[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, uhm, but actually all Canadians love hockey.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like, we start playing hockey when we're about two years old.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you know what, I must tell you that I am not a good Canadian.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, you know what? The puck is so small, it's hard to see where it is on the ice, and it's cold, and these guys are fighting, and anyway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, uhm, many times and I just find that the puck is really small.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so visit our website, EnglishPod.com and you'll find some interesting stuff about hockey, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it's amazing. Oh, you have such good taste, Armand. I'm thinking of redecorating my house. Maybe you could give me a few pointers?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I want to dance salsa better. Can you give me a few pointers?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it's amazing. You have such good taste, Armand.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm thinking of redecorating my house. Maybe you could give me a few pointers?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it's amazing. Oh, you have such good taste, Armand. I'm thinking of redecorating my house. Maybe you could give me a few pointers?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I joined a few months after September 11th, feeling like I think most people in the country did at the time, filled with a sense of patriotism and retribution and the desire to do something that coupled with the fact that I wasn't doing anything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was, uh, 17. Just graduated from high school that past summer, living in the back room of my parents' house, paying rent. In the small town I was raised in, northern Indiana, called Mishawaka. I can spell that later for people who are interested.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mishawaka is many good things, but cultural hub of the world it is not. So my only exposure to theater and film was limited to the plays I did in high school and blockbuster video. May she rest in peace. I was serious enough about acting that I auditioned for Juilliard when I was a senior in high school.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Before my car broke down, I spent all my money repairing it, finally made it to Santa Monica, not even LA.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So after the 11th and feeling an overwhelming sense of duty and just being pissed off in general at myself, my parents, the government, you know, not having confidence, not having a respectable job, my shitty mini-fridge that I just drove to California and back,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These weird dudes, a motley crew of characters from a cross section of the United States that on the surface I had nothing in common with and over time


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's a very clear image of leaving the base hospital on a stretcher and my entire platoon was waiting outside to see if I was OK. And then suddenly I was a civilian again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On top of a mental or physical injury, but regardless, it was difficult.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The military, everything has meaning. Everything you do is either steeped in tradition or has a practical purpose. You can't smoke in the field because you don't want to give away your position. You don't touch your face because you have to maintain a personal level of health and hygiene. You face this way when colors plays out of respect to those people who went before you. You walk this way because of this. You talk this way because of this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your uniform is worn and maintained to the inch. And how diligently you followed those rules, spoke volumes about the kind of marine you were. Your rank said something about your history and the respect you had earned. In the civilian world, there's no rank.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A sense of community. Whereas in the military I felt this sense of community. How often in the civilian world...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I felt myself becoming less aggressive as I was able to put words to feelings for the first time and realizing what a valuable tool that was. And when I was reflecting on my time in the military, I wasn't first thinking on the stereotypical drills and discipline and pain of it, but rather these small, intimate,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the military and theater communities are actually very similar. You have a group of people trying to accomplish a mission greater than themselves. It's not about you. You have a role. You have to know your role within that team.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Every team has a leader or director, sometimes they're smart, sometimes they're not. You're forced to be intimate with complete strangers in a short amount of time, the self-discipline, the self-maintenance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I thought, how great would it be to create a space that combined these two seemingly dissimilar communities, that brought entertainment to a group of people that ...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Considering their occupation could handle something a bit more thought-provoking than the typical mandatory fun events that I remember being voluntold to go to in the military.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Grab a group of incredible theater-trained actors, arm them with incredible material, keep production value as minimal as possible, no sets, no costumes, no lights, just reading it, to throw all the emphasis on the language, and to show that theater can be created at any setting,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, it's a window into a culture that the otherwise would not have had exposure to, and for the military, it's the exact same. And in doing this for the past six years, I'm always reminded of acting as many things. It's a craft, it's a political act, it's a business, it's ...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, whatever adjective I guess is most applicable to you, but it's also a service. I didn't get to finish mine, so whenever I get to be of service to this ultimate service industry, the military, for me, again, there's not many things better than that. Uh, thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, we're gonna be doing a piece from Marco Ramirez called I Am Not Batman. Incredible actor and good friend of mine Jesse Perez is gonna be reading. And Matt Johnson, who I just met a couple hours ago, they're kind of doing it together really for the first time. So we'll see how it goes. Jesse Perez and Matt Johnson.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why do we think that men cheat out of boredom and fear of intimacy, but women cheat out of loneliness and hunger for intimacy?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For the past ten years, I have traveled the globe and worked extensively with hundreds of couples who have been shattered by infidelity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There is one simple act of transgression that can rob a couple from their relationship


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Their happiness and their very identity. An affair.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And yet, this extremely common act is so poorly understood. So this talk is for anyone who has ever loved.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In fact, infidelity has a tenacity that marriage can only envy, so much so that this is the only commandment that is repeated twice in the Bible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One's for doing it and one's just for thinking about it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So how do we reconcile what is universally forbidden yet universally practiced?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now throughout history, men practically had a license to cheat, with little consequence, and supported by a host of biological and evolutionary theories that justified their need to roam.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who knows what's really going on under the sheets there, right? Because when it comes to sex, the pressure for men is to boast and to exaggerate. But the pressure for women


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is to hide, minimize and deny. Which isn't surprising when you consider that there are still nine countries where women can be killed for strength. Now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Monogamy used to be one person for life. Today, monogamy is one person at a time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And had sex for the first time, but now we marry and we stop having sex with others.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everyone wants to know what percentage of people cheat. I've been asked that question since I arrived at this conference.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sexting, watching porn, staying secretly active on dating apps. So because there is no universally agreed upon definition of what even constitutes an infidelity estimates vary widely from 26% to 75%.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But on top of it, we are walking contradictions. So 95% of us will say that it is terribly wrong for our partner to lie about having an affair. But just about the same amount of us will say that that's exactly what we would do if we were having one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now I like this definition of an affair. It brings together the three key elements. A secretive relationship, which is the core structure of an affair.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And alchemy is the key word here, because the erotic frisson is such that the kiss that you only imagine giving can be as powerful and as enchanting as hours of actual lovemaking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Easier to cheat, and it's never been more difficult to keep a secret.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And never has infidelity exacted such a psychological toll. When marriage was an economic enterprise, infidelity threatened our economic security.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But now that marriage is a romantic arrangement, infidelity threatens our emotional security.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We used to turn to adultery. That was the space where we sought pure love. But now that we seek love in marriage, adultery destroys it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have a romantic ideal in which we turn to one person to fulfill an endless list of needs to be my greatest lover, my best friend.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The best parent. My trusted confidant. My emotional companion. My intellectual equal. And I am it. I'm chosen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm unique. I'm indispensable. I'm irreplaceable. I'm the one. And infidelity tells me I'm not. It is the ultimate betrayal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Infidelity shatters the grand ambition of love. But if throughout history, infidelity has always been painful,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Today it is often traumatic because it threatens our sense of self. So my patient Fernando, he's plagued. He goes on, I thought I knew my life. I thought I knew who you were, who we were as a couple, who I was. Now I question everything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Infidelity. A violation of trust.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A crisis of identity. Can I ever trust you again? He asks. Can I ever trust anyone again?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Heather is playing on his iPad with the boys when she sees a message appear on the screen. Can't wait to see you. Strange she thinks, we just saw each other. And then another message. Can't wait to hold you in my arms. And Heather realizes these are not for her.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She also tells me that her father had affairs, but her mother, she found one little receipt in the pocket and a little bit of lipstick on the collar. Heather, she goes digging.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if we used to divorce because we were unhappy, today we divorce because we could be happier. And if divorce carried all the shame,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Today, choosing to stay when you can leave is the new shame.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Heather, she can't talk to her friends because she's afraid that they will judge her for still loving Nick. And everywhere she turns, she gets the same advice. Leave him. Throw the dog on the curb.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, if we can divorce, why do we still have affairs?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, the typical assumption is that if someone cheats, either there's something wrong in your relationship or wrong with you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But millions of people can't all be pathological.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But what if passion has a finite shelf life?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What if there are things that even a good relationship can never provide? If even happy people cheat, what is it about?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The vast majority of people that I actually work with are not at all chronic philanderers. They are often people who are deeply monogamous in their beliefs, and at least for their partner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They often are people who have actually been faithful for decades. But one day, they cross a line that they never thought they would cross. And at the risk of losing everything. But for a glimmer of what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Affairs are an act of betrayal and they are also an expression of longing and loss. At the heart of an affair, you will often find


