ESL之日常英语 10 Describing Facial Features_在线英语听力室

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10 Describing Facial Features

to be mugged – to be robbed; to be forced to give another person one’s money* You’re more likely to be mugged on a lonely, dark street than on a bright streetwith lots of people walking around.

sketch² artist – a person who draws a face, usually of a criminal, based onanother person’s description* Please tell the sketch artist everything you remember so that he can try to drawa picture of the man who stole your money.

thin – long and narrow; not wide* Damian looks like his mother. He has a thin face with a very high forehead.

round – circular; in the shape of a wheel* Have you seen how round Kelly’s face is? It’s almost a perfect circle!

oval – an elongated³ circle; shaped like an egg; similar to a rectangle, but withrounded corners* Their new swimming pool has an oval shape, like a very large egg.

square – a shape with four equal sides and four 90° corners* The bedroom is a square, with four walls that are each 20 feet long.

bulging⁴ – sticking out in a round shape; pressing against something to make around shape* The child drank a lot of water very quickly, so her stomach was bulging.

squinty⁵ – with eyes partially⁶ closed so that only a small horizontal line of the eyecan be seen* Our eyes are squinty in this photograph because the sun was very bright thatday.

bushy – with a lot of hair, usually disordered or messy* When I get older, I hope I don’t have bushy hair growing out of my ears like my father!

eyebrow⁷ – the curved line of short hair above one’s eye, at the bottom of one’s forehead* Do women pluck (pull out) hairs to change the shape of their eyebrows⁸ in yourcountry?

pointed⁹ – with a sharp end; not flat* Be careful with that pencil! It’s pointed, and you almost hit me in the eye with it.

hooked – with a curve at the end; with an end that comes up or down suddenly;not straight* Some birds have hooked beaks¹⁰ (mouths) that help them open nuts.

turned up – gently curving upwards¹¹; not straight* Jenny’s hair is beautiful when it is turned up at the bottom.

lip – one of the two edges of the opening of one’s mouth, with darker or redderskin; the upper and lower part of the opening outside of the mouth* Do you bite your lips when you’re nervous?

to stick out – to be easily noticed because something is taller, farther out, ordifferent than the rest of something* Sadat sticks out among the other students because he’s the tallest boy in his class.

bald – without hair on one’s head* Javier became bald when he was only 22 years old.

wallet – a folded piece of leather or cloth that is used to hold one’s money,identification, and credit cards* Most men keep their wallets in their pant pockets, but most women keep themin their purses.

I have a feeling – I think, but I’m not sure; I’m pretty sure; I believe* I have a feeling that this is going to be a very good year for our business.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1. Why is the sketch artist drawing a face?

a) Because he and Anna are playing a game.

b) Because he wants to make a drawing of the thief.

c) Because he knows what the thief looks like.

2. What kind of eyebrows are “bushy” eyebrows?

a) Very big, hairy eyebrows.

b) Small, straight eyebrows.

c) Dark brown eyebrows.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

pointedThe word “pointed,” in this podcast, means with a sharp end, or not flat: “Many women like to wear pointed shoes, but Jules thinks they’re too uncomfortable.” Another meaning of “pointed” is a question, statement, or look that shows thatone isn’t happy about something: “The mother gave her child a pointed look andhe immediately stopped hitting the dog.” As a verb, “to point” means to holdone’s hand and index finger in the direction of something to show other peoplewhere something is: “The astronomy teacher pointed at Venus so that herstudents could find it in the night sky.” The verb “to point” can also mean to holdone’s hand and index finger to show someone where to go: “The librarian pointedto the section of the library with books about U.S. history.”

to stick outIn this podcast, the phrase “to stick out” means to be easily noticed becausesomething is different than the rest of something: “Ron wore a red hat all morningthat made him stick out among all the other people.” The phrase “to stick out”

can also mean to make something come out or move forward: “The little girlstuck out her tongue at her brother because she was angry with him.” Thephrase “to stick around” means to stay in a place: “After class, the students stuck around talking with each other for about 15 minutes.” Finally, the phrase “to stick with (something)” means to continue doing something: “Do you want to stick withthe original plan to meet at 8 p.m., or would you prefer to meet earlier?”

