第五天 A VISIT TO THE ADVISOR1
In this conversation, an international student has been asked to see her advisor. The advisor has something very important to discuss with the student.
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Student: You wanted to see me?
Advisor: That's right. We need to have a serious talk.
Student: about what?
Advisor: Your attendance--or rather, lack of it.
Student: OK, so I've ditched class a few times . . .
Advisor: A few times? I've been told you've missed six out of eight times in two different classes! That's really setting yourself up to fail.
Student: Oh, come on. Those classes are really boring!
Advisor: But they're also required, so that doesn't matter. You're about to be in big trouble.
Student: What's the big deal about missing some classes?
Advisor: The big deal is that you're here on a student visa.
Student: So?
Advisor: So if you don't attend class regularly, you won't be a full-time2 student--which your visa requires. You'll be out of status.
Student: What are you gonna do? Turn me in to the Immigration Police?
Advisor: Oh, of course I'll have to report you if you continue missing your class, but I'm going to do something else first.
Student: Like what?
Advisor: Like faxing your father.
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Notes on Vocabulary
1. ditched class: intentionally3 missed class
2. setting yourself up to fail: doing what is necessary to cause failure
3. . . . so that doesn't matter: . . . so that isn't important.
4. What's the big deal about missing some classes?: What's so important about missing some classes?
5. out of status: not meeting the requirements to keep your visa status
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Notes on Usage
1. You wanted to see me?
The student changes a statement to a question by using question intonation4, not by using an auxiliary5 verb .
People often use this kind of question in conversational6 language to suggest that they think a statement may not be true or accurate.
2. about what?
Reduced questions are also very common in conversational language. The full form would be something like What do we need to have a serious talk about? or about what do we need to have a serious talk?
3. Your attendance--or rather lack of it
Reduced answers are much more common than full answers in conversational language. The advisor means We need to have a serious talk about your attendance--or rather, your lack of attendance.
4. OK, so . . .
Both OK and so are used very frequently in conversational language. Here, the student uses OK, so . . . to show that she admits that she's missed class a few times.
5. A few times?
A reduced answer; the advisor means something like What do you mean by a few times? By using a few times, the student suggests that she hasn't missed class enough times to cause a problem. By questioning a few times , the advisor is saying that there have been many absences, not just a few.
6. Oh, come on.
This expression is used to show that what has just been said is unreasonable7 or illogical. The student doesn't understand why missing some boring classes is setting herself up to fail.
7. So?
This one-word question is used when one doesn't understand the relationship or consequence that follows from what has just been said.
8. gonna
There are many relaxed pronunciations of commonly used phrases . These forms are very common in spoken English, but they're not acceptable in most written work.
9. Turn me in to . . . ?
A reduced question: Are you going to turn me in to . . . ?
10. Like what?
A reduced question: What will the 'something else' be like?