Episode 233 English Listening Practise - The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

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Episode 233 English Listening Practise - The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - Don't Panic!

1M ago 12:11

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Welcome to Emma's ESL English!

Today, we're doing something a little different—and a lot of fun! I'm reading an excerpt from the famous British sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

You’ve probably heard me say “Don’t Panic” before—and now you’ll learn where it comes from!

📘 In this reading, you’ll:

Hear real British English from a classic book
Learn new vocabulary and adjectives in context
Explore British humor and science fiction
Discover what a Babel Fish is and why you might want one in your ear!

🪐 Whether you're a fan of sci-fi or just love learning English through stories, this episode is packed with useful language, idioms, and laughs.

This book was originally made as a BBC radio show. It might be worth checking it out just for the sound effects, which were the most expensive in the BBC at the time! You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnOdAqe8beU

Our section starts at 12:31, it's not exactly the same as the book though. Mostly just listen for the sounds effects. There are a lot of less used adjectives today, as well as some words related to aliens, so I'll write those here:

Squalid - very dirty and disgusting
Grubby - not very clean
Cramped - small and uncomfortable
Rummaged - to dig around in a bag to find something
Snatched - to grab quickly
'was still holding it as if it was a two-week-dead lark' - lark is a British bird, so he's holding the book away from himself and touching it as little as possible, like he's holding a dead bird
Bureaucratic - love paperwork, or requires a lot of paperwork
Officious - does everything in a bossy, official kind of way
Callous - unkind and mean
Loophole - a gap in an otherwise tightly planned contract or plan that gives you a way around or forward.
Impoverished Hitchhiker - someone trying to get a free ride, who has no money
Unsuspecting soul - someone who is just minding their own business, not expecting anything strange to happen
Antenna - the things on the top of the heads of snails...and aliens
Demolished - destroyed
Cornflakes - common British breakfast cereal
Gargle - the noise you make when you swill your mouth with mouthwash
Tannoy - loudspeaker
Lightning movement - very fast
Slithering - the way a snake moves...but wet!
Scrabbled - when you're moving your hands trying to catch something
Goggle- eyed - making your eyes big, usually in surprise or amazement
Semblance - appearance

Alien language (you'll never need to know again!)

Dentrassi - a species of alien that is known to be a good chef and drinks mixer
Vogon - a species of alien that is very mean, rude and obnoxious and won't help anyone - very bad poets
Sqornshellous Zeta - a planet that has swamps where the mattresses are grown
Vogon Constructor Fleet - the ships that demolished Earth, they build and destroy planets.
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal - a space monster
Altairian Dollar - international common currency
Teaser - rich kid who plays tricks on planets that haven't travelled to space yet (only works for this book...well all this vocabulary only works for this book!)
Betelgeuse - the planet where Ford Prefect is from (Ford Prefect is the name he took when he came to Earth because he thought it was the most common name...he didn't realise cars weren't the sentient creatures on the planet.)
Babel Fish - the fish Ford puts in Arthur's ear is a Babel Fish. This fish is able to allow the user to understand any language in the universe.

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