www [bad word] English as a Second Language Podcast
Day in the Life of Lucy
Episode 1 – Getting Up [bad word] TRANSCRIPT [bad word] presents "Day in the Life of Lucy," a special ten lesson course to
teach you everyday vocabulary in English.
In this course, you'll learn the vocabulary for everyday actions, from getting up in
the morning to going to bed at night and everything in between. I'm Dr. Jeff
McQuillan, your [bad word] to you from the Center for Educational
Development, in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Each lesson has three parts. First, a story read slowly; second, an explanation of
the story and the vocabulary we use; and third, the story read at a normal speed.
This is the female version of "Day in the Life." To listen to the male or man's
version of this see our "Day in the Life of Jeff," available on our website at [bad word]  Let's get started with episode one: Getting Up.
[Start of story]
On a weekday, I usually get up around 6:30 a.m., but I set my alarm to go off at
6:20 so that I can hit the snooze button to sleep another 10 minutes. My
roommate thinks I’m crazy, but doing this in the mornings actually helps me wake
up. I’m a night owl, not an early bird like she is, so I need an extra few minutes
to get going in the morning.
One reason it’s so hard to get up is because my bedroom and my bed are [bad word]  I splurged and bought a bed with a very soft, thick mattress. I also
have matching sheets and pillowcases, and [bad word] that is made of goose
down. Even my nightstand matches my sheets and the rest of my bedroom. I
decorated it so that it would be restful after a busy day at work.
When I get up, the first thing I do is put on my robe. It’s always so cold in the
apartment in the mornings, no matter what time of year it is. Then, I usually
make my bed. I hated making my bed when I was little, but now it’s [bad word] a
routine. Sometimes, though, I’m so tired that I sleep in for just a little too long
and then, the bed definitely doesn’t get made. On those days, I wish I could
sleep in all day!
[End of story]
Episode one is called "Getting Up." The verb to get, "get," up means to get out of
your bed - to leave your bed. So, after you stop sleeping - after you wake up,
then you get up - you get out of your bed.
Lucy begins her story by saying that "On a weekday," that is Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday - those are the weekdays (all one word),
weekday. The other part of the week is called the weekend, Saturday and
Sunday.
"On a weekday," what some people might also call a work day - a day they have
to work, Lucy says she "usually gets up around 6:30" in the morning, but she sets
her "alarm to go off at 6:20." Her alarm, "alarm," is what makes noise - what
wakes her up, usually it is an alarm clock that you can set the time to. To set
your alarm, "set," means to put it to the correct time.
So, she sets her alarm to go off. We use the expression, to go off, when we are
talking about something that makes a large noise, for example, such as a bell or
an alarm clock. You can also have a gun; the gun can go off means the gun fires
and makes a noise. Well here, we are using this verb, to go off, when we are
talking about an alarm clock.
So, her alarm goes off at 6:20 - 20 after 6:00 in the morning - but she hits "the
snooze button to sleep another ten minutes." The snooze button, "snooze,"
button, "button," is something on an alarm clock that allows you to sleep a little
more, usually for five or ten minutes. So, it will stop your alarm, and then five or
ten minutes later the alarm will go off again. So, that is called the snooze button.
The verb to snooze means to sleep, so it allows you to sleep a little extra time.
There's an expression "if