Baseball

Marco: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

Erica: And I’m Erica.

Marco: And today we’re bringing you another lesson on our sports series.

Erica: Uhu. We’re talking about baseball today.

Marco: Baseball – the American national pastime.

Erica: Is it?

Marco: Yes, it is.

Erica: Okay.

Marco: So, we’re gonna be looking at this interesting sport that is played mainly in the Caribbean and, well, it’s actually very popular in the United States and Japan.

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: Korea.

Erica: Yeah. So, we’re not only gonna learn a bunch of baseball language, but we’re also going to see how baseball has a big influence on English in general.

Marco: That’s right, so, we’re gonna learn a lot of great things today. So, why don’t we start and listen to our dialogue?

Dialogue (First Time): [Dialogue content not provided in the source transcript]

【对话（第一遍）：源文本中未提供具体对话内容】

Erica: Alright, well, a pretty exiting game there at Richie Stadium.

Marco: Exactly, and we have some interesting players: Roger Vargas and Brian Okami.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Alright, so, well, we saw some great words and, well, it’s time for us to take a look at them now in “language takeaway”.

Voice: Language takeaway.

Erica: Okay, we’re gonna look at some, uh, common sports and baseball words here. And the first phrase – we’ll hear this almost at any sort of international sports event, right?

Marco: Exactly, and it’s the national anthem.

Erica: National anthem.

Marco: National anthem.

Erica: So, this is a song, right?

Marco: Exactly, it’s the song that you sing about your country. And many people confuse it, right?

Erica: Yeah, a lot of people might say “national hymn”.

Marco: Okay, hymn. Because in some languages it might be like a hymn.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Like literally translating.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: But in English it’s called the national anthem.

Erica: The national anthem.

Marco: Alright. So, what about our next word?

Erica: Well, we were talking about the pitcher.

Marco: Pitcher.

Erica: P-I-T-C-H-E-R.

Marco: The pitcher.

Erica: Pitcher.

Marco: Okay, and now this is one of the players on a baseball team. And his job is to…

Erica: To throw the ball.

Marco: To throw the ball really fast.

Erica: So that the guy can’t hit it with the bat.

Marco: Okay, so, that’s the pitcher.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Now, the interesting thing is that the baseball commentator said “the pitcher winds up”.

Erica: Winds up.

Marco: To wind up.

Erica: To wind up. Okay, well, let me paint you a picture.

Marco: Okay.

Erica: So, imagine a clock.

Marco: Aha.

Erica: And you’re turning, turning and turning the clock to wind it up, to get it ready to go.

Marco: To make it work.

Erica: Exactly.

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: So, imagine the pitcher doing the same sort of a thing – bringing his arm back behind them, getting ready to throw the ball.

Marco: Okay, so, that is to wind up.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Very good. So, you can use this word not only in baseball, but for other things that require you to do this action.

Erica: Right, to turn something and get it… get it ready to have lots of power.

Marco: Like some toys.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Or maybe like a m… a music box.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Okay, wind up. What about our next phrase?

Erica: Well, Roger Vargas hit a line drive.

Marco: Line drive.

Erica: Line drive.

Marco: Okay, so, what is a line drive?

Erica: Well, it’s a term from baseball and when you hit a line drive, you hit the ball sort of low…

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: On towards the ground and it… it travels along the outside of the field.

Marco: Right, so, the ball basically travels along the foul line.

Erica: Uhu, the white line.

Marco: The white line.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Exactly. Very good, so, that’s a line drive.

Erica: And, so, the players on the field were scrambling to get the ball.

Marco: Scrambling.

Erica: Scrambling.

Marco: Now, we know scrambled eggs form one of our lessons.

Erica: Yes, uh, but the verb to scramble means to, um, move quickly in a disorganized way to do something.

Marco: Okay, so, the players are moving very fast, trying to get the ball, but they’re not dong it very well.

Erica: Right. And you can use this other ways, right? Not just in baseball.

Marco: Right, for example, we can say “the people are scrambling to buy their tickets for the concert”.

Erica: Yeah, or I’m going on vacation tomorrow and I’m scrambling to get everything ready.

Marco: Exactly, it’s a very good term that you can use also in your daily life.

Erica: Exactly.

Marco: Alright. And what about our last word for today on language takeaway?

Erica: Well, they were in the fifth inning of the game.

Marco: Okay, so, inning.

Erica: Inning.

Marco: Inning.

Erica: Alright, this is another baseball term.

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: And, um, it… it just means the period of play.

Marco: Okay, so, we learned, for example, that in soccer you have two halves.

Erica: Uhu. Or in hockey, you have three periods.

Marco: Alright. And in baseball you have nine innings.

