Now that the new year is here, many Americans are making their new year’s resolutions, promising themselves to do things differently this year and to improve their lives. Jeff talked about his new year’s resolution in English Cafe 2, but I wonder what his new resolution is for this year.
Here are some popular American new year’s resolutions.
Lose Weight
Pay Off Debt (money you owe to others)
Save Money
Get a Better Job
Get Fit (healthy)
Eat Right
Get a Better Education
Drink Less Alcohol
Quit Smoking
Reduce Stress Overall
Reduce Stress at Work
Take a Trip
Volunteer to Help Others (work to help others without getting paid)
My new year’s resolution is to travel more. I like to travel, but I always put it off (delay it) because I think I’m too busy or it’s not a convenient time. My resolution is to just take time off (take vacation time from work) and enjoy myself more. I’ll tell you in December, 2008 if I’ve kept my resolution.
How about you? Have you made a new year’s resolution?
The intials DWI usually mean Driving While Intoxicated. To be intoxicated means to have drunk too much alcohol. As in most places, it is illegal in the U.S. to drive when you have drunk a large quantity of beer, wine, or other liquor. (This is also now called DUI = Driving Under the Influence. To be under the influence means the same as being intoxicated or having taken too much of another drug.)
Now there’s a new DWI: Driving While Intelligent. A recent study by an insurance company in the U.S. found that 18% of drivers would fail the written exam that you need to take to get your license if they were to take it again. You only have to take a driver’s examination once in most states – when you get your first license. But many people forget what the correct rules are for driving, and would probably not pass the exam later on. So I think we need to encourage this new DWI, especially here in Los Angeles, where there are so many crazy drivers!
This is the time of year that newspapers and magazines compile year-end lists. One list that caught my eye (got my attention) was in the New York Times Magazine a couple of weeks ago.
This is a list of patents (registered ideas or inventions with the government) that Americans received in 2007. Some of these are clear from their name, but others are not so clear. Some may be good ideas and some are just…strange.
Chewable (something you can bite and eat) toothbrush
We at ESL Podcast want to wish all of you a peaceful and joyful holiday season. Although you, our listeners, are in more than 80 countries and speak dozens of different languages, we are all united in our common humanity, no matter what language we speak. For us, the greatest gift is being able to influence in some small way the lives of others for the better.
Thank you for giving us that opportunity, and for your loyal support this past year!
There was a nice article today in the Spanish-language financial newspaper, Diario Financiero, published in Santiago, Chile, about learning languages on the Internet. ESL Podcast is mentioned in the second part of the article, which talks about ways of learning different languages on the web. If you can read Spanish, you may be interested in it.
For the past 25 years or so, many people living in Los Angeles have tried to protect the area of water near the city called Santa Monica Bay. One such organization is Heal the Bay. To heal is normally a word we use when talking about people who are sick and then get better. But here it is used to mean improve and clean up the water in the bay near the beaches of Los Angeles.
One way of helping this is to ask people not to dump (get rid of, dispose of) water that is not clean down the sewer drains. Sewers are the pipes that take water and waste away from homes and streets. Streets have drains or openings in the pipes where rain water can go. To drain also means to take liquid out of something, such as the water out of a bath (the little hole where the water goes down in a sink or bathtub is also called a drain).
On many sewer drains close to the ocean, there are signs telling people not to put dirty water (oil, soapy water, etc.) into this sewer drain: “No Dumping – This Drains to Ocean.” (Normally, we would say “drains into the ocean,” but they didn’t have a lot of room on the sign!) Notice the picture of the fish, reminding people to be careful to protect the fish and animals.
Many thanks to Matteo Mescalchin of Digital Movie, a professional photographer who took this picture on his recent trip to Los Angeles.
Are you wondering what to buy that special someone you know for the holidays? How about giving them the “gift” of English with an ESL Podcast Basic or Premium Membership? It’s much better than candy or a video game; it tastes sweeter and is much more fun than either of those things!
You can purchase a 6 or 12 month membership on our ESL Podcast Store. After you purchase the membership (either Basic or Premium), email us and we’ll email you a coupon code that you can then give to the person you’re giving the membership to.
