Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast,
Number 20. Hello and welcome to today's English
as a Second Language Podcast. My name is Dr.
Jeff McQuillen, Senior Researcher at the Center
for Educational Development. here in Los Angeles,
California. If this is your first time listening,
please go to our website at www .eslpod .com
for more information on how to listen to this
podcast and for the text of today's first section.
As usual, we will have two parts of our podcast.
First, a short discussion and then an explanation
of vocabulary and expressions. Today's topic,
Lucy will talk about buying a new computer. Now
let's get started. My computer has been acting
up on me. It's a pretty old model and I need
to replace it So I decided to call up my friend
Kevin to ask for his two cents Kevin is a computer
whiz He knows PC really well since he worked
on them for years But in his heart of hearts
He is a big Mac fan so I thought he would be
a good person to ask. I have always used a PC.
I do mostly word processing, so I don't need
anything fancy. But I see people I know doing
cool things with photos and video, so I'd like
to take a crack at some new programs in the future.
Well, I called up Kevin to tell him what I needed.
He immediately started throwing out specs. He
said, you need at least a two gigahertz processor
and one gig of memory and make sure it has a
writable DVD drive. Whoa, I said. All of that
is way over my head. Let's back up for a minute."
Then he laughed and said he had gotten carried
away. Okay, he said, let's start at the beginning.
Now, the processor determines how easily and
how fast you can use the programs on your computer.
Got that? I said that I did. Then he continued.
How much RAM memory you have is very important,
too. Your computer will go faster the more you
have. So I recommend getting at least one gigabyte
of RAM memory. I think I'm following you so far,
I said. Great, he said. Another thing you want
is a drive that handles both DVDs and CDs. Some
drives can just read DVDs, and some can record
onto blank ones. If you want to burn your own
videos, you'll want a writable DVD drive. Remember
though, that's just the computer itself. Don't
forget that you'll need a monitor, a keyboard,
a mouse, and speakers. Okay, I said, I think
I've got all that. Now, here's the burning question.
Mac or PC? He said, now that's a whole different
thing. Do you have a couple of hours? Now let's
talk about some of the vocabulary and expressions
that Lucy used Lucy started by saying that her
computer was acting up To act up means to cause
you problems We can use this expression for a
computer We can also use it for Say your stomach
my stomach is acting up meaning It's causing
me problems. Or we can use it for children. The
children are acting up. They're making noise.
They're causing problems. So anything that starts
to cause problems can be said to be acting up.
Lucy said she had an old model of computer. The
model of a computer is sort of like the type
of computer. For example, I have a Macintosh
computer. The model of my computer is a PowerBook
G4. Or you could have a PC computer and the model
is the company is Dell and the model is a inspiron.
Model is another word for type. Lucy said she
called up her friend Kevin. To call and to call
up mean the same thing. She asked Kevin for his
two cents. To give someone your two cents or
your two cents worth means to give your opinion.
Sometimes it just means an opinion. Sometimes
the expression is used to indicate some humility
or some modesty about your opinion. For example,
well, I don't know for sure, but here's my two
cents worth. And then you give your opinion.
Kevin her Lucy's friend Kevin is a computer whiz
To be a whiz at something means to be very good
at it to be an expert Sometimes with computers
we use the term geek a Computer geek is someone
who is an expert at computers however This is
often a negative term To use the term geek can
be an insult because it also implies that you
do not have very good social skills. You don't
relate well to other people. You have problems
communicating with other people. So be careful
about using the word geek. It's sometimes an
insult. Lucy said that Kevin in his heart of
hearts is a big Mac fan. the expression heart
of hearts means a deep down what you really truly
believe or what you are really and truly like
I live in California but in my heart of hearts
I still feel I am from Minnesota meaning that's
that that is where my most Strongest feelings
rather lie Lucy said she was going to use her
computer to do some word processing word processing
is as you probably know typing documents letters
Microsoft Word for example is a word processor
She said that she wanted to take a crack at new
programs to take a crack at something means to
try something usually something that maybe you
having difficulty with or someone else is having
difficulty with for example you could say here
let me take a crack at that television set that
isn't working and you are going to try in other
words to fix it So to take a crack at something
means to try something When Kevin started explaining
to Lucy what she needed He started throwing out
specs To throw out something in this context
means to give someone information he started
throwing out information usually means he's giving
us information very fast very quickly the phrase
to throw out also means to put in the garbage
to get rid of throw out and throw away are used
for garbage and for Junk or trash, but here to
throw out means to give to another person information
very quickly Specs are specifications the specs
of a computer are its processor speed its RAM
its It's a hard drive and how big the hard drive
is all of these are specifications and the word
we use sometimes informally is specs. Lucy was
told by Kevin that she should get a writable
DVD drive. A writable drive for computers is
a drive that you can make a disk on, such as
a CD or in this case a DVD. Some DVDs are ROM
or ROM. Meaning you can only read a disc you
can't make a disc a writable disc is one where
you can make a disc Lucy said that the information
Kevin was giving her was way over her head She
said it was way over my head To be over your
head means to be too difficult Something you
don't understand is way over your head She asked
Kevin to back up for a minute. To back up physically
means to go backwards, to move backwards. But
here, to back up means to go over it again, to
go back to a certain point and start over again.
Kevin had gotten carried away. To be carried
away means you get so excited and so interested
in something that you begin to talk too fast
or start talking over someone's head. That is
when you get carried away. Anytime you get very
excited, too excited that it starts to cause
problems is getting carried away. After explaining
something to Lucy, Kevin asked her, got that?
This is an informal way of saying, do you understand
that? You can respond by saying, yes, I get it,
meaning I understand it. Lucy said later that
she thought she was following Kevin so far. she
said I'm following you to follow someone has
two meanings physically it means to go behind
someone to walk or drive behind someone but here
it means to understand do you follow me means
do you understand me Lucy also used a couple
of terms blank and burn a blank CD or a blank
DVD is an empty DVD a CD or DVD or cassette can
all be blank sometimes we use the expression
my mind is blank or my mind went blank meaning
I forgot something it escaped it's empty my mind
is empty that's the expression to burn something,
a DVD or a CD as many of you know means to record
something. It's the same as to write something
to a DVD or to write something to a CD means
to record it, to burn it. A burning question
is a question that is very important, that is
extremely interesting. It is not related to the
term burn in the sense that it's hot. A burning
question means that it's a very important question.
Finally, Kevin told Lucy that choosing between
a Mac or a PC is a whole different thing, meaning
it's a completely different topic that would
require much more explanation. That's going to
do it for today's English as a Second Language
podcast. Once again, we urge you to email us.
Tell us who you are and where you are listening
to us. eslpod at eslpod .com is our email address.
My name is Dr. Jeff McQuillen from Los Angeles,
California. Thank you for listening. We'll see
you next time. ESL Podcast is produced by the
Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles,
California. This podcast is copyright 2005.