Phil
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. This is the podcast where every week we have a conversation in easy English to help you learn. I’m Phil.
Georgie
And I’m Georgie. You can watch this podcast on our website, where you’ll also find a transcript and a worksheet to help you learn. Go to bbclearningenglish.com.
Phil
Hi Georgie. How are things?
Georgie
Things are good, thank you, Phil. How are you?
Phil
I’m good. I am a little bit thirsty though.
Georgie
Are you, Phil? Well, today we’re going to talk about water – drinking it, using it and hopefully not wasting it.
Phil
So, Georgie, do you like drinking water?
Georgie
I was going to say that I think everyone likes drinking water, but actually, I do know people that don’t like drinking water. I do like drinking water. I always bring a bottle of water to the office. Neil used to laugh at me because I had a bottle that was about two litres. So, yeah, I do like water. What about you?
Phil
Yeah, I like to drink water. I think I drink quite a lot in a day, and sometimes I feel bad if I don’t. It makes me feel much better. But my children find drinking water boring. They’re always asking for juice or, well, fizzy drinks as well, but we don’t let them usually.
Georgie
Oh really?
Phil
But yeah, I ask them to drink water and they don’t. They don’t want to and I don’t understand it.
Georgie
You can make water a bit more interesting by putting, like, a flavoured cordial in it, like a strawberry or berry flavoured thing. Do you do that? Do you have that at home?
Phil
Maybe I should try it. Maybe that’s what we need to do.
Georgie
Yeah. How much water do you drink? Do you think you drink enough?
Phil
I don’t really measure it, but I usually drink when I’m thirsty. And if I don’t drink water, I notice it because I don’t feel good if I haven’t drunk enough water.
Georgie
Yeah. Sometimes I get a headache if I don’t drink enough water.
Phil
And we’ve been talking about drinking water, but of course we use water for lots of things apart from drinking. Do you ever try to save water, Georgie?
Georgie
Yes, I do. I try to not have too many showers. I’m not stinky, but I have one shower a day. And I try to… I do love to have a bath, but I think it’s better to have a shower. I think you save more water by having a shower. What else do I do to save…? What do you do to save water, Phil?
Phil
One thing we do is we collect rainwater to water the plants in the garden. It depends how much it’s rained, but if we have that, then it’s good to use that. Also trying to make sure we fix things if a tap is dripping or there’s a leak somewhere. Trying to fix a leak – that can help save water.
Georgie
Those are really good. Good ways to save water. Phil, have you ever experienced a drought? So, a drought is a period of time where there’s not enough rain.
Phil
There have been times where you hear about there not being enough rain and people are worried about it. But it’s not common here that you can’t get water. Often, they ask you not to use water to water your plants or wash your car or something. So, yeah, and I think it is getting more common that you hear about droughts more here.
Georgie
Yeah, it sometimes happens in the summer. I remember when I was younger, they told us to stop using the hosepipe – so, like a long tube that you use to water plants. But it doesn’t usually last that long in this country. We are very lucky. I’ve been to other countries where they have lots of signs in the bathrooms saying please save water, don’t use too much water, to try to avoid wasting… wasting so much water.
Phil
Let’s recap the language we heard during this conversation, starting with thirsty. And if you feel thirsty, it means you feel like you need to drink something.
Georgie
We also heard enough, which means as much as you need. Phil and I think that we drink enough water.
Phil
And then we heard drought, which is a period with little or no rain.
Georgie
And during a drought you need to save water. If you save water, you use less.
Phil
But if you waste water, then you use water that you don’t need.
Georgie
And that’s it for this episode of Real Easy English. Head to our website for more programmes to help you with your English. That’s bbclearningenglish.com.
Phil
And we’ll be back next week with another conversation in easy English. Bye for now!
Georgie
Goodbye!