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A longing and a yearning for an emotional connection, for novelty, for freedom, for autonomy, for sexual intensity. A wish to recapture lost parts of ourselves, or an attempt to bring back vitality in the face of loss and tragedy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now I'm thinking about another patient of mine, Priya, who is blissfully married, loves her husband, and would never want to hurt the man.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But she also tells me that she's always done what was expected of her. Good girl, good wife, good mother, taking care of her immigrant parents. Priya?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Priya's affair is about the adolescence that she never had. And her story highlights for me that when we seek the gaze of another,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It isn't always our partner that we are turning away from, but the person that we have ourselves become.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it isn't so much that we're looking for another person.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As much as we are looking for another self.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now all over the world, there is one word that people who have affairs always tell me. They feel alive.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they often will tell me stories of recent losses, of a parent who died, and a friend that went too soon, and bad news at the doctor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Death and mortality often live in the shadow of an affair because they raise these questions. Is this it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is there more? Am I going on for another 25 years like this? Will I ever feel that thing again?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That perhaps these questions are the ones that propel people to cross the line and that some affairs are an attempt to beat back deadness and an antidote to death.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Affairs are way less about sex and a lot more about desire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Desire for attention, desire to feel special, desire to feel important.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now some of you probably think that affairs don't happen in open relationships, but they do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I've also told quite a few of my patients that if they could bring into their relationships one-tenth of the boldness, the imagination and the verve that they put into their affairs, they probably would never need to see me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Desire runs deep. Betrayal runs deep. But it can be healed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And some affairs are death nails for relationships that were already dying on the vine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And others will actually be able to turn a crisis into an opportunity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That a lot of couples in the immediate aftermath of an affair because of this new disorder that may actually lead to a new order will have depths of conversations with honesty and openness that they haven't had in decades.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, partners who are sexually indifferent find themselves suddenly so lustfully voracious they don't know where it's coming from.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Something about the fear of loss will rekindle desire and make way for an entirely new kind of truth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, when an affair is exposed, what are some of the specific things that couples can do?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We know from trauma that healing begins


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When the perpetrator acknowledges their wrongdoing. So for the partner who had the affair, for Nick,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One thing is to end the affair, but the other is the essential, important act of expressing guilt and remorse for hurting his wife.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the truth is that I have noticed that quite a lot of people who have affairs may feel terribly guilty for hurting their partner, but they don't feel guilty for the experience of the affair itself. And that distinction is important.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or deceived partners. It is essential to do things that bring back a sense of self worth. To surround oneself with love and with friends and activities that give back joy and meaning and identity. But even more important


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Questions that only inflict more pain and keep you awake at night.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And instead, switch to what I call the investigative questions. The ones that mine the meaning and the motives. What did this affair mean for you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What were you able to express or experience there that you could no longer do with me? What was it like for you when you came home? What is it about us that you value? Are you pleased this is over?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Every affair will redefine a relationship and every couple


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But affairs are here to stay and they're not going away. And the dilemmas of love and desire


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They don't yield just simple answers of black and white and good and bad and victim and perpetrator, betrayal in a relationship


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Comes in many forms. There are many ways that we betray our partner. With contempt. With neglect. With indifference. With violence.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now you've listened to me and I know what you're thinking. She has a French accent. She must be pro-affair.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you're wrong. I am not French.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I'm not pro-affair. But because I think that good can come out of an affair,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have often been asked this very strange question. Would I ever recommend it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the aftermath of an affair that has been revealed, I will often tell them this. Today in the West,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Most of us are going to have two or three relationships or marriages.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And some of us are going to do it with the same person. Your first marriage is over. Would you like to create a second one together? Thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know how to hook up this new DVD player, can you help me?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you don't hold still, I can't see if you have something in your eye.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey Carl, can you make a copy of this contract for me please? And when you have it ready, send it out ASAP to our sub-branch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Someone stole my wallet! Oh wait, nevermind. Here it is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey Carl, can you make a copy of this contract for me please? And when you have it ready, send it out ASAP to our sub-branch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey Carl, can you make a copy of this contract for me please? And when you have it ready, send it out ASAP to our sub-branch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's one of the things that I enjoy most about, uh, this convention. It's not so much as so little as to do with what everything is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it is within our self-interest to understand the topography of our lives unto ourselves.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The future states that there is no time other than the Collapsation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Common knowledge, but important nonetheless.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As we face fear in these times, and fear is all around us, we also have anti-fear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's hard to imagine or measure the background radiation is simply too static to be able to be seen under the normal spectral analysis.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the understanding of the lack of understanding we enter into a new era of science in which we feel


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, as I say before the last piece, feel not as though it is a sphere we live on, rather an infinite plane


