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.