Unit 7: Food- Pre-intermediate Daily English 51 – Eating Fast Food

Unit 7: Food- Pre-intermediate Daily English 51 – Eating Fast Food

Source: English as a Second Language Podcast www.eslpod.com

Daily English 51 – Eating Fast Food

Dialogue/Story

Slow Speed begins at: 0:44

Explanation begins at: 3:05

Normal Speed begins at: 12:15

ESL Podcast 51 – Eating Fast Food

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 51 – Eating Fast Food.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 51. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

In this episode, we’re going to discuss eating at a fast food restaurant. Let’s get started.

[start of story]

My friend Julia called me the other day. She wanted to grab some lunch and asked me if I wanted to go to the local fast food place down the street. I said sure, even though I knew it wouldn’t be good for me. I hopped in my car and swung by to pick her up at her work. When we got to the restaurant, there was already a long line at the drivethrough. It was the lunch hour, so that is to be expected.

We inched forward in the driveway and finally reached the order station. “Welcome to McApple’s Restaurant. How can I help you today?” I leaned over to shout into the little box, “Uh, I’ll have a cheeseburger, and my friend will take a regular hamburger.” “Would you like anything to drink with that?” she asked. She had a very low voice. “Two Diet Cokes, please,” I said. “And would you like any fries with that?” she asked again. “No, just the hamburgers, thanks.” “That’ll be $8.75. Please pull forward.”

We drove up to the pickup window and paid the cashier. Our food was ready about 30 seconds later. “Thank you!” I said as we drove away. We pulled over to the side of the road to eat our hamburgers. I knew I was going to regret it, but it sure did taste good!

[end of story]

I told the story about going to a fast food restaurant. A “fast food restaurant” is one where you get your food really fast. McDonald’s, for example, is a famous American fast food restaurant. I said that my friend Julia called me “the other day.” The expression “the other day” just means some day recently, within the last perhaps week or two. She said she “wanted to grab some lunch.” “To grab,”

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ESL Podcast 51 – Eating Fast Food

you probably know, means to reach out your hand to pick something up. But here, “to grab some lunch” means to go and eat lunch, to go to get your lunch.

I said I “hopped in my car.” “To hop” normally means to jump up and down like a bunny rabbit. We say “The bunny rabbit jumped” – or “hopped” – “up and down.” A kangaroo, like you would find in Australia, hops. But when we use the expression “I hopped in my car,” we don’t mean that we actually jump, but that we got into our car fairly quickly – right away – in order to drive away.

I said that I “swung by” to pick my friend up. “To swing by” means to go to that place. We use this expression a lot. “When you are coming from work, dear, would you swing by the grocery store and buy me some chicken?” – meaning “I want you to stop at the grocery store and get some chicken. If you don’t, you won’t eat tonight.” So, I do.

I was going to “pick her up” which is, of course, I was going to have her come with me in my car. When we got to the restaurant, there was “a long line at the drive-through.” A “drive-through restaurant” is a restaurant where you can stay in your car. You don’t even have to leave your car. You can pull up to a little driveway, or a little place where cars go, and you can order your food and pay for your food. It’s called a “drive-through restaurant.” Not all fast food restaurants have a drive-through, but most drive-through restaurants are fast food restaurants.

I said that it was “the lunch hour,” meaning, of course, it was around noon, which is when Americans eat their lunch. I said that “we inched forward in the driveway.” “To inch forward” means to move very slowly, inch by inch. So, we “inched forward” and we “finally reached the order station,” and that’s the place where they have the menu of the items for the restaurant and a little box that you have to shout into to place or to give your order.

The woman at the restaurant said, “Welcome to McApple’s Restaurant.” “Welcome to” is a very common thing that you would say to someone who is entering a restaurant or is coming into a store. I said that I “leaned over.” “To lean” (lean) means to bend over, to take your body and bend it down towards the ground. Here, “I leaned over” means that I went over the side of my car in order to talk into the little box.

