Skiing

Marco: Hello English learners! Welcome back to another podcast here with us at EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

Erica: And I’m Erica.

Marco: And today we’re bringing you another part of our sports series and this time it’s an advanced lesson.

Erica: That’s right, we’re heading to the mountains today to, um, take a skiing lesson.

Marco: Alright, so, we’re gonna be learning about skiing – a winter sport and very popular throughout the world. So, before we get started, why don’t we take a look at a couple of words in “vocabulary preview”?

Erica: Alright, so, we’re gonna hear these two words in our dialogue. The first one is fresh powder.

Marco: Fresh powder.

Erica: Fresh powder.

Marco: Okay, so, powder – we probably know this phrase already.

Erica: Yeah, but here we’re talking about, uh, fresh light snow.

Marco: So, fresh light snow.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Snow that recently fell.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: Okay, so, it’s… it looks like powder.

Erica: The best kind… the best kind for skiing on.

Marco: Okay, the best kind. Alright, so, fresh powder. What about our next phrase?

Erica: Well, we’re also gonna meet a four-time giant slalom champion.

Marco: Alright, a four time giant slalom champion.

Erica: Okay, so, giant slalom is a type of ski race.

Marco: Uhu. When… you probably see it on TV, when they go down the hill and they have to go through these red or blue flags, right?

Erica: Yeah. Now, four-time giant slalom champion means he won the giant slalom four times.

Marco: Okay, so, this is an interesting way of saying that somebody did something many times.

Erica: Right.

Marco: So, I can say “the three-time Nobel Prize winner”.

Erica: Yes, exactly!

Marco: Okay.

Erica: Or “the five-time Olympic gold medalist”.

Marco: Okay, perfect, so, now it’s time for us to go to the mountains with our famous Rick Fields and Bob Copeland and we’ll see what happens.

Erica: Pretty, uh… pretty embarrassing for Rick there, wasn’t it?

Marco: Yeah, he was a little bit, uh, cocky.

Erica: Aha.

Marco: And then he ended up falling.

Erica: Well, I think there’s a lesson in that for all of us, but, um, what the real lesson is today is language. So, why don’t we start with “language takeaway”?

Marco: Alright, on language takeaway today let’s take a look at the first word. We have some bindings.

Erica: Bindings.

Marco: Bindings.

Erica: Bindings are sort of like a lock that attaches your boot to your ski.

Marco: Uhu. So, those are the bindings. I guess it comes from the verb to bind.

Erica: Yeah, to tie something, um, so that it stays.

Marco: Okay, binding.

Erica: So… so, for example, my bindings are broken.

Marco: Okay, and another piece of skiing equipment and very important is goggles.

Erica: Goggles.

Marco: Okay, we have goggles now.

Erica: Yep, not to be confused with Google.

Marco: It’s spelled almost the same way, ha?

Erica: Yep, but goggles are kind of like… imagine a big pair of glasses that you wear when you ski.

Marco: Uhu. So, it makes people kind of look like flies.

Erica: Yes, yeah.

Marco: They have these huge glasses.

Erica: Yeah, and you’ll also see safety goggles which you might wear if you are a mechanic fixing a car or someone working with wood or chemicals or what have you.

Marco: Okay, so, goggles basically protect your eyes…

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: From snow, from the sun, from anything.

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: Alright.

Erica: So, moving on to our next ski word. They said, uh, you should wear the goggles that you don’t accidentally go down… go over the moguls.

Marco: Okay, moguls.

Erica: Moguls.

Marco: Okay, moguls… It sounds kind of strange. Wha… what are these things?

Erica: Um, basically, these are, uh, the bumps that are… are in a ski hill.

Marco: Bumps, okay, so…

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: They’re kind of like mini little hills.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: And they’re very difficult to ski over, right?

Erica: That’s right, you gotta be pretty good to, ah, handle those moguls.

Marco: Okay.

Erica: Now, since these guys are beginner skiers, they’re starting out on the bunny hill.

Marco: A bunny hill.

Erica: The bunny hill.

Marco: Okay, very popular among skiers, the bunny hill is the easiest hill.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: So, it’s where the beginners start to learn.

Erica: Yeah, all the kids.

Marco: All the kids…

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Are on the bunny hill.

Erica: Alright, and our final words… actually, we’re gonna look at two words here, because they mean almost exactly the same thing. We heard the ski instructor say gnarly.

Marco: Gnarly run.

Erica: Yeah, gnarly, so, an interesting word. It spelled G-N-A-R-L-E-Y. [NOTE: you might also see another spelling – G-N-A-R-L-Y]

Marco: Okay, so, but you don’t say gnarly.

Erica: No, just…

Marco: You say narley.

Erica: Yeah, and a related word – sick.

Marco: Okay, now, sick means to be sick, right? It…

Erica: No, no-no, not here! Let’s listen to some examples to help us understand.

Man A: Those were some sick dance moves. You’re amazing!

男A: 那些舞步简直太酷/太牛了！你太厉害了！

Man B: Jack and I went to the beach yesterday and surfed some really gnarly waves.

男B: 杰克和我昨天去了海滩，冲了几个超级带劲/刺激的大浪。

Man C: Man! The concert last night was sick! I can’t believe we got front row seats.

男C: 兄弟！昨晚的演唱会太炸/太棒了！不敢相信我们居然买到了前排座位。

Marco: Okay, so, basically gnarly and sick, they mean that it’s amazing, it was cool.

Erica: It’s awesome.

Marco: Awesome.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: So, these two words are… are very very informal. Th… it’s…

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: It’s slang.