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That gives us the idea of what the idea that wants to be transmitted wants to be. So please, without further ado.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can't believe she fell for it. She is a lot more gullible than I thought.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whatever. I was the one that convinced her to come.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, Lois, we know who you are. Now, we want some answers. Why are you here?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can't believe she fell for it. She is a lot more gullible than I thought.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whatever. I was the one that convinced her to come. Look, she's waking up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, Lois. We know who you are. Now, we want some answers. Why are you here?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can't believe she fell for it. She is a lot more gullible than I thought.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whatever. I was the one that convinced her to come.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, Lois, we know who you are. Now, we want some answers. Why are you here?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We were at a friend's party and all of a sudden her parents arrived! We got the hell out of there as quickly as possible!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, I mean, you've got to know this beer vocabulary.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, well, he's asking about what beers the bar has.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, uhm, so you know in a bar, there's often this machine, right, that will pour very fresh beer, right, directly into the glass.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, a happy hour is a period of time where the drinks are very cheap.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So if the drink is $4, then it is now $2 in happy hour.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mhm. Or like in the dialogue, a happy hour special.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is a very, very special beer word. So a pint is the size of your glass.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, exactly. In English, we don't say I'll have half a liter of beer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, it is, uhm, food you eat before your dinner or before your lunch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or a soup, or something small that you can eat right before your big meal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and it has cheese and maybe some tomatoes and maybe some beans.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You put it in some breadcrumbs and then you fry it in oil. You deep fry it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, well why don't we listen to the dialogue again and we'll be able to hear these words in context at a slower speed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well in this lesson, we are going to look at one phrase that sometimes causes problems.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I often hear people use it to ask a question.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You cannot use the phrase what about to ask a question about information. So you cannot ask for information.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, the phrase what about can be used to make a suggestion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, you know what, let's hear a few more examples of this, because I think it's really useful.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly. So again, how about cannot ask for information.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, well, I am not going to try this recipe, but maybe you guys are.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, you can tell us all about it on our website, EnglishPod.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, well, we're out of time for today, but thanks for listening and until next time, bye!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Heineken and Budweiser. We have a two for one happy hour special. Cool. Give me a pint of Heineken and half a pint of Bud. Okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I felt like baking, so I made some muffins.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sure, I'll take mine sunny side up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, my dad had scrambled eggs every morning for 20 years. It drove my mom crazy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dammit! I said sunny side up! How many times do I have to tell you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The American State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley has described the treatment of the U.S. soldier suspected of passing material to the WikiLeaks website, Private Bradley Manning, as ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Private Manning has been charged with offences including aiding the enemy and he's being held in solitary confinement in prison.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mr Crowley said, however, that it was right that Private Manning was being held in jail.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] News item eight. The abolition of the death penalty was approved by the Illinois State Assembly in January and has now been signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Since 1977 when capital punishment was reinstated in America, 20 death row inmates in the state have been exonerated. The last execution in Illinois was in 1999.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The American State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley has described the treatment of the U.S. soldier suspected of passing material to the WikiLeaks website, Private Bradley Manning, as ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Private Manning has been charged with offences including aiding the enemy and he's being held in solitary confinement in prison.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mr Crowley said, however, that it was right that Private Manning was being held in jail.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The abolition of the death penalty was approved by the Illinois State Assembly in January and has now been signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Illinois has a dark history of miscarriages of justice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Since 1977 when capital punishment was reinstated in America, 20 death row inmates in the state have been exonerated. The last execution in Illinois was in 1999.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can't believe you've been sleeping with someone else. How could you do this? You know what? I'm outta here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can't believe you've been sleeping with someone else. How could you do this? You know what? I'm outta here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can't believe you've been sleeping with someone else. How could you do this? You know what? I'm outta here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was away the first week of February at a training seminar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] These reports are not accurate, John. We checked and discovered a lot of mistakes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm sorry I haven't called or anything, but right after you decided you wanted a break, I was called up north to put out some major forest fires. I was in the middle of nowhere, working day and night, trying to prevent the blaze from spreading. It was pretty intense.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wow, that's amazing. This is great news. I've always wanted to be a father. We'll go to the doctor first thing in the morning.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was away the first week of February at a training seminar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We are in the middle of nowhere. How can we find our way back home?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm sorry I haven't called or anything, but right after you decided you wanted a break, I was up north to put out some major forest fires. I was in the middle of nowhere working day and night trying to prevent the blaze from spreading. It was pretty intense.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was away the first week of February at a training seminar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The American State Department spokesman PJ Crowley has described the treatment of the U.S. soldier suspected of passing material to the WikiLeaks website, Private Bradley Manning, as ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid.


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[Assistant] Private Manning has been charged with offences including aiding the enemy and he's being held in solitary confinement in prison.


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[Assistant] Mr Crowley said, however, that it was right that Private Manning was being held in jail.


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[Assistant] The abolition of the death penalty was approved by the Illinois State Assembly in January and has now been signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn.


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[Assistant] Illinois has a dark history of miscarriages of justice.


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[Assistant] Since 1977 when capital punishment was reinstated in America, 20 death row inmates in the state have been exonerated. The last execution in Illinois was in 1999.


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[Assistant] The Japanese government has played down concerned about a possible nuclear meltdown following a big explosion at a nuclear power station in the north of the country. The blast occurred a day after the area was hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami.


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[Assistant] A top government official, Yukio Edano, said a steel container encasing the nuclear reactor had not been ruptured by the blast.


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[Assistant] News item 2. 50,000 Japanese military personnel had been ordered to join the huge rescue and relief operation following the earthquake and tsunami. More than 1,000 people are feared dead. About 400 bodies were found in the town of Rikuzentokata


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[Assistant] And Japanese media reports say 10,000 people are unaccounted for in Minamisunriku. Damien Gramatikas in the Port of Sunday says the scenes of devastation there are astonishing.


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[Assistant] At the Fair. Written by Elizabeth Jane Pastilnik. Focus question. What can you ride at the fair?


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[Assistant] You can ride the big wheel.


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[Assistant] You can ride the little car.


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[Assistant] You can ride the long train.


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[Assistant] You can ride the fast cup.


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[Assistant] You can ride the painted horse.


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[Assistant] You can ride the giant swing.


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[Assistant] You can ride the tiny plane.


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[Assistant] Connections Writing and Art


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[Assistant] Would you prefer to go on a fast ride?


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[Assistant] Why? Draw a picture and write about it. Math


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[Assistant] Which ride from the book would each person in your class like to go on the most? Show the information on a class graph.


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[Assistant] Slowly but relentlessly, Colonel Gaddafi's forces seem to be winning the battle for Raz Lanouf.


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[Assistant] Opposition fighters are still in the town, but they are under intense pressure.


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[Assistant] News item five. Slowly but relentlessly, Colonel Gaddafi's forces seem to be winning the battle for Raz Lanouf.


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[Assistant] Opposition fighters are still in the town, but they are under intense pressure.


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[Assistant] If Raslanuf falls, it brings the front line closer to the main opposition held city of Benghazi.


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[Assistant] Don't worry, Pepper. I'm just going into the garden to collect slugs and snails.


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[Assistant] Slugs and snails because they eat his vegetables. And the best time to find them is at night with this torch.


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[Assistant] Okay, just this once. Put your coats and boots on.


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[Assistant] Because they're up all night eating my vegetables. Some animals eat in the daytime, like my chickens, and some animals eat at night, like, oh, Mr. Fox. Hello.


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[Assistant] Yes, Peppa. He is very shy.


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[Assistant] Today we're bringing you an upper intermediate lesson and something that we all do.


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[Assistant] Talking to ourselves, right? I think everyone does it. You think to yourself or you talk to yourself.


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[Assistant] And we're gonna be doing that today, but we're gonna be looking at some specific vocabulary. Erica, why don't you tell us about that?


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[Assistant] So he's a little bit nervous and he thinks he is not very smart, right? That's right. Okay, so before we start with this dialogue, there are a couple of words that we should look at in vocabulary preview.


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[Assistant] Okay, so famished is an adjective. That's right. Meaning very, very, very hungry. Very, very hungry. Okay, so just very hungry, very easy. Yes. Famished.


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[Assistant] Alright, so now that we've taken a look at these two phrases, let's start with our dialogue and we'll be back to talk about all the great words.


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[Assistant] Well, it happens to us. Sometimes we are in the company of a very beautiful girl and we just get really nervous. Alright.


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[Assistant] Moron. A moron. If a person is a dumbass or a person is a moron, what's the difference?


