2010年ESL之日常生活 07 Discussing Social Class_在线英语听力室

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07 Discussing Social Class

GLOSSARY

social class – a large group of people who have approximately the same wealth(money), education, and social status (power and importance)

* Do you think people in the upper social classes have an obligation to helppeople in the lower social classes?

to get a rise out of (someone) – to make someone react strongly, usually inanger; to do something just to make another person angry or upset

* Did you do that on purpose just to get a rise out of me?

to see eye to eye – to agree with someone; to share another person’s opinion

* They don’t see eye to eye on politics, but they are best friends anyway.

working class – a social class made up of people who have relatively littleeducation, work in low-paying jobs usually paid by the hour, and normally don’town property or other assets

* Jeminah grew up in a working-class family and was determined to go to collegeso that she could become a professional.

middle class – a social class that has moderate wealth, education, and socialstatus; below the upper class, but above the working class

* As the cost of a college education continues to increase, many middle-classfamilies are having a hard time sending their children to a university.

upper class – the wealthiest (richest) and most powerful social class

* Many who attend the symphony and the opera are upper class.

holier-than-thou – thinking that one is better than another person; with feelingsof superiority, especially related to moral issues

* Ever since he became a doctor, Frank has had a holier-than-thou attitudetoward all his relatives.

to know which buttons to push – to know what to do or say to make anotherperson react in a certain way, especially angrily

* After 20 years of marriage, she knows which buttons to push during anargument with her husband.

worked up – agitated, angry, and annoyed; reacting with strong, negativeemotions

* I always get worked up whenever I hear my grandfather talking about hisconservative political beliefs.

class warfare – fighting or disagreement between social classes, usually withthe lower classes trying to take power and money away from the upper classes

* Some people think that class warfare is unavoidable and that as the upperclasses continue to get richer, the lower classes will start a revolution.

downright – used to emphasize that something is completely or totally wrong,bad, or false

* That’s a downright lie! How can you say such a thing?

insulting – very offensive and rude

* Most women consider it insulting if you make a comment about their weight.

social responsibility – the idea that people who are fortunate, lucky, powerful,and wealthy should do things to help people who are less fortunate, lucky,powerful, and wealthy

* Through our social responsibility programs, our company sends thousands ofdollars to low-income families each year.

to do (one’s) share – to do one’s part; to help; to participate in a larger project

* Each spring, they try to do their share to take care of the planet by picking upgarbage along the beach.

to have a chip on (one’s) shoulder – to hold a grudge; to not be able to forgivesomeone for something that happened in the past; to feel angry and resentful

* How can you still have a chip on your shoulder? That happened more thanthree years ago, and it was an accident!

blue collar – related to the working class; related to people who work in lowpayingjobs, usually paid by the hour, and often for working with their hands

* She spent her life working in blue-collar jobs in local factories.

white collar – related to professional jobs; related to people who work in higherpayingjobs that require higher education, usually receiving a salary (an amountof money paid each year)

* There are a lot of lawyers, bankers, and other white-collar workers at the party.

marginalized – feeling powerless and unimportant, often because of one’s race(skin color), gender (sex), level of education, or wealth* Many women feel marginalized in the male-dominated army and navy.

under (one’s) own roof – in one’s own home, not in a public area or in abuilding owned by another person* Once you’re living under your own roof, you can follow your own rules. Untilthen, we expect you to help clean the house and come home no later than 9:00p.m. each night.

______________

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Which social class does James belong to?

a) The upper class.

b) The middle class.

c) The working class.

2. What does Hector mean when he says, “we do our share for the poor”?

a) They give money to the poor.

b) They used to be poor.

c) They like poor people.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

worked up

The phrase “worked up,” in this podcast, means agitated, angry, and annoyed, orreacting with strong, negative emotions: “Why do you get so worked up eachtime you watch the news?” The phrase “to work up an appetite” means to do alot of physical activity so that one becomes very hungry: “They really worked upan appetite by going on such a long walk.” The phrase “to work up the courage”

means to make oneself become brave enough to do something: “I’ll marry you assoon as I can work up the courage to tell my parents that you don’t have a job!”

Finally, the phrase “to work up to (something)” means to gradually prepare to dosomething that will be difficult or unpleasant: “Bettina is slowly working herself upto a marathon, running a little bit further each day.”

to do (one’s) share

In this podcast, the phrase “to do (one’s) share” means to do one’s part or to helpin a larger project or effort: “It makes me really mad when I see that my coworkersaren’t doing their share.” The phrase “(one’s) fair share” is used to talkabout an experience that one has had a lot of: “Ingrid has had her fair share ofheartache over the years.” Finally, the phrase “the lion’s share of (something)” isused to talk about the largest part of something: “We all ate some of the birthdaycake, but Ryan ate the lion’s share of it.”

