Cultural English 446 - Ask an American

Complete Transcript

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 446.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode 446. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

On this Café, we’re going to have another one of our Ask an American segments, where we listen to other native speakers talking at a normal rate of speech, a normal speed. We’re going to listen to them and explain what they are talking about. Today we’re going to talk about the La Brea Tar Pits, an area right here in Los Angeles where scientists have found and continue to find the remains of many prehistoric animals. And, as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.

Our topic on this Café’s Ask an American segment is the La Brea Tar Pits. The words “La Brea” mean “the tar” in Spanish. So, you could say that the name of this place is the Tar Tar Pits, but no one calls them that. Most people who live in Los Angeles don’t realize that “brea” means tar. So, we call them the La Brea Tar Pits. “Tar” (tar) is a thick liquid that burns easily, sometimes found in the earth, but also produced by wood or coal.

A “tar pit” (pit) is an area in the ground, basically a large pool, where there is a lot of this thick, black liquid tar. This tar comes from petroleum, or oil, that is underneath the ground underneath this part of the city of Los Angeles. The tar makes its way, or moves, up to the surface of the earth in this area. The area itself is right next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and has its own museum.

Why is there a museum for a tar pit? Because inside the tar pit, scientists have discovered many prehistoric remains, what are called “fossils” (fossils), some of them 40,000 years old. They have found fossils for extinct animals – animals that are no longer around – including the mammoth, the mastodon, and other animals. There’s even part of a human being that has been discovered there. In total, scientists have found more than one million fossils, and you can see them in the small museum next to the pits.

The pits themselves smell like – well, like tar, of course. It’s a very strange place to visit in LA, as the pit is next to one of the busiest streets in the city: Wilshire Boulevard. In fact, I used to live about five minutes from the tar pits. Scientists believe that many animals became trapped in the tar pits, and that’s why we find their remains there today.

We’re going to listen to some people talking about what can be found in the La Brea Tar Pits and what we can learn from those things. First, we’ll listen to Shelley Cox, a woman who cleans the remains of animals and plants at the La Brea Tar Pits’ George C. Page Museum. That’s the name of the museum for the tar pit. We’ll listen first. Try to understand as much as you can, and then we’ll go back and explain what she said. Let’s listen.

[recording]

“We have such a variety of fossils that there is almost something for everyone preserved right here.”

[end of recording]

Ms. Cox says that they – probably referring to, or talking about, the museum staff and scientists – “have such a variety,” or a wide variety, “of fossils.” “Fossils,” as I already indicated, are the remains of a plant or animal that lived long ago. The plant or animal either becomes what we would describe as “petrified” (petrified), or turned into rock, or the object was pressed into rock. So, today we can see the shape and many details of the plant or animal.

Ms. Cox says that “there is such a variety of fossils that there is almost something for everyone preserved right here.” That phrase, “something for everyone,” means that everyone can find something they’re interested in because there are so many different things. She’s talking about things that are “preserved right here” at the tar pits.

“To preserve” (preserve) something means to protect and keep something so that it lasts for a long time, so that it lasts for the future. You can preserve fruit and vegetables in the summer so that you can have food to eat in the winter, usually by freezing or what we call “canning” them, putting them in cans.

The process of fossilization, or the process of making fossils, has preserved information about animals and plants that lived a very long, long time ago, although you can’t eat these animals and plants because they’re really, really, really hard. Let’s listen again as Ms. Cox says all this.

[recording]

“We have such a variety of fossils that there is almost something for everyone preserved right here.”

[end of recording]

Now we’ll listen to John Harris, the chief “curator” (curator), or leader of the museum. He’ll speak about what happened when the animals became trapped in the tar pits.

[recording]

“They got stuck in asphalt, stuck like flies on flypaper, and if they were lucky, they succumbed to hunger and thirst after about a week. If they were unlucky, they were torn apart by wandering predators and scavengers.”

[end of recording]

Harris, you may have noticed, does not have an American accent. He sounds British, though I’m not sure, exactly. Anyway, Harris says that the reason we find animal fossils in the tar pits is because the animals, when they were alive, got stuck in the pits. “To get stuck” (stuck) means to become unable to move. The tar is very thick and difficult, if not impossible, to move through.

So, the animals who were walking near the area of the pits or flying too close to the tar pits got stuck in the tar. They couldn’t move and they couldn’t free themselves. Harris says that the animals “got stuck in asphalt.” “Asphalt” (asphalt) is the black surface we use to make roads and sometimes roofs. “Asphalt” is a mixture of tar, sand, and “gravel” (gravel), or small rocks. Here, he’s using the word “asphalt” to refer to the thick sticky tar in the tar pits themselves.

