Cheer Up

Marco: Hello, English learners. Welcome back to another lesson here at EnglishPod. My name is Marco.

Kathryn: And my name is Kathryn. Hello, everyone.

Marco: Today, Marco, what are we talking about?

Marco: Well, today we are not really in the best mood.

Kathryn: What do you mean?

Marco: We're kind of sad. We're kind of nervous. We're not feeling very well. It's a cloudy day. Maybe that's why. The blues. The blues. So, yeah, that's what we're talking about today. We're going to have a lot of different descriptive words to express maybe feeling sad or maybe you're angry or you're nervous or something like that.

Kathryn: Okay. Well, this is a very useful lesson. Hopefully, you're not feeling this way. But if you have to talk about someone who is, I've got lots of words for you. But first, we're going to preview a couple in today's vocabulary preview.

Marco: Vocabulary preview.

Marco: All right. So, today on vocabulary preview, we're going to look at two words. And the first one is a way of saying that you feel sad. So, basically, “I'm feeling down.”

Kathryn: Okay. Down. You might have heard this before because it's the opposite of the word up.

Marco: Exactly. So, you're not feeling up, happy, looking up. You're feeling down. This is another word for sad like Marco said. Or you can also say “I'm a bit down today,” right?

Kathryn: Yeah, “I'm a bit down today.” Or “You look really down. Are you okay?” Yeah. So, you look sad. Are you... is everything okay? So, down.

Marco: So, now another feeling or a way that a person is feeling, maybe that person is grouchy.

Kathryn: Would you please stop talking so loud, Marco? I think you have...

Marco: No, I'm seriously. Don't be grouchy, Kathryn. Geez.

Kathryn: No. So, grouchy is a way someone acts, usually when they're in a bad mood.

Marco: Right. So, it's not like really angry. You're not angry, but you're not very happy either. And you're not very nice to people. So, there's a very famous TV character called Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street. Look for him on YouTube or Youku. And he's very, very good for learning about this feeling, grouchy, because he's a grouchy guy.

Kathryn: Yeah, he's always angry or never happy, basically.

Marco: Right. He's always complaining about something. So, that word again is grouchy.

Kathryn: All right. So, after taking a look at these two words, we're ready now to listen to our dialogue for the first time. Let's see what this dialogue is about, if maybe they're grouchy or maybe just sad.

Friend: Fine. Okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye.

行吧。好的。我过会儿再跟你说。拜拜。

Carrie: Carrie, are you okay? You seem a bit down.

Carrie，你没事吧？你看起有点低落。

Carrie's Friend: I just got off the phone with my boyfriend. He's always getting upset and losing his temper over nothing. It's so hard to talk to him at times.

我刚跟男朋友挂掉电话。他总是为了点无动于衷的小事就生气发火。有时候跟他沟通太难了。

Carrie: Maybe it's just that he's stressed out from working or something. He does have a pretty nerve-wracking job, you know.

也许他只是工作压力太大了之类的。你知道的，他的工作确实相当伤神/让人神经紧张。

Carrie's Friend: Yeah, but he's always in a really foul mood. I try to find out what's bothering him or get him to talk about his day, but he always shuts down and brushes me off.

是啊，但他总是处于一种非常恶劣的情绪里。我想弄清楚是什么在烦他，或者让他聊聊他的一天，但他总是封闭自己，敷衍打发我。

Carrie: Men are like that, you know. They can feel nervous, anxious, or on edge, and the only way they can express it is by trying to hide it through aggressiveness.

男人就是那样，你知道的。他们会感到紧张、焦虑或烦躁不安，而他们唯一的表达方式就是试图通过攻击性行为来掩饰。

Carrie's Friend: I guess you're right. What do you think I should do? He wasn't always this grouchy, you know.

我想你是对的。你觉得我该怎么办？他以前可没这么脾气暴躁/爱发牢骚。

Carrie: Talk to him. Cheer him up when he's down, and if that doesn't work, I say get rid of him and get a new one.

跟他聊聊。在他情绪低落时鼓励逗乐他，如果那不管用，要我说就甩了他，换个新的。

Carrie's Friend: You are something else, you know that?

你可真够绝的，你知道吗？

Marco: Alright so two girls talking about guys. I guess guys have a bad temper sometimes, right?

Kathryn: I think anyone can have a bad temper, but we're talking today about the boyfriend of one of these girls who has a very bad temper and has been very grouchy recently. And that's why she's feeling a bit down. So let's take a look at those words now in Language Takeaway.

Marco: Language Takeaway.

Marco: Alright so in today's Language Takeaway, we've got some wonderful words for you. Words that are very good for describing stress or having anxiety. The first of these words is something you hear all the time, especially with young people.