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[Assistant] Okay, so great examples and here at EnglishPod, we're bringing you real street talk.


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[Assistant] Okay, now let's take a look at our last two words.


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[Assistant] Now if you can tell the pattern is related to temperature, right? Chill is cold, cool is similar to cold. So again, that's what it means to relax.


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[Assistant] Alright, very good. Okay so scream at the top of my lungs.


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[Assistant] Okay, so now why don't we move on to our next phrase and this is really, really high frequency. I think you would hear it all the time.


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[Assistant] What the hell? What the hell? So why would you say what the hell?


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[Assistant] Right? So, and we can change it a little bit. We can replace the what with another wh, like why? How? How? Where? Where or when? Okay.


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[Assistant] It's a little bit strong, but less strong than maybe saying a really bad word, right? But it's definitely saying, like you made a mistake, right?


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[Assistant] Exactly, right? You would not say that. So it's a very strong oh no, but it's not as strong as it could be.


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[Assistant] Okay, so we saw some really great phrases, some really great words, a lot of informal language, but it's very high frequency and you'll use that with your friends or you'll see it in movies, tv shows.


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[Assistant] Exactly. So let's listen to this dialogue one more time and then we'll come back and talk a little bit more.


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[Assistant] These words will slip out and these slang terms will come up.


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[Assistant] Exactly, if you ever see a word that maybe you can't find in the conventional dictionary, you're probably gonna find it there.


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[Assistant] Alright, so also if you have any questions or comments, be sure to come to our website EnglishPod.com.


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[Assistant] Marisol Valles, a 20 year old criminology student, became police chief in a town where nobody else was willing to take the job. Her appointment six months ago made her a sensation worldwide.


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[Assistant] But the mayor of Praxedes Guerrero said she hasn't come back to work since last Wednesday when she took personal leave to take care of her baby.


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[Assistant] Local activists told the BBC that Mrs. Villiers and her family had fled to the United States after receiving threats of kidnapping.


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[Assistant] The toy manufacturer Mattel has closed its flagship Barbie store in Shanghai just two years after it opened to much fanfare.


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[Assistant] The pink theme six floor Emporium was launched in a drive to attract Chinese consumers at a time when the famous doll faced declining sales in the West.


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[Assistant] The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petros, has issued a personal apology for the killing of nine young boys in Kunar province on Tuesday.


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[Assistant] Local Afghan officials say the boys, aged 12 or younger, had been gathering firewood when helicopter gunships attacked them with rockets. NATO says there was a mistake in relaying information about the position of presumed militants who were firing at a NATO base. News item 24.


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[Assistant] Britain is to end its international aids to 16 countries.


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[Assistant] Nations like Lesotho and Kosovo will lose direct funding, but others like Ethiopia and Bangladesh will receive more aid from the Department for International Development or DEFID.


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[Assistant] With my wife, Terry, and our two kids. Actually, truthfully, we moved to Los Angeles.


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[Assistant] I got here 12 years ago and when I got here I was told various things like Americans don't get irony.


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[Assistant] I don't know why people think this. We've invaded every country we've encountered.


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[Assistant] It's not true Americans don't get irony, but I, I just want you to know that that's what people are saying about you, behind your back. You know, as you...


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[Assistant] But I knew that Americans get irony when I came across that legislation, no child left behind.


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[Assistant] Because whoever thought of that title gets irony.


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[Assistant] What's the plan? Well, we propose to leave millions of children behind and, and here's how it's going to work. And it's, it's working beautifully. In some parts of the country, 60% of kids drop out of high school. In the Native American communities, it's 80% of kids. If we halved that number, one estimate is it would


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[Assistant] That we should do this. It actually costs an enormous amount to mop up the damage from the drop back crisis.


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[Assistant] But the dropout crisis is just the tip of an iceberg. What it doesn't count are all the kids who are in school, but being disengaged from it.


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[Assistant] Not that we're not spending enough money. America spends more money on education than most other countries. Class sizes are smaller than in many countries.


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[Assistant] There are three principles on which human life flourishes and they are contradicted by the culture of education under which most teachers have to labor and most students have to endure.


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[Assistant] The first is this, that human beings are naturally different and diverse. Can I ask you, how many of you have got children of your own? Okay. Or grandchildren. How about two children or more? Right. And the rest of you have seen such children.


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[Assistant] And I'm confident I will win the bet. If you've got two children or more, I bet you they are completely different from each other. Aren't they? Aren't they?


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[Assistant] What schools are encouraged to do is to find out what kids can do across a very narrow spectrum of achievement. One of the effects of No Child Left Behind


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[Assistant] has been to narrow the focus onto the so-called STEM disciplines. They're very important. I'm not here to argue against science and math. On the contrary, they're necessary, but they're not sufficient.


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[Assistant] A real education has to give equal weight to the arts, the humanities,


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[Assistant] One estimate, uh, in America currently is that something like 10% of kids getting on that way, um, are being diagnosed with various conditions, uh, under the broad title of Attention Deficit Disorder, ADHD. I'm not saying there's no such thing. I just don't believe it's an epidemic.


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[Assistant] Kids prosper best with a broad curriculum that celebrates their various talents, not just a small range of them. And by the way, the arts aren't just important because they improve math scores, they're important because they speak to parts of children's being which are otherwise untouched. The second, sorry, thank you.


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[Assistant] A principle that drives human life and flourishing is curiosity. If you can light the spark of curiosity in a child, they will learn without any further assistance very often. Children are natural learners. It's a real achievement to put that particular ability out or to stifle it.


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[Assistant] Uhm, curiosity is the kind of engine of achievement. Now the reason I say this is because


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[Assistant] Uh, one of the effects of the current culture here, if I can say so, has been to de-professionalize teachers. There is no system in the world, or


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[Assistant] Teachers are the lifeblood of the success of schools. But teaching is a creative profession. Teaching properly conceived is not a delivery system.


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[Assistant] You know, you're not there just to pass on received information. Great teachers do that. But what great teachers also do is mentor.


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[Assistant] Stimulate, provoke, engage. You see in the end education is about learning.


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[Assistant] If there's no learning going on, there's no education going on. And people can spend an awful lot of time discussing education without ever discussing learning. The whole point of education is to get people to learn. Uhm, a friend of mine, old friend, actually very old, he's dead.


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[Assistant] He was a wonderful philosopher. He used to talk about the difference between the task and achievement senses of verbs.


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[Assistant] Teaching is a word like that. You can say, there's Deborah, she's in room 34, she's teaching. But if nobody's learning anything, she may be engaged in the task of teaching, but not actually fulfilling it. The role of a teacher is to facilitate learning. That's it.


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[Assistant] Now testing is important. Standardized tests have a place.


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[Assistant] You know, I want to know what my cholesterol level is compared to everybody else's.


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[Assistant] Learning. It shouldn't obstruct it, which of course it often does.


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[Assistant] So in place of curiosity, what we have is a culture of compliance.


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[Assistant] Uh, our children and teachers are encouraged to follow kind of routine algorithms rather than to excite that power of imagination and curiosity. And the third principle is this, that human life is inherently creative. It's why we all have different resumes.


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[Assistant] It's why human culture is so interesting and diverse and dynamic.


