درسنامه واژه ها

Cruise Ships – Vocabulary Lesson

Hi, this is Kristin Dodds, one of the teachers and directors of Learn Real English. Welcome to this month’s vocabulary lesson for the conversation Cruise Ships. I have the text of the conversation here and I’ve made some notes about some words or some groups of words that you may have had some difficulty understanding. So I’ll go through the text and I’ll explain these words as they relate to this conversation. Alright, so let’s begin.

Oh, actually, before I begin, as I always say, I’d like to explain three things that you hear a lot in our conversations. The first one that you hear a lot is “yeah.” So yeah is a slang word for yes.

The next thing that you often hear in our conversations is “y’know.” So y’know, is actually two words combined into one word. The two words are you and know. So sometimes when native English speakers are speaking fast, you know ends up sounding like y’know. It’s just a fast way of pronouncing the two words.

The third word that you hear often is like. Now you probably know that like means to have positive feelings for someone or something. But you also hear like used a lot where it doesn’t have a meaning. It’s just a filler word. There’s really no meaning many times when you hear it. Okay, so let’s begin with the conversation Cruise Ships.

So I thought that I would actually start off by explaining what cruise ships are. Cruise ships are very large ships or boats that people take vacations on. And because they can be on these large boats for a few days at a time, y’know, as they’re traveling to wherever they’re going, there are many things to do on the ships.

For example, there can be many bars. There can be casinos, y’know, which is a place where you gamble. There can be a swimming pool or swimming pools, depending how large the ship is. There can be a disco, y’know, a place where you go dance. There can be…and there’s also many activities like games, classes. There can be shops. It’s almost like a little city on a ship to keep people entertained. There’s also shows, entertainment shows.

Alright, so in the very beginning of the conversation, AJ says, “Taking my mom on a cruise.” So when he says taking my mom on a cruise, that’s actually short for saying taking her on a trip that’s on a cruise ship.

Then AJ says, “It’s kind of all about decadence.” So decadence means excessive pleasures, excessive meaning many, many pleasures, probably more than are really needed.

And then AJ says, “It’s because of the movie Titanic.” So Titanic is a movie. There is a Hollywood version, I don’t know if there are any other movies. But it’s about a real true story of a British ship. It was the largest at the time. This was in the early 1900s. And it was sailing from England to the United States, to New York City actually. And it hit an iceberg and it sunk so 1,500 people ended up dying because the boat sunk.

Okay, then AJ says, “Which is crazy.” So when he says crazy, what that means here is it doesn’t make sense to him.

And then I say, “Does your mom get seasick?” So seasick is when you get sick from being on a boat, usually in the ocean, because it’s…y’know, there can be big waves and the boat can just go back and forth and some people can get sick from that.

And then AJ says, “Not to my knowledge.” So he’s saying not that I know about.

And then AJ says, “Everything’s contained.” So what contained means here is everything is right on the ship. Everything you need is right there.

And then AJ says, “It especially caters to people like in my mom’s age group.” So caters means it provides the needs or the wants of people in his mom’s age group.

And then I say, “You can actually feel the rocking of the boat.” So what that means is, the rocking of the boat means moving back and forth like this from the waves in the ocean.

And then I say, “My very first cruise was…” or, let me start again. “My very first cruise we actually were crazy.” So when I say we were crazy, what I mean here is we weren’t thinking clearly. The reason we weren’t thinking clearly is because we went on our cruise at a time when there’s a lot of storms that happen on the ocean.

Then I say, “We went on the cruise in hurricane season.” So a hurricane is an extreme weather condition, usually with very, very strong winds.

And then I say, “We hit a storm coming back.” So a storm, like I just mentioned a little while ago when I said we went on our cruise when there’s, at a time when there’s a lot of storms. A storm is an extreme weather condition.

And then I say, “Everybody was in their cabins.” So cabins are actually the rooms on the ship where people sleep. So they just have beds and a bathroom. They’re very small.

And then I say, “People were throwing up everywhere.” So throwing up, this happens when you get sick to your stomach and whatever food is in your stomach comes up, comes out through your mouth, comes out. That’s throwing up. Another, it’s maybe more of a slang term for vomiting. Vomiting is the same thing, just getting sick and your food comes up.

I say, “Everybody was holed up in their cabins.” So when I say they were holed up in their cabins, I mean that they were in their cabins and they didn’t want to come out because they weren’t feeling well. They were feeling sick so they were staying in their cabins until the…the, y’know, there weren’t so many large waves and there wasn’t so much swaying of the boat. So they were in there pretty much all night in their cabins.

