Learning English as a Second Language
Part 597: Dealing with political pollsters.
Please help me. What do I say if I stopped in the street by a man asking questions about elections? This was happening to me all the time during the general election.
You say: ”Put me down as a Don’t Know”.
Put me down as a Don’t Know, I see. What exactly does that mean?
It means you don’t want any more questions.
I see. What does “put me down” mean?
It means, write me down on paper.
But in lesson 413, you told me that “put down” means to make a lot of fun of. Your sentence was “Every comedian thinks it is funny to put down Val Doonican.”
Yes, well, it means that as well.
So maybe the man asking the questions will make fun of me?
No, no.
And in lesson 512, you said that “put down” also means to have your favourite animal killed. Your sentence was: “We are taking our cat to the vet for him to be put down.”
Did I? Well, yes, it means that too.
So I am afraid that the man asking the political questions will have me painlessly killed when I say “Put me down as a Don’t Know.”
No, no, he won’t do that, I promise.
If “put down” means to make fun of, suppose “put up” means to take seriously.
No, no. It means to accommodate for a few days. Here is another sentence for you: “My mother has written to say she is coming to stay with us, so we will have to put her up for the weekend.”
That is a bit like a sentence I remember from lesson 87. “I do my best to put up with your mother.”
Ah, yes, that’s put up with.
What does “put down with” mean?
Nothing.
Could I say “Set me down as a Don’t Know”?
No. “Set down” means to let someone off a train at a railway station.
And “set up” means to let them on the train at the railway station?
Mmm, not exactly. Actually, it means something the police do when all else fails. Here is another sentence for you. “I spent three years in jail because the police set me up for the Croydon job”.
Would they do that?
Not if you’d really done the Croydon job. “Set up,” by the way, also means to give someone lots of money. For example, my parents set me up as a teacher of English as a second language.
But the police would not give you lots of money for the Croydon job?
No, I think not.
Would it be possible to say to this man in the street: “Sent me down as a Don’t Know?”
Well, not really, “Send down” means to put someone in prison.
Oh, I see. The police set you up first and then they send you down.
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Yes. Well, not quite. The police set you up, but the judges send you down.
This is all done to make more jobs?
Yes, I think so.
Well, if “send down” means to put you in prison, does “send up” mean get someone out of prison?
Not exactly. In fact, not at all. “Send up” means to make a lot of fun of.
Ah, just like “put down”. So the sentence from lesson 413 could also be: “Every comedian thinks it is funny to send up Val Doonican”?
Very good, absolutely right. Spot on.
And I could also say to the man in the street: “Send me up as a Don’t Know.”
No.
And I could say to the vet: ”Here is my cat - please have her sent up”?
No.
English is very difficult to learn as a second language.
Believe me, English is very difficult to teach as a second language. It gets me down sometimes.
Get down? You mean, as in the phrase: “Get down and boogie”?
Where did you learn to speak like that?
In a disco in the West End, where I also learn English as a second language.
Ah, no, that is American as a second language. Oh, just look at the time. I think that is enough for today’s lesson. I must get off.
Get off with whom?
I will deal with that in our next lesson.
d) После прочтения статьи постарайтесь ответить на следующие вопросы.
1. Каким образом “преподаватель” подшучивает над
- проводящими опросы общественного мнения по политическим вопросам?
- Val Doonican (конферансье с характерной привлекательной внешностью)?
- тещей и свекровью? - полицией? - американским английским?
2. Что привело в замешательство студента в конце “урока”?
3. Какие идиоматические выражения “преподаватель” объяснял хорошо, а какие плохо?
4.6.6. Идиоматические выражения, состоящие не только из глагола с предлогом или наречием.
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Идиоматические выражения могут состоять не только из глагола с предлогом или наречием, но и других частей речи.
Упр.4.6.6. a. Догадайтесь о значении шести идиом, включающих существительные - части тела. Затем поставьте им в соответствие расположенные в правой колонке определения.
a. Keep your fingers crossed for me! 1. I’ve nearly remembered it.
b. I’m pulling your leg! 2. It makes no sense to me at all.
c. It’s on the tip of my tongue. 3. I’m joking!
d. I’ll keep an eye on her for you. 4. I’ll watch her while you’re out.
e. I can’t make head or tail of it. 5. Wish me luck!
f. I really put my foot in it, didn’t I? 6. I said the wrong thing.
Упр.4.6.6. b . Составьте английские предложения, используя фразеологические единицы.
1. Вам не хватает денег. 2. Этого (будет) достаточно. 3. Вы поступите на эту работу. 4. У вас нет с собой мелочи. 5. Давно пора провести собрание по этому вопросу. 6. Вы закончите эту работу самое позднее в марте. 7. Вам надо зайти в булочную. 8. Вам эта работа по плечу. 9. Европейский чемпионат будет проходить в Москве.
Упр .4.6.6.c. Закончите предложения.
1.I hope, the change of the climate will …(приносить вам пользу) 2. I’ll visit them (попозже). 3. (Прежде всего) we’ll have to check the state of things. 4. When shall I see you в следующий раз)? 5. Let’s meet (послезавтра). 6. “How old will he be next year?” “30 (в крайнем случае, самое большее) 7. Everything will happen (своим чередом). 8. You may keep it (навсегда).
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*Упр.4.6.6.d. В этом упражнении выделены идиоматических выражения. Прочитайте внимательно текст и догадайтесь о смысле этих выражений.
a. A The question is, who left the window open?
B For goodness sake, John. Stop splitting hairs! It doesn’t matter who left the window open. The fact is that someone did, and that’s how the parrot escaped.
b. He stole money from his wife’s purse so that he could go out drinking. But she got her own back by locking him out, so he had to sleep in the garden that night.
c. Don’t worry about Josephine. She shouts a lot, but really she doesn’t mean it. Her bark is worse than her bite.
d. A My wife and I just can’t control our finances. No matter how hard we try, we’re always overdrawn at the end of the month.
B Jack and I are in the same boat. I think it must be the cost of living that has gone up.
e. We’re a team, and we have to work together, but I don’t think Bill is pulling his weight.
f. My father agreed to lend me his car for this evening, but when I asked for some money for petrol, he put his foot down.
g. All negotiations in the miner’s pay dispute had broken down, and the strike was due to start next day. Then, at the eleventh hour, the management made a new offer.
h. Setting up your own business should be quite a simple affair, but there is so much red tape involved, with tax offices, planning permission offices and so on, that it can take years.
*Упр.4.6.6. e . Выберите правильный вариант из четырех предложенных, чтобы получилось идиоматическое выражение.
a. He used the business profits to ___ his own nest. His employees gain nothing.
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fill feather enrich build
b. She is so quick to criticize other people. I think she should learn to set her own ____ in order first.
home business house place
c. He paid an absolute fortune for a really tiny flat. There’s not enough room to swing a _____ .
cat handbag monkey rope
d. Don’t be so impatient. You can’t hurry the decorating if you want to do it well. _____ wasn’t built in a day.
New York St Paul’s Rome Colossus
e. Friends may let you down, but your family will always stand by you. Blood is thicker than ____ .
tea wine tears water
f. My car has just about had it. It’s on its last ___ . We’ll have to get a new one.
legs life way routes
g. Politics is a cut-throat business where your friends can be more treacherous than your enemies, but, as they say, “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the _____ .
forge kitchen hearth desert
h. I don’t know what she’s got to be so cocky and self-important about. Someone should put her in _____ .
place boots cradle post
i. I believed him! He looked so sincere. I feel such a fool now. He really led me up the _____ .
river garden path wrong road high street
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