ESL Podcast 491 – Having a Temper Tantrum

Alberto: What was that ear-splitting scream?!

Melissa: That little girl over there is having a temper tantrum.

Alberto: Oh, great! The movie hasn’t even started and that kid is already acting¹ up.

Melissa: I hope she’s okay. She looks miserable². Maybe her parents can distract her somehow.

Alberto: She’s fine. She’s just looking for attention or frustrated³ she didn’t get what she wanted. If parents didn’t give in every time their child wanted something, kids wouldn’t throw tantrums.

Melissa: I don’t know. When my son was little, he used to throw tantrums when he didn’t know how to tell us what he needed. He got frustrated and sometimes, he would start kicking and screaming.

Alberto: Well, I don’t think that’s the case here. Look at those parents. They’re going to buy the girl some candy to quiet her down. That’s just rewarding her for her misbehavior.

Melissa: What would you do instead?

Alberto: I would set limits so that things like this never happened. In this case, I would give that girl a spanking⁴. It’s all about having consequences for bad behavior.

Melissa: Oh, yeah? Did that work with your children?

Alberto: Uh, I don’t have any kids.

Melissa: That’s what I thought!


Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

3 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 spanking   

adj.强烈的，疾行的；n.打屁股

参考例句：

• The boat is spanking along on the river.船在小河疾驶。
• He heard a horse approaching at a spanking trot.他听到一匹马正在疾步驰近。