And then Joe says, “You were trying to plant the seed in my mind about doing it.” So when he says you were trying to plant the seed in my mind, he’s saying you were trying to suggest the idea.

And then I say, “There’s so many distractions on the boat.” So distractions here means things to do. Things such as gambling, playing games, watching a show. There was actually one cruise ship I was on where there was a movie theater even. So there’s just a lot of things to do on a cruise ship.

And then AJ says, “It seems very subtle to me.” So subtle means gentle.

And then AJ says, “When I go to visit my family, go to Indiana where a lot of them live.” So Indiana is the name of a state in the middle part of the United States and it’s where AJ’s mother and sister and many of his relatives live.

And then AJ says, “It was kind of a nice multigenerational vacation.” So multigenerational means relatives from different age groups.

And then Joe says, “I guess there are excursions that do allow you to leave the boat.” So excursions are organized day trips that…at the places of destination. So, meaning wherever your cruise ship is going, let’s say you’re going to Mexico. Once the boat, once the ship gets there to Mexico and actually gets to land, then there are organized day trips you can go on.

And then I say, “There are Las Vegas type shows.” So Las Vegas is the name of a city in the state of Nevada. And Nevada is a western, it’s a state in the western part of the United States. And Las Vegas is known for gambling, first of all, but also they’re known for great entertainment shows.

And then I say, “There’s also ice sculpting.” So ice sculpting is actually taking a big block of ice and making something out of it, like a statue of an animal, for example.

And then I say, “When you get to port.” So port is the place of destination. It’s the place where you’re going. So it’s where the boat comes to land and stops so you can actually get off the boat and go onto land.

And then I say, “You’ve got all these shore excursions to choose from.” So shore means land.

And then AJ says, “It’s kind of like Club Med on the water instead of on a beach.” So Club Med is a French-owned company that has many vacation resorts around the world. And he says…he makes a comment that sounds like they’re all on beaches. I don’t think that all Club Meds are on beaches. I think many of them are. But they’re on land so they have a lot of the same things that a cruise ship has. It’s almost like a little city by itself, the resort is actually like a little city on land. Just like the cruise ship is like a little city on the water. So everything you would need, for example, is right there at a Club Med. You don’t have to go into town to buy, I don’t know, whatever you might need. You would be able to find it at the resort.

And then AJ says, “It’s not really my thing personally but I do see the appeal.” So appeal means interest.

And then Joe says, “It was really just a short idea in my mind.” So what he means by short idea is the idea didn’t stay very long in his mind.

And then Joe says, “Maybe even more at this point.” So point here means time.

And then Joe says, “A cruise that leaves from somewhere in southern Florida.” So Florida is the name of a state in the southeastern part of the United States.

And then Joe says, “There are all these jambands that are on the cruise.” So jambands are bands that play a particular kind of rock music that Joe and I both really like.

And then Joe says, “It’s on a boat out at sea.” So at sea means in the ocean.

And then I say, “That cruise that had Brian Weiss on it.” So Brian Weiss is the name of an American psychiatrist who actually had a workshop on a cruise ship, it was a 7-day cruise, that me and AJ and AJ’s wife, Tomoe, and my mother all went on together.

And then I say, “Carnival, which is one of the cheaper cruises.” So Carnival is the name of a cruise ship company.

And then Joe says, “They have these enormous buffets.” So enormous means very large and a buffet is a self-service meal. So food will usually be put out. It’s already prepared, it’s already cooked. So it will be put out like on a counter, for example, a lot of food, just laid out and you just go and take what you want, as much as you want. That’s a buffet. You serve yourself.

And then Joe says, “Just the thought of overindulgence.” So overindulgence means having too much of something or doing too much of something enjoyable.

And then I say, “You can eat in between those meals at various places on the boat.” So various means different.

And then I say, “Let’s say it’s past midnight, you could get room service even.” So midnight is 12:00 at night. And room service is calling to the kitchen from your room or your cabin, calling to the kitchen, or if you’re in a hotel, calling from your hotel room. You call to the kitchen. You order food and they bring it to your room. So it’s food delivered to your room. Usually any time of the day you can order room service.

Okay, so this completes the vocabulary lesson for the conversation Cruise Ships and I will be right back with the commentary.