Talking at the table ⏲️ 6 Minute English - 雙語字幕
6-9th English from the BBC Hello, this is Six Minute English from BBC Learning English.
I'm Neil.
And Beth.
In this programme, we'll be discussing the dinner table.
But we're not interested in food.
We're talking about...
talking.
A lot can happen around the dinner table.
Gossip, arguments, you might meet the love of your life on a blind dinner date.
Or find out you're a great storyteller.
Neil, when you were younger, did you eat with your family around a dinner table?
We did.
Eating the table was an important ritual.
It something we did every day, and quite often it was the only time we could get together and chat.
I think there's something very comforting about eating good food and being with the people you're closest to,
and now I do the same with my own family.
The kids are more likely to open up, talk more easily.
or something troubling them while they're eating.
Well, the dinner table is a space that families
across the world get together at,
to not only eat, but chat, and is often the only point in the day or week that the whole family gathers together.
In this program, we'll be discussing how people behave at the table, and of course, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.
But first, I have a question.
In 2016, a couple from Germany won the world record for the fastest time to set a dinner table.
But long did it take them?
Was A, 25 seconds, B, 1 minute and 5 seconds or C, 2 minutes and 5 seconds?
Surely not 25 seconds.
I will guess 1 minute 5 seconds.
Okay Beth, I'll reveal the answer later in the program.
Now, while eating with a group, you might feel that you need to act in a certain way because of the people around you.
Philip a psychotherapist and author, thinks we should try to be ourselves as much as possible.
As told BBC World Service programme, the food chain.
And if we're only in one group,
if we're only ever with our family,
we might think, oh, I'm the funny one, he's the wise one, we might think that's who we are.
And then we go to another group, and then we find, oh, I'm the wise one.
And I think if you feel like you're assigned a role in your family,
I just think take that with a little bit of a pinch of salt,
When you spend time with the same group of people, you might start to think of yourself as the funny one, or the wise one.
When we say the one, we describe a person by using a particular and prominent characteristic they have.
If you're very tall, you might be the tall one.
However, Philippa says we should take these labels with a pinch of salt, an idiom meaning
you shouldn't believe or do everything you are told or that's expected of you.
Now over time,
interactions at the dinner table In the past,
children were sometimes seated on a different table to adults, or told they should be seen and not heard.
An old-fashioned phrase emphasising that children should be quiet and always on their best behaviour.
Andrea Meadows-Fernandez,
a writer and founder of Free Black Motherhood,
spoke about older generations' reactions to children asking awkward questions at the dinner table to BBC World Service Programme, the food chain.
So it's a mixed bag.
It's overwhelmingly positive,
but I also know that it is kind of a bit of a culture for them to hear my children ask the questions that they ask
because our children haven't really been raised with that line of demarcation between the adult table and the kid table.
Amberia says that the older generation's reactions to her children's questions at the table can be a mixed bag.
A mixed bag is a situation that can have positive and negative aspects.
She also says that it's a culture shock for them, a sense of feeling uncertain because you're in a different environment to usual.
Okay Beth, I think it's time I revealed the answer to my question.
I asked you what the world record is for the fastest time to set a dinner table.
And I said it was one minute and five seconds?
And that was the right answer.
That's not very long, is it?
Okay, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this program.
A phrasal verb meaning speak more easily than usual, particularly about worries or problems.
If someone is the funny one or the wise one, they're labelled by that particular characteristic.
To take something with a pinch of salt means you shouldn't believe everything.
Children should be seen and not heard is an old-fashioned phrase that means children should be quiet and behave well.
A mixed bag means something has both positive and negative aspects.
And finally, a culture shock is an uncertain feeling because you're in a new environment.
Once again, our six minutes are up.
Join us again soon for more useful vocabulary here at Six Minutes English.
Goodbye for now.
Goodbye.
We know you love Six Minute English, but have you tried our other podcast, news review where you can learn English from news headlines?
Or you might like office English.
It's all about the English we need.
To listen, head to our website, bbclearningenglish.com or search learning English for work in your podcast player.
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