2007年ESL之购物 11 Garage Sales

11 Garage Sales

GLOSSARY 1

bargain hunter – a person who always looks for the lowest price before buyingsomething; a person who always looks for cheap prices* Claire is a good bargain hunter.  She went to four stores to find the best pricefor her new sofa.

collector – a person who has many interesting or beautiful things of the sametype, such as coins, stamps, dolls, or dishes* Grandpa was a stamp collector and had albums with stamps from every country in the world.

homemade – made at home; made by hand; not made professionally* I love to eat my aunt’s homemade cookies.  They taste much better than thecookies that are sold in stores.

sign – a piece of paper, wood, or metal that has words or pictures that provideinformation* It’s the law that drivers must stop their cars when you come to a stop sign.

spring cleaning – to clean one’s home or office very thoroughly 2, getting rid ofthings that one doesn’t use, usually once a year during the spring season* While they were doing their spring cleaning, they found a box of love letters thather grandmother had written to her grandfather during the war.

to bargain – to negotiate 3 for a better price; to ask a seller 4 to sell something forless money than originally asked for* The seller wanted $75 for the sweater, but we were able to bargain down to$50.

par 5 for the course – standard; normal; expected* Lia is a very good student, so getting straight A’s is par for the course for her.

to get ripped 6 off – to get a bad deal; to pay more than one should; to pay morefor something than it is worth* Freddy bought a car for $5,600, but he got ripped off because it stoppedworking the next day.

early bird – a person who wakes up very early, before most people are awake; aperson who begins doing the day’s activities before most other people do* Fernando is an early bird who usually wakes up, goes running, eats breakfast,and reads the newspaper before anyone else in his family is awake.

desperate – very anxious to do something; very worried about something andwilling to do almost anything to change it* Jessie is desperate to find a new job because she doesn’t like her boss.

to store – to put things somewhere when one is not using them so that they canbe used later* Where do you store your skiing equipment during the summer?

to lug 7 – to carry or pull something that is heavy and difficult to move* Could you please help me lug this heavy suitcase into the guest bedroom?

charity – an organization that helps poor people by giving them money, food,clothes, or other things that they need* How much money do you give to charities each year?

to give (something) away – to give something to someone for free; to givesomething to someone without asking for money or anything else in return* The grocery store is giving away free samples of its fresh bread.

to slash 8 (one’s) prices – to greatly reduce the cost of something; to sellsomething for a much lower price than usual* This store is going out of business next week, so it is slashing 9 its prices to try tosell everything as quickly as possible.

junk – things that have no value or use; worthless 10, old things* The Gamarra family’s garage is full of old junk, like broken radios, used toys,and torn clothes.

knickknack – a small thing that is used as decoration but doesn’t have any use,usually put on a table or shelf* Dinah’s desk is covered in knickknacks that she bought while she was travelingin Eastern Europe.

trash – garbage; something that has no value and should be thrown away* One of my chores when I was young was to take out the trash once a week.

treasure – something that is very valuable, important, and special; somethingthat one values and thinks is important* Miko’s most prized treasure is the watch that his grandfather used to wear.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1.  Why do people slash their prices at the end of a garage sale?

a)  Because they want people to get ripped off.

b)  Because bargaining is par for the course.

c)  Because they don’t want to move unsold things.

2.  What kinds of things does one want to find at a garage sale?

a)  Junkb)  Signsc)  Treasures______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

to storeThe verb “to store,” in this podcast, means to put things somewhere when one is not using them so that they can be used later: “During the summer, we store ourwinter clothes under the bed.”  As a noun 11, a “store” is a supply of something thatyou’re saving 12 to use later: “You should have a store of candles, fresh water, andcanned food in case there’s a big snow storm and we lose electricity.”  A “store”

is also a shop, or a place where one can buy things: “Can you please buy milk and eggs at the grocery store?”  Or, “He bought some aspirin 13 at the drugstore.” The phrase “to be in store” means that something is going to happen in thefuture: “California is in store for a major earthquake.”  Or, “After all the bad luck we’ve had, we’re in store for something good to happen soon.”

to give (something) away In this podcast, the phrase “to give (something) away” means to give somethingto someone for free, without asking for money: “Why did you give away yourmotorcycle?  You could have sold it for at least $400.”  The phrase “to give(something) back” means to return something to the person it belongs to: “Yes,you can listen to this CD, but please don’t forget to give it back to me.”  Thephrase “to give (something) up” means to stop doing something: “Carolinadecided to give up smoking and drinking when she became pregnant 14.”  Finally,the phrase “to give (something) out” means to give something to many people: “Awoman was giving out free newspapers in the main square this morning.”