Kathryn: Right, somebody is stressed out. Oh my gosh, Marco, I'm so stressed out. I have ten homework assignments to do and softball practice and my mom wants me to help cook dinner tonight.

Marco: You really are stressed out.

Kathryn: I am stressed out. I don't have any homework and I don't live with my mom. But being stressed out is usually something you feel when you have too much stuff to do.

Marco: So maybe you can be stressed out because of school, like in your case, or maybe at work you have a lot of things to do or a project to finish, right?

Kathryn: Exactly and I just want to point out here that you can say “I'm stressed” or “I'm feeling stressed” but commonly in spoken English, so when you're talking to your friends, you hear this much more often, stressed out.

Marco: Stressed out, he's really stressed out lately. So we're stressed out or another word that kind of means the same is this is nerve-wracking.

Kathryn: Nerve-wracking, so nerves are those things in our body that help us feel things, right? And so something that racks our nerves makes us very, very tense, very anxious, very uncomfortable.

Marco: Okay, so it makes you very nervous.

Kathryn: Right, so there are some movies that are nerve-wracking. For example, suspense movies like Hitchcock's movies like Psycho or The Birds.

Marco: Like Horror, like maybe Saw.

Kathryn: Nerve-wracking, also some people think that roller coasters are nerve-wracking. They're very, very anxious when they ride roller coasters.

Marco: Right, so let's listen to a couple of more examples of in different situations where we can use this phrase nerve-wracking.

Example 1: I think being a doctor is one of the most nerve-wracking jobs in the world.

我觉得当医生是世界上最令人神经紧张/压力最大的工作之一。

Example 2: Skydiving was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my life. I almost had a heart attack.

跳伞是我人生中最让人心惊肉跳的经历之一。我差点心脏病发作。

Example 3: The final match between Brazil and Italy was incredibly nerve-wracking.

巴西队和意大利队之间的决赛扣人心弦/令人紧张万分。

Marco: And there's another way to describe this feeling. Again, it's a little bit different but very, very similar. We can say someone is feeling on edge.

Kathryn: On edge. So this person was feeling on edge, but what does that mean exactly? You're like at the edge?

Marco: Why do you have to ask so many questions? Okay, listen. This is basic. Okay, Marco?

Kathryn: All right, all right. Are you mocking me? I'm on edge today.

Marco: All right. So someone who is on edge is easily angered, right? So it's very easy to make this person upset or angry. Someone who just quit smoking might be on edge. That means it's very, very easy to get them to be upset.

Kathryn: Wow. So yeah, you are on edge, right?

Marco: Exactly. He's on edge or he seems on edge, doesn't he?

Kathryn: Okay, very good. Wow, these three words that we've just looked at are really interesting and very, very useful. I guess you can describe many different situations or a person that's going through these feelings, right?

Marco: Absolutely. I think there is a thousand ways to describe being nervous or anxious or upset. So maybe we should take another listen to today's dialogue and figure out how exactly we use these words and we come back. We'll be talking about some other phrases that are useful.

Friend: Fine. Okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye.

行吧。好的。我过会儿再跟你说。拜拜。

Carrie: Carrie, are you okay? You seem a bit down.

Carrie，你没事吧？你看起有点低落。

Carrie's Friend: I just got off the phone with my boyfriend. He's always getting upset and losing his temper over nothing. It's so hard to talk to him at times.

我刚跟男朋友挂掉电话。他总是为了点无动于衷的小事就生气发火。有时候跟他沟通太难了。

Carrie: Maybe it's just that he's stressed out all the time. I don't know... I don't know... Sorry I didn't catch it. It's crazy how he just doesn't sound as upset as he seems. Like he just seems really stressed out from working or something. He does have a pretty nerve wracking job you know?

也许他只是直处于巨大的压力之下。抱歉我刚刚没听清。真疯了，他听起来不像他表现出的那么生气。就像他只是工作压力太大了之类的。你知道的，他的工作确实相当伤神/让人神经紧张。

Carrie's Friend: Yeah but he's always in a really foul mood. I tried to find out what's bothering him, or get to him to talk about his day, but he always shuts down and brushes me off.

是啊，但他总是处于一种非常恶劣的情绪里。我想弄清楚是什么在烦他，或者让他聊聊他的一天，但他总是封闭自己，敷衍打发我。

Carrie: Men are like that you know. They can feel nervous, anxious or on edge and the only way they can express it is by trying to hide it through aggressiveness.

男人就是那样，你知道的。他们会感到紧张、焦虑或烦躁不安，而他们唯一的表达方式就是试图通过攻击性行为来掩饰。

Carrie's Friend: I guess you're right. What do you think I me should do? He wasn't always this grouchy, you know.

