Pre-Listening Exercise
Where do you or your family go grocery shopping on a regular basis? What are typical things you buy and how much does your family spend on groceries per week? (Ask your family if you don’t know.) Do you ever collect supermarket coupons to buy food at a discount?
Idioms
“buy into” = believe an idea
“Unfortunately, a lot of young people buy into the idea that they have to wear expensive clothes to be popular.”
“eat your words” = admit that you are wrong
“My roommate said I couldn’t cook, but now he’ll have to eat his words because I made this complete dinner by myself.”
Listening Exercise
A. Listen to the recording and answer the questions.
Man: Hey. Can you give me a hand with the groceries? And I told you I could do the shopping.
Woman: Wow! Do we really need all this stuff? Let me see that receipt.
Man: Hey, I only bought the essentials.
Woman: Okay. Let’s see. Dog food. Twenty-four dollars and seventy cents ($24.70)? We don’t even have a dog!
Man: Well, it WAS going to be a surprise, but look in the back of the truck.
Woman: What?
Man: Ah, ha, hah. Speechless. I knew you’d love him.
Woman: That thing? That dog’s as big as a horse. He probably eats like one, too.
Man: Ah, but he’s sure friendly. And someone was giving him away at the supermarket, and I . . . I . . . I couldn’t let that poor thing pass another day without a loving home.
Woman: Whatever. Where was I? Eighteen dollars and nineteen cents ($18.19) for twenty-four cans of tomato juice? You don’t even like that stuff!
Man: Ahhhh. Not yet. I’ve decided to change my eating habits.
Woman: Right.
Man: You’ll see, you’ll see.
Woman: Okay. Let’s see. Three eighty-four ($3.84) for a box of chocolate cookies and twelve fifty-six ($12.56) for a case of soft drinks. [Yeah!] Changing your eating habits, huh? Do you really think that cookies are some type of diet food?
Man: Hey, I’ll just eat a cookie or two every other hour. In fact, they’re a great source of carbohydrates for energy. And, you see, the tomato juice and cookies kind of, you know, cancel each other out.
Woman: Oh brother. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Let’s see. Where was I? A carton of eggs, two fifty ($2.50) for a gallon of milk, three cans of tuna. Okay. [Yeah.] And finally two steaks for eight fourteen ($8.14) . Now, something worth enjoying. I’ll get the grill started.
Man: Oh, we . . . w . . . well. The steaks are for Herbert.
Woman: Herbert. Who’s Herbert?
Man: Uh, he’s the dog. [No!] You see, the previous owner said that he’s kind of . . . he’s somewhat picky about what he eats, [No!], and the steaks might help him adjust [Absolutely not!] . . . . no, no, no, and the steaks might help him adjust to his new home. Hey, what are you doing? Oh, no. Why did you throw the steaks out on the ground outside?
Woman: Well, now, you and Herbert can get to know each other better. I’m going out to eat by myself.
Man: Ughh.
Vocabulary and Sample Sentences
- give someone a hand (idiom): help someone, especially with something that requires physical work
– A store employee gave my mom a hand to load the groceries in the car. - groceries (noun): food and other things sold at a supermarket
– She bought some groceries for tonight’s party. - stuff (noun): type(s) of thing(s) (singular or plural)
– You can buy that stuff at any grocery store. - receipt (noun): a small piece of paper that shows what you bought at a store
– You need the receipt to return that stuff to the store. Otherwise, they won’t refund your money. - essentials (noun): the most needed things
– You can buy all of the essentials for your trip in this section of the mall. - speechless (adjective): unable to speech because you are angry, unhappy/happy, embarrassed, or surprised
– His behavior left me speechless because he spent so much without talking with his wife. - give away (phrasal verb): give something without selling it, especially when you do not need it anymore
– The store was giving away free samples of fried chicken. - whatever (interjection): used when you don’t care what the person says
– A: Are you really going to eat all that ice cream?
B: Sure, why not?
A: Whatever. I told you before that you won’t lose weight that way, but you never listen to me. I’m done giving you advice. - case (noun): a large box or container in which things are sold or stored
– Could you pick up three cases of chicken soup? I thought we could give some away to family and friends who really need it. - carton (noun): a small cardboard box that contains food or drink
– She drank a small carton of juice! - adjust (verb): get used to a new situation
– It often takes time to adjust to new foods.