not going to use it anymore or do
it anymore.
Now he's... this is not something you'd usually laugh at.
But he's laughing because he's about to tell us a story.
That's right.
Now first of all, Kaylah, I want to define "swear words" here.
He's giving up swear words.
If... well, swear words are bad words, words that when you hear them, it makes
everyone around you feel uncomfortable.
Or maybe you hear them in conversations, you hear them in movies, you hear them
in songs, and you think: Oh. It's a word of expression.
Friends, especially when you're learning a second language and you're practicing
you English, do not use swear words.
They're offensive.
And though you may think they're cool because you've heard them in songs,
they're not.
And it makes everyone around you uncomfortable; and you're running the risk of
being ostracized.
Yes. Thank you, Kaylah.
That is very important, friends.
Now we're going to look back at the conversation with Jason here.
He says: I was crabbing at my wife during a parent-teacher function a couple of
weeks ago.
Now to be "crabbing" at someone means you're complaining and you're finding
fault and blame in them.
So it's just complaining about them to their face, kind of just being snappy.
Yeah, being rude, essentially.
And he says: I didn't know that the microphone was... that was near me was on.
Oh, no! The microphone right next to him is on!
So that means everyone is listening to him crabbing his wife.
We're going to talk about what happens after we visit the Information Station.
Bryan, many people don't realize how important good manners are.
Especially when we're dealing with people we don't know, Bill.
Every day we have many situations to show good manners to strangers.
And we'll see some of these examples over at...
Information Station.
Many of the buses here in Taipei are full of people, and some of them are senior
citizens.
So, if we're sitting in a seat and we see one of these people standing, the
right thing to do is get up and offer our seat to them.
Oh, thank you, deary.
You're such a nice bear.
Speaking of finding a seat, many fast food restaurants are full of students
studying, talking or sleeping.
And often there are no tables available for customers with food.
So the right thing to do is to let people with food sit down so they can enjoy
their meal.
And in restaurants with servers, we need to remember that they are people just
like us.
What do you think you are doing?
The soup is cold.
And I asked for coffee, and you gave me tea.
What's wrong with you?
That's right, Bill.
There's a wrong way to talk to waiters like we just saw, and then there's a
right way.
Excuse me. Could you please warm up my soup?
And I would like some coffee instead of tea, please.
Thank you for your help.
Smartphones can be great tools as we learned earlier this month.
But sometimes they can be a problem also.
Today many people walk around only looking at their phones and not paying
attention to others, especially on busy streets and sidewalks.
I know the games are exciting, and maybe we want to send the text message, but
it's good manners to pay attention to what's around you.
There are many good ways every day that we can display good manners to
strangers.
And if you do, then maybe that stranger may end up becoming your friend.
So friends, always practice good manners.
And we'll see you next time here atInformation Station.