come murdle

Thanks for the coffee Neil, what a great idea to present Authentic Real English from a coffee shop.

Yes, li. I’s good to get out of this studio, anyway i got the coffee for free here.

You don’t pay for it.

Contacts.

Contacts?

People i know. Don’t tell anyone, but my friend works there and well... when the boss isn’t around  he gives me the coffee for free.

He gives it to you for free!

Ssshhh   keep your voice down. If he gets found it, he will get the sack. You know lose his job.

We need to keep a lid on it.

Why do we need to keep a lid on the coffee. Are we trying to hide it.

When you say keep a lid on something, it means keep it a secret or keep it quiet about it.

Oh, i see.

The phrase can also mean keep something strongly on the control like your loud voice, control it and don’t tell anybody. Keep a lid on it.

We’d better hear some examples while i my drink my coffee.

Quietly, we need to keep a lid on the company merger. If the newspaper gets to hear about this, our share price will drop.

Our baby is due in November, but keep a lid on the news, we haven’t told our parents yet.

Please keep a lid on your motions, otherwise the waiter is going to ask us to leave!

Mmm this coffee does taste good, but i don’t like the idea that you got it for free. It is dishonest.

What’s that li?

Oh nothing i was just saying i might have to tell someone about your dishonest behavior.

Mmm , you mean you are going to lift the lid of what i’m doing. That means to tell someone something bad. Well you can, but you know what that will mean?

What’s that?

You will be buying the coffee next time, and that is not cheap.

Oh right, let’s just keep it our little secret, shall we.

Hello, and welcome to Authentic Real English . I’m Rob and join me today is lees.

Hi, everyone.  Er, Rob, my name is li, not lees.

Oh, oh, i’m so sorry Li. I’m not really on the ball this morning.

Nice phrase though. Why don’t you go for a coffee and then you will be on the ball for today’s Authentic Real English.

Right ho l lovely. That’s better. I had a nice cup of coffee and I’m ready to explain the meaning of today’s Authentic Real English.Here you go?When you are on the ball, it means you are alert and quick to react to things.

It comes from sports, doesn’t it?

Yes it does. And there is anther phrase, to keep your eye on the ball, which has a very similar meaning.

I guess we can use it for any situation which is changing quickly so you need to be focused and sharp.

Indeed let’s hear some examples

The interviewer raised tough questions, but Ma Yun was on the ball.

Financial management is not a job that everyone can do, you have to keep your eye on the ball at all times

And if you want to learn English well, you can stay on the ball with BBCukChina.com. Also bbcukchina.com/leaningEnglish. Best of luck!

Bye bye

Bye

The expression that Neil and i will talk about today is out of the count. This the expression comes form the sport of boxing. And it describes a boxer who has been knocked down unconscious who can’t stand up within a count of ten seconds. The boxer is said to be out for the count and loses the match.

Yes,but the expression can also be used in another way.

Oh, really? How.

I had a really active weekend. I went hiking in Wales with my wife and our two children.

Hiking in wales. Ha, it sounds like hard work.

Well, it not for my kids. They love it. They were racing each other, running up and down the hills. Then we went into the zoo where they had even more fun.

So you had a nice day out then.

Definitely. The evening was even nicer for us,me and my wife. There was no reading bed-time stories and no computer games. By seven o’clock, the kids were in beds. And the next thing we knew they were out for the count.

Oh, i think i have got it.

Yes, that’s right. Let’s hear some expressions of how this expression is used

Jack had so much to drink last night, when he got home he was out for the count.

There was some trouble outside my house last night, but i didn’t hear it . I was so tired that i was out for the count.

Oh, how i wish i could fall asleep quickly.

You should try doing some exercises to make you tired. How about jogging

Oh, no,no. It’s boring. It’s too monotonous.

What about about relaxing exercise, like Yoga

No, I’m not very flexible, i never had been

Well, how about boxing.It is exerting. you can be knocked unconscious. Out for the count

Very funny

Anyway, you’ve learned a good expression. And it’s time to say Goodbye.

Bye.

课时3 Mind-blowing  or  to blow your mind

Hello, and the expression we are going to look at in this program is mind- blowing or to blow your mind.

So, harry i heard that you really like traveling?

Me? Yes ,i love to travel, to be free. Yeah of travel

All over, Europe, south-east Asia, north Africa, central America

So which was the best trip?

had to say they all great in there one way. But i think my trip to Cambodia really stands out.

Well it’s got scenery beeches, nice food and all the stuff. But the temples at Angkor wat they just blew my mind.

Yea, it’s an amazing place. it’ got incredible statues, roads, waterways all abandoned in the forest. Truly mind blowing

So what else can be mind blowing?

Anything amazing, a painting, a film, a story.

Yes, those things are all totally mind blowing, if you stop and think about them.

The latest tablet computer has incredible camera and loads of other mind blowing features.

One of the most mind blowing things about the universe is the distance between the planets

The battle scenes in the film were amazing. They just blew my mind

So to finish off i though I’d give you the mind blowing fact about the space and the universe. Something that will really blow your mind.

Did you know that every hour the universe expands by a billion miles in all direction.

That is mind blowing.

Another just mind blowing.

Cockroaches can live several weeks without their heads

They can live without their heads. Well that just blow my mind.

Join us again for more mind blowing English on Authentic Real English.

Bye.

Bye.