CULTURE NOTE

Many American believe there are three social classes: the upper class, themiddle class, and the lower class. However, “social scientists” (people who studysociety and how people interact with one another) believe this “point of view”

(way of understanding things) is too “simplistic” (basic). They have proposedsystems with many additional social classes. However, the “dividing lines” (theways that categories are separated) are “blurry” (unclear), so no one can sayhow many Americans belong to each class.

Most of the definitions of social class are based on the type of work people do,how much money they make, and how much education they have. The followingchart shows one “grouping” (way of organizing things) that has five socialclasses:

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 573: DiscussingSocial Class.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 573. I’m your host, Dr.

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

Our website is eslpod.com. Go there to download the Learning Guide for thisepisode, a special 8- to 10-page guide we provide for all of our episodes to helpyou improve your English even faster.

This episode is called “Discussing Social Class.” It’s a dialogue between Hectorand Sophia using a lot of vocabulary related to talking about people at differentsocial and economic levels in a country. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Hector: Can you believe James? All evening, he tried to tell me how this countrywould be better if we had no social classes. He’s out of his mind.

Sophia: He was just trying to get a rise out of you. We all know that the two ofyou don’t see eye to eye.

Hector: He thinks that just because he comes from a working-class background,he can criticize anyone who is middle class or upper class. I just can’t stand hisholier-than-thou attitude.

Sophia: He knows you, and he knows which buttons to push to get you workedup. I don’t think he was serious when he said he thought class warfare was agood idea.

Hector: Well, he was downright insulting. He talks as though we have no senseof social responsibility. We do our share for the poor. What more does he wantfrom me?

Sophia: I think he has a chip on his shoulder, because his parents are blue collarand he now lives in a white-collar world. He feels he has to stand up for themarginalized people in our society.

Hector: Okay, but does that mean I have to allow him to insult me under my ownroof?

Sophia: Of course not. Next week, we’re having dinner at their house.

[end of dialogue]

Hector says to Sophia, “Can you believe James? All evening, he tried to tell mehow this country would be better if we had no social classes. He’s out of hismind.” “Social class” refers to a large group of people who have approximatelythe same wealth (the same amount of money), education, and what we call“social status,” power and importance in a community or in a society. So Hectoris saying his friend James thinks that the United States would be better if we hadno social classes, if everyone had the same kind of education and wealth.

Hector thinks that he is “out of his mind,” which means he’s crazy.

Sophia says, “He was just trying to get a rise out of you.” “To get a rise (rise) outof (someone)” means to make someone react strongly, usually by getting themangry about something or upset. You don’t really mean sometimes what you saybut for fun or for whatever reason you’re trying to get the other person to react –to get angry, so you say something that you know will make him or her upset.

Sophia says that that is what James is doing, “We all know that the two of you(Hector and James) don’t see eye to eye.” The phrase “to see eye (eye) to eye,”

the things that you have in your head that you use to see, means to agree withsomeone, to have the same opinion as someone. The Republicans and theDemocrats, the two large political parties or groups in the U.S., don’t see eye toeye on many things – on many issues; they don’t agree.

Hector says, “James thinks that just because he comes from a working-classbackground, he can criticize anyone who is middle class or upper class.” Theseare three terms we use in talking about social classes. The first one is “workingclass,” this is a class – a social class made up of people who have lesseducation, who often work in low-paying jobs, usually jobs where you get paid bythe hour, that is you don’t get one amount of money for the whole week or month,it depends on how many hours you work. Normally, this is considered those whoare less wealthy – have less money than most other people in the society, oftenpeople who work at physical or manual labor jobs. Hector says that Jamescomes from a working-class background, meaning his parents were workingclass, so he thinks he can criticize anyone who is middle class or upper class.

Well, if “working class” is the lower class, the “upper class” would be those whohave a lot of money – a lot of importance and power in a society. The “middle class” are those that are somewhere in between; you’re not rich but you’re notpoor. You have some education, perhaps you went to college, but you’re notnecessarily extremely wealthy – you don’t have lot of money. In the UnitedStates, most everyone likes to think of themselves as being middle class; it’s thelargest group. It sounds not too poor, not too rich. So there are, however, nodefinitions – no official amount that you have to make in order to be in the middleclass or the upper class. These are just terms that people use, often withoutdefining them very carefully.

