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M: Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

C: And my name is Catherine and today we’re talking about something we talk about every year.

E: Every year after Christmas or well during the Christmas holidays, we talk about New Year’s, New Year’s day and a very important topic, New Year’s resolutions.

C: Alright. So we’re not gonna preview anything today. It’s all in the dialogue. But when we come back, we’ll be talking more about what you hear and some of the great phrases you can use at the New Year.

A: Did you read this? It says that the number one new years resolution make is to spend more time with friends and family.

B: Why would that be funny?

A: Well, think about it. We are a society that is always on the go, not because we have to, but because we want to.

B: Why?

A: We work hard and spend less time at home because we are trying to provide for our family with goods and services that are usually unnecessary.

B: I don’t agree, but anyways, I think you should start thinking of a new year’s resolution yourself.

A: What’s the point? We always make a new year’s resolution and by February we will have forgotten about it. It’s pointless.

B: Well then maybe you should resolve to sticking to your goals and objectives.

A: What about you? Your gym bag is gathering dust and you still have brand new running shoes that are yet to be jogged in.

B: Well, I would go if you kept your promise of going to the gym with me everyday!

A: Yeah yeah whatever.

E: Alright, great we’re back. So this is very typical. A New Year’s resolution that you make but then people don’t really stick to it, etc.

C: They don’t?

E: No, usually they don’t.

C: Hmm.

E: Alright, but you’re probably wondering what is a New Year’s resolution. So why don’t we take a look at this word and many more on language take away.

Language take away

C: Ok, so New Year’s resolution, let’s break this phrase down. The first phrase in New Year, so the New Year is January 1st in the west and it is celebrated on the 31 of December, at night when the clock changes to the New Year. And a New Year’s resolution, remember that s there, is something that you want to do or to change in the New Year. It’s a fresh start.

E: Ok, so you pretty much, the verb that you use there is to resolve to do something, so my New Year’s resolution is to, y’know, go to the gym every day.

C: It’s like a promise to yourself.

E: Right. So, and this is very common right among Americans. They try and, because it’s a New Year, it’s a fresh start so they wanna start doing something great.

C: Exactly. We can talk about this at the end but a lot of companies try to use this to sell Americans stupid things. So..

E: Alright.

C: We’ll get there in a minuet but the two people in this dialogue are talking about the idea of spending more time with friends and family.

E: Uhmm.

C: And the other person, sometimes it’s hard to do that because you have to provide your family with goods and services.

E: Alright.

C: So this phrase, goods and services is very common, especially in economics and sociology. So what does this mean?

E: And they go together, right? So goods are tangible items, things that you buy, y’know like food or y’know..

C: Cloths.

E: Cloths, the TVs, etc

C: TVs. Stuff.

E: Stuff. And services of course are other things. Like for example going to the doctor or the dentist or any other service you get.

C: So service usually includes another person doing something for you. But you might not actually get something physical like a TV, if you pay for it.

E: Right.

C: So goods and services that’s included in this phrase always goods and services.

E: Very good and well, moving on as we mention with the New Year’s resolution we had that verb there to resolve, so what does it mean if I want to resolve?

C: Ok, well, to resolve as we said is to decide or to promise yourself to do something. So it’s a decision that you don’t want to change your mind about. For example, I, this year I resolved to quit smoking. That means I’ve made a decision for myself and I’m going to do it.

E: Ok. Very good.

C: It’s very strong.

E: And not to be confused with like, to solve, right? There has no real relation there.

C: No, resolve, to resolve to do something is to have a strong passion or interest in doing something for yourself or changing in action.

E: Very good and well, our last word for language take away is brand new, a brand new. Something that’s brand new

C: Brand new. So buy a brand new car, come down to Catherine’s car lot. So brand new is something we hear a lot in marketing. It’s also something that, that, well these words just go together very often. And something is new, ok, you just bought it or it just came out. But something that’s brand new is really fresh, really new.

E: So brand new, a brand new car, a brand new watch, etc, a brand new movie.

C: A brand new movie or a brand new cereal. Have you ever tried it?

E: Very good, so great phrases there. Very good, so great words there. Why don’t we listen to the dialogue again and we’ll be back with three phrases.

A: Did you read this? It says that the number one new years resolution make is to spend more time with friends and family.

B: Why would that be funny?

A: Well, think about it. We are a society that is always on the go, not because we have to, but because we want to.

B: Why?

A: We work hard and spend less time at home because we are trying to provide for our family with goods and services that are usually unnecessary.

B: I don’t agree, but anyways, I think you should start thinking of a new year’s resolution yourself.

A: What’s the point? We always make a new year’s resolution and by February we will have forgotten about it. It’s pointless.

B: Well then maybe you should resolve to sticking to your goals and objectives.

A: What about you? Your gym bag is gathering dust and you still have brand new running shoes that are yet to be jogged in.

B: Well, I would go if you kept your promise of going to the gym with me everyday!

A: Yeah yeah whatever.

