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90 Cafe
English as a Second Language Podcast
www.eslpod.com
ENGLISH CAFÉ – 90
TOPICS
State and county fairs, Stan Lee and Spider-Man, Miss versus Mrs. versus Ms.,
to be in bloom, in order to
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GLOSSARY
fair – an event (usually for a few days) where there are “rides” (see below),
games, food, and agricultural, sewing, and cooking competitions, mostly for rural
communities
* Asa’s cow won first place at the state fair last summer.
to display – to show something; to make something available for other people to
look at to get information or to judge
* At the conference, each company had a table to display their new products.
agriculture – farming; the work of growing plants and raising animals for food
* Agriculture is an important part of Idaho’s economy, because people grow a lot
of potatoes and corn there.
livestock – animals that are grown on a farm, usually for food or “wool” (the hair
that grows on some animals, like sheep)
* Livestock on most farms includes horses, cows, pigs, goats, sheep, and
chickens.
blue ribbon – the first-place award; the top award in a category
* Gertie won the blue ribbon for her delicious strawberry jam.
ride – a big machine that people ride on at fairs or amusement parks because it
is fun and exciting; a big machine that people sit on while it moves very quickly in
different directions
* My favorite ride at Disneyland is “Space Mountain.”
Ferris wheel – a popular ride at fairs; a large wheel with many seats on the
outside that turns in a circle slowly so that people sitting in a seat are taken up
into the air and then brought back down again and again
* There’s a fantastic view from the top of the Ferris wheel, but if you’re afraid of
heights, you probably won’t like the ride.
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 90
county – local government in the U.S. that is smaller than a state but larger than
a city
* How many counties are there in Nebraska?
to be held at (somewhere) – to be at a certain place; to be planned to happen
at a place
* The wedding will be held this afternoon at St. Matthew’s Church.
fairgrounds – a large area outdoor area where state and county fairs are held
* The fairgrounds in our state have three barns and two stages for musical
performances.
tractor – a vehicle that is very strong and has big wheels, usually used to push
or pull heavy equipment and other things on farms
* A tractor doesn’t move very fast, but it is very powerful.
comic book – a small book or magazine that tells an interesting story with little
text and a lot of colored drawings
* How many Superman comic books do you have?
publishing house – a company that publishes books or magazines; a company
that edits, prints, and distributes books or magazines
* Some of his favorite books are printed by Ajax Publishing House.
to marvel – to be in awe of something; to admire something; to be impressed by
something that is very good, surprising, and interesting
* Everyone marveled at the men who first walked on the moon.
to be in bloom – to be blooming; to have many open flowers
* Washington, DC is beautiful when its cherry trees are in bloom.
in order to – to; to do something or to have something happen; to be able to do
something or have something happen
* We woke up at 3:30 a.m. in order to get to the airport by 4:30 for our 6:30 flight.
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 90
WHAT INSIDERS KNOW
Food at State and County Fairs
One of the reasons that people like to go to state and county fairs is to eat the
food! Many different kinds of food are sold at “food booths” (outdoor tents or
stands) and most of these foods can’t be found at restaurants and stores.
Common fair foods include “hot dogs,” long sausages put into long pieces of
bread and eaten with ketchup and mustard, and “corn dogs,” which are hot dogs
that have been covered in cornbread and fried on a stick. “Curly fries,” or fried
and salted curled strips of potato, are also very popular.
For dessert, people often eat “caramel apples,” which are apples that are
covered in a sweet, soft, brown candy, or “cotton candy,” which is colored sugar
that looks like a ball of pink or blue cotton and is served on a stick. “Elephant
ears,” or large pieces of fried bread that are covered in cinnamon and sugar, are
also very tasty. And there are usually “frozen bananas,” which are bananas that
are put on a stick, dipped in chocolate and nuts, and frozen.
Fairs also have traditional foods that represent the state or county’s agriculture.
There are often many milk products, like cheese, yogurt and ice cream, “corn on
the cob” (boiled corn eaten off of the long part of the plant that it grows on), and
meats. Fairs in areas with German “heritage,” or cultural influence and history,
often serve special sausages. And fairs in areas with Chinese heritage have “stir
fry,” or lightly fried vegetables, meat, and noodles served with rice.
