M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name isMarco. C: And my name is Catherine, so what are we talking about today, Marco? M: Well, we’re talking about one of my favorite topics, which arecomputers. C: Yes, you’re a little bit of a nerd. M: Uh, a little bit. C: Hehe. M: I love computers and technology and everything that’s related to it, so, uh, that’s what we’re gonna be looking at today; maybe we’re buying a new computer. C: Well, I anticipate learning something from this, because there’re a lot of those fancy big words that I don’t know that have to do with processors, and giga-fingle-tingle things. M: Hehe. C: So, uh, that’s gonna be coming up in a minute here, but, uh, first let’s just jump right in and take a listen to today’s dialogue. Customer: So can you fix it? Sales Clerk: I’m sorry sir. This computer is not broken or damaged. It’s simply just too old! That’s why your pro- grams and applications are run- ning slow. There really isn’t much I can do. Customer: What do you mean? I bought this computer just three years ago! Sales Clerk: Yes, but technology is ever chang- ing and technology is becoming obsolete faster and faster! Customer: Ok, I know where this is going. How much will it cost me to get a new computer? Sales Clerk: Well, this desktop over here is our latest model. It has a four gi- gahertz processor with sixteen gi- gabytes in RAM and a hard disk with one terabyte. Of course, it includes a mouse, keyboard and desk speakers. Customer: I have no idea what you are talk- ing about. I just want to know if it’s good and if I will be able to play solitaire without the computer crashing or freezing all the time! Sales Clerk: This PC is top of the line and I guarantee it will never freeze! If it does, we’ll give you your money back! M: Alright, we’re back. Uh, I think it’s a very typical case. You’re going to get something fixed and they say: “We can’t fix it, you need a new one”. C: Yes and not only a new one, but a bigger and better and faster one. M: And more expensive, obviously. C: Obviously. M: Hehe. C: It’s called the upsell. M: The upsell, yeah. C: Hehe. Yeah. M: Alright, so there were some very difficult words, I think, because they’re very specific, related to technology and computers. So, uh, why don’t we look at those now in “language takeaway”? Voice: Language takeaway. M: Alright, so the first word we have today is when something is no longer in use. C: Okay, so this word is obsolete. M: It’s obsolete. C: Obsolete. We’re not just talking about like “oh, I haven’t touched that pen in like ten years”. We’re talking about a piece of technology that is no longer useful, because there’s something else that can do a better job. M: Right, and actually not only with, uh, technology. We also have words that are obsolete, right? C: Uhu, exactly, like thy or thine. M: Hehe. C: You or yours. M: Classical English. We don’t use “thy” anymore. C: No. M: But… C: Thou art very summery today, Marco. M: Hehe. But we don’t use that anymore. That’s obsolete English, right? C: Uhu. M: Or obsolete words. C: Exactly, so obsolete means it’s no longer of use. We have better and newer things in… in its place. M: Alright, and now moving on, when the salesman was describing the characteristics of the computer, uh, he had… he used some prefixesthat were a little bit strange, right? Like for example, giga-. C: Giga what? M: Giga. Hehe. C: Alright, so these are actually prefixes that have to do with numbers and so, this is not just a computer thing, this is a math thing or a science thing, so… M: Uhu. C: Okay, so we’ve got three different prefixes. A prefix is something we tack on at the beginning of a word. So we’ve had… we have, uh,hertz, uh, or byte, right? These are little bits of a computer – byte. M: Right, so you have like megabytes. C: Megabytes, we’ve all heard before, that’s the smallest here. Uh, we’ve got megabytes, but bigger than mega, we’ve got gigabytes. M: A giga… yeah, so now, for example, the… the hard drives are two hundred and fifty gigabytes. C: You might even hear someone say gigs. We’ve got a… M: Gigs, yeah. C: Two hundred fifty gig hard drive. M: Yeah. C: But, uh, what’s bigger than giga? M: Now it’s the terabyte. C: Ooh, tera sounds like boom-boom-boom-boom… M: Yeah. C: Huge! M: I actually wondered what would happen after, uh, gigabyte, cause so much information already and now it’s the terabyte, so it’s like one thousand gigabytes. C: So that’s like two hundred movies. M: That’s probably more than that. It’s amazing… C: Yeah. M: The amount of storage you can have and how small it actually is. C: So mega, giga, terra. M: Right. C: Going from littlest to biggest. M: Alright, uh, and well, he described a four gigahertz processor. C: Mm, okay, so the processor is our next word and this is actually something that, um… that determines how fast your computer is gonna run. M: So it comes from the word to process, right? C: Right. M: To like calculate or to think… C: Do, even. M: Uhu. C: Uhu. M: To do. So you have different examples like a word processor. C: Right, so that’s like Microsoft Word, it’s allows you to make Word