我想你是对的。你觉得我该怎么办？他以前可没这么脾气暴躁/爱发牢骚。

Carrie: Talk to him. Try to cheer him up when he's down. And if that doesn't work, I say get rid of him and get a new one.

跟他聊聊。在他情绪低落时鼓励逗乐他，如果那不管用，要我说就甩了他，换个新的。

Carrie's Friend: You are something else, you know that?

你可真够绝的，你知道吗？

Marco: All right, great. So now that we're back, we can start with a couple of different phrases now on Fluency Builder.

Kathryn: Fluency Builder.

Marco: All right. So, Marco, here's the big question. What makes you lose your temper?

Marco: I think what makes me lose my temper very, very easily is like a dirty house or like a dirty room.

Kathryn: Really? You're a neat freak.

Marco: Not really neat freak, but like if it's not at least semi-clean, you know, it really bothers me.

Kathryn: Okay. So this great phrase, “lose your temper” or “lose one's temper” is a phrase we use in English to describe getting angry.

Marco: All right. So maybe you're okay. You're frustrated with something, but someone does something like throws all of their clothes on the floor and Marco here says, “That's it. I'm tired of this. You're always throwing your clothes on the floor.” And that's an example of Marco losing his temper.

Kathryn: What about you? What makes you lose your temper? You hear this? What is that?

Marco: Oh, drilling, construction, hammering.

Kathryn: When people tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, or when they like stomp their feet, feet, feet.

Marco: Like when they're nervous.

Kathryn: When they make noise, yeah. So slowly it's like, okay, fine. Calm down. It's okay. Okay. No, seriously, stop it. And then all of a sudden, I just can't stand it anymore.

Marco: You explode.

Kathryn: Exactly. So, all right. So that's what makes you lose your temper. I'll be sure to keep my eye out for that.

Marco: Please don't.

Kathryn: All right. All right. So, okay. You lose your temper and now there are situations sometimes where you need to brush someone off. All right. Or when you get brushed off and that's not very good feeling. But this phrase, “to brush someone off”, you've heard the word “brush” before. It's the word that we use to, you know, brush your hair or brush your teeth.

Marco: Exactly. When you brush someone off, it's like saying that you're ignoring them.

Kathryn: Yeah. So you ignore them or you basically tell them to go away very subtly sometimes or very directly.

Marco: Exactly. And so to brush someone off is to avoid their company. And so a lot of times when people are angry, they like to be alone. So they brush you off. I could say, “Hey, did you want to go see that movie tonight?” “Oh, no, I can't. I have to do something tonight.” And then Marco walks away while we're talking. He's brushing me off. He's ignoring me. So it happens.

Kathryn: And also maybe some people can make up excuses and that's also brushing someone off. Right.

Marco: Right. Exactly. So to brush someone off or “he brushed me off” doesn't feel good.

Kathryn: All right. And well, all of these, all of these bad feelings, brushing somebody off, maybe you feel stressed out in the end, you always need a good friend to cheer you up.

Marco: Right. And that's what this dialogue is all about.

Kathryn: Exactly. And so friends are actually the people that do that the best or family, I think. And well, we can break this phrase down because most of it's pretty clear, but “cheer” might be a new word for some of our listeners. Maybe we've heard of the term cheerleader, you know, like “give me an A, give me a B.” So cheer or people cheering or “cheers” when the beer. So cheer is like happiness. So someone who can cheer you up is someone who makes you happy. Remember that “down” we had earlier, “I'm feeling down.” We're trying to cheer someone up. We're trying to make them go up and be happy.

Marco: Exactly. So you want to cheer up your friends or maybe if you're feeling a bit down, a family member will try and cheer you up. Do you need someone to cheer you up, Marco?

Kathryn: Yes, I do. Let's go have a drink and eat some popcorn and be cheered up. That's what cheers me up or chocolate always cheers me up.

Marco: Oh, I know there's some of that. All right. So we've taken a look at a lot of great phrases, but the last sentence of the dialogue is maybe a little bit strange, right? When she says, “You are something else. You know that?” Something what? Is she an alien? Is she a monkey? What does she mean when she says “you are something else”?

Kathryn: That's a great question. Well, this might be a little bit hard to understand at first, but she's saying, “I can't believe you.” She's like, “There's no one like you. You're really something else. You know that?” It's kind of like a joke, but what she's saying is, “I can't believe you. You just want to go on and encourage me to find another boy. You're unbelievable.”

Marco: So it could be, is it on the positive note or can it be both positive and negative?

Kathryn: Well, here we've got two friends who are using it, so it's a positive note, but she's kind of making fun of her saying, “I can't believe you.” But it can be negative. It can be more negative. Like if you're fighting with her boyfriend and her boyfriend cheats on her and she's like, “You're really something else. You know that?” It's like, “There's no comparison. You're the worst.”