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[Assistant] Uhm, regularly comes out top in math, science and reading.


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[Assistant] And so somebody from the American system was saying to the people in Finland, what do you do about the dropout rate in Finland? And they all looked a bit bemused and said, well, we don't have one. Why would you drop out?


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[Assistant] Now, people always say, well, you know, you can't compare Finland to America. No. I think there's a population of around 5 million in Finland. But you can compare it to a state in America.


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[Assistant] Many states in America have fewer people in them than that.


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[Assistant] They recognize that it's students who are learning.


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[Assistant] Attribute a very high status to the teaching profession.


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[Assistant] Every other country that's succeeding well knows that, whether it's Australia, Canada, uh, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, or Shanghai. They know that to be the case.


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[Assistant] Education doesn't go on in the committee rooms of our legislative buildings.


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[Assistant] Uh, but I have to say it's happening in spite of the dominant culture of education, not because of it. It's like people are sailing into a headwind all the time. And the reason I think is this.


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[Assistant] of education. It's like education is an industrial process.


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[Assistant] It's not a mechanical system, it's a human system. It's about people.


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[Assistant] People who either do want to learn or don't want to learn. Every student who drops out of school has a reason for it.


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[Assistant] Which is rooted in their own biography. They may find it boring. They may find it irrelevant. Uh, they may find that it's at odds with the life they're living outside of school.


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[Assistant] I was at a meeting recently in Los Angeles of, they're called alternative education programs. These are programs designed to get kids back into education. They have certain common features. They're very personalized.


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[Assistant] They have strong support for the teachers.


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[Assistant] Close links with the community and a broad and diverse curriculum and often programs which involve students outside school as well as inside school. And they work. What's interesting to me is these are called alternative education. You know?


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[Assistant] We have to recognize that it's a human system and there are conditions under which people thrive and conditions under which


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[Assistant] They don't. We are, after all, organic creatures. And


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[Assistant] The culture of the school is absolutely essential. Culture is an organic term, isn't it? Not far from where I live is a place called Death Valley.


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[Assistant] In Death Valley. Seven inches of rain fell over a very short period.


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[Assistant] And in the spring of 2005, there was a phenomenon. The whole floor of Death Valley was carpeted in flowers. For a while. What it proved is this, that Death Valley isn't dead. It's dormant. Right beneath the surface are these seeds of possibility.


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[Assistant] Waiting for the right conditions to come about.


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[Assistant] It happens all the time. You take an area, a school, a district, you change the conditions, give people a different sense of possibility, a different set of expectations, a broader range of opportunities, you cherish and value the relationships between teachers and learners, you offer people discretion to be creative and to innovate in what they do, and schools that were once bereft spring to life. Great leaders know that.


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[Assistant] Is not and should not be command and control.


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[Assistant] And if we can encourage more people, that will be a movement. And if the movement is strong enough, that's in the best sense of the word, a revolution. And that's what we need. Thank you very much.


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[Assistant] Uhm, okay. Well, I just wanna trim, nothing too fancy.


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[Assistant] Uhm, okay. Well, I just wanna trim, nothing too fancy.


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[Assistant] That's right, we're going to have a lesson about the ATM. The ATM or? Automatic Teller Machine.


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[Assistant] That's right. But before we begin, why don't we look at some vocabulary that we'll hear in the dialogue.


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[Assistant] So the local authorities are basically the people who are the boss of this place.


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[Assistant] Alright, so the guy had to insert his card into the slot.


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[Assistant] Digit is basically a number between zero and nine.


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[Assistant] Is a noun, it's the action of taking money out.


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[Assistant] Yes, so withdrawal noun and withdraw verb.


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[Assistant] When you transfer money, you take it from one place and put it in another.


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[Assistant] Well the bank machine told this guy to insert your card. Insert your card.


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[Assistant] And then the bank machine asked him to select an option.


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[Assistant] I leave it in the slot and then walk away from the bank machine and no bank card.


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[Assistant] You can also find lots more resources on our website, uh, to help you learn English. So check it out and until next time, goodbye.


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[Assistant] Perfect Storm is mounting a grim reality, increasingly grim reality, and


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[Assistant] We are facing that reality with a full belief that we can solve our problems with technology and that's very understandable. Now this perfect storm that we are facing


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[Assistant] But fossil fuels, carbon, coal and gas are by no means the only thing that is causing climate change.


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[Assistant] Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert and this happens only when


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[Assistant] We create too much bare ground, there's no other cause. And I intend to focus on most of the world's land that is turning to desert.


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[Assistant] We have environments where humidity is guaranteed throughout the year. On those, it is almost impossible to create vast areas of bare ground, no matter what you do.


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[Assistant] Nature covers it up so quickly. And we have environments where we have months of humidity followed by months of dryness. And that is where desertification is occurring.


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[Assistant] Fortunately with space technology now, we can look at it from space. And when we do, you can see the proportions fairly well.


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[Assistant] Generally what you see in green is not desertifying, and what you see in brown is. And these are by far the greatest areas of the earth. About two thirds, I would guess, of the world is desertifying.


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[Assistant] I took this picture in the Tihama Desert while 25 millimeters, that's an inch of rain, was falling. Think of it in terms of drums of water, each containing 200 liters.


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[Assistant] Over one thousand drums of water fell on every hectare of that land that day.


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[Assistant] The next day, the land looked like this. Where had that water gone? Some of it ran off as flooding.


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[Assistant] But most of the water that soaked into the soil simply evaporated out again, exactly as it does in your garden if you leave the soil uncovered.


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[Assistant] Are tied to soil organic matter. When we damage soils, you give off carbon. Carbon goes back to the atmosphere.


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[Assistant] Now you are told over and over repeatedly


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[Assistant] But if you do not look at grasslands, but look down into them,


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[Assistant] You find that most of the soil in that grassland that you've just seen is bare and covered with a crust of algae, leading to increased runoff and evaporation.


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[Assistant] That is the cancer of desertification.


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[Assistant] That we do not recognize till its terminal form.


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[Assistant] Now we know that desertification is caused by livestock.


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[Assistant] Okay, leaving the soil bare and giving off methane.


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[Assistant] Now, the environments like you see here, dusty environments in Africa, where I grew up, and I loved wildlife, and so I grew up hating livestock because of the damage they were doing.


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[Assistant] And then my university education as an ecologist reinforced my beliefs. Well, I have news for you.


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[Assistant] We were once just as certain that the world was flat. We were wrong then, and we are wrong again.


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[Assistant] And I want to invite you now to come along on my journey of re-education and discovery.


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[Assistant] Did we remove the hunting drum-beating people to protect the animals?


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[Assistant] Then the land began to deteriorate as you see in this park that we formed.


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[Assistant] Now, no livestock were involved, but suspecting that we had too many elephants now, I did the research and I proved we had too many.


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[Assistant] And I recommended that we would have to reduce their numbers and bring them down to a level that the land could sustain.


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[Assistant] Now that was a terrible decision for me to have to make, and it was political dynamite, frankly.


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[Assistant] So our government formed a team of experts to evaluate my research.


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[Assistant] They did, they agreed with me, and over the following years, we shot 40,000 elephants to try to stop the damage. And it got worse, not better.


