Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
The TV is on, the lights are shining, the refrigerator is humming, the radio is playing-and then, suddenly, everything goes dark. And silent. There’s been a blackout! Blackouts occur when the electricity stops working for some reason. They can last an hour, or a day, or more.
There’s also another kind of blackout. This kind happens when you get hit really hard in the head. Or maybe when you take too many painkillers, or drink too much alcohol. A sort of mental blackout happens, and, the next day, you can’t remember a whole part of your night.
Jeff is still worried that he might have something to do with Marni’s pregnancy. In this English lesson video, we learn the meaning of the English idiom “blackout,” and find out what happens when Jeff asks Greta Vanderlake for advice.
3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
Jeff: Ms. Vanderlake?
Greta: Oh, call me Greta.
Jeff: OK, well, Greta, I was wondering, since we’re stuck here, if you could help me out with something.
Greta: Stuck here?
Jeff: Yeah, you didn’t hear about the roads being shut down from the storm? All the bus systems, everything.
Greta: Um. Well, I…There’s really no way out of this is there?
Jeff: Can I ask you this?
Greta: Have a seat.
Jeff: OK. Alright. About eight months ago, I had dental surgery.
Greta: OK…
Jeff: And basically, I was under anesthesia, and I blacked out for the entire weekend. I can’t remember a thing. So, after the weekend came and went, Marni told us all she was pregnant. And, basically, I think I’m the father.
Greta: Wow, that’s quite a story. So what makes you think you’re the dad?
Jeff: Well, I could have done anything that weekend. I was blacked out.
Greta: Right, but are you and Marni lovers? Did you used to date?
Jeff: Oh, no no no. Of course not. In fact, she’s back together with her ex.
Greta: But, there’s got to be something more to it, right? Did she give you some kind of sign, anything, to make you think you might be the dad?
Jeff: No, she just keeps calling me crazy.
Greta: Well, sweetie, I think that’s because you are crazy. Just because you blacked out doesn’t mean that you got somebody pregnant! You probably just stayed home. Why would you think you went out and somehow seduced your boss? I think that maybe you have some unresolved feelings here, but you are definitely not the father of Marni’s baby. That just seems like…
Jeff: What the…
Greta: The power must be out. There’s a blackout in the whole area. I don’t see any lights. Oh! I will light some scented candles. It’s another product that I endorse.
Mason: Hey, guys.
Jeff: Oh, hey, Mason.
Mason: Can I hang out with you? I…I’m a little scared of the dark.
Greta: Aw…
Jeff: Well, Ms. Vander…Greta, and I were actually having a conversation…
Greta: Oh no, we’re set.
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Jeff asks Greta if she might be able to offer him some advice, since they’re both stuck in the office because of the storm. He tells Greta about the time he blacked out after dental surgery, and that he thinks he’s the father of Marni’s baby.
Greta asks the question that perhaps many of you have been wondering: Why does Jeff think he’s the father? Were he and Marni ever lovers, or did they date? Jeff assures her that they didn’t. Greta says that she thinks, therefore, that Jeff is definitely not the father.
Just then, the lights go out. The storm caused a blackout in the whole area. It turns out Mason’s afraid of the dark, so he comes to hang out with Greta and Jeff.
Did you ever have an experience when you blacked out and couldn’t remember what happened? What about the other kind of blackout; have you ever experienced one?
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