Practical English

GLOSSARY

cleanser – a liquid or powder that is used to clean something
* The salesperson told me that this cleanser is designed for oily skin.

towel – a soft piece of fabric that absorbs water and helps someone or something become dry
* When she got out of the shower, she realized that all of the towels were being washed, so she didn’t have anything to use to dry off.

toner – a liquid that is used to make the skin on one’s face firm (tight) and soft
* She started using a new toner one month ago and already we can see the improvement in her skin.

moisturizer – a lotion (thick liquid) that is used to make one’s skin softer and less dry
* The woman at the department store told me that in the winter, when the air dries out my skin, I should use a moisturizer.

to comb – to use a flat piece of plastic or wood that has many small, long teeth to arrange one’s hair
* Priscilla always cries when her mother combs her hair because she says it hurts.

to tie (something) back – to pull one’s long hair behind one’s head and secure it with a piece of elastic; to make a ponytail
* She always ties her hair back before she goes to the gym to exercise.

beat – tired; needing rest; exhausted
* After working on the farm all day, they were beat and went to bed early.

to get undressed – to remove one’s clothes so that one does not have any clothes on
* He didn’t have enough energy to get undressed so he fell asleep with his clothes on.

hamper – a container for dirty clothes
* Don’t leave those dirty clothes on the floor. Please put them in the hamper in the bathroom.

pajamas – clothes worn while sleeping
* When his neighbor rang his doorbell at 3:00 a.m., he answered the door wearing his pajamas.

slippers – soft, warm shoes that are worn only inside the house
* When she comes home from work, she immediately takes off her uncomfortable high-heeled shoes and puts on her slippers.

to pull back – to fold back; to move the bed covers so that one can enter the bed and lie under the blankets
* Her brother pulled back the covers on her bed to put a frog in it.

covers – the layers of fabric that cover a bed
* Her husband always steals the covers when they’re asleep, and then she wakes up cold in the middle of the night.

alarm (also alarm clock) – an electronic clock that makes a noise at a specific time to wake someone up
* He was late for work today because he forgot to set his alarm last night.

to lay down – to put oneself in a flat position on a bed or on a floor
* Whenever his back hurts, he lays down on the bed to rest for a few minutes.

ritual – something that is done again and again, and in the same way every time
* Her nighttime ritual is to drink a glass of warm milk and read one chapter in her book before going to sleep.

to fall asleep – to begin to sleep
* She fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

fast asleep – to sleep soundly; to sleep very well; to sleep in a way that one is unaware of anything else that is happening
* I didn’t hear your phone call early this morning because I was still fast asleep.

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

This is ESLPod.com's "A Day in the Life of Lucy," episode ten: Getting Ready for Bed and Going to Sleep.

Hello, I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California. In this tenth and
final episode, we're going to see how Lucy gets ready for bed and goes to sleep. She has already cleaned her apartment and relaxed, and now it is time to sleep. Let's get started.

[Start of story]

I am feeling pretty tired by 11:00 and decide to get ready for bed. I go into the bathroom to take off my make-up. I use a cleanser to wash my face and dry it with a towel. Then I put some toner on my face and then some moisturizer. I comb my hair and tie it back. I don’t like getting hair in my face while I sleep so
tying it back helps. I floss and brush my teeth, and am ready for bed. By this time, I am pretty beat.

I go into my bedroom and I get undressed. I put the dirty clothes in the hamper and put on my pajamas. I take off my slippers and pull back the covers. I check my alarm to make sure it’s on and then I lay down. I have this same ritual every night, which I think helps me fall asleep more easily. It’s not long before I’m fast
asleep.

[End of story]

Episode ten is called "Getting Ready for Bed and Going to Sleep."

Lucy begins by saying that she is "feeling pretty tired," or very tired, "by 11:00" and decides "to get ready for bed." She goes into her "bathroom to take off" her "make-up." To take off means to remove or to get rid of her make-up. She uses "a cleanser to wash" her "face," and then dries "it with a towel." A cleanser, "cleanser," comes from the word clean, "clean." It means something that you use to clean your face, in this example. You could also have a cleanser that cleaned other things. But here, we use it to describe a liquid that you put on your face, kind of like a soap that helps clean your face, and that's called a cleanser.

After Lucy washes her face with the cleanser, she then dries "it with a towel," "towel." A towel is a piece of cloth or material that you use to dry things with.
When Lucy is finished drying her face, she puts on "some toner," "toner." Toner is a liquid that women put on their face, usually just women. The liquid is
supposed to make the skin on a woman's face softer, and also a little bit firmer - a little bit tighter. This is something women do at night after they have cleaned their face, I think.

The word toner comes from the verb to tone, "tone," which has a couple of different meanings, but is often used when you are talking about your muscles - that you want to make your muscles stronger so that they look better. This is a case of using the word as a noun, with an "r" at the end, toner, and as we said, it is a liquid that some women put on their face at night.