E: Alright we’re back. So now let’s take a look at these three phrases on fluency builder.

Fluency builder

C: Ok, this first phrase is very common at gas stations and food, like fast food chains. We say on the go.

E: Alright, so he mentioned that we are a society that is always on the go. It means we’re always moving.

C: Exactly, so you’re always going to work, going home from work, going to the store, going to the school to get the kids, always moving, moving, moving. So that kind of action, that kind of life is on the go.

E: Ok.

C: You can also say, eat on the go. That means I eat while I’m going some where or while I’m doing something. I don’t sit down.

E: Ok, so on the go. And while talking about New Year’s resolution and we say that well, many people resolve to, to do something but they don’t really do it. And we have a phrase that is used here and, to stick to something, stick to your resolution.

C: To stick to it. So you think of a tape or glue, these thing that help things stick together.

E: Uhmm.

C: Ok, so in that sense it’s kind of, it’s a way for you to describe continuing to do something or not stopping, not quitting, not ending it. And so I could say, remember how I said I wanted to quit smoking?

E: Uhmm.

C: Well I’m really gonna stick to this resolution because I think it’s important. That means I’m not gonna give up.

E: Right, very good. So you’re gonna stay with it. You’re not gonna give up. Aright, so stick to something, like for example our English learners, they’ll stick to learning English.

C: And we could say as a word of, as words of encouragement, please stick to it.

E: Stick to it. Don’t give up.

C: Keep with it, don’t give up.

E: Alright. And well, finally they were disscusing, well more arguing about the gym membership and everything and, he mentioned that the gym bag is gathering dust.

C: Alright this is a very nice phrase I think because it’s very visual, I like, I like phrase where you can see what’s happening.

E: Uhmm.

C: So gathering means collecting. That means that the dust in the air, it’s building on this bag. And something is gathering dust if we don’t use it

E: Uhmm, so we haven’t gone to the gym because our bag is in the corner and it’s just filled with dust

C: Exactly, we could also say this about the computer. Why should I buy you a new computer Marco if you never use the old one. That’s just sitting in the house, gathering dust.

E: Very good, ok, so it’s another way of saying, you never use, you never do it, etc.

C: Exactly.

E: It’s for an object thought, you can’t say you are gathering dust..

C: That’ll be a little wired. You might be…

E: Alright, great phrases. So why don’t we listen to this dialogue one last time.

A: Did you read this? It says that the number one new years resolution make is to spend more time with friends and family.

B: Why would that be funny?

A: Well, think about it. We are a society that is always on the go, not because we have to, but because we want to.

B: Why?

A: We work hard and spend less time at home because we are trying to provide for our family with goods and services that are usually unnecessary.

B: I don’t agree, but anyways, I think you should start thinking of a new year’s resolution yourself.

A: What’s the point? We always make a new year’s resolution and by February we will have forgotten about it. It’s pointless.

B: Well then maybe you should resolve to sticking to your goals and objectives.

A: What about you? Your gym bag is gathering dust and you still have brand new running shoes that are yet to be jogged in.

B: Well, I would go if you kept your promise of going to the gym with me everyday!

A: Yeah yeah whatever.

E: Alright we’re back and well, as you mentioned, there were some interesting things about this dialogue especially when they talked about a society that’s always on the go. And you mentioned that well, sometimes you eat on the go and I’ve seen people in the United States that are actually eating while driving.

C: I’m guilty of doing that.

E: Really?

C: Yeah.

E: You have no time to actually sit down for like 15 minuets and eat?

C: No, I remember being in high school at home and y’know, you just have so much stuff to do. You have school then after school there’s like, y’know soccer practice, after that there’s music lessons and you never have eat, so you have to grab food in the car and on the way home, you’re picking things up and you get home and you do your home work or what ever. There’s so much stuff to do and it doesn’t stop. It doesn’t stop when you grow up. It doesn’t stop as if you’re an older person, it just.. It’s the way life is in America.

E: Wow, yeah. That’s, that’s really interesting because I think many of our listeners that are in another countries would find that a little bit peculiar if they actually went to the United States and saw some body in their car and y’know having their hamburger while driving and sipping on their soda.

C: Yeah, it’s kind of sad actually.

E: Well, that’s the thing. You don’t have much time. But actually this is based on true events, kind of, on the fact that many Americans do want to spend more time at home with their friends, with their family, because as you say, you’re always so busy.

C: And I think it’s a nice resolution to, to resolve to have dinner with your family once or twice a week, at home where you sit down and talk about your lives. It’s nice because you get to share and you get to know each other better and, y’know otherwise you’re always just on the go in different places.

E: Yeah, exactly. So we wanna hear your comments and your oppenions about this topic. So why don’t you visit our website Englishpod.com and we’ll see you guys there.

C: Don’t forget to share with us your New Year’s resolutions. Ever one’s got one so we’re excited to hear those.

E: Alright.

C: Until next time every one.

E: Bye.

C: Bye.