Learn English Vocabulary Daily #16.5 — British English Podcast

Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast.

My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 16, Day 5 of Your English

Five a Day, the series that aims to increase your active vocabulary by

deep diving into five pieces every day of the week from Monday to Friday.

Let's start today's list with a noun and it is hustle, hustle.

We spell this H U S T L E.

Hustle.

Hustle.

Hustle means energetic action.

Now, you would normally hear this coupled with bustle.

Hustle and bustle.

So, that's a typical collocation; we often talk about the energy, the movement

of a crowd or a specific area, which is full of people as the hustle and bustle.

So, the hustle and bustle in the supermarket, the hustle and bustle

of the town, the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the energetic action.

Here's an example sentence,

"The team showed a lot of determination and hustle going into the finals of

the cross country championships."

I wish I could get a bit of hustle in my house in the mornings to get my

children moving because they just seem to take so long to get dressed, to get

their breakfast eaten, to do the things I've asked them to do, to get their

shoes on, get their coat on, and get out of the door, and get to school.

It's just like they have no energy, but then as soon as

they see their friends — pow!

They're like a firecracker, full of energy.

So, I need a bit more hustle in my house in the mornings.

If you have any tips, then please let me know.

Right, moving on to our next word, we have a verb and it is to curate.

Curate.

We spell this C U R A T E.

Curate.

To curate is to carefully choose, arrange, and present different items

in order to create a particular effect.

So, I might curate a selection of reading material, especially for you to learn

English, or a museum employee may curate certain pieces of art or artefacts to put

together a display about a certain topic.

So, they go out and they choose certain things.

Okay.

In museums and within the art world, these people are called curators.

Here's an example sentence:

"I've just seen your diary, you have too much on.

Let me help curate your day effectively so that you get the most out of it."

Next on our list, we have the phrasal verb engage in, engage in.

We spell this E N G A G E, engage.

In, I N.

To engage in something is to take part in it or to be involved in it.

So, I might engage in sporting activities which I do.

I often play squash and I engage in local sporting activities like climbing.

There's a big climbing event coming up that I'm engaged in.

I might engage in antisocial behaviour if I was going out and doing things

that were frowned upon, like causing trouble and maybe graffiting or

something terrible like that.

So, here's an example sentence,

"My sister is part of a team of scientists who are engaged in cancer research."

What are you currently engaged in?

Next on our list is another phrasal verb.

And it is slack off, slack off.

We spell this S L A C K, slack.

Off, O F F.

Slack off.

To slack off is to work less hard or less than is needed.

So, if we are both working hard to build a wall brick by brick, and I've

laid 40 bricks today, but you've only laid five, I will look at you and say,

"Oh my goodness, you are really slacking off today.

What's going on?

You need to work harder.

Come on, this isn't fair.

You're slacking off while I'm working hard.

But we're both being paid the same amount of money.

Come on!"

OK, here's another example sentence,

"My staff tend to slack off on Friday afternoons, I might just close

the office at 1 pm from now on!"

Gosh, that's a very understanding boss, isn't it?

Someone who just goes,

"Ah, my workforce aren't really engaged this afternoon, so I'm just gonna close

the office and send everybody home."

Have you ever slacked off?

I think we all have at some point or another.

Let's move on.

Last on our list is yet another phrasal verb and it is

throw oneself into something.

Usually say throw yourself into something or throw myself into something.

This is spelt T H R O W, throw yourself or oneself, which

is Y O U R S E L F, yourself.

Into, I N T O something.

To throw yourself into something is to do something with enthusiasm,

do it with effort, be excited and passionate about doing it.

So, for example, when I started this podcast, I really threw myself into it.

I did lots of research.

I planned my episodes.

I looked into getting good equipment.

And I recorded lots of episodes before I'd even published anything.

I really threw myself into it.

I wanted to do a good job.

So, to throw yourself into something.

Let's have another example,

"Mike has really thrown himself into his new role, I think it's just

what he needed to boost his career."

Right, let's recap.

We started with the noun hustle, meaning energetic action.

Then we moved on to a verb, to curate, which is all about choosing and

arranging a set of things in order to display them or for a particular reason.

Then we had the first of our phrasal verbs, engage in something, which is to

take part in or be involved in something.

Then we had the phrasal verb slack off, which is to work less hard.

And then we had the phrasal verb throw yourself into something,

which is to do something with enthusiasm, to really go for it.

Let's now do this for pronunciation purposes.

Repeat after me,

Hustle.

Hustle.

Curate.

Curate.

Engage in something.

Engage in something.

Slack off.

Slack off.

Throw yourself into something.

Throw yourself into something.

Okay, let me do a little test now.

If I'm talking about the energetic action within a city,

I would talk about the what?

The hustle.

And if I wanted to extend that, I might say the hustle and bustle.

If I am working for a museum and my job is to select a variety of

modern paintings, what am I doing?

Curating.

I'm curating.

And if when I start that job, I don't actually work very hard, maybe

I do on the first week, but after that, I don't work very hard at all,

what phrasal verb could you use to describe my action or lack of action?

Slack off.

Yes, I am slacking off.

But after my boss gives me a good telling-off, then I am

going to now continue to do my work with great enthusiasm.

You could use the phrasal verb that I am...

throwing myself into it.

But if during my time with the museum, I start getting involved in

a little bit of illegal activity, you could use the phrasal verb...

engaged in.

Naughty Anna engaged in illegal activities while working at the museum.

Not the British Museum, is it, by any chance?

Someone was smuggling artwork out of there recently, or at

least it came to light recently.

So, that's our five for today.

Let's bring them all together in a little story.

In the heart of New York City, amidst the constant hustle of city life, I

found myself standing in the grand halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Back then, I was a young and enthusiastic curator, charged with curating the

most interesting and thought-provoking pieces that would excite the art world.

I was deeply engaged in my latest project ― the unveiling of a long-lost masterpiece.

The museum was buzzing with anticipation; art enthusiasts

and historians had gathered in droves for this landmark event.

For months, I had dedicated myself to this day, meticulously researching

and preparing every detail.

Despite feeling slightly overwhelmed and tired, I had thrown myself into

the restoration of this painting, the design of the exhibit, there was so much

to do, so no time to be slacking off.

This was no ordinary piece; it was a recently discovered work of

Leonardo da Vinci, a portrait of a mysterious woman whose enigmatic smile

could rival that of the Mona Lisa.

As the crowds gathered around the exhibit, I took a deep breath and

pulled back the velvet curtain.

A hush fell over the room, every eye transfixed on the unveiled masterpiece.

The colours were more vibrant than I remembered, the

details even more mesmerising.

It was a moment of sheer magic.

But then, something extraordinary caught my eye.

As I shared the history behind the painting, a small, hidden symbol in the

corner of the canvas drew my attention.

A rush of excitement surged through me as I realised its

significance ― it was a clue leading to another lost Da Vinci artwork!

The museum erupted into a frenzy of excitement.

Historians began theorising, art lovers whispered in amazement,

and the news spread like wildfire.

This discovery, I knew, would mark a new chapter in the annals of art history.

That day, the Metropolitan Museum of Art transformed from a mere building housing

art into a realm of discovery and wonder.

And I, once just a humble curator, had become a part of history, my name

forever intertwined with one of the greatest discoveries in the art world.

And that brings us to the end of today's episode and the end of Week 16.

I do hope you'll join me tomorrow for our usual Saturday episode.

And until then, take very good care, have a wonderful weekend, and goodbye.