He describes the animals that got stuck in the asphalt as being “stuck like flies on flypaper.” “Flypaper” (flypaper) is a piece of paper covered with a very sticky, glue-like substance. “Flies,” which are small, annoying insects, are attracted to the paper, and when they land or stop there, they get stuck. And then they die, because the flypaper is, in addition to being sticky, usually “poisonous” (poisonous). When we say it’s “poisonous,” we mean that it has a substance that kills the flies.

Mr. Harris says that if the animals that got stuck in the tar pits were lucky, if they were fortunate, they succumbed to hunger and thirst in about a week. “To succumb” (succumb) – notice the “b” is silent; we don’t pronounce it – can mean not to be able to resist something or not to be able to fight against something, especially if that thing is dangerous, unpleasant, or somehow negative.

Here, it means basically to die from some illness or condition. These animals, Harris is saying, were actually lucky if they “succumbed to” – if they died from – “hunger and thirst after about a week.” In other words, they were lucky if they died because they hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for about a week. Well, if that’s lucky, what happened to the unlucky animals?

Well, Harris says that the unlucky animals “were torn apart.” “To tear (tear) something apart” means to rip something into pieces, usually violently. “Torn” (torn) is the past participle of the verb “to tear.” Here, we’re talking about animals being torn apart – animals being eaten. They were torn apart by the teeth and “claws” (claws), which are sort of like the fingernails, of another animal. The other animals, who were not stuck in the tar pits, would tear apart the ones that were stuck in order to eat them.

Mr. Harris says that the animals “were torn apart by wandering predators and scavengers.” A “predator” (predator) is an animal that eats other animals. The animals that a predator eats are called “prey” (prey). Don’t confuse this word with another one, pronounced the same but spelled differently: (pray). With an “a,” “pray” means to ask God for something. With an “e,” it means to be some animal’s lunch or dinner. So, an owl is a predator, and the mice that the owl might eat are the owl’s prey.

“To wander” (wander) means to walk slowly, but without a purpose or a particular direction. So, a wandering predator would be a predator, an animal, that just happened to walk by and see the animals stuck in the tar pit, and then decided, “Hey, I’m going to eat this animal for my dinner.” This is different from a scavenger. A “scavenger” (scavenger) is an animal that eats animals that have already died. The scavenger we’re most familiar with is probably the “vulture” (vulture), a large bird that eats animals that have already died, especially in a hot desert.

So yes, I guess those animals were pretty unlucky to be eaten by wandering predators and scavengers, but maybe that’s actually luckier than dying of hunger and thirst. I’m not sure, and hopefully I won’t have to find out. By the way, that word “vulture” is sometimes used to describe a person who sees an opportunity to take something easily from a weak or defenseless person and does so. Let’s listen to Mr. Harris say that again.

[recording]

[end of recording]

For our final quote, we’ll listen to Harris again, this time as he talks about what we can learn by studying the fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits. Let’s listen.

[recording]

“Well, if we have some idea of how life changes when we have, uh, changes in climate, then we can take precautions when we’re actually undergoing the same climatic changes ourselves.”

[end of recording]

Harris says that the research at the tar pits gives us some idea of how life changes when we have changes in climate. “Climate” (climate) is a description of the type of weather that is common in a particular area. Places can have warm, dry climates or hot, rainy, what we might call “tropical” climates, for example. It’s more than just weather, because an area with a dry climate can have a few days when it rains.

Some people are concerned about changes in the climate recently that might have been caused by humans – what is commonly called, in English, “global warming.” Harris explains that if we have some idea of how life changes when we have changes in climate, then we perhaps can take precautions when we’re actually undergoing the same climatic changes ourselves.

“Precautions” (precautions) are things we do to be careful and to protect ourselves. If you’re working at a construction site, such as a place where they are building a new house, you wear things to protect yourself from getting hurt, such as a hard hat to protect your head, special glasses over your eyes called “safety goggles,” and so forth. All these things are precautions against getting injured.

Harris is saying that we may be able to take precautions when we are “undergoing,” or experiencing, climatic changes ourselves, much like the plants and animals did so very long ago at the La Brea Tar Pits. Harris thinks then that we may be able to learn something from these dead animals to help us today.

Now, personally, I think that if the animals Harris studies were so dumb, so stupid, that they got stuck in the tar pits and died, maybe they’re not the best sources of information on what to do and not to do to survive, but I’m not a scientist. Let’s listen one more time as Harris explains it all to us.

[recording]

“Well, if we have some idea of how life changes when we have, uh, changes in climate, then we can take precautions when we’re actually undergoing the same climatic changes ourselves.”