Well, after Lucy puts this toner on her face, then she puts on "some moisturizer." Moisturizer, "moisturizer," comes from the word moist, "moist," which means wet, the opposite of dry. If we say something is moist, we mean that it is wet - there is water on it. A moisturizer, as a noun, is a liquid that women put on their face, and sometimes their arms and legs, to make the skin less dry - to give their skin more moisture, which is another noun that comes from the word moist. It also makes their skin a little softer.

Then Lucy combs her hair and ties "it back." To comb, "comb," as a verb, means to use an instrument to straighten your hair - to put it in a certain place - to move your hair in a certain way. The thing that you use is called a comb, "comb." So, it's both a verb and a noun. A comb is usually a long piece of plastic, sometimes metal, that has little - almost like little sticks that come out of it, and we call those little sticks the teeth of the comb, just like your teeth in your mouth.

Lucy combs her hair and ties "it back." To tie, "tie," something is to create - usually to create a little knot, "knot," which is when you take a piece of rope or string and you move it in such a way that it creates almost like a little lock, and we call that a knot. For example, when you are tying your shoes, you take the little strings in your shoes, such as tennis shoes - we called those strings shoelaces - and you tie knots in them so that they're tight. So, you tie a knot to keep a rope tight - to keep it from becoming loose.

In the story, Lucy says that she ties her hair back, which means she takes her hair, and because she has long hair, she takes her hair and she puts it toward the back of her head, and then she puts something around it to keep it there so it doesn't go back onto her face. This is tying it back.

Lucy says that she doesn't "like getting hair in" her "face," and that is why she ties her hair back. Then she flosses and brushes her teeth, and is now "ready for bed. By this time," she says," I am pretty beat," "beat." When you say you are pretty beat, you mean you are very tired.

Lucy goes into her bedroom and she gets undressed. To undress is the opposite of to dress. To dress means to put clothes on you, so to undress means to take your clothes off. To get undressed means to undress yourself - to take your clothes off.

Lucy takes her dirty clothes and puts them into a hamper. A hamper, "hamper," is also sometimes called a clothes hamper, and it's a little box, you can think of it as, it's a little box where you put your dirty clothes or dirty towels that has a top on it. It is - usually has a top on it, and that is a clothes hamper. You often find them in a bedroom or sometimes in a bathroom.

After Lucy puts her "dirty clothes in the hamper," she puts on her pajamas. Pajamas, "pajamas," is a type of clothes that you wear to bed. So, they're special clothes that you wear when you are going to go to bed and fall asleep.

Lucy takes off her slippers and pulls "back the covers." She removes her slippers, "slippers." Slippers are shoes that you wear inside your house. They are usually soft and comfortable. You wear them to keep your feet warm, and also to keep them clean from your floors. That's a slipper.

To "pull back the covers" means to take the blanket that is on your bed and to take the top and to pull it towards the bottom so that you can see the sheets of the bed. Covers, remember, "covers," are the blankets and the sheets that you put on top of your bed to keep you warm. So, you pull them back so you can get into the bed, and after you get into the bed, then you can pull them up - put them back over your body.

Lucy checks her alarm, or her alarm clock, to make sure that it is on and then she lays down. To lay, "lay," down means to put your body onto the bed. To lay down can also be used when you are putting your body down on the floor.

Lucy says that she has "this same ritual every night." A ritual, "ritual," is similar to a routine. It's when you do the same things in the same way over and over again. Every day you get up, you brush your teeth, you watch television, you go to work. That could be your ritual - your routine - what you do on a regular basis.

Ritual can also refer to a religious ceremony - a religious event, but here it just means the things that Lucy does every night.

She thinks that doing this ritual in the same way every night helps her "fall asleep more easily." To fall, "fall," asleep means to go to sleep. "It's not long," she says, "before I am fast asleep." To be fast asleep, "fast," means that you are completely asleep - that you cannot be easily woken up. You are very asleep,
you might say. You are fast asleep.

Well, I hope you have not fallen fast asleep and are ready to listen to our story again, this time at a regular speed.

[Start of story]

I am feeling pretty tired by 11:00 and decide to get ready for bed. I go into the bathroom to take off my make-up. I use a cleanser to wash my face and dry it with a towel. Then I put some toner on my face and then some moisturizer. I comb my hair and tie it back. I don’t like getting hair in my face while I sleep so
tying it back helps. I floss and brush my teeth, and am ready for bed. By this time, I am pretty beat.

I go into my bedroom and I get undressed. I put the dirty clothes in the hamper and put on my pajamas. I take off my slippers and pull back the covers. I check my alarm to make sure it’s on and then I lay down. I have this same ritual every night, which I think helps me fall asleep more easily. It’s not long before I’m fast
asleep.

[End of story]

That concludes episode ten of "A Day in the Life of Lucy," and it concludes this course. We hope you've enjoyed "A Day in the Life of Lucy." If you haven't heard of the other course in this series, "A Day in the Life of Jeff," go to our website at eslpod.com. You will also find more information about our other
special courses, sponsored by ESLPod.com.

From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening; we hope you've enjoyed this course.

This course has been a production of the Center for Educational Development, in beautiful Los Angeles, California. Visit our website at eslpod.com.

This course was produced by Dr. Jeff McQuillan and Dr. Lucy Tse. Copyright 2006.