EnglishPod 125 - Elementary - No Smoking
Conversation
A: It smells like an ashtray in here!
B: Hi honey! What's wrong? Why do you have that look on your face?
A: What's wrong? I thought we agreed that you were gonna quit smoking.
B: No! I said I was going to cut down which is very different. You can't just expect me to go cold turkey overnight!
A: Look, there are other ways to quit. You can try the nicotine patch, or nicotine chewing gum. We spend a fortune on cigarettes every month and now laws are cracking down and not allowing smoking in any public place. It's not like you can just light up like before.
B: I know, I know. I am trying but, I don't have the willpower to just quit. I can't fight with the urge to reach for my pack of smokes in the morning with coffee or after lunch! Please understand?
A: Fine! I want a divorce!
Key Vocabulary
Pack of smokes (common noun, singular): A box of cigarettes
Urge (common noun, singular): A strong impulse, inner drive, or yearning
Light up (phrase): To start smoking a cigarette
Willpower (common noun, singular): The strength of mind to carry out a decision
Nicotine chewing gum (common noun, singular): Gum that slowly releases nicotine into the body
Crack down (phrase): To act more forcefully to regulate or repress
Cold turkey (phrase): Immediate, complete withdrawal from something
Nicotine patch (common noun, singular): A patch that slowly releases nicotine into the body
Ashtray (common noun, singular): A receptacle for tobacco ashes and cigarettes and cigars
Cut down (principle verb, present simple): Reduce he amount taken or used
Supplementary Vocabulary
Drag (common noun, singular): Smoking a cigarette once, a puff, share a cigar with someone
Tar (common noun, singular): A solid, sticky substance that remains when tobacco is burned. It accumulates in the lungs of smokers and is considered carcinogenic.
Lighter (common noun, singular): A mechanical device for lighting a cigarette, cigar, or pipe.
Match (common noun, singular): A thin strip of wood or cardboard tipped with a chemical that ignites when scraped against a rough or specially treated surface
Stogie (common noun, singular): Informal of saying cigarette
Butt (common noun, singular): The end of the cigarette which contains the filter and is placed in the mouth to smoke