I'm Sorry I Love You IX

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

Erika: And I’m Erika.

Marco: And today we’re bringing you Part Nine of our romantic, drama, suspense action series I’m Sorry I Love You.

Erika: This is actually our penultimate lesson.

Marco: Exactly, this story will end in Part Ten, so, we’re almost done. What’s happening?

Erika: Well, I am pretty excited to find out, so, why don’t we go straight into the dialogue and catch up with Steven and Veronica?

Marco: Alright, so, it seems like our poor Steven is going home by himself.

Erika: Oh, it’s so sad.

Marco: I know, he proposed, she didn’t accept and now he’s going back to India by himself.

Erika: You know, I think this must be one of the worst feelings in the world, you know, like wondering if the person you love is gonna show up at the last minute and realizing they aren’t.

Marco: Hehe. I think it’s very common of movies. You always expect the person to come running and show up…

Erika: Yeah.

Marco: But as you can see our dialogue’s more realistic, so, it didn’t happen in this occasion.

Erika: More realistic, okay. Anyway, let’s not debate that topic. Let’s go straight into the language now, uh, with “language takeaway”.

Voice: Language takeaway.

Marco: Alright, so, today on language takeaway we have six words that we’re gonna be looking at and let’s get started with the first one.

Erika: Okay, so, we’ve got language about love and language about telling the truth. And the first one is a word about telling the truth. So, um, Steven said “I’ve thought of coming clean”.

Marco: Okay, to come clean.

Erika: To come clean.

Marco: Now, if I wanna come clean, it means I want to…

Erika: You wanna… admit to something or to tell the truth about something you’ve been hiding.

Marco: Exactly, okay, so, I want to finally tell the truth or confess.

Erika: Uhu, so, someone needs to come clean about who stole the chocolate out of the kitchen.

Marco: Okay, come clean. So, Steven wanted to come clean on many occasions, but Veronica said “How could you deceive me like that?”

Erika: Deceive someone.

Marco: How could you deceive me?

Erika: So, to deceive someone.

Marco: Alright, to deceive.

Erika: You… When you deceive somebody, um, you make them believe something that is untrue.

Marco: So, you kind of trick them.

Erika: Yeah, yeah.

Marco: Okay, make them believe or see something that is not really true.

Erika: Exactly. Alright, so, that… that’s the, uh… the verb - to deceive. Now, the noun, the action of doing this, is called deception.

Marco: It was all a great deception.

Erika: Okay, so, a big trick, um, something a big untruth.

Marco: You deceived me.

Erika: Uhu.

Marco: Alright, very good. And now the opposite of deceive…

Erika: Is to be forthright.

Marco: Forthright.

Erika: So, Steven want… wants to be completely forthright with Veronica.

Marco: Okay, I wanna be forthright with you.

Erika: Alright, when you are forthright with somebody, you are very honest and truthful with them, right?

Marco: Direct.

Erika: Uhu.

Marco: You tell them the truth and everything directly.

Erika: And you don’t… so, you know, like hide it or…

Marco: Yeah.

Erika: Soften it or anything.

Marco: Very good, so, forthright.

Erika: Uhu. Alright, so, three, um, words about honesty. Now, we’ve got three words about love for you. So, Steven promised Veronica his undying love.

Marco: My undying love.

Erika: My undying love.

Marco: Now, undying…

Erika: Well, I think it’s pretty in… pretty easy, right?

Marco: Uhu.

Erika: It won’t die.

Marco: It won’t die, exactly.

Erika: Yeah.

Marco: So, he’s offering her his for… his love forever.

Erika: Uhu, a very romantic phrase.

Marco: Very romantic.

Erika: And he also promised to be a devoted husband.

Marco: Devoted husband.

Erika: I’ll be the most devoted husband.

Marco: Now, this word devoted. What am I saying there?

Erika: So, as a devoted husband, um, Steven really, really would love his wife, he’d really look after her well and he would put all of his energy into that… into his marriage, right?

Marco: Okay, so, he would be very committed to her.

Erika: Uhu.

Marco: Devote.

Erika: And work really hard.

Marco: Now, can I change the noun husband for something else?

Erika: Yeah, we can talk about a devoted friend.

Marco: Or a devoted father.

Erika: Or a devoted employee.

Marco: Very good. And our last word about love.

Erika: Well, Steven also promises to cherish Veronica.

Marco: Okay, I will cherish you always.

Erika: I will cherish you always.

Marco: So, if I cherished somebody like my girlfriend, what would that mean?

