Hello, everyone, and welcome back（在后） to EnglishPod. My name is Marco. I'm Erica. And today we have a great intermediate（中间的） lesson for you. That's right. We've got some excellent（卓越的）, real English for you all about cleaning the house.

  Cleaning the house. That's a real life situation, so we're going to give you real English. Exactly（确切地）. So in today's lesson, we're going to look at language about cleaning the house. We're also going to learn a few phrases that you can use if you want to ask someone for help. And maybe if you're a little bit（一点） lazy（懒惰的） like me, a phrase or two to avoid（避免） doing（做） work.

  Okay（好）. Well, let's get started then with our vocabulary（词汇） preview（预演）. Vocabulary preview. All（ 全部） right. Great. We have two great words for you today.

  Erica, why don't you tell us the first one? The first word is "such a mess（混乱）." Such a mess. Such a mess. So when something is a mess... It's dirty.

  Yeah. Or things are everywhere（到处）. Disorganized. Yeah. So, you know, you have your clothes on the floor and your shoes on... Okay.

  So that sounds a lot like my desk at work. Your shoes on your desk. Yeah. I've seen that. I've been wanting to ask you about that. Okay.

  Such a mess. Really, really dirty. Okay. Now（现在） let's take a look（看） at our second word. Chores（杂务）. Chores.

  Chores. Chores. Chores is a really common word for... Things you have to do around the house. Like（喜欢）, for example, laundry（洗衣房）. Or making（使） the bed.

  Or when you have to take out the garbage（垃圾）. Those are all examples of chores. Chores. Yeah. I guess everyone can remember when they were kids（小孩）, they had chores to do. Yeah.

  When I was a kid, it was my chore to chop（砍） wood（木材）. Chop wood? Yeah. That's a great chore. Playing with an axe（斧）. Maybe if you're a boy.

  But for a girl, it was not so great. That's why you're so strong and fit（ 适合的）. All right. So let's listen to our dialogue for the first time. It's going to be kind（种类） of fast. But don't worry（ 担忧） if you miss something, because we'll explain all of the important language afterwards（ 后来）.

  Honey（蜜）, the house is such a mess（混乱）. I need you to help me tidy（整理） up a bit（一点）. My boss（老板） and her husband are coming over for dinner and the house needs to be spotless. I'm in the middle（中部） of something right now. I'll be there in a second. This can't wait.

  I need your help now. All right. All right. I'm coming. Okay. Here's a list of chores we need to get done.

  I'll do the dishes and get all the groceries（食品杂货店） for tonight. You can sweep（扫） and mop（用拖把拖地） the floors. Oh, and the furniture（ 〈总称〉 家具） needs to be dusted（尘土）. You know what? I have to pick（ 拾起） something up in the mall（商场）. So why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket and get all the groceries.

  Sure（ 〈口语〉 的确）. That's fine. Here's the list of all the things you need to get. Don't forget anything and can you pick up a bottle of wine on your way home? Hey, honey. I'm back.

  Wow（哇）. The house looks really good. Great. Can you set（设置） the table? Just a sec. I'm just going to vacuum（真空） this rug（小地毯） real fast.

  Wait. Don't turn it on. So my God（神）, Marco, what happened there? An explosion（爆炸）. We love a good explosion here at English Pods. We're going to give you as（ 像…一样） many explosions（爆炸） as（ 像…一样） possible.

  Okay. So let's take a look at our language takeaway（外卖食品）. Language takeaway. So language takeaway is the part of our lesson where we teach you what we think are some really important words that are found in the dialogue. Exactly. And we have three really important words in our dialogue today.

  So let's start with the first one. Tidy up. Tidy up. Tidy up. So to tidy up means to... Put things in their correct spot（地点）.

  Right. So put the shoes on the floor. Get those shoes off my desk. Exactly. So tidy up. Organize（组织） things a little bit（一点）.

  Yeah. Put things away. Okay. Let's take a look at our second word now. Spotless. Spotless.

  Spotless. Spotless. So when you want something to be spotless... You want it to be really clean. Really clean. Not a spot of dirt（尘） on it.

