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The Man

Date: Mar 08 2006

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.

What happens when a maverick federal agent (Samuel L. Jackson) teams up with an awkward dental supplies salesman (Eugene Levy)? Nothing funny!

The Man is an action comedy about Derrick Vann, a federal agent, and Andy Fiddler, a dental supplies salesman, who find themselves working together to recover a cache of stolen guns.

Listen to this excerpt from the movie.

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.

Andy

Derrick

Andy: What does all this have to do with me? I’m a salesman.

Derrick: What you are is a citizen who’s aiding a federal investigation. Every time these guys meet someone new, they’re on the look out for the man. And you sure as hell don’t look like the man.

Andy: The man?

Derrick: The cop, the heat, the po-po, five-oh.

Andy: Do you have a plan?

Derrick: What is the matter with you?

Andy: I’m now calling the shots.

Derrick: Oh, so you in charge now?! You the man?!

Andy: Yes, I am the man.

Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

Samuel L. Jackson has starred in some great movies, but The Man is not one of them. It’s not very funny or interesting, which is too bad because I really like him as an actor.

“The man” is an expression used that means ‘the police’ or ‘someone in power.’ There are a lot of English expressions that have similar meanings, such as ‘the heat,’ ‘the fuzz,’ and – be careful with this one – ‘pigs.’