Out of the picture

Feifei: Hi Finn. I am glad you could come to my house to take a picture of my special friend.

Finn: My pleasure, Feifei. I take pride in being a great photographer. I brought some of my best pictures.

Feifei: Let me have a look.

Finn: Yes. I took this one during a trip to Paris.

Feifei: I remember. The trip you took last summer with your girlfriend Ann.

Finn: Oh, Ann… She is out of the picture. Look at the Eiffel Tower. I bet you've never seen it from this angle.

Feifei: And this other one…

Finn: Yes, yes. This other one I took at a dinner party in my flat.

Feifei: Yes, with your flatmate Johnny.

Finn: My ex-flatmate "Dirty Socks" Johnny. He is out of the picture too.

Feifei: Finn, I can see him in this photo and … you keep talking about having your friends out of the picture… I want my friend to be in the picture!

Finn: Oh, Feifei, no. Ann and Johnny appear in some of my snaps. But Ann is not my girlfriend anymore. She ran away with a Frenchman…

Feifei: Oh… and what happened to Johnny?

Finn: "Dirty Socks" Johnny moved out. He used to leave his socks everywhere!

Feifei: Oh, so you are no longer in touch with them.

Finn: Exactly. In English, when we say someone is "out of the picture" we mean we don't count on them anymore. They are no longer involved in a particular situation. Let's hear some examples.

• Divorce was good for Mrs Jones. She looks very happy with her husband out of the picture.
• My team is bound to lose this weekend now that our best player is out of the picture. He broke his leg yesterday.

Finn: So now that this is clear, where is your special someone? Shall we go out into the garden? The lighting is really good outside. I'll take a great picture!

Feifei: Follow me.

(Outdoors)

Feifei: Here's my special friend!

Finn: But this… Feifei, this is a hamster倉鼠!

Finn: Yes! My pet's name is "Cutie Pie"! Oh my little sweetie, little friend! Isn't he cute, Finn?

Finn: He is not very photogenic, I'm afraid, Feifei.

Feifei: Come on, Finn. Look at him! (to the hamster) Sweetie yummy come to mummy. You're going to be in the picture! Yes, you are!

Finn: Oh dear! I can kiss goodbye to my career as a serious photographer...

Feifei: Bye.

Finn: Bye.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theenglishwespeak/2013/09/130924_tews_142_out_of_the_picture.shtml 

Beef

(Sounds from inside aircraft)

Li: Chicken or beef?

Male customer: Chicken please.

Li: There you go, sir. And madam? Chicken or beef?

Female customer: Oooh, beef please.

Li: There you are.

Female customer: Thanks.

Li: (whispering) Hello and welcome to the programme… and the flight. I'm Li and I'm doing a bit of extra work as a flight stewardess空姐. Lunchtime has just started so I'd better get back to work – lots of hungry customers.

Chicken or beef sir?

Familiar customer:(irritated) Actually, I have a beef with you.

Li: Beef? Ok, there you go.

Familiar customer: No, no – I don't want beef. I have a beef with you about this menu.

Li: You want some beef… with me? Sorry sir, I don't think we can provide that service.

Familiar customer: Listen. My beef is you don't have vegetarian food.

Li: Er… I'm not quite sure I understand.

Familiar customer:(genuinely willing to help) Oh, I'm very sorry, do let me explain. In English, we can use the word 'beef' to mean 'complaint' or 'disagreement'. 

Li: Oh I see…

Familiar customer: Yes – we say 'I have a beef with someone or something over or about something else' – a disagreement about something. Let me see if the other passengers can help give us some examples. Would you mind, sir?

Male customer: Not at all. How about: I had a beef with my teacher about the amount of homework we were getting. 

Familiar customer: Yes – if you felt you were getting too much homework you might say that! Thank you.

Male customer: Welcome. 

Familiar customer: Anyone else?

Female customer: Oh, I can think of one: Mark had a beef with his wife.

Familiar customer: Very good. He had a disagreement with his wife. What was the reason? A full sentence please.

Female customer: Mark had a beef with his wife over… over… parking their car. He thought she always parked it very badly.

Familiar customer: Great. Well I hope she's better at parking now. Is that clear, Li?

Li: Yes, it is now thank you teacher, I mean sir… I mean… you look a bit familiar! A bit like our presenter Finn.

Familiar customer: Shhhh… yes it is me. But I'm on holiday – not working, well only working a bit. After explaining this phrase I'm done!

Li: Well, have a nice holiday!

Familiar customer: Thanks. And I do still have a beef with this menu – why don't you have a vegetarian option?

Li: We do – but you need to reserve it online first, Finn, I mean sir. And while you're online, why not check out our website bbclearningenglish.com for more phrases like this one!

Familiar customer: Yes, it's a wonderful site. Back to holidays now. Bye.

Li: Bye.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theenglishwespeak/2013/10/131001_tews_143_beef.shtml

Ace

(Feifei and Finn playing cards)

Feifei: I'm laying a five.

Finn: I'm laying an eight.

Feifei: Hmm, I'll lay a jack.

Finn:(Faster pace) Queen!

Feifei: Ace!

Finn: OK OK, you go again!

Feifei: Right, this time I'm laying three sevens.

Finn: Wow, going bigger, are we?

Feifei: Absolutely! Come on then, what have you got?

Finn: I've got three kings! Here you go! I bet you can't beat that?

Feifei: Hahaha! Check this out Finn - three Aces! (Very happy) Yay, I win again... dinner is on you then?

Finn: Yes, yes, I know. I didn't know you were an ace card player!

Feifei: What do you mean 'an ace' card player? I play other cards too! I just played a five, a jack, a queen, two fours, three...(interrupted)

Finn: No, no, no. I didn't mean literally 'an ace' card player. In English, we can use the word 'ace' as an adjective to mean 'very good, excellent, and awesome'.

Feifei: So you are actually saying I'm an 'excellent' card player? Ahh, thank you Finn, very kind of you to say so.

Finn: Here are some examples using the word 'ace'.

• This is an ace idea!
• That is an ace laptop you've got!
• Have you listened to Arctic Monkeys' new album? It's ace!
• I'm ace at cooking!
• Andy Murray is an ace tennis player!

Finn: So we can use 'ace' to describe an idea, a thing or a person. And you can say you're ace at doing something. So Feifei, do you like pontoon?

Feifei: Yes, it's ace!

Finn: Shall we have a game? I'm pretty ace at playing pontoon.

Feifei: But it's time for dinner and you are paying!

Finn: One more game...

Feifei: No, let's go now, I'm hungry! Can we go to the new Thai restaurant that's just opened? I heard they serve ace tom yum soup!

Finn: OK, in that case, let's go now.

Feifei: Ace!

Finn: Don't forget to check out bbclearningenglish.com for more The English We Speak. Bye!

Feifei: See you next time!http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theenglishwespeak/2013/10/131008_tews_144_ace.shtml