Hector says, “I just can’t stand James’ holier-than-thou attitude.” He can’t standit – he can’t tolerate it, it makes him angry. What makes him angry is James’

holier-than-thou attitude. “Holier (holier) -than-thou (thou)” is an expression weuse to describe someone who thinks they are better than another person, whofeels superior, to be at a higher moral level, more ethical, a better person.

Someone who thinks that, we might say, has a holier-than-thou attitude.

Sophia says, “He knows you, and he knows which buttons to push to get youworked up.” “To know which buttons to push” means to know what will makeanother person react in a certain way. If you have a good friend, you know whatmakes him angry or what makes him happy. This is especially true with peoplewho are married. They know which buttons to push if they want to get their wifeangry or their husband angry; they know what to say that will make him or hermad. That, of course, is one of the great advantages of marriage! Sophia saysthat James knows which buttons to push to get Hector worked up. “To getworked up,” means to get angry, to get annoyed, to have very negative emotionalreactions. There’s actually a couple of meanings of this term, those can be foundin the Learning Guide.

Sophia continues, “I don’t think he was serious when he said he thought classwarfare was a good idea.” “Warfare” comes from the word “war,” or has the word“war” in it; it means when two groups or two countries are fighting. So, “classwarfare” would be when different groups – different social classes in a country ora society are fighting with each other. The poor – the working class are trying totake the money away from the rich and the upper class; that would be anexample of class warfare, or the other way around.

Hector says, “Well, he was downright insulting.” “Downright” (downright) is hereused as an adverb to emphasize something. Basically, here it means very: “Hewas downright insulting,” he was very insulting. Usually we use it for a negativeadjective. “Insulting” is a negative adjective: it means to be rude, to not be verynice to someone, to say bad things about them to their face – directly to them.

Hector says that James talks as though we have no sense of socialresponsibility. “Social responsibility” is the idea that people who have a lot ofmoney will help those who have less money or less power. He says, “We do ourshare for the poor.” “To do your share” (share) means to help, to do your part. Itmeans to usually participate in some larger project or larger movement to helppeople who need help. “Do your share” can also simply mean do what you aresupposed to do as part of a larger group. So if you have a group of people atwork, you may tell someone to do their share if they’re not working. Probably inthat case, we would say to do their part. To do one’s share is often used todescribe helping people who need help.

So, Hector says that we do our share for the poor. “What more does he wantfrom me?” he asks. Sophia says, “I think he has a chip on his shoulder.” “Tohave a chip (chip) on your shoulder” means that you cannot forgive someone forsomething happened in the past; you feel angry. We might also use theexpression “to hold a grudge” (grudge). To have a chip on your shoulder: tohave a negative attitude because you’re still angry about something. Sophiasays that James’ parents are blue collar and he (James) now lives in a whitecollarworld. “Blue collar” and “white collar” are two additional terms in Englishwe use to describe different social classes. “Blue collar” is someone who is inthe working class, someone who doesn’t make a lot of money. “White collar”

refers to people who have professional jobs. Your “collar” is the part of your shirtthat goes around the neck, that is next to your neck. If you work in an office, youprobably have to wear a shirt that has a collar, and traditionally white shirts wereused in business, and still are, often for a man with a tie. So, to be a white-collarworker means to be a teacher, a professor, a lawyer, a businessperson –someone who works in an office. A blue-collar worker tends to be someone whoworks, again, more manual labor type jobs, working with their hands and theirmuscles.

Sophia says that James feels he has to stand up for marginalized people in oursociety – he has to stand up for the marginalized people. “To stand up for”

means to defend. “Marginalized” means people who feel unimportant, peoplewho feel they don’t have any power, perhaps because of their race, their skincolor, because of the fact that they’re, for example, a woman. Because theyhave less education and money they don’t feel as though they have power –political power, economic power – in the society where they live.

Hector says, “Okay, but does that mean I have to allow him to insult me undermy own roof (roof)?” “Under your own roof” means in your home, where you live;not in public, not at work but at home. So James is at, we are guessing, Hector’s house and he’s still saying these what Hector believes are insulting things.

Sophia says, “Of course, not.” You do not have to allow him – permit him – lethim insult you in your own house, under your own roof. She says, “Next week,we’ll have dinner at their house.” Hector and Sophia I guess are husband andwife. Sophia is actually joking here, she’s trying to be funny. She’s saying that,well, next week he can insult you at his house, which of course is not whatHector wants either!

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