英語学習奮闘記

7歳児と4歳児双子娘の育児と英語勉強両立。英検1級。TOEIC930。邁進中。

実ビジ・ディクテーション:10/3:Endangered(1)

Collins declines Umemura's invitation to lunch, saying she brought sandwiches from home.

She adds that 65% US workers now eat at their desk or don't take lunch breaks.

Umemura expresses surprise at this change from what he thought was a fixed custom,

And Collins says the pressure to be productive has left many people with no time for break.

Umemura says going out to eat helps think him more clearly.

Take a break from:

A similar expressions to this is take a breazerbreather.

I'lli.e. take a short break , a rest or something.

As if we're posingpausing to catch our breath.

Imagine, you're in a long meeting.

After 1 hour or so, someone says

Let's take a breazerbreather, have some coffee.

Pull someone's leg:

This is trying to trick someone into believing something that is not true.

put someone's on is another way to say this.

In Japanese 赤の他人 is a total stranger, right?

A friend once tried to convince me that 黄色の他人

meant someone you know slightly.

He was pulling my leg, of course. He was pulling me on.

Catch up on:

Collins means make up for lost ground or tackle a backlog in some activity.

She also could have said get clockcaught up on.

So if I need to catch up on my sleep, then I haven't been getting enough sleep

and I need to make up for that.

Or you might read a newspaper to get caught up on worlds events

If you haven't been following the news recently.

Sad to say:

This is pretty self-explanatory, it means, unfortunately, I'm sad to say this.

A business article could contain athe sentence,

Sad to say, exports will remain sluggish next year.

Institution:

Umemura is talking about a long established, familiar custom or practice in some society or group.

And there is a sense of being unchanging you know a fixture.

Football andon thanks giving day is an another American institution.

Going to a shrine at new year is a Japanese institution.

Spare:

Spare has a number of meanings this one is give or use something out of our resources.

Let's say a chairdablecharitable organization asks me for a donation.

I might say, I'm sorry I can't spare the money right now.

But I could spare some time to volunteer.

Go out for a bite:

Go out to get something to eat in other words.

It's common to invite someone this way.

Shall we go out for a bite?

Or want to grab a bite?

Gain a new perspective on:

Prospective is a mental view oryou know, outlook on something.

For example, living in a foreign country or learning foreign language gives us a new prospective on many aspects of life.