CULTURE NOTEWhen we describe someone’s facial features, we usually begin by talking abouttheir eyes, nose, and mouth. But there are a lot of other facial features that wecan describe when talking about what people look like.

For example, to describe noses, sometimes we talk about “nostrils¹²,” which arethe two holes in one’s nose that one breathes through. Someone might havevery small nostrils, round nostrils, or hairy nostrils.

We can also talk about someone’s “forehead,” which is the top of one’s face,above one’s eyebrows and below one’s hair. Foreheads can be high or low. And many foreheads are “wrinkled,” meaning that there are lines in the skin. A “chin” is at the bottom of one’s face, below one’s mouth and above one’s neck. If someone has a “jutting chin,” it means that his or her chin sticks out from therest of the face. Fat people often have “double chins” meaning that there is extraskin under the face and above the neck, so that it looks like the person has twochins.

“Dimples” are small indentations that can appear on one’s “cheeks” (the areas onthe sides of one’s face, to the right and left of the nose) or chin. Many childrenhave dimples when they smile, and some adults have dimpled cheeks, too.

The skin covering one’s eye is known as an “eyelid.” If the skin under one’s eyeis dark, usually because one hasn’t slept enough, we say that the person “hasbags under his/her eyes,” or we say that the person “has dark circles underhis/her eyes.” ______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – b; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 286: DescribingFacial Features.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast number 286. I'm your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Visit our website at eslpod.com, click on the name of this podcast and you cansee the script for today’s dialogue. If you want the complete transcript¹³, plus all ofthe vocabulary words, definitions, cultural notes and more, get a Learning Guidefor this podcast. You can download that, also, on our website.

This episode is called “Describing Facial Features.” It’s going to be about awoman who was, unfortunately, robbed. She’s going to try to describe who theperson was that stole her money. Let’s get started.

[start of story]

I was mugged while I was walking home last night. This morning, I was at thepolice station with a sketch artist to see if we could come up with a picture ofwhat the thief looked like. Sketch artist: Okay, you said that this was a man in his 40s. Can you tell mewhat shape his face was: thin, round, oval, or square?

Anna: His face was long and thin, I think.

Sketch artist: Were his eyes more round, bulging, or squinty?

Anna: Well, I think they were round, but not too round, and he had bushy eyebrows. He also had a pointed nose, not a hooked one.

Sketch artist: Take at look at this so far. Is this right? Anna: His nose in the sketch is a little too turned up. It was more straight. Sketch artist: What about his ears? Were they big or small? And his mouth? Did he have thin or thick lips?

Anna: His ears were average size and they didn’t stick out too much. His lips were more thin than thick.

Sketch artist: We’re almost done. What about his hair? Did he have long orshort hair?

Anna: Oh, didn’t I tell you? He’s bald. Sketch artist: Okay, then. I’m done. What do you think? Is this the guy?

Anna: Wow, you’ve done a great job. Yeah, that’s him. That’s the guy who stolemy wallet.

Sketch artist: You know, he looks familiar. I have a feeling I’ve seen him before. Anna: I hope so. Maybe you can help find him.

Sketch artist: Yeah, now if only I could remember where I’ve seen him before...

[end of story]

Our story begins with Anna saying that she was mugged while she was walkinghome last night. When she was walking back home, someone came and stoleher money. “To be mugged” (mugged) means to be robbed, when someoneforces you to give them your wallet or your purse, for example. When someonedoes this, we call it a “mugging” (mugging).

I’ve been mugged once, back in St. Paul. Many years ago, when I was still inhigh school, I had a couple of tickets that I was selling for a concert, and a coupleof guys – teenagers like me, at the time – walked up to me, said they wanted tobuy my tickets, and then they grabbed them from me – they stole them – andthey ran away. So, I lost my tickets.

Many people, when they are mugged, however, are hurt by the person whosteals their money. Anna was not hurt, but she was mugged. In the morning,she went to the police – to the police station, the place where the police are, thebuilding – and she talked to a sketch artist. A “sketch (sketch) artist” is a personwho usually works for the police, who draws the face of someone based on yourdescription. So, you tell the person how the person – in this case, the criminal,the person who took your money – how that person looks. You describe themand they will make a picture; that is a “sketch artist.” A “sketch” is a picture,usually made with pencil.