documents. M: Uhu. C: You can also say to process, uh, data. You’re trying to calculate it. M: Uhu, but in this case a processor is like a little brain that’s the center of the computer and that’s where all the information gets processed. C: Yeah, so it’s the brain of the computer, essentially. M: Uhu. C: And the bigger it is, the faster it can go. M: Exactly. And, well, if you don’t have a very good processor, your computer is bound to freeze. C: Ooh, okay, so freezing is another keyword, especially when we talk about computers this one drives me nuts. Uh, to freeze, uh, it means to stop moving. M: Right. C: Right, so, uh, well, it has a couple of different meanings. You might have heard it about ice before, but… M: Uhu. C: To freeze here we're talking about stopping moving, so we have a… a game called freeze tag. M: Mm. C: If I touch you, you have to stop running. M: Right. C: Uh, but here we’re talking about computer freezing. I’m moving my mouse and I’m typing and all of a sudden… M: It doesn’t work anymore. C: My… my mouse doesn’t move. I can’t close or open or do anything and it’s really frustrating. M: It’s very… especially if you’re doing something and you didn’t save your work, it’s gone. C: Huh-huh. M: Hehe. Right, so if your computer freezes, then usually you have to restart it… C: Yeah. M: Or turn it off and on. C: So that is, uh, about it for those words, but let’s take another listen and slow the dialogue down this time, so you can catch some of those big words. Customer: So can you fix it? Sales Clerk: I’m sorry sir. This computer is not broken or damaged. It’s simply just too old! That’s why your pro- grams and applications are run- ning slow. There really isn’t much I can do. Customer: What do you mean? I bought this computer just three years ago! Sales Clerk: Yes, but technology is ever chang- ing and technology is becoming obsolete faster and faster! Customer: Ok, I know where this is going. How much will it cost me to get a new computer? Sales Clerk: Well, this desktop over here is our latest model. It has a four gi- gahertz processor with sixteen gi- gabytes in RAM and a hard disk with one terabyte. Of course, it includes a mouse, keyboard and desk speakers. Customer: I have no idea what you are talk- ing about. I just want to know if it’s good and if I will be able to play solitaire without the computer crashing or freezing all the time! Sales Clerk: This PC is top of the line and I guarantee it will never freeze! If it does, we’ll give you your money back! C: Great, so we are back, so now let’s jump into today’s “fluency builder”. Voice: Fluency builder. M: Alright, so on fluency builder we’re gonna take a look at three different phrases. For example, the salesman was describing technology and sad that it’s ever-changing. C: Mm, okay, so this is, um, so a little poetic line here. M: Yeah. C: So, uh, ever-changing means always changing. M: Uhu, always. C: Always changing. And so we can say that the ocean is ever-changing. M: Hehe. C: You know… M: Hehe. Right. C: The waves are always changing and… M: Hehe. C: Um, but in this case he’s saying that technology is always changing, it’s always progressing into something new and so… M: Exactly. C: Uh, that is a key selling point for this guy. M: Right, so, uh, this is actually a very interesting word. We can use it like in your example beyond technology like the way… like the sea is ever-changing, so why don’t we listen to a couple of other examples? Voice: Example one. A: There’s always something new in this ever-changing world. Voice: Example two. B: Times are ever-changing and we must prepare ourselves better everyday. Voice: Example three. C: The flu is an ever-changing virus that continues to claim many lives. M: Alright, we’re back, so now we understand ever-changing. C: So the man who’s trying to buy this computer or at least get his computer fixed, really starts to get frustrated with the salesman and he says: “Okay I know where this is going”. M: Uhu. C: So he hears the sales pitch. He’s hear… he hears this guy trying toloosen him up a little bit, he says “I know where this is going”. So what does this mean this where something is going? M: So basically what direction a conversation or a topic or a situation is taking. C: Okay, so he’s saying “I know why you’re telling me these things”. M: Right. C: I know your motive. M: Or I know what’s happening, I know what you’re going to say. C: Okay, so he’s essentially saying “I know you’re going to try and sell me a computer”. M: Right. C: Alright. M: So, uh, you can use it in other circum… circumstances, right? For example, a relationship. C: I don’t know where this is going. M: Right, what… what is going? C: Classic break up line. M: Hehe. C: I just don’t think I know where this is going anymore. M: Hehe. So in reference to the relationship, right? C: Yeah, so… M: We don’t know what’s happening. Are we serious? Are we maybe gonna get married? I don’t know anymore. C: I can’t tell where this movie is going, it’s so like… ooh, let here and there and boring and… M: Yeah, you don’t know the plot. C: Yeah. M: Hehe. Alright. So it’s a very common phrase