  Like your desk. Exactly. My desk is spotless. My desk is not spotless. All right. Great word.

  Now let's take a look at our last word for language takeaway. Mall. Mall. Mall. M-A-L-L, mall. Mall.

  Yeah. It's a strange（陌生的） sounding word. It is a little bit funny sounding. But it basically（基本上） means（意味） a large building with many shops inside（在里面）. Many different stores（贮藏） inside（在里面）. Right.

  Now in British English you would say shopping center（（centre的美式拼法）中心）. Yeah. I think that's a little bit more common. But in American English we say... Mall. Great.

  So now it's time in our show to look at putting it together. Putting it together. Okay. So in putting it together, we take a word from the dialogue and we show you how to use this word in real English. So we give you a couple（夫妇） of examples of how this particular（特殊的） word can be used. Exactly.

  So the word that we have for today is groceries. Groceries. Groceries. Groceries. Erica, why don't you tell us what groceries are all about? So groceries are all of the food items（条） that you need to buy at the supermarket.

  So like your bread and milk and meat and... Vegetables. Exactly. Those are all groceries. Okay. So let's listen to some examples on how we use this phrase.

  Example one. There's no milk. Can you go to the grocery store? Example two. Here's the grocery list. I need all of these things so that I can cook dinner tonight.

  Don't forget anything. Example three. I hate grocery shops. I hate grocery shopping. I can never find what I'm looking for. Okay, great examples.

  We heard some really interesting combinations（结合）, right? Yeah, we heard grocery store. Which is where you buy your groceries. Exactly. Grocery shopping. Buying all your groceries.

  And grocery list. Where you have all the items that you need to buy. A list of everything you need to buy. Exactly. You know, grocery store. I think this is quite a common word in Canada.

  Probably North America. Yeah. Do you say grocery store in America? Well, if it's a small one. Really? Like a small store.

  In Canada, I say grocery store for even like a supermarket. Really? Yeah. I guess, well, I would say supermarket for a large one and grocery store for a little corner（角） shop. All of these little differences in American, Canadian, English. Okay.

  I think it's time for us to listen to our dialogue another time. This time, it will be a little bit slower. Honey, the house is such a mess. I need you to help me tidy up a bit. My boss and her husband are coming over for dinner and the house needs to be spotless. I'm in the middle of something right now.

  I'll be there in a second. This can't wait. I need your help now. All right. All right. I'm coming.

  Okay. Here's a list of chores we need to get done. I'll do the dishes and get all the groceries for tonight. You can sweep and mop the floors. Oh, and the furniture needs to be dusted. You know what?

  I have to pick something up at the mall. So why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket and get all the groceries. Sure. That's fine. Here is the list of all the things you need to get. Don't forget anything.

  And can you pick up a bottle of wine on your way home? Hey, honey. I'm back. Wow. The house looks really good. Great.

  Can you set the table? Just a sec. I'm just gonna vacuum this rug real fast. Wait. Don't turn it on. Okay, great stuff（材料）.

  Love hearing that explosion. That vacuum just is a bomb（炸弹）. Yeah. In this dialogue, there was some really interesting language that you can use if you don't want to do any chores in the house. Exactly. So it's time now for Fluency（流利） Builder（建筑者）.

  Fluency Builder. You know, Fluency Builder is a part of our show that we use to take a common phrase or a word that you already（早已） know and show you how to express（表示） that idea more fluently（流利地） and more naturally. Exactly. So let's take a look at our first idea that we want to explain. Let's say you're watching TV like the woman in this dialogue and your husband wants you to help him do the chores. And you say, "No, I'm busy."

  Right. Or, "I'm doing something." Those are two great expressions（表现）, but we heard something a little bit different in the dialogue. "I'm in the middle of something right now." "I'm in the middle of something right now." Yeah.

  That phrase is great. It means she's busy. She's doing something. Yeah. "I'm in the middle of something." Yeah.