CULTURE NOTEIn the United States, shopping at garage sales and “estate sales” (garage sales that are held when someone dies) is a good way to buy the things you want andneed without spending very much money.  But there are also many charity and“secondhand” stores where you can buy used things without having to wait forsomeone to have a garage sale.

Two well known charity stores are Goodwill 15 and The Salvation 16 Army.  These are“nonprofit organizations,” or organizations that do not try to make money, butinstead try to help people.  They “accept” or take “donation 17 items” (things thatpeople give to an organization for free) like used clothing, furniture, and books. Then they “sort through” the donation items, meaning that they examine theirquality, decide which ones can be sold, and put them into groups based on thetype of donation.  Then, they sell the donation items in their stores very inexpensively.  The money is used to keep the stores open.  Many poor peopleshop in charity stores, but many college students and bargain hunters also gothere to buy things.

Most cities also have “secondhand stores,” or stores that sell used items.  Thesestores are more expensive than charity stores, but less expensive than “normal”

or regular stores.  People who have things that they no longer want but are still ingood “condition” (quality) take their items to a secondhand store and try to sellthem.  The store gives them a small amount of money for these items and thensells them to other people for a higher price.  Shopping at a secondhand storecan be a good way to find inexpensive clothing or books, but it takes time to findwhat one is looking for.

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers:  1 – c; 2 – c

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 277: Garage Sales.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 19 277.  I'm your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com and take a look at our ESL PodcastStore, which contains some additional 20 premium 21 courses you may be interestedin.  You can also download a Learning 22 Guide for this episode that will help youimprove your English even more. Our episode is called “Garage Sales,” and it's a story of someone who likes to goand buy things from other people that they are selling at something called a“garage sale.”  Let's get started.

[start of story]

One of the things I like to do on the weekends is go to garage sales.  I’m abargain hunter and collector, so garage sales are good places for me.  I look inthe newspapers or just follow homemade signs to find the sales in my neighborhood.  Whether it’s because people are doing spring cleaning or gettingready to move, there are always plenty of sales in my area. After going to a lot of garage sales, I’ve learned 23 a few things about getting what Iwant at the price I want.  Bargaining on price is par for the course at any garagesale.  If you don’t want to get ripped off, you’ll try to get the sellers 24 to lower theirprice.  I’m an early bird and I usually get to the sales before other people to getthe best items.  But to get the best prices, be sure to go back right before thesale ends.  Most people are desperate to sell so that they don’t have to storethose things again or to lug them to a charity office to give them away.  That’s when people are ready to slash their prices.  It’s true that there is a lot of junk and knickknacks at garage sales.  But one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!

[end of story]

Our story today is about garage sales.  A “garage” is a place where normally 25 youkeep your car.  A “garage sale,” however, refers to when a person decides to sellsome of their own things to other people.  They take all their things that they wantto sell and they put them in their garage and open the door, and people will come by and buy them from them.  So, these are individual sales by people who aretrying to sell some of their old things – chairs, books, electronics 26 – many differentthings.

There's a similar term, “yard (yard) sale,” and that's like a garage sale exceptinstead of putting the things in your garage, you put them out on the lawn 27, whatwe would call the “yard,” the space in front of the building or your house.

The person in our story says that he's a bargain hunter and collector.  A “bargain”

(bargain) is when you get a low price on something.  A “hunter” is someone wholooks for, or hunts, something.  “To hunt” usually means to try to go and kill ananimal, but we use the term here to mean someone who looks for something. So, a “bargain hunter” is a person who looks for the lowest price on somethingbefore they buy it.

A “collector” is a person who likes to have interesting or beautiful things of thesame type.  You could be a coin collector; you could be a stamp collector; youcould be a doll collector – not me, but somebody!  These are people who buy things of the same type because they like to have a collection of these items,because they like coins or stamps or dolls.  You can be a collector of many different kinds of things.

Garage sales are places where bargain hunters and collectors go to buy things. To find a garage sale, you can look in the local newspaper or you can just drivearound the streets, and on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays – on the weekends – you will usually see signs that will say there is a garage sale and give theaddress of the house where you can find the sale.  These signs are “homemade”

(homemade – one word), which just means made at home – at someone's house.  “Made by hand” is another way of saying this.  These are notprofessional signs; they are signs that people make to advertise their garagesale.

Some people have garage sales because they're doing spring cleaning.  Theexpression “spring cleaning” means to clean out your house or your office very thoroughly to get rid of things that you don't use any more.  This is traditionally done in the spring of the year – April, May, June, that time of year – but it couldbe done at any time, of course.  I need to do some spring cleaning right now,because my office is a mess!  But that's something I will do maybe next spring!