I said, “I’ll have a cheeseburger, and my friend will take a regular hamburger.” When we are ordering at a restaurant, the most common expression is to say, “I’ll have a . . .” and then what you want. You can also say “I will take the filet mignon and the shrimp” – because I’m a very big eater. That is the expression we use,

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ESL Podcast 51 – Eating Fast Food

then: “I’ll have” or “I will take.” I said that the cashier “had a very low voice.” A “low voice” is someone who speaks down here, and a “high voice” is someone who speaks up here. I don’t have a high voice or a low voice, I don’t think.

The cashier told me (that) “That’ll be $8.75.” When someone is telling you how much money you owe them – at a store, sometimes at a restaurant – they’ll use the expression “that will be.” “That will be $575 to fix your car, please.” That is the expression. It means “this is how much you have to pay me or give me.” She told us, at the restaurant, to “pull forward.” “To pull forward” just means to move your car up forward – going a little bit farther. We use this expression usually for cars, automobiles: “Please pull forward.” You’ll hear that in a fast food – or drive- through, rather – restaurant. It usually refers to cars.

I said that we “drove up to the pick-up window and paid the cashier.” “To drive up” really just means to drive to a place. Once again, it’s that use of the preposition to emphasize the word. “We drove up to Sacramento” is the same as saying “We drove to Sacramento,” but it gives it a little more emphasis. The “pick-up window,” you can guess, is the place where you pick up or get your food in a fast food restaurant. In some fast food restaurants, you have a cashier that you pay in one window or one place, and then you move forward or pull forward a couple of feet and there is someone to give you your food.

After we got our food, I said that we “drove away.” “To drive away” means to drive away from a certain place. It is always related to where you are going from. “She drove away from my house and left” means she was at my house and now she is leaving my house. I said that we “pulled over to the side of the road to eat our hamburgers.” “To pull over” means to stop – to get out of the street or the lane where you are driving and to stop. The “side of the road” means the place where you can park a car or stop a car in a street.

Finally, I said that I “was going to regret it,” but the hamburger “sure did taste good.” “To regret” something means that you wish you would not have done it. I wish I didn’t eat all those french fries. Now I feel very sleepy. The expression “it sure did taste good” – “sure” here (sure) – sure means . . . is another way of emphasizing. “It sure was hot yesterday” means it was really hot yesterday.

Now let’s listen to our story, this time at a normal speed.

[start of story]

My friend Julia called me the other day. She wanted to grab some lunch and asked me if I wanted to go to the local fast food place down the street. I said

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These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast www.eslpod.com

ESL Podcast 51 – Eating Fast Food

sure, even though I knew it wouldn’t be good for me. I hopped in my car
and swung by to pick her up at her work. When we got to the restaurant, there was already a long line at the drive-through. It was the lunch hour, so that is to be expected.

We inched forward in the driveway and finally reached the order station. “Welcome to McApple’s Restaurant. How can I help you today?” I leaned over to shout into the little box, “Uh, I’ll have a cheeseburger, and my friend will take
a regular hamburger.” “Would you like anything to drink with that?” she asked. She had a very low voice. “Two Diet Cokes, please,” I said. “And would you like any fries with that?” she asked again. “No, just the hamburgers, thanks.” “That’ll be $8.75. Please pull forward.”

We drove up to the pick-up window and paid the cashier. Our food was ready about 30 seconds later. “Thank you!” I said as we drove away. We pulled over to the side of the road to eat our hamburgers. I knew I was going to regret it, but
it sure did taste good!

[end of story]

Thanks to our great scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Tse, for all of her hard work. And thanks to you for listening.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.

ESL Podcast is produced by the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2006.

