📙 Part 2: Describe a person who likes to look after the natural world

This episode's vocabulary

Dab hand (idiom) – to be very good at a particular activity. → My mom is a dab hand with just about everything green.

Pottering about (phrasal verb) – to move around and do things in a relaxed way, without a specific purpose. → She's always pottering about outdoors.

Green thumb (idiom) – the natural ability to make plants grow. → You might even say she has a green thumb or something like that.

Heading up (phrasal verb) – being in charge of a group or organization. → She's been heading up the local nature club for what must be the last twenty years.

Give or take (idiom) – approximately. → ...for the last twenty years, give or take.

Vegetation (noun) – plants in general, or plants that are found in a particular area. → She knows all about the local wildlife and vegetation.

The better part of (idiom) – most of something. → She's been looking after it for the better part of three decades.

Escape me (idiom) – if a name or fact escapes you, you cannot remember it. → Their exact names escape me just now.

Tended to (phrasal verb) – cared for. → There are a lot of bulbs and seeds being planted and tended to.

Vibrant (adjective) – energetic, exciting, and full of life. → I think it makes the place look alive and vibrant with all the activity there.

Flower bed (noun) – a part of a garden where flowers are planted. → Apparently, the flower beds need tended with different tools from ones the hedges need.

Engaged (adjective) – involved and interested in something. → It's good for her to have a hobby like this to keep her engaged.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Describe a person who likes to look after the natural world. You should say who this person is, what they do, how they do it, how often they do it, and explain how you feel about this person. So pretty much you talk about someone who enjoys taking care of nature, taking care of the natural world. Rory, could you give us your story?

Rory: I could think of a lot of people like this in my life, but the one that stands out the most is my mom, who is a dab hand with just about everything green, especially the stuff in our garden. She lives pretty close to my place, just in a different neighborhood. So it's easy for me to go and visit her anytime I like, and she's always pottering about outdoors. You might even say she's, well, she has a green thumb or something like that. To tell you a bit more about her, apart from being my mom and good at gardening, she's been heading up the local nature club for what must be the last twenty years, give or take. That means she knows all about the local wildlife and vegetation, which lets her help out people when they need help with their own gardens. When it comes to what she actually does, not only does she put on events with the club, but she's also got a huge garden which she's been looking after for the better part of three decades at this point, working with lots of different flower and plant species. Their exact names escape me just now, but I think they're just regular garden plants, like daffodils and petunias. There are a lot of bulbs and seeds being planted and tended to regardless. When they're ready to flower, they're pretty colorful and attract a lot of insect species like flies and ants and beetles, and I think it makes the place look alive and vibrant with all the activity there. As for how she does it, I think it's just an everyday thing for her. She's always working away in some part of the place with different tools. Apparently, the flower beds need tended with different tools from ones the hedges need, but I don't know much about it, to be honest. It sounds like a lot of work, but it must be fun for her since she seems to really enjoy herself and has a huge amount of free time now she's retired, which is excellent because if she didn't have this garden, then I'm not sure what she would do instead. You can always see her out there with a big smile on her face while she's working. I actually saw this yesterday when I went to visit her. It's good to know how the place is developing. In terms of how I feel about her, well, obviously, I like her a lot, but not just because she's my mom, but it's obviously good for her to have a hobby like this to keep her engaged and helping out in the local area. And it's not just about her garden. I think all the species which live there really help the neighborhood environment too. And I hope she keeps doing it in the future. I'm quite proud of her and what she's done with her talent, and I hope one day I can do something similar with a garden of my own.

Discussion

Maria: So dear listener, you take Rory's story, change my mum into my friend, my father, my brother, my sister, my girlfriend, my wife, my husband, anybody, and keep the whole story.

Rory: Which is exactly what I did, because I actually wanted to tell the story about my dad, but then I realized we've talked about him for the last few episodes. So we should probably give my mom some air time as well.

Maria: Start off with one person who stands out the most is my friend, is my mom, yeah? Or for example, like, one person who stands out the most at the moment is my best friend. You can make up a funny name. Like my best friend, George.

Rory: Or Caesar.

Maria: You know.

Rory: Caesar, my friend from the, from the, from like few thousand years ago.

Maria: Oh, my God, it's so funny. Yeah, I have a friend Socrates. No, but maybe not Socrates, okay.

Rory: I don't know what he's saying, it's all Greek to me.

Maria: Oh, right. Who is a dab hand with everything green. Oh, Rory, why are you using such strange words? What do you mean like a dab?

Rory: A dab hand just means that you're good at something.

Maria: Dab hand. Two words. Someone who is very good at a particular activity. She is a dab hand at tennis. It sounds strange, doesn't it dear listener? Yes, but it's informal, it's UK English, so it's good for us. And it's unusual and the examiner will love it. You should say it exactly like this. She is a dab hand at cooking, at tennis, at gardening, at everything green. Okay, so he is a dab hand at something or doing something. Okay? So for example, my best friend is a dab hand in the kitchen. You do need an article. A dab hand at something. But Rory, you said with something.

Rory: So she's a dab hand with everything green.

Maria: Yes. So she's good with plants. Yeah, like she's good with plants, she's good with flowers, or she's a dab hand in her garden. And we are talking about the natural world. So you can talk about gardening, flowers, plants. So it's not a must to talk about how your friend saves the oceans and mountains and volcanoes and forests.

Rory: Why would you save volcanoes?

Maria: Because, you know, they're dying perhaps, they don't have lava and love. They need love.

Rory: And they need lava.

Maria: Lava. Oh, there's this cartoon, a lovely cartoon about two volcanoes. Oh dear listener, you should Google it.

Rory: Really? Do they fall in love?