and it sounds very natural when you say it, right? C: It does. That's why in fluency builder it really helps you sound like a more native English speaker… M: Uhu. C: When you use this kind of phrases. M: And the next one is also very, very good when he describes the… the condition of the computer, he says it’s top of the line. C: Top of the line. Now, what line we’re talking about I do not know, but this is… M: Like above average line. C: Right, so this is the best of the best. This is the top model or the top computer and, uh… M: Uhu. C: You can definitely imagine a car salesman using this. M: Yeah. C: Yes, this BMW is top of the line. M: Hehe. C: The best money can buy. M: Yeah, that’s another good one. So, basically, top of the line is the best of the best, the… above average, right? C: More than above average. It’s really… it’s the best you can do and so… M: The best you can buy. C: The guy is saying: “Listen, this is our best computer, really, you should buy it”. And obviously… M: Usually… C: Top of the line. Usually it costs a lot of money. M: Yeah. It’s usually for… for something that costs money, right? For things. You wouldn’t really use it for a person, right? He is top of the line. C: No, no, no, no, no. M: Hehe. C: Uh, top of the line, I think generally refers to electronics and cars. M: Yeah. C: Or like motorcycles and so, you often hear top of the line stereo, top of the line TV. M: Uhu. C: Um, top of the line car. M: Uhu. C: But you wouldn’t say this about food or… M: Yeah. C: People or art. Hehe. M: Yeah, you wouldn’t say this… this painting is top of the line. C: No, no. M: Hehe. C: Not about like very unique things. M: Right. C: You’d say this about kind of manufactured things. M: Uhu. C: Uhu. M: Very good, so we’ve taken a look at a lot of great phrases. Why don’t we listen to our dialogue for the last time and then we’ll come back. Customer: So can you fix it? Sales Clerk: I’m sorry sir. This computer is not broken or damaged. It’s simply just too old! That’s why your pro- grams and applications are run- ning slow. There really isn’t much I can do. Customer: What do you mean? I bought this computer just three years ago! Sales Clerk: Yes, but technology is ever chang- ing and technology is becoming obsolete faster and faster! Customer: Ok, I know where this is going. How much will it cost me to get a new computer? Sales Clerk: Well, this desktop over here is our latest model. It has a four gi- gahertz processor with sixteen gi- gabytes in RAM and a hard disk with one terabyte. Of course, it includes a mouse, keyboard and desk speakers. Customer: I have no idea what you are talk- ing about. I just want to know if it’s good and if I will be able to play solitaire without the computer crashing or freezing all the time! Sales Clerk: This PC is top of the line and I guarantee it will never freeze! If it does, we’ll give you your money back! M: Alright, we are back, so, uh, computers. Catherine, I know you recently got a nice Macintosh. C: Yeah, yeah, I did. M: It’s one of those big screen ones, right? C: Yeah, it is. It’s a desktop, right… M: Uhu. C: So it’s not a laptop and, uh, it’s got a very fast processor, because Macs started using Intel processors… M: Uhu. C: Couple of years ago and that made them much faster. M: Wow, and it has… this processor actually has two cores, right? C: Uhu. M: So basically it can has two different brains almost within one processor. C: Which gives it really bad headaches. M: Hehe. C: She complains to me often. M: Are you a big, uh, Mac fan or PC fan? C: I’m a Mac fan. M: Really? C: I’ve been converted. My roommate in college my sophomore year had a Mac and ever since then I’ve really gotten into them, so… M: Really? C: Yeah, I went Mac and didn’t turn back. M: I’ve… I still honestly cannot really use a Mac. I get confused, I’m looking for the s… for the start button and I’m looking for where my documents are. C: It’s really hard to change over, right? M: Yeah. C: But once you do is… you don’t wanna change back, because everything is so much easier on a Mac. M: Really? C: But if you’re really into PC gaming, uh, then you should probablystick with it… stick with the PCs, because the games just don’t really compare on Macs. M: But I’ve heard that also Macs don’t really suffer from viruses, right? C: No, they don’t, which is great, cause I always used to get these viruses that would slow down my computer… M: Hehe. C: Cause, you know, you open some e-mail and all of a sudden… M: Yeah. C: There’s nastiness on your desktop. M: Hehe. C: Well, now I don’t really have that problem and, um, and also there’s really wonderful photo editing software and video editing software. M: Right. C: So everything is just really easy to find and easy to use. M: Mm, what about you listeners? Do you prefer the Mac? Do you prefer the PC? Or maybe some of our listeners don’t really even like computers. C: Well, let us know either way. We are very curious to hear, you have to say. And, or course, writing on our comments section is great practice for your English. M: Right, so we’ll see you guys there and until next time… C: Bye everyone! M: Bye!