متن Esl pod شماره ی 13 Dining at a Restaurant II

Welcome to English as a second language podcast number thirteen.
Welcome to English as a second language podcast, episode thirteen.
My name is Dr. Jeff McQuillan, senior researcher at the center for educational development. We’re coming to you from Los Angeles, California and we welcome all our new listeners. If this is the first time you’ve listened to this podcast, please go to our website “www.eslpod.com” for more information on how you can get the most out of this podcast. Today’s podcast is going to be about dining out. Our last podcast number 12 we talked about me going to my favorite Italian restaurant here in Los Angeles and we went to the restaurant, we sat down and we were just ready to order. we were getting ready to order our meal and that’s we’re going to continue today. if you haven’t heard pod number 12, it’s OK. You’ll still understand the story. If you want to hear the first part of the story, go to our website and you can download it, there. Now let’s get started.
I love coming to this Italian restaurant. The appetizers and desserts are to die for. When the waiter came to our table to take our order, my friend ordered a lobster ravioli dish and I asked for my favorite, lasagna. The waiter then asked us, “Would you like a soup or salad with that?” My friend said yes; I passed on both.
The vibe in the restaurant is pretty laid back, not at all uptight like you find in some of the Ritzier restaurants in Beverly Hills. The wait staff is courteous although sometimes the hostesses can be a bit snooty.
Anyway, when our meals arrived, everything was cooked too perfection. Since I didn’t order any appetizers, soup, or salad, I was starved. Even though I was really hungry, I tried not to gobble down my food too quickly. I didn’t want my friend to think I was a pig!, But even though I tried not to, I still overate. When the waiter asked if we wanted any dessert or after dinner drinks, I just couldn’t resist getting the apple-filled crepes. They are the best.
When we got our check, my friend and I split the bill as we’re accustomed to do. I frankly prefer to go Dutch when I eat out with friends. So that was the end of a really great meal. Now I have to hit the gym if I’m going to lose any of this extra weight I gained from eating that lasagna!

توضیح انگلیسی مکالمه ی Eslpod شماره ی 13 Dining at a Restaurant II

Now let’s talk about some of the vocabulary that I used during my discussion. At the beginning, I said that, “The appetizers and desserts are to die for.” The expression “To die for” means that they’re absolutely wonderful. They’re great. They’re excellent. It’s the best. We usually use this expression when talking about a food or a type of food that we really like. Of course, this expression “to die for” isn’t meant to be taken literally. We’re not really going to die for some food, but it’s so good that we could die for it. The waiter came to take our order and that’s the expression we use “to take your order.” So, you might for example say, “Excuse me, could you ask the waiter to come over and take my order?” If you needed to get your service at your table, if you needed to have waiter come to your table and he or she had not yet come. We also mentioned that “Waiter offered us soup or salad.” This is a common expression also. An appetizer or a soup or a salad is common of course before a meal. I said that, “I passed on both.” another words, “I passed on” means that I refused. I decided to not have any,. I declined it. This is a common expression that we use just not for food, but anything that we don’t want to do. It’s somewhat informal,. you can say for example, “I passed on going to the opera tonight.”, Instead, I’m going to stay home and watching television. Sometimes people will say, “Do you want to go to my friend’s house?” and you can respond, “I pass” or simply “pass.” Again, that’s an informal expression, used mostly among people and friends that you know. I mentioned that, “the vibe in the restaurant is pretty laid back.” “Vibe” means the atmosphere, the feeling, the general tone or way that you perceive the environment. We often talk about the vibe when we talk about a restaurant or a night club or a place where you would go dancing, That sort of thing. I said that, “It was pretty laid back” meaning it was very relaxed and this is an informal expression. “To be laid back” means to be relaxed. It’s the opposite of “uptight.” I mentioned that, “this restaurant that I went to, was not at all uptight;” meaning the people there were relaxed, they weren’t getting anxious over anything. “To be uptight” means to be overly concerned. To be so concerned that you bother other people. We’ll often say, “Don’t be uptight.” which means, don’t be so anxious, Don’t be so worried about what is happening. I also mentioned that, “The restaurant was better than some Ritzier restaurants in Beverly Hills.” The term “Ritzier” means expensive, very high class, that’s a Ritzier restaurant or that’s a Ritzier hotel. We usually say it about a restaurant or a hotel. I mentioned in talking about the wait staff and “the wait staff” means those who are waiters or those who are hosts and hostesses that they were courteous. But sometimes the hostesses can be a bit snooty. To be snooty is to think that you are better than someone else. to be snooty means that you don’t associate, you don’t hang around with, you don’t talk to people who you don’t think are your equal. It’s a negative expression in describing someone. A couple of other expressions I used, I said that, “I was starved” meaning I was very hungry. Literally, to starve means to go without food and of course eventually, you would die if you don’t eat food. Hear, it just means very very hungry. We’ll say that allot again somewhat informal expression. “Let’s go eat. I’m starved.” means I’m very hungry. I mentioned that “I tried not to gobble down my food.” To gobble down your food means to eat it very quickly, to eat it too quickly. That’s why I said that, “I didn’t want to gobble down my food in part because I didn’t want my friend to think I was a pig.” To compare yourself to a pig, of course, means that you eat too much. I mentioned that, “I still over ate” To over eat means to eat too much. I still ordered some dessert however and I said in my discussion that, “They are the best.” Meaning they are the best possible. Finally, when we got our check, I said that, “My friend and I split the bill.” Notice that I used two words there that mean the same thing: Check and bill. In a restaurant, you can say, “check” and for example, you can ask the waiter, “Excuse me, Could we have our check now?” meaning you want the waiter to bring over the check. Check is the same as bill. It’s usually just used however in a restaurant. The more general term which you can also use in a restaurant is bill. “Could you bring our bill, please?” in a restaurant is also acceptable. I mentioned that, “My friend and I were going to split the bill.” mean we’re each going to pay 50% or whatever we ate. This is called when you want to go out with someone to eat and each of you pays for your own meal is very common in the United states and The expression we used is “to go Dutch” Dutch refers of course to Netherlands . This is not meant to be an insult to people from Netherlands, but it is a very common expression meaning that each person pays for his own meal. Once again, this expression we use specifically when usually
talking about restaurants. Finally, I said, “Because I ate so much, I needed to drop some weight.” To drop weight means to lose weight. So, when someone loses weight, we can say, “Well, look at him. He lost 15 pounds!” you can also say, “Look at him. He dropped 15 pounds!” either expression is the same. Drop is perhaps a little bit informal. Ok, That’s going to do it today for our Esl podcast. I thank you all for listening. Remember, if you want to hear some of our other podcasts, You can go to our website, “www.eslpod.com” We also encourage you to email us your comments, questions to “eslpod@eslpod.com” and let us know where you’re listening from. We’ve heard from many different countries in the last week. We’ve heard from japan, Taiwan, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Australia, Mexico, France, Ireland and Norway. So, all over the globe, we’d love to hear where your listening from and also your suggestions for future topics for Esl podcast. Thank you again for listening and come back tomorrow for next Esl podcast.
Esl podcast is produced by center for educational development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copy right 2005.