Erica: Yeah, and actually skier slang. Both of these words I think originated with skiers, snowboarders, skateboarders, um, gnarly dudes.

Marco: Gnarly dudes. Okay, so… okay, so, that’s all the words we have for language takeaway, but we have some great phrases that we wanna take a look at before we listen to the dialogue again, so, it’s time now for “fluency builder”.

Erica: Alright, so, Rick said that it… it’s time to… So, Rick invited everyone to start skiing by saying let’s hit the slopes.

Marco: Okay, so, to hit the slopes.

Erica: To hit the slopes.

Marco: Okay, now, we want to hit the slopes. What does that mean?

Erica: Go skiing.

Marco: Let’s go skiing.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Let’s go to the mountain.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: Now, we can change the noun slope…

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: For something else, right?

Erica: Yeah, you can… you can change it for a lot of other different nouns. Um, and why don’t we hear some examples of how you can do that?

Woman A: I really have to hit the books and study for my exam tomorrow.

女A: 我真的得啃书复习了，准备明天的考试。

Man B: I’m really tired. I think I’m gonna hit the bed now.

男B: 我太累了，我觉得我现在要上床睡觉了。

Woman C: Honey, can we hit the supermarket on our way home? I need to buy some milk.

女C: 亲爱的，咱们回家路上能去趟超市吗？我得买点牛奶。

Marco: Okay, great, so, great examples and now we understand how we can use the hit the something.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Alright, what about our next phrase?

Erica: Well, Rick warned Bob, uh, that he might take a few spills.

Marco: Okay, so, to take a spill.

Erica: To take a spill.

Marco: Take a spill.

Erica: Fall.

Marco: To fall.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: It means like a… like a light fall? Or you…

Erica: No, a pretty dramatic fall.

Marco: Pretty dramatic.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: So, you fell.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: So, for example, instead of saying “that little girl was riding her bike and she fell”.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: I can say “that little girl was riding her bike and she took a bad spill”.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: Okay, so, to take a spill. You have to use the verb take though.

Erica: Yes, exactly. You cannot just spill.

Marco: Okay, you have to take a spill.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Alright, what about our next phrase?

Erica: Well, um, you might take a spill when you catch some major air.

Marco: Okay, catch some major air.

Erica: To catch some major air.

Marco: So, am I catching something? Wh… ho… how am I catching air? That’s impossible.

Erica: Well, imagine if you’re jumping and your skis are catching the air.

Marco: Uh, okay, so, I’m in the air f… for a very long time maybe?

Erica: Yeah, when you catch some air, basically, it’s… it’s like you’re flying for a couple of seconds.

Marco: So, you’re flying for a couple of seconds, you’re very high up in the air.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: Okay, s… to catch some air.

Erica: Yeah, and you’ll hear this phrase, um, when you’re, you know, not only when you’re talking about skiing, but also maybe if you’re… you know, you’re driving your car really fast and it sort of jumps up in the air for a minute… well, not a minute… a second. That would be catching air as well.

Marco: Okay, so, to catch air.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Alright, so, they finished skiing, they were kind of tired and he said, well, let’s call it a day. [NOTE: actually, we don’t have this phrase in the dialogue, but we have another one that means the same – that about does it]

Erica: To call it a day.

Marco: Let’s call it a day.

Erica: Let’s go home.

Marco: Let’s go home, it’s over.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Let’s…

Erica: Let’s finish.

Marco: Let’s finish the day.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: Let’s call it a day and go home.

Erica: Uhu. But not before we go to our next word, uh, to grab some freshies.

Marco: Alright, grab some freshies.

Erica: Grab some freshies.

Marco: Okay, freshies, what are these freshies?

Erica: Remember we talked about fresh powder.

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: It’s that.

Marco: So, it’s an informal way of saying “fresh powder”.

Erica: Yeah, fresh, powdery, light snow.

Marco: Okay, freshies.

Erica: Yeah, so, the snow that nobody has skied on before.

Marco: Really good phrases and some amazing vocabulary. Let’s listen to this dialogue one last time and then we’ll come back and talk a little bit more about this really fun sport.

Erica: Well, we heard the guys, uh, talk about après-ski and actually this is one of my favorite parts of skiing.

Marco: Uhu. Wha… what is this? It sounds French.

Erica: Yeah, it is. I guess the Frenchness sort of gives an air of… of specialness, right?

Marco: Aha.

Erica: But après-ski is basically the party that you have after you ski… you finish skiing.

Marco: So, usually you would have parties after skiing.

Erica: Right, so, you… you finish… you… you’ve finished your ski-day, you’ve called it a day, you’ve… glided down those slopes, you… you head on over to the lodge, you know, the…

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: The little cabin.

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: Grab, uh, a beer or two or maybe some hot alcoholic drink and…

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: Kick back and relax with your friends.

Marco: Wow! So, it’s popular for families to go to a ski resort and stay there for a couple of days, so…

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: This is when you would do this with your friends, your family…

Erica: Yep. And, you know what, if it… if it’s with your friends, it’s gonna last until late into the night.

Marco: Hehe. Alright, so, it sounds fun and next time maybe if you go skiing with your friends and you guys are speaking English, now you can use all these great phrases and maybe surprise your friends if you tell them “let’s go grab some freshies” or something like that.

Erica: Yeah, you’ll sound pretty, pretty dialed, pretty cool.

Marco: Hehe. Alright, so, that’s all we… the time we have for today, be sure to check out our website englishpod.com.

Erica: Marco and I are always around to answer your questions and, well, thanks for downloading, until next time… Good bye!

Marco: Bye!