GLOSSARY


to grab – to take or get something quickly

* Late for work, Mildred grabbed her coat as she ran out the door.

fast food place – a restaurant that sells unhealthy food which does not cost much and can be made and given to the customer quickly
* Eduardo did not have enough time to eat at a nicer restaurant, so he quickly got something to eat at a fast food place.

to swing by – to stop someplace quickly, usually to visit someone or to take that person somewhere else
* Nancy swung by her friend’s house to say hello on her way home from work.

to pick (someone) up – to drive to a place someone else is so that one can drive that person somewhere else
* Alton picked his younger sister up and drove her to school.

drive-through – a system at a fast food restaurant in which people order and receive food while in their cars by using speakers and windows located on the side of the building
* The inside of the restaurant was crowded, but there were no cars at the drive- through.

lunch hour – an hour during each day of work in which employees are allowed to stop working and eat lunch, usually around 12:00 p.m. (noon)
* During her lunch hour, Hanako left her workplace and went to a nearby restaurant to eat.

to inch – to slowly move in a specific direction traveling short distances; to move very slowly
* Cory did not want anyone to notice that he was leaving, so he inched toward the door.

order station – the location at a fast food restaurant where one tells the restaurant employee through a speaker what food one wants to order; a machine used in a restauarnt drive-through to place one’s food order
* Katherine told the employee at the order station that she wanted a hamburger and fries.

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English as a Second Language Podcast www.eslpod.com

ESL Podcast 51 – Eating Fast Food

to lean – to bend forward slightly; to move the top half one one’s body toward a specific direction
* Rodger could not hear what his grandmother was saying, so he leaned toward her so that he could hear her better.

low voice – a deep voice; a way of speaking that is quiet and difficult to hear * Arnetta did not want anyone else to hear what she was telling her brother, so she spoke to him in a low voice.

to pull forward – to drive a car forward to a specific spot * The car pulled forward into the parking space.

pick up window – a window or opening on the side of a fast food restaurant where one receives the food one bought using a drive-through and pays for it * After ordering his food, Tommy drove to the pick up window to get it.

to drive away – to leave a location by car; to move away from a location in a car * Betsy got in her car and drove away from the office.

to pull over – to move the car off the road and park or stop the car
* The car was making odd noises, so Zack pulled over to see if there was a problem.

the side of the road – the edge of a road; the far edge of a street, where cars do not drive
* Jenna parked the car to the side of the road so that the car would not get in the way of any moving traffic.

to regret – to be sorry about something after it happens; to feel upset about one’s choice after making a decision
* Leonardo said something cruel to his friend and regretted what he said afterwards.

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ESL Podcast 51 – Eating Fast Food

CULTURE NOTE

Healthiest Cities

Americans love “to rank” (to put in order) almost everything. Nearly every day the newspaper has a list of the best or worst of one thing or another. One interesting ranking from 2009 is from the American College of Sports Medicine, which has an American Fitness Index. “Fitness” refers to how physically healthy you are, usually related to how much you do “physical exercise,” such as run, jog, and play sports. An “index” is a measurement of something. The American Fitness Index looks at several “factors” (things) to determine which U.S. city is the “healthiest.” These include:

  • –  Availability of parks, walking and bike “trails” (paths; places where you can walk and ride a bike), and “public transportation” (for example, busses, subways);
  • –  Percentage of people who exercise regularly, “maintain a healthy weight” (are not too fat or too thin), and eat the recommended amounts of vegetables and fruits each day;
  • –  Percentage of people who “have access to” (are able to use regularly) health care and have health insurance
  • –  Percentage of people who do not smoke.

So which cities are healthiest? Number one is our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. Washington D.C. has a lot of places to walk and ride bikes, has an excellent public transportation system, and has many people who work for the “federal” (national) government and therefore have health insurance. Here is a list of some of the other top cities:

  • –  Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota
  • –  Denver, Colorado
  • –  Boston, Massachusetts
  • –  San Francisco, California
  • –  Seattle, Washington
  • –  Portland, Oregon
  • –  San Diego, California
  • –  Austin, Texas
  • –  Virginia Beach, Virginia
  • –  Hartford, Connecticut
  • –  Sacramento, California
  • –  San Jose, California

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