Marco: Yeah, exactly. So yeah, it really depends on how this is used and what the tone of voice is, so how someone says it. But in this case, I think it's kind of a joke, but it's the positive.

Kathryn: Right. Very interesting. It's very spoken English, as you say, because all the words that we see there, they're pretty simple, but the context or the connotation, the meaning is very, very different from the actual words.

Marco: Exactly. All right. So let's listen to this dialogue for the last time and then we'll come back and talk a little bit more.

Friend: Okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye.

好的。我过会儿再跟你说。拜拜。

Carrie: Carrie, are you okay? You seem a bit down.

Carrie，你没事吧？你看起有点低落。

Carrie's Friend: I just got off the phone with my boyfriend. He's always getting upset and losing his temper over nothing. It's so hard to talk to him at times.

我刚跟男朋友挂掉电话。他总是为了点无动于衷的小事就生气发火。有时候跟他沟通太难了。

Carrie: Maybe it's just that he's stressed out from working or something. He does have a pretty nerve wracking job you know?

也许他只是工作压力太大了之类的。你知道的，他的工作确实相当伤神/让人神经紧张。

Carrie's Friend: Yeah but he's always in a really foul mood. I tried to find out what's bothering him, or get to him to talk about his day, but he always shuts down and brushes me off.

是啊，但他总是处于一种非常恶劣的情绪里。我想弄清楚是什么在烦他，或者让他聊聊他的一天，但他总是封闭自己，敷衍打发我。

Carrie: Men are like that you know. They can feel nervous, anxious or on edge and the only way they can express it is by trying to hide it through aggressiveness.

男人就是那样，你知道的。他们会感到紧张、焦虑或烦躁不安，而他们唯一的表达方式就是试图通过攻击性行为来掩饰。

Carrie's Friend: I guess you're right. What do you think I should do? He wasn't always this grouchy, you know.

我想你是对的。你觉得我该怎么办？他以前可没这么脾气暴躁/爱发牢骚。

Carrie: Talk to him. Try to cheer him up when he's down. And if that doesn't work, I say get rid of him and get a new one.

跟他聊聊。在他情绪低落时鼓励逗乐他，如果那不管用，要我说就甩了他，换个新的。

Carrie's Friend: You are something else, you know that?

你可真够绝的，你知道吗？

Marco: So, Catherine, are you a grouchy person? Are you happy? Do you have a bad temper?

Kathryn: Oh, these are, well, very interesting questions, Marco. Thank you for asking. No, the first time, am I grouchy? No, not very. Only before 9am.

Marco: You're not a morning person.

Kathryn: Not a morning person, so I'm very grouchy in the morning. But I'm generally pretty good about losing my temper. It doesn't happen very often.

Marco: Oh, really?

Kathryn: But I do get frustrated with things like tapping or when people eat with their mouth open.

Marco: Oh, yeah, that's terrible. I hate that as well.

Kathryn: Yeah, I can't stand it. Or I really don't like when people bite their nails. It also makes me lose my temper. I don't know. It more than makes me lose my temper, it's kind of annoying, right?

Marco: It is annoying. So what makes you really lose your temper? We say, what makes you blow your top? Think about a volcano.

Kathryn: Really grinds my gears. I would say the worst is when somebody lies to me, like straight in my face. Like I know they're lying. I know you're lying and you still just lie straight at me.

Marco: I agree. So what's something that really cheers you up? Because we talked about like going out with a friend maybe helps you cheer up. But is there one thing, some kind of remedy?

Kathryn: I actually like to go shopping when I'm feeling a bit sad.

Marco: Really?

Kathryn: Yeah. I mean, I won't buy anything like clothes or anything like that. Usually I'll get maybe something for somebody else or for the house or something. It's very strange.

Marco: Helps you like clear your mind.

Kathryn: Yeah, it's just like walking around and spending a little bit of money. I don't know. It's kind of a good remedy.

Marco: Yeah, I think so. What about you? What cheers you up?

Kathryn: I kind of like to organize things.

Marco: Really?

Kathryn: Yeah. So if I'm really angry or really upset about something, I'll alphabetize all of my books.

Marco: Oh, wow.

Kathryn: Yeah. So A to Z.

Marco: Wow. See, everyone has different remedies. So come to our website, EnglishPodTalk.com. Tell us what makes you angry, what makes you lose your temper or what really cheers you up, what makes you happy.

Kathryn: Or who cheers you up. So tell us who is someone you like to talk to when you're upset and how do they cheer you up?

Marco: All right. We'll see you guys there. And also if you have questions, comments, suggestions, you can also leave them there in our comment section.

Kathryn: Please do that. So that's all for today. Goodbye, everyone.

Marco: Bye.