[end of recording]

If you ever visit beautiful Los Angeles, California, I definitely recommend going and seeing the tar pits. Most people come and they see the beach, and they see Hollywood Boulevard, and they see other important tourist sites here in Los Angeles, but the tar pits are really very interesting. In addition, they’re not very far from Beverly Hills, so you can go and shop and buy expensive things in Beverly Hills, and then you can go to the La Brea Tar Pits and see this amazing, strange site.

Now let’s answer some of the questions you have sent to us.

Our first question comes from Alexander (Alexander) from Brazil. Alexander wants to know the uses of “until,” “till,” and “by.” Let’s start with “until” (until). “Until” means up to a certain point in time, or up to the time that a certain event that we are talking about happened or will happen. For example, “You can’t have your dessert until you finish your dinner.” You have to finish your dinner first, and during that time – that time in which you are finishing your dinner – you cannot eat your dessert.

“Until” specifies a certain period of time when something can (or cannot) happen unless something else happens. Or, you could say also, “Until the year 2015, you will be able to buy a new car for $20,000.” That means that after this time, after the time period from now to 2015, you will not be able to buy a new car for $20,000.

There is another word we use that is a variation of the word “until,” and that is “till” (till). “Until” and “till” mean exactly the same thing, only “till” is a little less formal. “Until” is more formal than “till.” You’ll hear people use “till” in normal conversation often. You’ll also see it in writing, but “till” is certainly less formal than “until.” But they mean exactly the same thing.

There is another variation of “until,” which is (‘til), also pronounced “till.” This “’til” is, interestingly enough, usually only found in formal poetry, especially old poetry or even in what we call “greeting cards” – things that you send to someone at, say, Christmas or for their birthday. It’s more of a poetic spelling of “till.” You’ll also sometimes see it spelled this way in song lyrics, which are, of course, types of poems.

“By” (by) means any time before, but not later than. For example, “I want these reports by Monday.” I’m saying that the deadline, the latest that you can give me these reports, is Monday. You can give them to me now or tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but no later than Monday. I want these reports by Monday. You could also say, “I need to pay my rent for my apartment by the end of the month.” I can pay it now, I can pay it next week, but it has to be paid before the end of the month. I need to do this by a certain time.

This is different than “until.” You cannot say, “I need to pay my rent until the end of the month.” That doesn’t make any sense. You would have to say, “I need to pay my rent by the end of the month.” You could say, however, “I have until the end of the month to pay my bill.” “I have until” means that’s the period of time in which I can pay my bill – or, in this case, my rent.

Our next question comes from Hank (Hank) in China. Hank wants to know the difference between two verbs, “to restore” (restore) and “to recover” (recover). “To restore” means to re-establish, to bring something back into existence, or to change it in such a way that you can now use it again. For example, we are trying to “restore” this table. This table is broken, and perhaps it isn’t painted properly. There may be some other problems with it. We want to restore it.

Restoring furniture is a popular pastime for many Americans. They like to take old tables or old chairs and restore them, bring them back to the way they were when they were first made. We also talk about restoring paintings in a museum, where they clean the painting and they do things so that it looks like it did when the painting was first painted. Some people think it looks worse than when it was first painted, or even worse than it did when it had not been restored, but that’s another question.

So, “to restore” something means to bring it back to a state or condition that it was in before something bad happened to it. You could also use “restore” for things that aren’t physical. You could talk about “restoring the confidence in the government.” We need to restore confidence in our government. We need to take people’s confidence, which is now perhaps very low, and bring it back to where it was before so that people have confidence in their government.

“To recover” means to get something back that has been lost or stolen. For example, if thieves – robbers – steal something from your house, the police will try to recover it. They will try to find it and bring it back to you. They probably will not be successful, but we hope anyway that they will try to do that. You can recover money that you lost in an investment. For example, you gave someone a whole bunch of money for his business, and his business wasn’t very successful. Now you are trying to recover your money. You’re trying to get your money back because, in a way, it’s been lost.

We also use “recover” to mean regain something in a more general way. For example, if two basketball teams are playing each other, and one team is leading the other – one team has more points than the other – and then suddenly the other team has more points, we might say that the first team is trying to “recover its lead.” It’s trying to get its lead back that it lost. We also use “recover” with the preposition “from” when we are talking about becoming healthy after getting some illness or disease. “My brother is recovering from the flu” – from influenza. He’s trying to regain, if you will, his state of health.

So, both “restore” and “recover” relate to getting something back into a position perhaps that it was in before, but they’re used in different circumstances. “Restore” is more to fix, often, something so that it is back into the condition in which it was previously. “To recover” means either to get something that has been lost or stolen, or – when it’s used with the proposition “from” – to get healthy after being sick.

