What does 'cherry-pick' mean?

Feifei: Hello, this The English

We Speak. I'm Feifei...

Rob: ...and hello, I'm Rob.

Feifei: Why have you brought a bowl of

fruit into the studio?

Rob: I'm not feeling great - and

you know fruit is packed with

vitamin C, so I though eating

some would do me good.

Feifei: Hmm I see. Well, I'm sorry

you're not feeling great, but we have got

a programme to do and

an English phrase to teach.

Rob: If you don't mind, I might just read

a few lines from the script today - to save

my voice. Perhaps I could just

read the funny lines?

Feifei: No Rob! You can't just

cherry-pick what you want to say.

Rob: Cherry-pick? No Feifei, there aren't

any cherries in my fruit bowl - so

I won't be picking any.

Feifei: I wasn't referring to your fruit.

When you cherry-pick something,

it means you choose only what's best or

most desirable out of a group of

things or a group of people. But

Rob, you're not going to do that, are you?

Rob: Errr... shall we hear some examples

of other cherry pickers?

Josh says he cherry-picked the players for

his football team based on

their skills - but

I know it's because they were his friends!

We need to cherry-pick the best food

for our new restaurant - we really

want to impress our customers.

It seems unfair that our school

has cherry-picked the best students

to attend the conference

- we should all have a chance to go.

Feifei: You're listening to The English

We Speak from BBC Learning English

and we're talking about the phrase 'to

cherry-pick', which means to choose

the best or most desirable things from

a group. And Rob wants to cherry-pick

only the best lines to read from

this script. It's a bit unfair, Rob...

Rob: I was just trying to save

my voice but I will do my best.

Would you like a piece of fruit

from the bowl, Feifei?

Feifei: Oh, OK then. Err, that banana

is a bit mouldy...

that orange is a bit yellow..

I'll have this apple please.

Rob: Hmm, looks like you're cherry-picking the

best piece of fruit. Right, well,

now that you've got my delicious apple,

do you mind

if I go now - I'm really not feeling great.

Feifei: Oh go on, Rob. But next time

I'm going to cherry-pick who I present

with - someone who wants a bite of the

cherry to work with me.

'A bite of the cherry' means a chance

or opportunity. I need someone

with a bit more... stamina.

See ya.

Rob: Bye.