📕 Part 1: Scenery

This episode's vocabulary

Questions and Answers

Rory: Do you like to take pictures of the scenery?

Maria: Sometimes, though I don't make a habit of it. It has to be something pretty spectacular or unusual, like a mountain or an amazing sunset, to make me take my camera out, anyway.

Rory: Do you look out the window when you travel by bus or by car?

Maria: Yeah, even if it's just to give my eyes a break from whatever's on the phone or in the book I'm reading. I don't just gaze out the window for ages, but it's usually a nice rest, even for a moment.

Rory: What scenery can you see from the window of your home?

Maria: I think that depends on the side of the house actually. I mean, the side facing the east looks out over the river and the local houses and you can see the sunrise in the morning. On the other side, it's a bit less exciting since it's just a block of flats and a car park. Not very exciting. Sorry.

Rory: Is it essential for you to have a good view from your window?

Maria: I don't think so. Actually, sometimes it can get a bit distracting. And I prefer to just sit and get things done rather than stare out the window all day, like a cat or something.

Rory: What kind of view would you like your house to have in the future?

Maria: I'm pretty happy with the one I have now frankly, so nothing specific. If I do move, then maybe it would be nice to have a sea view just because I really like the seaside but it's not essential for me to enjoy where I live.

Rory: Do you think you'll be seeing more scenery in the future?

Maria: Well, yeah, just because I have plans to travel. So there's lots of things I'd like to lay my eyes on. But I think that that's just part of life, isn't it? You always see things regardless of where you go. So as long as I'm alive, I will be seeing more things in the future.

Discussion

Maria: Alright, dear listener, scenery.

Rory: Things we can see.

Maria: Views.

Rory: Views.

Maria: Yeah. And we usually take pictures of the scenery. So take pictures of people, take photos of food and of the scenery. The scenery. And usually we use spectacular. So I enjoy taking pictures of spectacular scenery.

Rory: Or spectacular views.

Maria: Spectacular nature, amazing sunsets.

Rory: When the sun goes down at the end of the day. I love it. That's like the Russian restaurant that I went to and it had English translations of the menu. And so one of the translations was meat Solyanka. And the explanation was, meat Solyanka is a meat Solyanka. And I was like, oh, that's very helpful.

Maria: We sometimes look out the window. And Rory, what's with the prepositions? So do I look out of the window? Do I look out the window? Just do I look out?

Rory: You can look out the window or look out of the window. So yeah, they're fine, I think. They're good variations.

Maria: I usually look out the window when I travel by bus, by train, by car. Or I never look out the window. And just to enjoy, to admire the scenery, the nature, dear listener. And I do look out the window to give my eyes a break from driving, for example. So I enjoy looking at nature to give my eyes a break from the city life. Or for example, when I'm on my phone, to give my eyes a break, I look out the window. You can gaze out the window. And Rory, what's the difference between look out the window and gaze out the window?

Rory: Well, looking is usually quite a short time or it's not a defined time at all. Whereas gazing out the window is looking for a longer time.

Maria: Exactly. And sometimes you gaze in surprise or admiration because something's beautiful. And you can say that I enjoy gazing out the window for ages, for a long time. It's usually a nice rest.

Rory: That's how you know you're an old man, if you say I'm resting my eyes.

Maria: Yeah. Because young people rest their eyes using their phones.

Rory: No, they don't.

Maria: No, they're resting. Oh, I need a break. Okay, I'm going to play a game on my phone. Just scrolling through TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram. From your home, dear listener, you might not see any scenery, like Rory, for example. Poor Rory. Or you might, maybe you see a forest or some trees, or maybe even the ocean, I don't know. Or you can lie about it.

Rory: What other kinds of views can we have? You could look out your window and see the cityscape.

Maria: Horrible views. Oh, yeah, we've not really talked about the bad views, have we?

Rory: Have we?

Maria: You told her that's the, yeah, it depends on the side of the house because Rory has like different windows. So on different sides, right? So the side facing the east. So you can say that if you talk about the windows facing the east, like the north, the east, the south, the west, dear listener, yeah. It looks out over the river. Oh, really? So you can see the river from your house?

Rory: Yeah, it's very close. It's like there's the street and then there's the houses and the river and yeah, that's it.