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[Assistant] Loving elephants as I do, that was the saddest and greatest blunder of my life, and I will carry that to my grave.


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[Assistant] To find national parks like this one, desertifying as badly as anything in Africa.


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[Assistant] As we see on this research station, where this grassland that was green in 1961 by 2002 had changed to that situation.


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[Assistant] And the authors of the position paper on climate change from which I obtained these pictures


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[Assistant] Attribute this change to unknown processes.


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[Assistant] Understood what is causing desertification, which has destroyed many civilizations and now threatens us globally. We have never understood it.


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[Assistant] Take one square meter of soil and make it bare, like this is down here, and I promise you, you will find it much colder at dawn and much hotter at midday.


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[Assistant] Then that same piece of ground, if it's just covered with litter, plant litter, you have changed the microclimate.


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[Assistant] Now by the time you are doing that and increasing greatly the percentage of bare ground on


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[Assistant] More than half the world's land, you are changing macroclimate. But we have just simply not understood why was it


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[Assistant] Beginning to happen 10,000 years ago, why has it accelerated lately? We had no understanding of that. What we had failed to understand


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[Assistant] Was that these seasonal humidity environments of the world, the soil and the vegetation developed with very large numbers of grazing animals. And that these grazing animals


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[Assistant] Developed with ferocious pack hunting predators.


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[Assistant] Now the main defense against pack hunting predators is to get into herds. And the larger the herd, the safer the individuals.


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[Assistant] Now large herds dung and urinate all over their own food and they have to keep moving.


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[Assistant] Is a typical seasonal grassland. It has just come through four months of rain, and it's now going into eight months of dry season. And watch the change as it goes into this long dry season.


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[Assistant] Now all of that grass you see above ground has to decay biologically before the next growing season. And if it doesn't,


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[Assistant] The grassland and the soil begin to die.


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[Assistant] Now if it does not decay biologically, it shifts to oxidation, which is a very slow process and this smothers and kills grasses, leading to a shift to woody vegetation and bare soil releasing carbon.


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[Assistant] To prevent that we have traditionally used fire. But fire also


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[Assistant] leaves the soil bare, releasing carbon. And worse than that, burning one hectare of grassland


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[Assistant] More than one billion hectares of grasslands and almost nobody is talking about it.


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[Assistant] We justify the burning as scientists because it does remove the dead material and it allows the plants to grow.


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[Assistant] Now looking at this grassland of ours that has gone dry, what could we do to keep that healthy? And bear in mind, I'm talking of most of the world's land now. Okay?


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[Assistant] We cannot reduce animal numbers to rest it more without causing desertification and climate change.


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[Assistant] We cannot burn it without causing desertification and climate change. What are we going to do?


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[Assistant] There is only one option. I repeat to you, only one option left to climatologists and scientists, and that is to do the unthinkable, and to use livestock, bunched and moving.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As a proxy for former herds and predators and mimic nature, there is no other alternative left to mankind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So on this bit of grassland, we'll do it, but just in the foreground. We'll impact it very heavily with cattle to mimic nature, and we've done so, and look at that. All of that grass is now covering the soil as done


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I first realized that we had no option as scientists but to use much vilified livestock to address climate change and desertification, okay,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was faced with a real dilemma. How will we to do it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We'd had 10,000 years of extremely knowledgeable pastoralists bunching and moving their animals, but they had created the great man-made deserts of the world.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then we'd had a hundred years of modern range science and that had accelerated desertification as we first discovered in Africa and then confirmed in the United States. And as you see in this picture of land managed by the federal government.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clearly more was needed than bunching and moving the animals and humans over thousands of years


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Had never been able to deal with nature's complexity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But we biologists and ecologists had never tackled anything as complex as this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I found there were planning techniques that I could take and adapt to our biological need.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And from those I developed what we call holistic management and planned grazing, a planning process. And that does address all of nature's complexity and our social, environmental, economic complexity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Today we have young women like this one teaching villagers in Africa how to put their animals together into larger herds, plan their grazing, to mimic nature.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And where we have them hold their animals overnight, we run them in a predator friendly manner, so we have a lot of lions and so on, and where they do this and hold them overnight to prepare the crop fields, we're getting very great increases in crop yield as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It has just come through four months of very good rains that got that year, and it's going into the long dry season. But as you can see, all of that rain, almost all of it has evaporated from the soil surface.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The river is dry despite the rain just having ended, okay, and we have 150,000 people on almost permanent food aid.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now let's go to our land nearby on the same day with the same rainfall and look at that. Our river is flowing and healthy and clean. It's fine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The production of grass, shrubs, trees, wildlife, everything is now more productive and we have virtually no fear of dry years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Planning the grazing to mimic nature and integrate them with all the elephants, buffalo, giraffe, and other animals that we have. But before we began, our land looked like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This site was bare and eroding for over 30 years, regardless of what rain we got. Okay? Watch the marked tree and see the change as we use livestock to mimic nature.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This was another site where it had been bare and eroding, and at the base of the marked small tree, we had lost over 30 centimeters of soil. Okay? And again, watch the change just using livestock.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To mimic nature, and you, there are fallen trees in that now because these are now, the better land is now attracting elephants, etc.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This land in Mexico was in terrible condition and I've had to mark the hill because the change is so profound.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I began helping a family in the Karoo Desert in the 1970s turn the desert that you see on the right there back to grassland and thankfully now their grandchildren are on the land with hope for the future.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And look at the amazing change in this one, where that gully has completely healed using nothing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The vast grasslands of Patagonia are turning to desert as you see here. The man in the middle is an Argentinian researcher and he has documented the steady decline of that land over the years as they kept reducing the sheep numbers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really mimicking nature now, with plant grazing, okay, and they


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pastoralists planning their grazing to mimic nature and openly saying it is the only hope they have of saving their families and saving their culture. 95% of that land can only feed people from animals.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I remind you that I am talking about most of the world's land here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That controls our fate, including the most violent region of the world, where only animals can feed people from about 95% of the land.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then fossil fuels, but worse than that, it is causing hunger, poverty, violence, social breakdown and war. And as I am talking to you, millions of men, women and children are suffering and dying. And if this continues,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We are unlikely to be able to stop the climate changing even after we have eliminated the use of fossil fuels.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I believe I've shown you how we can work with nature at very low cost to reverse all this.