Finally, Sarah from an unknown country wants to know the meaning of the abbreviation “CCU.” “CCU” stands for Coronary Care Unit. It’s the part of the hospital that takes care of people who have problems with their heart. “Coronary” (coronary) refers, in general terms, to the heart. Another general term related to the heart is “cardiac” (cardiac). “CCU” is Coronary Care Unit. “Unit” is just a division or department in a hospital.

There’s also a common abbreviation that uses “Care Unit,” which is “ICU” – Intensive Care Unit. This is a more common abbreviation you’ll probably hear at a hospital or hear on a television show about hospitals in English. ICU is where someone goes who’s very sick, who might die, and who needs “intensive care.” “Intensive” here means a lot of – with constant monitoring or looking after.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us again right here on the English Café.

Glossary

fossil – the remains of a plant or animal that lived long ago, or an indentation (mold) of a plant that lived long ago

* These fossils all look the same to me. How can you tell if it’s a finger bone, a tooth, or a horn on a head?

to preserve – to protect and keep something so that it lasts for a long time, especially for use in the future

* What’s the best way to preserve all these tomatoes?

stuck – unable to move; trapped

* The man was so fat that he got stuck in the airplane bathroom.

asphalt – a mixture of tar, sand, and gravel (small rocks) used to create a black surface, especially for roads and roofs

* The children gathered on the sidewalk to watch the machines spread asphalt over the road.

flypaper – a piece of paper covered in a very sticky substance similar to glue, used to catch flies and kill them

* Instead of hanging flypaper all over the house, couldn’t we just put screens over the windows?

to succumb to – to not be able to resist something or not be able to fight against something, especially if that thing is dangerous, unpleasant, or somehow negative

* Why are so many teenage girls succumbing to societal pressure to be dangerously thin?

torn apart – ripped into many pieces, usually violently

* The home was torn apart by the hurricane.

to wander – to walk slowly, without a purpose

* They spent the afternoon wandering through the streets of Paris.

predator – an animal that eats other animals

* Humans are one of the deadliest predators on the planet.

scavenger – an animal that eats other animals that have already died

* A lion usually kills animals for food, but sometimes it becomes a scavenger and eats animals that have been killed by other animals.

climate – a description of the type of weather that is common in a particular area

* Shelby grew up in the Pacific Northwest, but she was tired of the cloudy, rainy days, so she decided to move somewhere with a warmer, sunnier climate.

precaution – something done to be careful and to protect oneself from harm or danger

* They packed antibiotics as a precaution in case they became ill while traveling overseas.

to undergo – to experience something; to live through some set of circumstances

* A lot of families are undergoing financial hardship because of the high unemployment in the community.

until – up to the point in time or the event mentioned

* She made her son promise not to get married until he finished college.

till / ‘til – a less formal version of “until”

* We stayed out ‘til 2 a.m.

by – any time before; but not later than

* Are you going to be able to make all those phone calls by lunchtime?

to restore – to bring back into existence or use; to reestablish

* Unfortunately, it’s impossible to restore the forests to the way they used to be.

to recover – to get back; to regain

* The police are unlikely to recover the stolen artwork.

CCU (coronary care unit) – a hospital unit specially staffed and equipped to treat patients with serious cardiac and heart conditions; a cardiac intensive care unit (CICU)

* The new CCU has all the latest technology related to heart health.

What Insiders Know

The Flintstones

The Flintstones is an “animated” (made with drawings, not with actors) TV show that was originally “broadcast” (shown on television) from 1960 to 1966. It is about a man named Fred Flintstone, his family, and their friends. The show is “set” (with a particular time and place) in the “Stone Age,” a “prehistoric” (before people began writing things down) period of time.

Although the show is set long ago, the characters have many “modern-day concerns, and the tools and machines they use are very modern. For example, they travel in a vehicle that is a little bit like a car and has wheels, but they move it by pushing with their feet against the ground. And they travel in elevators that go up and down because a large animal moves with a “rope” (heavy cord or string) around its neck. The families also do many modern things. For example, they eat at restaurants and listen to recorded music.

Even stranger, the characters “co-exist with” (live at the same time and in the same place as) dinosaurs. “Dinosaurs” were animals that existed on earth long ago, but became “extinct” (with all the animals of a particular type having died, and none remaining alive) before humans were on earth.

The show was very popular and continues to be well known. There have been many variations of the original TV show, as well as movies, and most Americans can probably sing the “theme song” (a song that plays at the beginning of each episode in a TV series). And you might sometimes hear people say, “Yabba-dabba-doo!” which is what Fred Flintstone said at the beginning of each episode to express “joy” (happiness) when his workday was done and he could go home.