Words - Instant english

easy listening
LANGUAGE
Words, words…
Words, words…
Words, words…
In inglese, una singola parola può assumere infiniti
significati. Capirli non è difficile, più complicato
è farseli venire in mente al momento giusto... by John Rigg
LANGUAGE LEVEL
BASIC
Track
5
Speakers:
Rachel Roberts (Standard
British), Chuck Rolando
(Standard American)
Glossary
1
2
3
4
5
6
complains - si
lamenta.
rotten - andato a
male.
mental breakdown esaurimento nervoso.
wood or coal legno o carbone.
burning their own
CDs - masterizzare i
propri CD.
a piece of advice
- un consiglio.
14
fourteen
GO! GO! GO!
The English language loves to take
a simple word and give it multiple
meanings. Take go, for example,
which doesn’t only mean to leave or
travel from A to B.
We meet a man in the street who
complains1 his car won’t go: that
means he can’t start the engine. The
man is very angry; in fact, he goes
bananas, that is, he becomes crazy.
That’s just the beginning: a bomb
goes off, or explodes, and yet fires
go out, or stop burning. Food goes
off, too, but that means it’s rotten2.
A young man can ask a girl to go
out with him (be his girlfriend).
They then go steady (have a longterm relationship). Unfortunately,
things go wrong. The girl goes off
with another man (leaves him), so
the boyfriend goes to pieces (has a
mental breakdown3). Yet life goes
on (continues), even though it’s
touch and go (an uncertain situation)
for a while.
BURN, BABY, BURN!
Burn is another example: you burn
wood or coal4 on a fire. The fire burns
out when there’s no more wood or
coal. Life is very stressful today and
many people suffer from burnout:
they are so exhausted, they don’t
have the energy to go on.
Record companies are also stressed
out: they’re losing money because
so many people are illegally
downloading music from the internet
and burning their own CDs5.
Finally, a piece of advice6: if you are
thinking of making big changes in
your life, don’t burn your bridges –
that is, don’t eliminate the possibility
of a return.