The person in the story says that bargaining on price is par for the course at any garage sale.  “To bargain,” as a verb, means to try to get a lower price; to ask fora lower price for something.  “Bargaining,” then, is asking for a lower price.  He says this is par (par) for the course (course).  The expression “par for the course”

comes from the game of golfing.  When we use it normal conversation, it justmeans normal or standard or expected.  Something that you can expect is “parfor the course.”  Originally, it was an expression that was only used in golfing torefer to the normal or expected score that you would have on each part of thegolf course.  Here, it just means what you can expect – what is normal.

“If you don't want to get ripped (ripped) off,” the person in our story says, youshould try to get the sellers to lower their price.  The expression “to get ripped off”

means to pay more than you should; to pay more for something than it is really worth.  To get a bad deal is “to get ripped off.”  There's a noun, a “rip off,” whichmeans a bad deal, paying more for something than you should.

The person in our story is an early bird.  The expression “early bird” (two words)is someone who likes to wake up very early, before most other people areawake.  This is not me; I am not an early bird!  The opposite of an early bird is a“night owl” (owl).  A “night owl” is a person who likes to stay up late at night.  An“owl” is a type of bird that you will hear sometimes at night.

The person in our story is an early bird.  He suggests going early to get the bestthings.  But if you want to get the lowest prices, he says you should go rightbefore the sale ends, at the end of the day.  The reason is that people aredesperate to sell.  “Desperate” (desperate) is when you are very worried aboutsomething, or very anxious about something, and you will do anything to changeit.  “To be desperate” means to be willing to do anything because you are worriedor anxious.

People are desperate to sell their things so they don't have to store them again. “To store,” as a verb, means to put things somewhere when you are not usingthem, so you can use them later.  The word “store” has a couple of differentmeanings in English; take a look at our Learning Guide for an additionalexplanation.

People also don't want to lug (lug) their things to a charity office to give themaway.  “To lug” means to carry something, usually something that is heavy anddifficult to move.  You could lug your suitcase around the airport – carry yourheavy suitcase in the airport.  “Charity” is when you give something to someonewho needs money, or food, or something else.  “To give something away,” heremeans to give something to someone for free; to say, “Here, you can have this. You do not need to give me any money.”  There are other meetings of this expression “give something away,” or, “give away something”; take a look, again,at the Learning Guide for more explanations.

The person in the story says that people at the end of the day are ready to slashtheir prices.  “To slash (slash) your prices” means to reduce your prices; to lowerthe price, usually to lower it a lot – dramatically 28, we might say – a lot.

“It’s true that there is a lot of junk and knickknacks at garage sales.”  “Junk” (junk)is a general term for anything that has no value or use, for old things that youdon't need and aren't useful any more.  A “knickknack” (knickknack – one word)is a small thing that is usually used for decoration, something you put on a tableor on your bookshelf.  But, it doesn't have any real use; it just is a nice little thingto look at. “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure,” that's how our story ends. One person's trash (trash) is another person's treasure (treasure).  “Trash” isanother word for garbage; something that is junk, that has no value.  “Treasure”

is the opposite; it's something that is very valuable, important, or special.  So, theexpression “one person's trash is another person's treasure” means you may think something is junk, but someone else will think that it is worth a lot of money.

Now let's listen to the story, this time at a normal speed.

[start of story]

One of the things I like to do on the weekends is go to garage sales.  I’m abargain hunter and collector, so garage sales are good places for me.  I look inthe newspapers or just follow homemade signs to find the sales in my neighborhood.  Whether it’s because people are doing spring cleaning or gettingready to move, there are always plenty of sales in my area. After going to a lot of garage sales, I’ve learned a few things about getting what Iwant at the price I want.  Bargaining on price is par for the course at any garagesale.  If you don’t want to get ripped off, you’ll try to get the sellers to lower theirprice.  I’m an early bird and I usually get to the sales before other people to getthe best items.  But to get the best prices, be sure to go back right before thesale ends.  Most people are desperate to sell so that they don’t have to storethose things again or to lug them to a charity office to give them away.  That’s when people are ready to slash their prices.  It’s true that there is a lot of junk and knickknacks at garage sales.  But one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!

[end of story]

The script 18 for this podcast was written by our own wonderful producer andscriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Tse.  Thank you Lucy, for your excellent work, as always.

From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.  Thanks for listening.  We'll seeyou next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan.  This podcast is copyright 29 2007.