English Listenign Lesson Lab Online
Views #230 | Low Intermediate 4

The Gift

John talks about a Valentine's gift he received from his wife.
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Todd: John, can you talk a little bit about the frog that you got for your Valentine's day gift.

John: Sure, yeah, my wife gave me this Pac Man frog for Valentine's day, and basically it was this enormous, stinky frog that would only eat baby mice, so you had to like feed it like a little tiny cute baby mouse like every week and then it would just like leave this big mess, this stinky mess, and you'd have to clean it up and at the time I had just gotten rid of an iguana, and like I didn't want any pets and that was the gift my wife gave me so!

Todd: Oh, man, well, how long did you have it?

John: I think I kept it for about six month. Maybe even a year.

Todd: That's a long time.

John: Yeah. Well see, I kept it until she moved in with me and then when she moved in with me, she said, "Wow, that thing really stinks!" We should get rid of it." So we took it back to the pet store and just gave it back to them.

Todd: Oh, so you took it back to the pet store. They took it.

John: Yeah, they took it. I looked around for someone to like give it to, and everyone was like, "No, that thing is disgusting. No one wanted it and I asked the pet store would they like pay for it, and they were like "No, no, you bought it" so I was just like, "Here, OK, have it back" and they were "Fine, we'll sell it again"

Todd: OK, do you ever know what happened to the frog?

John: No, maybe, I went back to that pet store like a year after I gave it back to them and it was still there and it was like twice the size, so I don't know if they ever got rid of it or not.

Todd: Great story.

Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

enormous or stinky

My wife gave me this enormous, stinky frog for a gift.

If something is 'enormous' it is really, really big. When something smells bad we can say that it is 'stinky.' Notice the following:

  1. Dinosaurs were enormous creatures.
  2. Sorry. My shoes are really stinky.

stinky mess or clean up

It would always leave this stinky mess that I'd have to clean up.

A 'mess' is something that is not clean or orderly, in the case of the example, a mess that smells bad. To 'clean something up' is to remove the mess.  Notice the following:

  1. The bad food left a stinky mess in the refrigerator.
  2. I had to clean up my room when I was a child.

get rid of

I had just gotten rid of an iguana.

You 'get rid of' things that you don't want or need anymore.  This can either be throwing them in the garbage, giving them to another person or selling them. Notice the following:

  1. When they broke up she got rid of all his photos.
  2. You should really get rid of that jacket.

disgusting

No one wanted to have it, because people thought it was disgusting.

When something is 'disgusting' it is not nice and maybe makes you feel little sick. Notice the following:

  1. It smells disgusting in here.
  2. I think eating worms sounds disgusting.

twice the size

I saw the frog a year later, and it was twice the size.

If the frog is 'twice the size' that it was before it means it has grown to double the original size, or it is two times as big. Notice the following:

  1. This house is more than twice the size of our old one.
  2. It is difficult to believe that he was a small baby because he is twice the size of his mother now.

Vocabulary Quiz

enormous • stinky • mess
clean up • got rid of • disgusting
twice the size
  1. He always makes a when he plays with his toys.
  2. They had an party for his birthday this year.
  3. The food smells good, but tastes .
  4. Some cheese is , but tastes delicious.
  5. He of his sports car when the baby was born.
  6. All the food in the restaurants here is that you eat.
  7. I need to all the papers on my desk before I can leave work.
Answer the following questions about the interview.

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