E-cubed 1180: It’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings

Today's E-cubed:  It’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings

We can use this expression in many situations, where one guy or a woman was thinking "Oh, it's over. Let's stop. Let's not wait..." But the other guy says "No, no, no. We should wait. Maybe something will happen, and things will be very good."

Ecubed 1179: ~ish

Today's E-cubed:  ~ish

Today, we're learning a suffix - something we can add at the end of a word, especially an adjective.

It's kind of red = It's reddish
He's kind of bald = He's baldish
It kind of hurts = It's hurtish

Ecubed 1178: Caught me off guard

Today's E-cubed:  Caught me off guard

Caught me off guard means something happens, and you weren't able to prepare. It's possible to prepare but you weren't able.

Caught me off guard nghĩa là rơi vào thế bị động. Đáng lẽ ra bạn có thể chuẩn bị, nhưng vì bạn không biết trước nên bạn chưa chuẩn bị để ứng phó với tình huống đó.

Cùng luyện tập đoạn hội thoại sau:

Think fast! Whoa~ Ha! You d ropped it! You caught me off guard~ 

Anh thấy nhanh phải không!
Ối trời!
Ha ha! Anh đánh rơi mất rồi!
Tôi bị động chưa kịp chuẩn bị gì.~

Ecubed 1177: To spike SMT/spiked

Today's E-cubed:  To spike SMT/spiked

To spike something means to add alcohol to something.
To spike something nghĩa là pha thêm rượu vào đồ uống nào đó.

Example: Who spiked my Coca-Cola? = Who put alcohol in my Coca-Cola?

Cùng luyện tập đoạn hội thoại sau:

Are you okay? You look a little red~ I’m feeling…weird. Dizzy. Have you been drinking the fruit punch? Yeah. It’s delicious. Why? It’s SPIKED!

Anh bạn ổn chứ? Trông anh có vẻ hơi đỏ rồi.
Tôi thấy...lạ lắm. Chóng mặt thật.
Anh bạn đã uống nước ngâm trái cây phải không?
Phải rồi. Nó ngon lắm. Nhưng sao anh hỏi vậy?
Nước đó đã được pha thêm rượu đấy!

Ecubed 1176: 20/20

Today's E-cubed: 20/20

In America, if you have 20/20 vision that means without glasses, without contact lenses, you can see find. Your vision is perfect.

20/20 vision nghĩa là thị lực tốt. Bạn không cần phải đeo kính để nhìn rõ hơn những thứ xung quanh bạn.

Cùng luyện tập đoạn hội thoại sau:

My grandmother’s 96 and she went to the hospital yesterday. Oh…is she alright? Yeah, she told the doctor she wants to live to be a hundred and that she really wants to see 20/20. Aw~ And what did the doctor say? He said she’d never see 20/20.
Bà ngoại tôi năm nay 96 tuổi rồi và hôm qua bà đã đi viện.
Ồ... thế bà ổn chứ?
Vâng, bà nói với bác sĩ là bà muốn sống đến trăm tuổi và bà rất muốn mắt vẫn sáng rõ không cần đeo kính.
Vậy á~ Thế bác sĩ bảo sao?
Bác sỹ bảo bà chuyện đó không thể được.

Easy Engish Expression 1175: Y’all

Today's E-cubed:  Y’all

Y'all = You + All = You guys => mang nghĩa "tất cả các bạn, tất cả mọi người..."

Y'all là cách nói kết hợp của 2 từ "You" và "All". Bạn sẽ nghe người Mỹ dùng nhiều từ này, đặc biệt là ở miền Nam, cụ thể hơn là bang Texas. Ở các khu vực khác người ta hay dùng cụm từ "You guys" hơn với ý nghĩa tương tự Y'all.

Ví dụ:

Did you guys have a good time?
Y'all have a good time?
Mọi người có vui vẻ không?

Are you guys going there?
Y'all going there?
Tất cả sẽ đến đó chứ?

Do you guys understand?
Y'all understand?
Các bạn có hiểu không?

Cùng luyện tập đoạn hội thoại sau:

Y’all coming to the party? Me? I’ll be home with the family. All y’all! Come on! Great food~~ Well…why not?! We’ll be there!

Tất cả các bạn sẽ đến dự tiệc chứ?
Tôi á? Tôi sẽ ở nhà với vợ con.
Tất cả cùng đi! Thôi nào! Nhiều đồ ăn ngon lắm..
À thì.... tại sao không nhỉ?! Chúng ta sẽ cùng có mặt ở đó.

Ecubed 1174: pipe dream

Today's E-cubed:  pipe dream (giấc mộng hão huyền)

Pipe dream: a hope/dream/scheme that is highly unlikely to turn into reality...
Pipe dream: mong ước/giấc mộng/âm mưu hão huyền, viễn vông, không thực tế, khó trở thành hiện thực...

Cùng luyện tập đoạn hội thoại sau:

Did you hear what Johnny said? About having homes in California and Florida? Yeah!! What a pipe dream! Hey~ Let the kid dream a little!

Bạn đã nghe thấy bé John nói gì chưa?
Về việc có nhà ở California và Florida à?
Ừ!! Thật là một ước mơ viễn vông!
Này anh bạn! Cứ để cho đưa bé mơ mộng chút đi!