When you go to a fair, it’s a good idea to go on the rides first. Many people who
eat a lot of foods at fairs and then go on rides may regret it!
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English as a Second Language Podcast
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 90
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT
You're listening to ESL Podcast's English Café number 90.
This is the English Café episode 90. 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 talk about a very popular event during the
summertime, the county and state fair. We'll talk about what that is, and why
they are so popular in many states in the U.S. We'll also talk about the person
who created Spider-Man, a man by the name of Stan Lee. And as always, we'll
answer a few of your questions. Let's get started!
If you haven't visited our website, you'll want to do that. Our web address is
eslpod.com. Take a look at the Learning Guide for this episode, and check out
our ESL Podcast Store, which has some additional premium courses you may be
interested in.
Our first topic today is the state and county fair. A “fair” (fair) is when people
come together and they are displaying or selling certain things. “To display”
means to show; to let other people look at. You could have a book fair, where
people would come and show their books and sell them.
When we talk about a state or county fair, however, we're talking about a very
particular kind of event. Originally, in the past, these state fairs were related to
the agriculture of a state. The “agriculture” (agriculture) refers to the animals and
the plants that a particular state has, that people later eat. The animals are
typically called “livestock” (livestock). “Livestock” are farm animals, animals that
are on a farm such as a pig or a cow; those would be two examples of
“livestock.”
The original state fairs were competitions. You would bring your pig or your cow
and there would be some judges, and they would award the best pig or the best
cow a prize. Usually it was what we call a “ribbon” (ribbon), which is just a little
thing that you would give to the person to show that they had won. If you were
the best, you usually got the “blue ribbon.” The “blue ribbon” was the “highest”
prize, the best prize. But it wasn't money or, usually, anything that you received,
it was just the recognition that they were saying you were the best. If you were
second best, you would get the “red ribbon.” They also gave awards for people
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 90
who made the best pie or some other food. State and county fairs still give away
these prizes; they award these ribbons.
State fairs were very much related to the farms and the agriculture in a state.
Later, they started adding other kinds of competitions and other kinds of
entertainment; they would add rides for the children. A “ride” (ride) is usually a
machine that you get into that goes very fast or goes up and down. Two
examples would be a roller coaster, which is a bunch of cars on like a little train
track, and it goes up and down. Another ride you might see at a fair is a Ferris
wheel, and this is where you have a large wheel – round thing – that people get
into little cars, we call them, little places where you can sit, and it goes – takes
you all the way up and all the way back down so you go around in a circle.
I absolutely hate going on rides; I never really liked it as a child. I don't know,
maybe something happened to me that I don't remember, but I'm not – I'm not a
very good person to go with if you like going to the rides at a fair.
Now we have two different kinds of fairs in most U.S. states. One is called a
“county fair,” and the other one is the “state fair.” Every, or almost every U.S.
state is divided into smaller “regions,” smaller sections, and we call those
“counties.” So for example, I live in Los Angeles – the city of Los Angeles. Los
Angeles is in Los Angeles County, and they are many different counties in
California. The only state that doesn't have counties has something that is really
the same thing but they use a different name. That would be the state of
Louisiana where they have parishes. But in most states we call these “counties,”
and there's a county fair where they have competitions for the best pig and the
best horse and the best pies, and they give awards to people who win. In many
cases, those winners then go to the state fair, which is the fair for the entire state.
I don't know if every state has a state fair, but I think most of them probably do.
The largest state fair in the United States, the one that is the longest and has the
most people attending, would be the Minnesota State Fair. I am, as you may
know, from Minnesota. It is the largest state fair probably because Minnesota is
a very important state for agriculture in the United States. There are many plants
that are grown in Minnesota, and there are many farm animals – a lot of livestock
in Minnesota as well.
So, the Minnesota State Fair has always been a very big event; it is the biggest
in the United States. It lasts for 12 days, so it is 12 days long. It's always at the
end of August. There are probably about a million and a half people – 1.5 million
people who go every year to the state fair. You have to understand that the
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