  And so, Marco, you can tell us about our next phrase. Okay. Well, now suppose（猜想） that you want to say, "You'll be there soon." You might（可以〔用于礼貌地提出建议〕） say, "I'll be there soon" or... "I'm coming." Exactly.

  But in our dialogue, we heard something a little bit different. Let's listen. "I'll be there in a second." "I'll be there in a second." So this is a more natural way of saying, "I'll be there very soon." Yeah.

  You know what? I think I use this phrase almost（几乎） every day. "I'll be there in a second." Yeah. Yeah. It's really common.

  Yeah. It means, "I'll be there really fast." Yes. Okay. So our final item today in Fluency Builder is a great phrase that helps you say the idea, "Could you" or "Would you." Right.

  Or, "Can you." Yeah. So, "Can you sweep the floor?" "Could you sweep the floor?" But in the dialogue, we heard something that's a little bit different. "Why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket?" "Why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket?" Great. So this is more natural and it's giving a suggestion（ [C] 建议）. Yeah.

  It's sort（种类） of a polite（有礼貌的） way of asking someone to clean the floors. Right. It's a really good and polite way of saying it. Yeah. I would agree on that. This was Fluency Builder.

  Now we are ready to listen to our dialogue again at its normal（正常的） speed（速度）. And this time, you'll understand a lot better. Honey, the house is such a mess. I need you to help me tidy up a bit. My boss and her husband are coming over for dinner and the house needs to be spotless. I'm in the middle of something right now.

  I'll be there in a second. This can't wait. I need your help now. All right. All right. I'm coming.

  Okay. Here's a list of chores we need to get done. I'll do the dishes and get all the groceries for tonight. You can sweep them off the floors. Oh, and the furniture needs to be dusted. You know what?

  I have to pick something up in the mall. So why don't you clean the floors and I'll go to the supermarket and get all the groceries. Sure. That's fine. Here's a list of all the things we need to get. Don't forget anything.

  And can you pick up a bottle of wine on your way home? Hey, honey, I'm back. Wow. The house looks really good. Great. Can you set the table?

  Just a sec. I'm just going to vacuum this rug real fast. Wait, don't turn it on. Has this ever happened to you? Has your vacuum cleaner（[化工] 清洁剂） exploded（爆炸） in your house? Well, not a big explosion like this one.

  Not so dramatically（大幅度地）. And not so dramatically. But I've had this happen to me before（以前）. Yeah. And dust everywhere. And it's just, it's a mess.

  You don't want to happen. You know, this word vacuum is really a very American word. Yeah. Vacuum. Vacuum the rug, vacuum the carpet（地毯）. Yeah.

  Vacuum cleaner. In the UK, what did they say? Hoover. Hoover. Yeah, Hoover. Hoover the rug.

  Hoover the rug, which is interesting because it's actually（实际上） a brand（商品）. Yeah. So I guess it's kind of like American English. You say pass（经过） me a Kleenex. Oh, that's true. That would be like a tissue（薄绢）.

  Yeah. So I guess they say Hoover the rug or Hoover the house. Wow. You know, I really love these small differences and meaning that we have between American English and British English. Yeah. It's fun（有趣的）.

  Okay. Well, another interesting thing about this is that the man was doing the housework（ 家务劳动）. I know. He's a house husband. Yeah. So he's the one doing all the chores in the house.

  Yeah. That's, well, that's the new trend（倾向） now. Now it's more popular for men to stay home and take care（小心） of the babies and clean the house. Yeah. Like when I was growing up, my dad would take out the garbage and that was it. My mom had to do everything else, but now I think it's becoming a lot more common in, especially（特别） in North America for the household（家庭） chores（杂务） to be divided between the man and the wife.

  Yeah. I think it's fair（公平的）. Me too. Yeah. You'd make a good husband, Marco. That's what they say, but they haven't married（娶） me yet（ 到目前为止）.

  All right. Well, we're out of time, folks（人们）. Be sure to log（ 记录） on to our community（社区） website and you can leave all your comments（评论） and maybe other house husbands out there can give us their feedback on what they think about this. Yeah.