Right now, the U.S. dollar is very low in value, which means that visitors from other countries can buy more and spend less. Canadians know this and are coming across the border (line between two countries or areas) to shop in American stores. One catch or difficulty is that shoppers have to pay duty (a government fee for taking something into the country) of around 6% when they reenter Canada.
What to do? Some Canadians are leaving their old clothes behind in dressing rooms (a room in a store where you try on clothes) and garbage cans, and wearing their new clothes back home. This is, of course, illegal and if the shopper is caught, he or she will have to pay a fine that is much more than the duty.
Shopping malls are now finding a way to handle these left-behind items. One mall in New York has set up charity bins (containers) outside the stores to collect the old clothes. From this one shopping mall, the charities (organizations that help the poor and the needy) picks up about 20 bins of clothes each week!
I guess our Canadian neighbors are helping more than our economy. They’re helping our poor, too!
The U.S. will select a new president next year, and the candidates (people trying to win the position) have been campaigning (asking people for their votes) for almost a year now. The first election to select the candidates is in a few weeks.
One recent tradition in U.S. politics is celebrity endorsements, when famous people (actors, comedians, singers) show their support for a candidate by saying, “I’m going to vote for this person.” All politicians have celebrities who support them, some more than others. Barak Obama, a senator from Illinois and a candidate for the Democratic party’s nomination (selection) to run for president, has recently received the endorsement of one of America’s most well-known talk-show hosts, Oprah Winfrey. I talked about Oprah almost two years ago on one of our first English Cafes, English Cafe #5. Oprah (as she is popularly known) has one of American’s most successful television shows (named – are you ready? – “Oprah”!), and is one of the richest and most successful celebrities in the U.S., popular especially among women.
Will her endorsement help Obama’s candidacy? No one knows for sure. Some people will probably be influenced by her endorsement. The other candidates will have their celebrities, too. In U.S. politics, Hollywood and Washington, D.C., have been moving closer and closer together for many years.
The Voice of America has a recent article about these celebrity endorsements, entitled “U.S. Presidential Contenders Enlist Celebrity Support to Push Ahead.” A contender is someone who may win a race or contest, in this case the same as a candidate. To enlist means to ask for support, usually when you have a difficult task or conflict. To push ahead means to continue forward, to become the leader in a competition. So presidential candidates are asking celebrities for their help so that they can win the nomination.
ESL Podcast will not be endorsing anyone for president. (Of course, no one asked us to, either!)
In today’s English Cafe 115, Jeff talked about professional wrestling on American television. Sometimes, professional wrestlers will participate in a battle royals, where a large group of fighters enter the ring and the last person standing is the winner.
Here is an example of a battle royal. Remember that this is for entertainment and that all of it is staged (rehearsed; planned), and the wrestlers are not supposed to really get hurt.
The announcers say that it’s every man for himself in the ring, which means each person is trying to help him or herself, and is not concerned about anyone else. In other words, each fighter is fighting alone, without any help from anyone else.
Do you find professional wrestling convincing? Do you find it entertaining?
The intials DWI usually mean Driving While Intoxicated. To be intoxicated means to have drunk too much alcohol. As in most places, it is illegal in the U.S. to drive when you have drunk a large quantity of beer, wine, or other liquor. (This is also now called DUI = Driving Under the Influence. To be under the influence means the same as being intoxicated or having taken too much of another drug.)
(something you can bite and eat) toothbrush
We at ESL Podcast want to wish all of you a peaceful and joyful holiday season. Although you, our listeners, are in more than 80 countries and speak dozens of different languages, we are all united in our common humanity, no matter what language we speak. For us, the greatest gift is being able to influence in some small way the lives of others for the better.
For the past 25 years or so, many people living in Los Angeles have tried to protect the area of water near the city called Santa Monica Bay. One such organization is 
Are you wondering what to buy that special someone you know for the holidays? How about giving them the “gift” of English with an 
The U.S. will select a new president next year, and the candidates (people trying to win the position) have been campaigning (asking people for their votes) for almost a year now. The first election to select the candidates is in a few weeks.
