ESL Podcast 870 – Using Caffeine as a Stimulant

 　　Joan: Hi, how are you? What are you doing? What is this?

 

　　Roberto: Whoa! You’re very high- strung this morning.

 

　　Joan: Am I? I am a little wired. I’ve been up all night trying to finish an assignment for one of my classes.

 

　　Roberto: You don’t seem tired at all for having been up all night. In fact, you seem to be bouncing off the walls.

 

　　Joan: What are you trying to imply? Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’ve been drinking a lot of coffee and energy drinks. I still have a lot of caffeine in my system.

 

　　Roberto: That’s for sure. You seem agitated¹ from too many stimulants².

 

　　Joan: Well, I needed to stay awake, so as soon as I felt drowsy³, I’d have another dose of caffeine. It gave me an instant jolt⁴!

 

　　Roberto: But you’re done with your assignment now, right?

 

　　Joan: Yes.

 

　　Roberto: And you have a few hours before your class, so why don’t you get some sleep?

 

　　Joan: Sleep? Sleep?! I don’t know the meaning of the word!

 

　　Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

2 stimulants   

n.兴奋剂( stimulant的名词复数 )；含兴奋剂的饮料；刺激物；激励物

参考例句：

• Coffee and tea are mild stimulants. 咖啡和茶是轻度兴奋剂。
• At lower concentrations they may even be stimulants of cell division. 在浓度较低时，它们甚至能促进细胞分裂。 来自辞典例句

3 drowsy   

adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的

参考例句：

• Exhaust fumes made him drowsy and brought on a headache.废气把他熏得昏昏沉沉，还引起了头疼。
• I feel drowsy after lunch every day.每天午饭后我就想睡觉。

4 jolt   

v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸

参考例句：

• We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。
• They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着，担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。