Подкаст: "Broken"

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In our lives we have lots of machines and electrical equipment – things like cars and washing machines, video recorders and mobile phones. Most of the time they work OK. But sometimes they do not. Today's podcast is about the words we use when something does not work. No, not those sorts of words! I mean the vocabulary we need to talk about things that don't work. So, imagine that you have a washing machine and it doesn't work. There is water all over the floor and a smell of burnt rubber. What might you say?

• The washing machine has broken
• it has broken down
• it is not working properly
• it is not working at all
• it won’t work
• it won’t go
• or, as people say in America, the washing machine is bust.

So what do we do? The first step is:

• to diagnose the problem
• or, in more normal speech, we find out what is wrong

Then we need to get the washing machine working again. We:

• fix it
• mend it
• repair it

And if we cannot mend it ourselves:

• we get someone to mend it for us
• or, we get the washing machine repaired

OK? Everything clear?

Kevin and Joanne get into the car. They plan to drive to a nice pub in the country for lunch. Kevin puts the key in the ignition and turns it. But the engine will not start. The car has broken down. It will not go. Kevin and Joanne get out. They look under the bonnet.

"It could be the carburettor," says Kevin, "over here."

"Kevin, that's not the carburettor. It's the bottle with water for washing the windscreen," says Joanne. "The carburettor is here."

"Right", says Kevin. "The trouble is, I don't know how to repair it. What can we do?"

They get back into the car. "I know", says Kevin. "I'll get the AA man to come and fix it".

"Kevin," says Joanne, "are you sure there is petrol in the tank?"

"Of course I am sure," says Kevin, looking at the fuel guage. "Oh no. Where's the petrol can?"

Here is Miss Melissa Forbes. She has a friend with broken wings. Can you fix broken wings? No, I can't fix broken wings either. Sorry, Melissa.

Источник подкаста: listen-to-english.

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