Maria: Nice, beautiful. Yeah, so you can say like, I can see the river or I can see local houses or I can see apartment blocks. I don't have any scenery, unfortunately, but I can see only the houses. The other side is less exciting. It's just a block of flats and a car park. So it's not very exciting. And Rory, what verbs do I use? So my windows overlook a forest, my windows look out on a forest, on a river?

Rory: They face a certain direction, east facing, north facing.

Maria: North facing. So my windows face a river. Can I say overlook or look out?

Rory: Yeah, why not? Well, they look out over a river. If you look out of your window, that's something a person does.

Maria: Yeah. Oh, overlook. Could you give us an example with overlook?

Rory: Sure. I'm looking out my window now and my window overlooks the car park.

Maria: You see, like my windows overlook a car park. Yeah, you can also say, oh, if I could, I'd have a mountain view, right?

Rory: Very true. But most people live in cities. So they probably just have a view of the cityscape.

Maria: Oh yeah, I have a good view of the cityscape, like buildings, towers, churches.

Rory: I have a good view of my neighbor's apartment.

Maria: I can see everything they do.

Rory: Yeah, cityscape.

Maria: That's a good one. It's important to have a good view from your window. Or maybe, dear listener, for you, it's not important. So for Rory, it's not important. So he has a view over a car park and it's okay. That's fine. I don't think so. So the examiner asks you, is it essential to have taka taka? I don't think so. So do not repeat the examiner's question. You say, well, I don't think so or I do, I do think it's important. A good view could be a bit distracting. So it could distract you. If you have beautiful mountains or the sea, they could distract you, you don't work, you can't concentrate.

Rory: Utter nonsense.

Maria: A good view, it motivates you, it doesn't distract you a little bit but...

Rory: I don't know, I find things distracting if things are moving around and I'm not paying attention to things.

Maria: You can say that you don't stare out the window all day. So stare at the window. So we have look out the window, we have gaze out the window, look at something for a long time and we have stare. So here it means that to look for a long time with your eyes wide open. So kind of you open your eyes because you're surprised, because you're afraid, or you're thinking and you stare at a person for a long time. And sometimes people stare out the window for a long time, maybe because they're thinking.

Rory: Or because they're distracted and they should be focused on their work.

Maria: According to Google, a good view from a window is highly beneficial for mental health, stress reduction, and cognitive functions. So we need some greenery, okay? And open views boost our mood. All right, dear listener. So you can say, you can educate the examiner and say yes, it's essential because a view over the river or over some greenery, like a forest or park, could boost our mood and improve our mental health, our well-being. And people usually feel better and they have lower levels of stress if they have a good view.

Rory: I don't think they were paying attention when they were doing that study.

Maria: Oh, oh, it's research. Research shows.

Rory: Research shows many things.

Maria: Oh, no, no, no, research shows that that's, you know, research on some chromogenics.com, so we believe it. 2022.

Rory: Oh, like a word that we can't even spell or pronounce. No, no. I don't think so.

Maria: Right, dear listener, so you decide, all right? But now you know that there is some research that says it's beneficial for your health. And then we can speculate, we can think about what kind of view would you like to have in your house in the future. So Rory would not like to have anything, he's boring. So just Rory is simple, simple Rory. I am pretty happy with the one I have now. Now, with the one, one means view. Yeah, frankly speaking, frankly, honestly speaking, I'm pretty happy with what I have now. Buddha Rory. Wow.

Rory: Let's imagine that you're not pretty happy with the one you have now. You could say that. I'm not happy with the one I have now. It's just the cityscape, it's urban sprawl, it's very boring. I want to have the view of a coastline or cliffs.

Maria: Yeah, or mountains, or forests, the ocean. I'd like to have a sea view, a mountain view. Okay? Because I like the seaside, I like the sea, the ocean. Yeah. And it will bring benefits. It will improve my mental health. There we go.

Rory: It will distract me from my work.

Maria: Absolutely. Yes, and reduce my stress levels. You can use a conditional. So if I do move, if I move, I'll have, or the second conditional, dear listener, if I had to move or if I moved, I'd have a sea view.

Rory: Or if I were to move.

Maria: If I were to move, I'd have blah blah blah.

Rory: Sweet.

Maria: Thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you in our next episode, okay? Whoo! Bye-bye!

Rory: Bye.