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[Assistant] And people who understand far more about carbon than I do calculate that for illustrative purposes if we do what I am showing you here


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We can take enough carbon out of the atmosphere and safely store it in the grassland soils for thousands of years. And if we just do that on about half the world's grasslands that I've shown you, we can take us back to pre-industrial levels while feeding people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can think of almost nothing that offers more hope for our planet, for your children,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And their children and all of humanity. Thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After the funeral, all the residents of Wisteria Lane came to pay their respects.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, I know. It's not the first time I'm taking this. Don't worry, I won't overdose.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, well, that's okay. I'll get some later, thanks. Really, it's no problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, I know. It's not the first time I'm taking this. Don't worry. I won't overdose.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yes, I almost forgot. Can I get some eyedrops and, uhm, some condoms?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, well, that's okay. I'll get some later, thanks. Really, it's no problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, I know. It's not the first time I'm taking this. Don't worry, I won't overdose.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, well, that's okay. I'll get some later, thanks. Really, it's no problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm sorry, sir. Airline policy only allows two pieces of checked luggage at 20 kilograms each plus one piece of carry-on luggage. I will have to charge you extra for the additional suitcase. What? Why?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm sorry sir, there's nothing I can do. You cannot board the flight with that large bag either. Carry-on bags must fit in the overhead compartment or under your seat. That bag is clearly too big.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Next please. Hello sir. May I see your passport please?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm sorry, sir. Airline policy allows only two pieces of checked luggage, at 20 kilograms each, plus one piece of carry-on luggage. I will have to charge you extra for the additional suitcase.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm sorry, sir. There's nothing I can do. You cannot board the flight with that large bag either. Carry-on bags must fit in the overhead compartment or under your seat. That bag is clearly too big.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm sorry sir, airline policy only allows two pieces of checked luggage. At 20 kilograms each, plus one piece of carry-on luggage. I will have to charge you extra for the additional suitcase. What? Why?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm sorry sir, there's nothing I can do. You cannot board the flight with that large bag either. Carry-on bags must fit in the overhead compartment or under your seat. That bag is clearly too big.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Blue, sit to you. I'm gonna call you Bluezy. Wait here, let me get you something to sit on. Blue! Here you go, Bluezy. You can sit on- Huh? Bluezy? Where'd you go? Bluezy? Where's Bluezy gone? Here, Bluezy, Bluezy, Bluezy! Bluezy?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey, I'm looking for my new friend too. She's called Bluezie, you know, because she's blue. Since we're both looking, shall we look together?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We were under attack by an unidentified ship. Damage report.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We've sustained heavy damages to the engines. We've lost our warp drive. We'll have to attempt to make contact.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're under attack by an unidentified ship.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We've sustained heavy damages to the engines. We've lost our warp drive.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We are under attack by an unidentified ship. Damage report.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We've sustained heavy damages to the engines. We've lost our warp drive. We'll have to attempt to make contact.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I told them not to come. I made a reservation just for the two of us. I thought we could have a quiet evening all to ourselves.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know. I never had the guts to tell you. Until today. So what do you say? Are you willing to give me a shot?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I told them not to come. I made a reservation just for the two of us. I thought we could have a quiet evening all to ourselves.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jennifer, there's something I want to ask you.


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[Assistant] And I can't take it anymore. I know you better than anyone. I know the pros and cons of your personality. I even know what side of the bed is yours. I think we would be great together, don't you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know, I've never had the guts to tell you until today. So, what do you say? Are you willing to give me a shot?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I told them not to come. I made a reservation just for the two of us. I thought we could have a quiet evening all to ourselves.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know I never had the guts to tell you until today. So what do you say? Are you willing to give me a shot?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey buddy, ease off my girl, man. Or do you want a knuckle sandwich?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your girl says who? Says me, pipsqueak.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've had my eye on you for a while. Hey buddy, ease off my girl, man. Or do you want a knuckle sandwich?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your girl says who? Says me, Piff Squeak.


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[Assistant] They do look rather marvellous.


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[Assistant] Ah! Oh, then I imagine this must be a rainbow lever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mr Key said he hadn't given up hope of finding people, but that the authorities had to be realistic. At least 70 people have been killed, but up to 300 others are missing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A mass polio vaccination campaign is being planned in Burma after a seven month old baby was found to have the virus. It's the first case there for three years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Burma had been on the point of being declared free of polio, a highly contagious virus that can lead to paralysis and which is spread mainly through contaminated food and water.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Since a drive to eliminate polio began more than 20 years ago, the number of cases has dropped by 99% worldwide. A team from the World Health Organization is already in Burma to work out how to stop its spreading again there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has said it's unlikely that many more survivors will be found in the city of Christchurch hit by an earthquake on Tuesday.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mr Key said he hadn't given up hope of finding people, but that the authorities had to be realistic. At least 70 people have been killed, but up to 300 others are missing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A mass polio vaccination campaign is being planned in Burma after a seven month old baby was found to have the virus. It's the first case there for three years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Burma had been on the point of being declared free of polio, a highly contagious virus that can lead to paralysis and which is spread mainly through contaminated food and water.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Four years ago, the Burmese government immunised nearly seven million children.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Since a drive to eliminate polio began more than 20 years ago, the number of cases has dropped by 99% worldwide. A team from the World Health Organization is already in Burma to work out how to stop its spreading again there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mike, what's going on, man? Long time no see. Hey, Pat. Yeah, I haven't seen you in ages. How's it going? Things are going great. It's funny running into you like this. Small world, eh? You know, just last week I ran into Matt as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How's he doing? He's doing well. We went out for a couple of beers and the funniest thing happened.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What's going on, man? Long time no see. Hey, Pat. Yeah, I haven't seen you in ages. How's it going? Things are going great.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's funny running into you like this. Small world, eh?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, just last week, I ran into Matt as well. Yeah? How's he doing?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's doing well. We went out for a couple of beers and the funniest thing happened.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, we were talking and catching up on what we've been doing, talking about work and family, when all of a sudden,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Matt saw a mouse run under his chair and he completely lost it. He started freaking out and screaming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really? Yeah, and the funniest thing was that he jumped on his chair and started shrieking like a girl. You should have been there. Everyone was staring and laughing. It was hilarious.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, we were talking and catching up on what we've been doing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Matt saw a mouse run under his chair and he completely lost it. Everyone was staring and laughing


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mike, what's going on, man? Long time no see. Hey, Pat. Yeah, I haven't seen you in ages. How's it going? Things are going great. It's funny running into you like this. Small world, eh? You know, just last week I ran into Matt as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah? How's he doing? He's doing well. We went out for a couple of beers and the funniest thing happened. Oh yeah?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This winter hat has long strings.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This winter hat has a silly face.