Erica: Okay, great, so, some interesting sports and baseball vocabulary. Now, I think it’ll help us to hear this again slower. So, let’s listen to the dialogue.

Dialogue (Second Time - slow): [Dialogue content not provided in the source transcript]

【对话（第二遍 - 慢速）：源文本中未提供具体对话内容】

Marco: Alright, so, as we said, there’re a lot of English terms that come form baseball, but we use them in business context or in your daily life, right?

Erica: Yeah, why don’t we look at those now in “fluency builder”?

Voice: Fluency builder.

Marco: Alright, so, the first phrase that we have is up to bat.

Erica: Up to bat.

Marco: Up to bat.

Erica: So, literally in this dialogue it means the guy is standing on home plate ready to hit the ball, right?

Marco: Right. He has the bat and he’s ready to hit it.

Erica: But what about in other contexts?

Marco: So, for example, you can be at a meeting.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: And maybe it’s your turn to talk.

Erica: So, you’re up to bat.

Marco: So, the b… yeah, exactly. Your boss will say “okay, Erica, you’re up to bat”.

Erica: Okay, so, it means sort of like it’s your tern.

Marco: It’s your turn.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Very good.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Alright, so, that’s another term that is used in baseball, but very commonly used in other circumstances.

Erica: So, we also saw, um, in the dialogue that Roger Vargas, um… he hit the ball, but he missed and that was strike one.

Marco: Right. Strike one.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: So, in baseball you have three strikes.

Erica: Three tries.

Marco: Three tries before you’re out.

Erica: Yes.

Marco: And, so, now the same thing happens in daily life.

Erica: So, um, if someone says “that was strike one”.

Marco: It means you made the first mistake.

Erica: Yes, and if you make two more, you will be fired, for example.

Marco: Maybe.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Aha. Or maybe your parents will say “okay, you… that wasn’t nice, strike one”.

Erica: And then two more times and you’ll have a time out.

Marco: Or you’ll be grounded.

Erica: Yes.

Marco: Okay, so, that’s also called a strike. And the pitcher threw a curve ball.

Erica: A curve ball.

Marco: Curve ball.

Erica: So, okay, pretty clear. A curve ball is when you throw the ball and it sort of goes on a curve, it doesn’t goes straight, right?

Marco: Right, exactly.

Erica: But how can this be used outside of baseball?

Marco: So, you can say “oh, my boss threw me a curve ball today”.

Erica: So, he gave you an unexpected problem.

Marco: Aha, or something that was difficult to handle.

Erica: Okay, um, this one is pretty interesting. I’d like to hear a few more examples.

Voice: Example one.

A: My boss threw me a curve ball today, so I have to stay in work late.

Voice: Example two.

B: It was a huge curve ball when she asked me how many kids I wanted to have. How am I supposed to know?

Marco: Alright, so, that’s basically a curve ball. You can say a non-expected problem…

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Or situation.

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: And our last phrase - and, well, probably one that’s you already know – home run.

Erica: A home run.

Marco: A home run.

Erica: From baseball we know that that’s when you hit the ball really far.

Marco: And you hit it outside of the… of the playing area or outside the park.

Erica: Yes.

Marco: And now if you use it a business context or in your daily life…

Erica: Uhu. It means something similar. Why don’t we take a listen to the examples and see if we can figure it our.

Voice: Example one.

A: Great job on that sales presentation. You really hit a home run.

Voice: Example two.

B: Our sales team hit a home run this month by doubling our revenue.

Marco: Okay, so, basically, a home run is a success.

Erica: A victory.

Marco: A victory.

Erica: Yeah, something a big accomplishment.

Marco: That’s right. So, we’ve seen a lot of these great phrases and as you can see a lot of them from baseball are used in your daily life and there many, many more.

Erica: Okay, well, why don’t we hear them again in the baseball context and we listen to the dialogue one more time?

Dialogue (Third Time): [Dialogue content not provided in the source transcript]

【对话（第三遍）：源文本中未提供具体对话内容】

Marco: Alright, so, an interesting dialogue; a very interesting sport.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: And, well, personally I never played this as a child.

Erica: Uh, me neither, really.

Marco: I don’t really like it too much, but it is kind of fun to… go to a game and especially in the United States have those hot dogs and all that stuff.

Erica: Okay, yeah.

Marco: Hehe.

Erica: Well, a cultural event; a really important piece of American culture.

Marco: Exactly. So, well, we encourage you to come to our website englishpod.com; tell us what you think and also, of course, if you have questions or doubts, be sure to tell us.

Erica: If you have any other sort of baseball-related phrases, let us know about them on the website.

Marco: Okay, so, we’ll see you guys there.

Erica: Thanks for downloading and until next time… Good bye!

Marco: Bye!