The sketch artist says to Anna, “Okay, you said that this man was in his 40s. Can you tell me the shape of his face: thin, round, oval, or square?” So thesketch artist starts by asking Anna what the shape of the face was – how did itlook. Did it look like a circle? We would say “round.” Did it look very thin? Longand narrow, not wide. Did it look oval? “Oval” is like a circle, but it’s longer, sortof like an egg. Or, someone’s face can be square, meaning the top, the bottom,and the two sides are about the same length; that’s a “square.” Anna says, “His face was long and thin, I think.”

The sketch artist then says, “Were his eyes more round, bulging, or squinty?” You can describe someone’s eyes as being “round.” “Bulging” (bulging) is whenthe eyes come out of the face a little; they, we would say, “stick out,” they comeout of your face in a very round shape. Your eyes could also be “squinty”

(squinty), this is when the eyes are “partially,” or partly, closed, so that you only see a small line of the eye. So, we have “round,” “bulging,” and “squinty.” “Squinty” comes from the verb “to squint,” which means to try to look atsomething that is difficult to see, perhaps because it is far away, or you havesome problem with your eye. When you “squint,” you usually close your eyes alittle to help you see a little better or more clearly.

Anna says that “Well, I think the eyes were round, but not too round.” She alsosays that the person who robbed her had bushy eyebrows. “Eyebrows” are thecurved line of hair that is above your eye. So, it is on the bottom of yourforehead. The adjective “bushy” (bushy) means you have a lot of hair, usually “disorganized,” or messy. So, “bushy eyebrows” would be big eyebrows thathave a lot of hair on them. The word “bushy” is not related to any of thepresidents of the United States, that’s completely different!

Anna describes the man as having a pointed nose. A “pointed” (pointed), or“pointy,” would be with a sharp end. It is sort of the opposite of “flat.” Someone’s nose is “pointy” if it looks like it comes to a single point, sort of like a pencilcomes to a point. “Pointed” has a couple of meanings in English: take a look atour Learning Guide for additional explanations.

Anna says that the man’s nose was not hooked (hooked). If your nose is “hooked,” there’s a curve at the end of it. It bends; it comes down suddenly, orgoes up suddenly. It’s sort of the opposite of “straight.” To be hooked is notstraight; it bends, it curves. But the robber – the person who mugged her – does not have a hooked nose.

The sketch artist shows Anna what he has drawn¹⁴. Anna says that the nose inthe sketch – the drawing – is a little too turned up. “Turned up” means it goes up – it curves upwards. Again, not straight. We also have an expression, “to turnup your nose at something.” That means to decide that you are too good forsomething; that whatever it is, is not good enough for you – you turn up yournose. It’s a negative idea; that you think you are too important – too good to dosomething. In this case, “turned up” just means curving upwards.

The sketch artist asks about the ears and the mouth. He says, “Did he have thinor thick lips?” Your “lips” (lips) are what is around your mouth. They could bethick or thin. Anna says, “His ears were average size and they didn’t stick out toomuch.” The verb “to stick (stick) out” (two words) means that you could noticethem easily because they were bigger or taller, larger perhaps; something thatwas different than normal – something “sticks out.” Take a look, again, at outLearning Guide for some additional definitions of that verb.

The sketch artist says, well “We’re almost done. What about the hair? Did hehave long hair or short hair?” Anna says, “Oh, didn’t I tell you? He’s bald” (bald),meaning he doesn’t have any hair. Hmm, this guy looks just like me!

The sketch artist then says, “Okay, then. I’m done. What do you think? Is this the guy,” the man who robbed you? Anna says yes, “That’s the guy who stolemy wallet.” Your “wallet” is usually a small, folded piece of leather or cloth youuse to put your money, and your credit cards, and your identification in.

The sketch artist says, “You know, he looks familiar. I have a feeling I’ve seenhim before.” “I have a feeling” means I think, but I’m not sure – I believe, I’mpretty sure. Anna says, “I hope so. Maybe you can find him.” The sketch artist says, “Yeah, now if only I could remember where I’ve seen himbefore…” I wonder, too!

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.