📙 Part 2: Describe a time when your computer broke down

This episode's vocabulary

Condition (noun) - the particular state that something or someone is in.

Well-maintained (adj.) - kept in good order or condition.

Fend off someone/something (phrase) - to defend yourself successfully against an attack, criticism, or some other unwanted thing.

Give up the ghost - to die (if a machine gives up the ghost, it stops working).

Horrendous (adj.) - extremely unpleasant or bad.

Screeching (adj.) - a long, loud, high noise that is unpleasant to hear.

Hindrance (noun) - something that makes it more difficult for you to do something or for something to develop.

Motherboard (noun) - the main printed circuit board that contains the CPU of a computer and makes it possible for the other parts of a computer to communicate with each other.

Techno wizard (noun) - an expert computer user.

In the interim (phrase) - in the time between two particular periods or events.

Hook-up (noun) - a connection to an electricity supply, a telephone network, the internet, etc.

Port (noun) - a part of a computer where wires can be connected in order to control other pieces of equipment, such as a printer.

Via ( preposition) - by way of, or by use of.

Inconvenience (noun) - a state or an example of problems or trouble, often causing a delay or loss of comfort.

Software (noun) - the instructions that control what a computer does; computer programs.

Maintenance (noun) - the activity of keeping a building, vehicle, road, etc. in good condition by checking it regularly and repairing it when necessary.

Hardware (noun) - the physical and electronic parts of a computer, rather than the instructions it follows.

Clogged (adj.) - blocked or filled with something.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Rory will describe a time when his computer broke down. He'll say when it was, what he was doing, what he did about it and how he felt about it. Could you start speaking now, please?

Rory: Well, to be honest, this actually doesn't happen very often to me because I'm quite good at keeping my computer in a well-maintained condition. Oh, and we have a family friend who is quite good with computers. So that helps to fend off these kind of issues as well. There was one time, however, when I was working at camp in the Russian countryside and the keyboard to my computer just gave up the ghost completely and died on me. And that was always followed by this horrendous screeching sound as the computer itself crashed. So there were kind of multiple problems here. And indeed, this happened on multiple occasions when we were preparing materials for classes. So it was a bit of a hindrance to that, as well as being really annoying. As to what the problem actually was, I think I think something like ultimately the motherboard was fried or something like that. I'm not really a techno wizard, so I have no idea what the issue was. But I know what we did in the interim. We hooked up my, well, the actual computer to a Russian English keyboard via the USB ports. And that seemed to do the job reasonably well, although, well, that was just for the keyboard issue. The crashing still continued, unfortunately. Although despite that at the time, I was just thankful that I could type. Looking back now, though, I think it was a bit of a massive inconvenience and I really hope it doesn't happen again. So actually that's one of the driving forces behind my decision to look after my hardware and software a lot better these days. So I keep up regular maintenance and antivirus checks and even checking the hardware as well. It's not that difficult to check if something is clogged or if something is damaged. But certainly in this particular instance that happened, we dealt with it. But I'm looking forward to never having to deal with that problem again.

Maria: And does it always happen?

Rory: Well, no, not anymore, because I fixed it.

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