📕 Part 1: Age and Life Stages

This episode's vocabulary

The future is bright (idiom) – The future looks positive and full of opportunities. → I'm quite happy with how things are, and the future seems quite bright.

Keep ticking over (phrasal verb) – To continue to work or operate at a normal, steady rate without making much progress. → I'd just like things to keep ticking over as they are for the time being.

For the time being (idiom) – For the present; until some other arrangement is made. → I'm happy with my age for the time being.

Hang out (phrasal verb) – To spend time relaxing or socializing informally. → In my childhood, I used to enjoy playing video games and hanging out with friends.

Done and dusted (idiom) – Completely finished or dealt with. → It's important to get my IELTS test done and dusted with a good mark so that I can move on.

Can't wait to do something (phrase) – To be very excited about something and eager for it to happen. → I can't wait to be older so I can have more independence.

Crack a joke (idiom) – To tell a joke. → You can crack a joke about age, and the examiner will appreciate the humor.

Middle age (noun) – The period of life between young adulthood and old age, roughly from 40 to 65. → After your thirties, you progress into middle age.

Lifespan (noun) – The length of time for which a person or animal lives or a thing functions. → The average human lifespan is around seventy-five years.

Philosophical approach (noun phrase) – A calm and thoughtful way of considering a difficult situation. → We should take a philosophical approach to age and just enjoy it.

Long-lived (adjective) – Having a long life or existence. → Jeanne Calment was a very long-lived person, reaching 122 years of age.

National treasure (noun phrase) – A person or thing that is highly valued by the people of a country. → If you live to be 100, you become a bit of a national treasure.

Questions and Answers

Rory: Do you enjoy your age now?

Rory: Most of the time, yes. I've achieved just about everything I wanted to in life, and I'm quite happy with how things are at the moment and the future seems quite bright. So, yeah, it's a good time to be alive.

Maria: Do you have any plans for the next five years?

Rory: Nothing terribly serious, no, I'd just like things to keep ticking over as they are for the time being.

Maria: What do you think is the most important thing in life at the moment?

Rory: Well, probably keeping things as balanced as possible. Obviously, I have to keep working, but I have to enjoy life at the same time.

Maria: What did you often do with your friends in your childhood?

Rory: I can't really remember that far back. But I suppose it must have been the usual things like playing video games and hanging out together.

Discussion

Maria: Right dear listener, are you happy with this topic, life stages? A good idea is to say something positive, right? Even if you are depressed and sad, and you feel old, stay positive because we want something positive for the examiner. And if you start saying that I'm depressed, I don't like my age, I feel old. The examiner starts crying, you start crying, is it a good thing to do? I don't know, Rory, what do you reckon?

Rory: Well, probably not crying, no. Otherwise, you'll just have to sit out your exam until the examiner can find someone replacement to help you.

Maria: Yeah, because stay positive and lie, right? Don't say, oh, I feel old.

Rory: However, it occurs to me that my answers might not necessarily be the most helpful. So stick around until the end and we'll talk about what to say if you are younger or if you are less satisfied with your life.

Maria: So you can say, I'm happy with my age.

Rory: Or most of the time.

Maria: Most of the time. Yeah. I've achieved everything I wanted. I have achieved. So here, present perfect, dear listener. Because you are alive, right? Hopefully happy. So I've done this, I've achieved this. I've done a lot of things. Or I will do, right? So I've achieved some things I want or I wanted. And I have a lot of plans for my future. I'm quite happy with how things are at the moment. I'm happy, I'm quite happy with how things are now. And the future. The future is bright.

Rory: That just means the future is positive.

Maria: Positive, yeah. And Rory, do I use an article? Do you say like, I've got a bright future ahead of me.

Rory: It could be, yeah.

Maria: My future seems bright. So it looks like my future will be positive, will be bright. So yay. Yeah, and it's good to be alive. I'm happy to be alive. Yeah, even if you are sixty years old and you take IELTS for some reason, I'm happy to be alive. Yay. I have a lot of plans for the future. And here we can say like, I'm planning to travel around the world. Here you can lie, dear listener, right? I'm planning to do something, I'm planning to buy a new car, or I'm going to. Yeah, I'm going to buy a new house.

Rory: You could talk about what you're planning to do after you get your IELTS result. So you could say, I'm going to university, or I'm going to emigrate to another country, or I'm going to work on building a life or career or getting a degree.

Maria: Or just a random plan, like, oh, I'm planning to get a dog, a Corgi. And Rory, you've used a phrasal verb, tick over.

Rory: Yes. So if things keep ticking over, the whole expression is tick, keep ticking over, then that just means they keep going as normal.

Maria: Yeah. Keep something ticking over. It continues to work, but with little progress. So we kind of, we keep things as they are. So they're just going with small, a little progress. I'll keep things ticking over in the office. So it's going, but not progressing much, but it's going.

Rory: It's just going.

Maria: And my life is ticking over. Or for example, are you happy with your age now? I'm happy for the time being. For the time being, for now. Now I'm happy. I'm happy for the time being. Such a strange topic though, yeah?

Rory: It is, yeah. I'm not so sure about this one.

Maria: It's very strange. Yeah, it's like, how old are you? Are you happy? But actually, the examiner doesn't ask how old you are. Yes, let's talk about age. How old are you? Where do you live? What's your passport number? Give me that number of your card. What's the code?

Rory: However, they will want to know certain things about your age, including what is important. So for me, the most important thing in life is being balanced. However, for you, it's probably something like finishing your IELTS exam or getting your IELTS result. So you could say getting your IELTS test done and dusted with a good mark so that you can move on would be helpful. So if something is done and dusted... What is it, Maria?