Ecubed 1173: out of the blue

Today's E-cubed: out of the blue = hoàn toàn bất ngờ, không tưởng tượng nổi, một sự kiện từ trên trời rơi xuống

Cùng luyện tập đoạn hội thoại sau:

Where are you going? John’s house. John! You haven’t seen him in so long~ Yeah, he called me today out of the blue!

Anh đi đâu vây?

Tới nhà anh John.

Anh John à! Anh lâu lắm rồi chưa gặp anh ấy nhỉ.

Ừ, cậu ấy vừa gọi cho tôi hôm nay thật ngoài sức tưởng tượng!

Transcript:

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Daily Easy English Expression (Ecubed). Today's expression is "out of the blue". And I'm guessing most of you probably know this expression. But, do you know why we use this expression? I will explain that after the dialogue.

Out of the blue means suddenly, without any planning, without expectation.Just boom! something happens.

Examples:
- Somebody said something out of the blue.
- I went some places out of the blue.

Or check out the dialogue.

- Where are you going?
- John’s house.
- John! You haven’t seen him in so long~
- Yeah, he called me today out of the blue!

John called me today out of the blue. I'm just suddenly, I means I wasn't thinking about John. I didn't expect a phone call. But, BOom! He called me!And probably John wasn't thinking about me. But suddenly, Boom! Hey, I should call Coach Shane. And John called me. That's the idea.

Out of the blue. Why do we use this expression?

OK. So, imagine you're outside. It's a nice day. There's no cloud in the sky. You look up. What color is the sky? Blue. Right. It's blue.

Now, imagine a little bird, a bird next to you flies into the sky. Right? And you watch the bird. And it goes straight up. It goes up up up up. And then it disappears. It's gone. Right? The bird is so high. Then it disappears. And it's just blue. It's blue. And you are watching. Wow, that's amazing. And then suddenly, poop. A bird turd falls on your forehead. Where did the bird turd come from? It came from the blue. It came out of the blue. Obviously, there'a a bird up there, but we don't see the bird. We were'nt expecting anything. And then poop!! Suddenly. It came out of the blue.

That's the idea of the expression. Out of the blue. On the clear blue sky, when you look up you see nothing, nothing there. But actually there are things there. We don't see them. When do we see them? We see them when boom! It's too late.

Now sometimes out of the blue is a good thing. John called me out of the blue. I like John. That's good. But sometimes, it's a bird turd. Be careful! You guys have a fantastic day. Don't forget get free lessons: www.LetsMasterEnglish.com/FREE. And did you listen to our internet radio show? It's so cool: www.LMEToday.com. See ya!!

Ecubed 1172: chicken out

Today's E-cubed: chicken out ~ quyết định không làm gì đó vì quá sợ hãi, lo lắng, nhát gan.

Cùng luyện tập đoạn hội thoại sau:

- Where’s Mary? - She chickened out~ - What? She’s the reason we’re bunjee jumping! - I know~

- Mary đâu rồi?
- Cô ấy sợ quá không đi nữa.
- Gì cơ? Cô ấy là lý do chúng ta đi nhảy bunjee đấy!
- Tớ biết mà...

Transcript:

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Daily Easy English Expression (Ecubed).Yeah, the video. OK so today, we have a phrasal verb. Everybody loves phrasal verbs. The phrasal verb? Yeah, it is "to chicken out". What? To chicken out.

To chicken out means you were going to do something, but then you said "No, it's too difficult. It's too scary. I'm afraid. I'm nervous. I don't want to..." This is the idea. To chicken out. So you have a chance to give a speech in front of many people. Yes, I will do it. But then before the speech, you say: "Oh no, I'm sick. I can't do it. Oh, I have to go on a business trip, I can't". You're afraid. You are chickening out. That's the idea. Check out the dialogue.

- Where’s Mary?
- She chickened out~
- What? She’s the reason we’re bunjee jumping!
- I know~

So Mary told these to guys: "Hey, let's go bunjee jumping." Do you know bunjee jumping. I did it once. I enjoyed it. But no more for me. It's scary. It's cool, but it's scary. Anyway, Mary told these guys "Let's go bunjee jumping." And they said: "Oh,..OK." And now they're ready to go bunjee jumping, but Mary chickend out. She didn't go. She didn't show up. What's the heck, Mary? What's the problem, Mary? Mary is a chicken. Oh, a chicken as a noun means a coward - somebody who's afraid. You are a chicken. It's not nice to say.

Are you a member of my DDM (Daily Dictation Members) class, my PIRF (Pronunciation, Intonation, Rhythm, Flow) class. Are you a member of DDM Brasil? Are you a member of Action English? Are you a member of LME Weekly? No? Why? Are you a chicken? Don't chicken out. Join those classes. Start mastering your English and have a fantastic day. Take care, guys. Bye bye.

Ecubed 1167: going places

Today's E-cubed:  going places

If someone is going places, he or she is going to be successful.

Chúng ta dùng cụm từ "tobe going places" khi nói một ai đó sẽ thành công.
She is going places ~ She is going to be successful.
Nghĩa đen "sẽ được đi đây đi đó" - Người thành công thường được đi nhiều nơi.

Cùng luyện tập đoạn hội thoại sau:

With this new dress, I’ll be going places. Like where? On the road to success! Your dress will make you successful? Duh~ Look how sexy I look!!

Với bộ váy mới này, tôi sẽ được đi đây đó.
Đi đâu cơ?
Đi đến thành công!
Bộ váy này có thể khiến cô thành công ư?
Vâng~ Anh nhìn xem tôi sexy thế này cơ mà!!!