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[Assistant] This winter hat has furry ear flaps.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which winter hat do you like best?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And today we are going to be talking about the weather.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly, because if you ever travel abroad, you always want to know about the weather, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly, so we are going to be taking a look at the weather in the United States, but before we get started with the dialogue, let's take a look at vocabulary preview.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so the prediction of sales. Very good. And we have one more word on vocabulary preview. A shower.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, very good. So, it's very similar to a shower at home. Like a little bit of water.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, why don't we listen to our dialogue now? We are gonna be listening to the weatherman as he describes the weather in Utah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so now I think it's time for us to take a look at some of those maybe difficult words that we may have listened to in this dialogue in Language Takeaway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so, and we already talked about what showers were.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, very good. To better understand when something is scattered, imagine that we are in a playground and the children are playing in the playground.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the children are scattered everywhere. Some of them are playing on the swing, some of them are playing, uh, on the grass or in the sandbox. So, children, a little bit of children in every different spot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very good. Moving on to our second word, we have hovering.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Temperatures hovering around the 30 degree mark.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so they can move up and down, so maybe it'll be a little bit warmer than 30 degrees or a little bit colder.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, very good. So why don't we listen to some more examples of how we could use hovering in different situations.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, let's move on to the next part. We saw that we're gonna have isolated downpours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A downpour is when you have a lot of rain, very strong rain.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right. So that's what a downpour is. And if we take a look at the first word, isolated.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we're gonna have gusts reaching 23 miles per hour.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so can you explain to our listeners what gusts are?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so maybe we'll have normal wind and all of a sudden it will get really windy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And for our final word on language takeaway today, we're gonna have sleet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So sleet is kind of this strange mix between ice and rain and snow. So just imagine, it's not completely ice, so it's not solid, but it's not water, right? It's not rain. And it's not snow either. No, it's in the middle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, so that's all the words we have today for Language Takeaway. Let's move on now to Fluency Builder.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so a very sudden amount of cold air that comes into a place. Right. So we say a cold front is moving in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so if I change the noun and I say, and I don't say wins anymore, but maybe I'll say my friends.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very good. So coming in from, you can change the noun a little bit and you can form these new sentences.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so the one represents the meeting. That's right. This is going to be a hard meeting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, I think this is a very good phrase and it's very commonly used, so why don't we listen to some more examples of how we can use it's gonna be a something one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so some great examples and I think it's time for us to listen to this dialogue again and now we can understand all these words and phrases that we've just talked about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly. That's a great way of starting a conversation and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] English-speaking people love to talk about the weather, as you say.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, Erika and I are always there to answer any questions or doubts you may have. And also, if you have any stories about crazy weather maybe in the countries you're from, let us know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can all help me decorate my castle gardens in a style fitting for royalty.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've made a little practice space for each of you to invent a wonderful new pattern. Whichever one I like the most, I shall use to decorate my gardens.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nice. Ha ha. I have finally decided which pattern I like best.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh dear, now we'll have to wait even longer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, but please play more carefully in future.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What sort of boats do you have, Miss Rabbit? I've got canoes!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, I see. Off we go then.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You should be quiet in some places. You can be loud in other places.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Draw a picture and write about your favorite place to be loud. Social studies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Share your thoughts with a partner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The elephant washes the back of the car.


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[Assistant] The elephant washes the top of the car.


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[Assistant] The elephant washes the door of the car.


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[Assistant] The elephant washes the window of the car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The elephant washes the driver of the car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Connections Writing and Art What other animal would be a good helper at the car wash, draw a picture, and write about it? Science


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Share your ideas with a partner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What are you going to do with the books? Sell to a secondhand bookstore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What are you going to do with the books? Sell to a secondhand bookstore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would like to find a job where I can have more flexible hours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would like to find a job where I can have more flexible hours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would like to find a job where I can have more flexible hours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He has three dogs, five cats and a bird.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He has three dogs, five cats and a bird.


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[Assistant] He has three dogs, five cats and a bird.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I have been to Brazil, Peru, and France.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I have been to Brazil, Peru, and France.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I have been to Brazil, Peru, and France.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My dog's name is Coco, and I also have a fish named Sally.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My dog's name is Coco, and I also have a fish named Sally.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My dog's name is Coco, and I also have a fish named Sally.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's not too serious. Take some medicine then you'll be fine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's not too serious. Take some medicine then you'll be fine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's not too serious. Take some medicine then you'll be fine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Go straight ahead and turn left at the second crossing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Go straight ahead and turn left at the second crossing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Go straight ahead and turn left at the second crossing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sorry, it's broken. You have to use the stairs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sorry, it's broken. You have to use the stairs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sorry, it's broken. You have to use the stairs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think I have one cavity, but I go to the dentist next week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think I have one cavity, but I go to the dentist next week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think I have one cavity, but I go to the dentist next week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I eat vegetables each day and exercise regularly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I eat vegetables each day and exercise regularly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I eat vegetables each day and exercise regularly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where did you learn French? I've been studying French online.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where did you learn French? I've been studying French online.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you like coke? I like sprite better than coke.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you like coke? I like sprite better than coke.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Grandpa Pig is putting up a big stripy tent in his garden.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe where are they? No Pedro, we've missed the bus. Oh, come on, let's catch them up!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can you believe Patrick? He came up to me a month ago and tried to hit me up for some money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is the last time I lend you money. Don't even try to hit me up for more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I used to go there when I was a boy. We're here!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's in the middle of the woods. We have to walk to it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, no. Remember, I came here when I was a little piggy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are little flowers growing here, just like I remember.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Haha, I knew it would still be here. This way everybody.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think that rotten pile of wood is the cafe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Next stop, the fish pond. This way!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hello English learners, welcome back to another podcast here with us at EnglishPod. My name is Marco. And I'm Erica. And today we are going to be looking at a very useful lesson because, well, sometimes you need to call a plumber.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, so on vocabulary preview today we're gonna look at two words and the first one is the one that we mentioned, plumber.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Water pipes. The pipes. So the plumber fixes or looks at the water pipes as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so water pipes. You also have different types of pipes, like gas pipes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is a very interesting thing, and we're gonna talk a little bit about that later on, but I think we should look at those kind of difficult words that we found in the dialogue now in Language Takeaway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so it's kind of hard to describe what a plunger is, so why don't we listen to the sound a plunger makes in a toilet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, that's what you use, a plunger. So the plunger didn't work and he wasn't able to fix the toilet and he said that there's something in the pipes causing a blockage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so something is blocking it. So you have blockage. Very good. And we have one more word on Language Takeaway and that word is faucet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very good. So now that we've learned about these different tools and these different ways of describing problems with your plumbing, let's listen to this dialogue another time, a little bit slower now, and then we'll come back and take a look at some great phrases.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the lady called the plumber and he arrived and well, she described her house as old and that it's falling apart. It's falling apart. This old house is falling apart.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very good. So you're getting sick or you're... Alright. Very good. Now, for our second word.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so to flush something down the toilet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So before we explain this, let's listen to a toilet being flushed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, or I can say, can you shut the faucet off?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Great, so we took a look at these three phrases that will help you describe again these situations or problems that may happen in your bathroom or with liquids. And well, let's listen to the dialogue for the last time and we'll come back and talk a little bit more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's a lot of money. And actually, this in many countries is not far from the truth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Those are all trades. Yep. And well, it is true because now many people don't want to learn or do these types of trade because well, it's not considered to be such a great job, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Exactly, because there is a shortage of these types of, uh, of, well, you can call them professionals. Yep. Right, so, well, what about in your countries? Let us know how these types of trades work. Are there many of them? Are there not many of them? Because, well, of course, in different countries, it's a little bit different, right? In some countries, there are too many tradesmen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's right, and in this lesson we're going to be learning some really wonderful words and phrases that you can use when you need to complain about the food or the service in a restaurant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, we're only gonna do one word today, uh, and this you'll hear in the dialogue. Uhm, an establishment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's basically a fancy word for a business or a restaurant in this case.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's right, so an establishment, a type of business, a place of business, really.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, so the guy in this, in this dialogue, he ordered a mushroom soup and he complained that the mushroom soup was too runny.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, and another thing that he was complaining about, the food was over-seasoned.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yep. And it doesn't mean that physically you can't eat it, it just means it's pretty disgusting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So obviously if, if a food is rubbery, it tastes, or it, it, it's too chewy. It's like chewing on the bottom of your shoe, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, so maybe you've ordered your steak to be rare, but it comes to you well done. So it's not burnt, but it's cooked too much.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and finally he was complaining about the size of the dish and he said, uhm, this is a sliver of duck liver.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A very small, tiny little slice.