Maria: It's done, it's completed. To get something done and dusted. Yeah, it's an idiom. Actually, UK, so British English informal. For example, this deal is done and dusted. So it's completed, it's finished. Yeah, you get your IELTS result and you say, well, it's done and dusted. And the most important thing at the moment is my English, is my family, I don't know, just, you know. Or just keeping things as balanced as possible. Right? To have a balance in life is the most important thing. Maybe for you, it's your dog, your family, your English, your career, your health. What should be the most important thing in life? Ooh la la. Questions. I think, your health.

Rory: Yeah. Or your family, your life.

Maria: Yeah, but if you don't have your health...

Rory: You've got nothing.

Maria: Exactly, yeah, so family, career is not not important, right? Okay, I'm Googling. I'm Googling. What does Google say? Oh, Google thinks it's kindness.

Rory: Aw, that's sweet.

Maria: Oh, yeah. Oh, no, no, no. Okay. The most important thing in people's life, health, all right, meaningful relationship and time.

Rory: Oh.

Maria: Yeah, health, physical and mental is number one. There you go. Yeah, careeraddict.com also thinks that health is the most important thing in life. All right. Now you know, dear listener, that your health is the most important thing in life. So stay healthy and just enjoying life. Staying healthy and enjoying life at the same time. When I was a child, I used to play video games, right? So used to, not anymore. You did something in the past, but not now. So I used to play video games. I used to hang out with my friends, just to have fun with my friends. Yeah. And, what are alternative answers for younger people, if you are young and happy? Or if you are young and unhappy? Rory, what can we say?

Rory: Well, I think younger people could talk about for the first question, if they enjoy their age now, they could say they can't wait to be older, so they can do more things and have more experience and independence. And even if you are the same age as me, but you're not happy with your life, you could also say I can't wait to do something as well. I can't wait to have my IELTS test finished and get my results and move on with my life and have more fun. So all of these things are possible too.

Maria: Yeah, so I can't wait to do something. Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting old. Maybe not old, older. Yeah. And, dear listener, if you start talking about, I'm sad, I don't want to get old, you can crack a joke. Yes, you can make a joke about age. And the examiner will appreciate the humor, all right? So you can kind of, if the examiner asks you, alright, so, do you enjoy your age now? You say, yeah, okay, I'm quite happy with my age now. And, what goes up, but never comes down? Your age.

Rory: That is very true.

Maria: That's not even a joke. Yeah, so what goes up, goes up, but never comes down? Your age. So your age always, only goes up. It doesn't come down, unfortunately. So you can say, what goes up but never comes down? Your age. So what can I do? Nothing. I can just enjoy it. I can be miserable about it or I can just enjoy it.

Rory: It's better to just enjoy life.

Maria: Yeah, we take a philosophical approach to age. And Rory, what are typical age stages? So...

Rory: Well, this is the funny thing. It seems to vary massively, but I think the main ones are being a child, being a young adult or a teenager, and then progressing into your thirties, and then middle age.

Maria: Wow, wow, wow, wow, from a teenager to your thirties. What about...

Rory: mid-twenties? Well, I don't know. I think that counts as being a young adult, doesn't it?

Maria: Oh, okay. All right. Okay. Yeah, or you can say people in their mid-twenties. So something like twenty-four, twenty-five. Okay, okay, young adult. All right. And then?

Rory: Middle aged.

Maria: What is middle age?

Rory: Well, I think that's between forty and fifty/sixty. Then you enter older age and you become a pensioner basically, I think. Or you're at pension age, not necessarily a pensioner.

Maria: Yeah, middle age is from forty to sixty-five or something. And we can call it a lifespan, the time of a person's life, lifespan. That's a nice word, you can use it in an essay actually, and it's C2.

Rory: It is?

Maria: It's C2. Yeah. So a lifespan, one word, the length of time for which a person, animal or thing exists. So for example, a lifespan of around seventy years. So on average, people's lifespan is about seventy years.

Rory: Seventy-five, maybe?

Maria: Seventy-five, eighty-five, I don't know.

Rory: A long time.

Maria: How long would you like to be alive?

Rory: I have no idea.

Maria: Because if I'm ninety, that's old, ninety. No, it's interesting to live up to 100 and when people ask you, oh, how old are you? And so you, I'm 100. And people are like, wow, wow, and you just go everywhere and you're 100 years old. You're kind of a treasure. Can you imagine?

Rory: A national treasure.

Maria: Yeah, and people just go, wow. And actually you're just you're proud to say that you're 100.

Rory: It's funny, remember when you were younger and being thirty was perceived as old age, and now here we are talking about being 100.

Maria: Yeah. And what do you call these people who live up to 100, 120?

Rory: Centurions, I think.

Maria: What?

Rory: I think they're called centurions. Cent is a hundred.

Maria: Long lived. And actually, Jeanne Calment, a French person, lived till he died when he was 122 years old.

Rory: Oh, wow.

Maria: Oh, maybe it was a she, sorry. Oh, yeah, she. Sorry.

Rory: Sorry, Jean. Or Jean.

Maria: 100 so, she had a documented lifespan of 122 years old.

Rory: That's a long time to be alive.

Maria: And she drank wine.

Rory: What a queen.

Maria: A lot, a lot of wine. All right. All right, dear listener, thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you with new episodes. Stay with us. Keep in touch.

Rory: Bye.

Maria: Bye.