Maria: Oh yeah, it's so cute. Two volcanoes fall in love. And there's drama. And one, one volcano is singing like to attract another volcano and he's almost like out of song, out of breath and out of lava. And he sings for about his love. Oh, it's so cute. I cried. Seriously, I cried. The cartoon is actually a song and it's about like 10 minutes and I seriously cried because it's so, it's, it touched my soul. So dear listener, my mom lives pretty close to my place. She's always pottering about outdoors.

Rory: That's a phrasal verb.

Maria: Potter about. What does it mean?

Rory: Working. Like, doing things. That's not very specific, is it? Doing things in the garden.

Maria: Yeah, so she's always doing things in the garden. She has green fingers. She's good at gardening, she's good with plants. She has a green thumb. So the usual phrase is to have green fingers, to be good with flowers. But a green thumb or green fingers, yeah, actually it's American English. Rory now uses American English for some reason. I don't know what's going on. He's Scottish, but...

Rory: That's why I said or something like that.

Maria: Yeah, or something like that. Like fingers. You should say Rory, she has green fingers. But now Rory is turning American.

Rory: I don't know. I've never used green fingers in my life.

Maria: Really?

Rory: No.

Maria: Oh, wow. Okay.

Rory: But I don't like gardening. So that's probably why I didn't know it. And if you don't know the exact words and if you say or something like that, that is advanced vague language.

Maria: Yeah, but you should say it only once, not after every phrase you say. After every single word. Yeah, because some people, yeah, they do it. Oh, blah blah blah, something like that, something like that, something like that. No no no no no. If you overuse a phrase or a linker, it's not a night, okay, for fluency. If you say, well, well, well, well, well all the time, it could not be a night for fluency dear listener, okay? So you can say it once, twice, three times, but not more. So she has green fingers or she has a green thumb. The ability to make plants grow. Unlike Rory, who is a notorious plant murderer, Rory is infamous for killing his plants.

Rory: This was like five years ago, and I'm still hearing about it.

Maria: But my plant is alive. It was on the verge of death a month ago, but I changed his position and now, hello plant, he seems to be okay. Yeah. I even water my plant once in a while. So yeah, I'm kind of, I'm getting better after killing an aloe. Like a cactus. Okay, so, to tell you a bit more about this person, she's my mum, she's my friend, she's good at gardening. She knows all about the local wildlife. Again, words about the natural world. So she knows a lot about the local wildlife, about birds, butterflies, and vegetation. She knows a lot about vegetation. About plants, flowers that are found in a particular area. Vegetation is C1, dear listener.

Rory: Ooh, is it?

Maria: Yeah, it is, according to the Cambridge online dictionary, because no one says vegetation. Everybody says plants.

Rory: Wow. Okay. Well, they should say vegetation.

Maria: They should. Also, there's another one, greenery. Can you say greenery?

Rory: Greenery.

Maria: Is that also C1?

Rory: It doesn't say.

Maria: Hmm, maybe no. Like green plants, branches. It's used for decoration. When it comes to what she actually does, she grows plants, flowers. She has a huge garden. And here Rory used inversion. C2, by nine. Not only does she put on events, she also has a huge garden. So kind of not only does she, but she also has, you see? So it's kind of not a question, but here we use it as a question. If you don't know the names for plants, you can say the exact names escape me now. So I don't know what exactly she grows. So she grows a lot of flowers and plants. The exact names escaped me now, but she has some daffodils. So you, for band nine, you should know maybe two, three words for plants. Daffodils. Like, please Google them. D. A. F. F. O. D. I. L. S. Daffodils and petunias. Ooh. Yeah, don't say roses. Come on. That's like petunias. Oh yeah, or petunias. Like a garden plant.

Rory: I mean, I don't know what they're called, but they, maybe that's what they're called. That's why I said their exact names escaped me right now. So in the same way you could say or something like that, you can also say the exact word escapes me right now.

Maria: She has a lot of bulbs and seeds. So a bulb.

Rory: Like a big seed.

Maria: Yeah. It's before it becomes a plant, it's a bulb. The place looks vibrant. So her garden, vibrant, like, energetic, exciting. The garden is full of butterflies and bees and flies and everybody is happy. Like, yay.

Rory: Full of life.

Maria: She's been working on her garden for 10 years. She has been doing it for a long time. She has a lot of flower beds. A flower bed is a specific place where you grow flowers. A bed for flowers. Cute. She has different tools.

Rory: Don't ask me what the different tools are, though.

Maria: She is retired, so she doesn't work. She's a pensioner, she's retired and she enjoys a lot of free time. If she didn't have this garden, she would, instead, yeah? Like the second conditional could be used. If she didn't have this garden, she'd sit at home watching TV. In terms of how I feel about her. I feel happy. I'm glad that my mother has a hobby that keeps her engaged. Engaged like she is actively involved in it.

Rory: Yeah. Keeps her focused. Keeps her busy.

Maria: I'm proud of her. I'm very proud of her. I'm proud of her talent. And then Rory lies.

Rory: This whole thing is a lie.

Maria: Oh, yeah, because it's the father. No, wait. Like the father doesn't do any gardening.

Rory: He does. Yeah, he does all the gardening, but we spent the last few episodes talking about my dad, so I should probably talk about my mom, you know, even if it's a totally made-up story.

Maria: Rory says like, one day I can do something similar with a garden of my own.

Rory: What a bunch of lies.

Maria: Rory, you will destroy the Earth.

Rory: Well, that's a price that I'm willing to pay. Maybe I would say, even though I don't want to do anything like that, it's still cool. There we go. That's a more honest answer from me.

Maria: Right dear listener. Thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you in our next episode, okay?

Rory: Bye.

Maria: Bye.