Mind-blowing

Feifei
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei and joining me is Harry.

Harry
Hello there! And the expression we are going to look at in this programme is ‘mind-blowing’, or, ‘to blow your mind’.

Feifei

To blow your mind! We’ll look at what it means and when you can use it. So anyway, Harry, I’ve heard you really like travelling.

Harry Me? Yeah, I love travelling, to be free. Yeah, I’ve travelled.

Feifei Where have you been?

Harry All over: Europe, South East Asia, North Africa, Central America.

Feifei So, which was the best trip?

Harry Hard to say, they were all great in their own way, but I think my trip to Cambodia really stands out.

Feifei Why’s that?

Harry Well, it’s got scenery, beaches, nice food and all that stuff, but the temples at Angkor Wat - well, they just blew my mind.

Feifei They blew your mind?!

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

Feifei But what does it mean - mind blowing; it blew your mind?

Harry Oh right. Well, when something is so incredible, so surprising that we stop and wonder about how amazing it is, we can say it’s mind-blowing, or that it blew our minds, as though our brains have broken down because they are so overwhelmed.

Feifei I see. So what else can be mind-blowing?

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

Feifei And what about nature - the ocean, the planets, the insect world?

Harry Yes, the unexplored ocean depths, the size of the other planets, the huge number and variety of insects - those things are all totally mind-blowing if you stop and think about them.

Feifei Here are some more examples.

Examples The latest tablet computer has an 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.

Harry So, to finish off, I thought I’d give you a mind-blowing fact about space and the universe - Something that will really blow your mind.

Feifei OK, let’s hear it.

Harry Did you know that every hour, the universe expands by a billion miles in all directions?

Feifei It gets bigger by one billion miles in all directions?! That is mind-blowing.

Harry I know - just mind-blowing.

Feifei I’ve got a very different one for you about insects - cockroaches.

Harry Cockroaches? Yuck! What is it?

Feifei Well, Cockroaches can live for several weeks without their heads.

Harry They can live without their heads?! Well, that’s just blown my mind. Join us again for more mind-blowing English on The English We Speak.

Both Bye!