Erika: That means you hold her in your heart like you really love her and you really respect her and you hold her close in your heart.

Marco: Okay, so, I respect her and maybe you don’t take that person for granted.

Erika: Uhu.

Marco: Okay, to cherish someone.

Erika: Yep. Alright, so, some nice honesty words, some nice love words and I think now we can move on to some interesting phrases with “fluency builder”.

Voice: Fluency builder.

Marco: Alright, so, Veronica was upset. She didn’t wanna get back in the car and Steven said “Let’s talk it over, okay?”

Erika: Let’s talk it over.

Marco: Let’s talk it over.

Erika: To talk something over.

Marco: Now, if I tell you that I want to talk it over, it… um, what am I saying?

Erika: Well, obviously, you wanna talk about it, right?

Marco: Uhu.

Erika: But you wanna talk about it for some time, so, to really talk about all of the problems and the issues and everything.

Marco: So, to try and make things clear.

Erika: Exactly.

Marco: Alright, and also when he was confessing, he said “Time and again I’ve thought of coming clean”.

Erika: So, this phrase time and again.

Marco: Time and again.

Erika: Time and again.

Marco: So, that’s basically the same as saying “again and again” or “many times”.

Erika: Right, so, time and again I’ve thought of quitting smoking, but never really have done it.

Marco: Hehe. So, you’ve thought many times of doing it.

Erika: Uhu.

Marco: Time and again.

Erika: Yep. Alright, so, let’s go to our next phrase. Now, um, Veronica said “I can’t just leave everything at the drop of a hat”.

Marco: At the drop of a hat.

Erika: At the drop of a hat.

Marco: So, this is a very interesting and colloquial way of saying “immediately”.

Erika: Uhu, so, um, why don’t we hear a few examples of how this is used in English?

Voice: Example one.

A: My boss expects me to come in to work at the drop of a hat.

我的老板期望我随时随刻一叫就立刻去上班。

Voice: Example two.

B: Laura’s always willing to help me at the drop of a hat.

劳拉总是愿意毫不犹豫地立刻帮助我。

Voice: Example three.

C: I can’t leave at the drop of a hat. I need time to prepare.

我不能说走就走。我需要时间准备。

Marco: Okay, so, as you can see, you can change it for different things, but basically you’re saying “I can’t do something immediately”.

Erika: Yeah, and it… it is almost always attached this idea of doing something or going somewhere or being somewhere.

Marco: Uhu, very good. At the drop of a hat.

Erika: Alright, now, our final phrase here for this lesson. So, um, Veronica was saying “I can’t go to India at the drop of a hat” and she also said “I just can’t build a relationship on a foundation of lies”.

Marco: Okay, a foundation of lies.

Erika: To build something on a foundation of lies.

Marco: Now, this is interesting. Let’s take a look at this. Uh, foundation, what is that?

Erika: Well, you know you have a house, right?

Marco: Uhu.

Erika: And the part that’s in the ground, that supports the house…

Marco: Uhu.

Erika: Is the foundation.

Marco: Okay, so, it supports the entire structure.

Erika: Right.

Marco: So, here she refers to the lies as the foundation.

Erika: Uhu, um, and that’s no way to start a strong relationship, is it?

Marco: Exactly, so, we use it metaphorically in this way, but we can always… but we always have to say it… but we always have to use the verb build.

Erika: Okay, so, it’s basically to make something on a base of something else, right?

Marco: Aha, so, for example, “a strong relationship is built on a foundation of trust”.

Erika: Or “this country was built on a foundation of liberty”.

Marco: Very good, so, always use foundation with built.

Erika: Uhu.

Marco: Very good, very interesting and, well, I think we should listen to this dialogue for the last time and then we’ll come back and talk a little bit more about Veronica and Steven.

Erika: So, Marco, I think I see a bit of a tear there, in the corner of your eye.

Marco: I’m very sad, I can’t believe he proposed and she just said “No”, just like that.

Erika: Well…

Marco: That’s not supposed to happen. And plus he was inviting her to India – an exotic getaway and…

Erika: Well, exotic…

Marco: Promising…

Erika: Ex… exotic getaway for the… for the rest of her life!

Marco: Hehe. Well, what do you think will happen? Part Ten, it all ends. So, do you think they all just keep on living their separate lives? Will they meet again?

Erika: Who knows? Come to our website and tell us what you think will happen, so, you can find us at englishpod.com.

Marco: Alright, don’t miss our finale of this lesson and until next time, we’ll see you guys there.