0005 Getting Dressed & Ready for Work

[Start of story]

I go back into my bedroom and open up closet door. I have about 30 dress shirts, 10 pairs of pants, a half-dozen ties, and some sweaters, suit jackets, and t-shirts. I pull out a clean pair of socks and underwear, and then decide which shirt I’m going to wear today. I’m terrible at color coordinating, so I usually bring my wife in at this point to help match my shirt and pants. I put on my belt with the silver buckle and polish my shoes. I put my cell phone and car keys in my front pocket, and my wallet in the back one.

I put on my glasses and check myself in the mirror to make sure I look okay, and then go into the home office to get my bag. I used to carry a more traditional briefcase, but now I just use my computer bag to hold my laptop and my papers. Now it’s back into the kitchen to grab my Thermos on the way out the door. I lock the door and then hurry to my car in the garage. I’m usually running late and today is no exception!

[End of story]

Part four is called “Getting Dressed and Ready for Work.” We began by me going into the bedroom and opening up my closet door. “To open up” means here to open the door. A “closet” (closet) is a place, usually in your bedroom, where you put clothes—you store your clothing. You can also have a closet in other parts of your house, and it's usually a place where you keep things—you store things.

Well, I “open up my closet door” and I look at my dress shirts. My “dress (dress) shirts” – two words. are the nice shirts, the shirts that I can wear to work. The opposite of a dress shirt would be a “casual shirt” (casual). A dress shirt is a nice shirt; something that usually has a collar on it. A “collar” (collar) is the top of the shirt, what goes around the neck.

Well, I look at my dress shirts and I look, also, at my “pants” (pants). Pants are what you put on your legs. You can have different kinds of pants. Jeans is a type of pants. We might say dress pants for nice pants that you would wear to work. I also have “ties”. A “tie” (tie) is a long, thin thing that goes around your neck that men usually wear—often wear to work, and it comes in different colors, and that's your tie.

A “sweater” (sweater) is something that keeps you warm. It's like a shirt that's very thick. You usually put a sweater over your shirt so that you can be warm. “Suit jackets” (suit jackets) – two words – are jackets that you wear that are for a formal occasion. So, if you are going to work, especially if you were going to an interview, you would wear a suit jacket. The word “suit” (suit) refers to a formal set of clothing for, in this case, a man. For a man it would be pants and a, probably, white shirt and a suit jacket that goes over your shirt. Usually, you would also have a tie that you wear. That's a suit. Well, a suit jacket is part of a suit.

A “t-shirt,” spelled (t-shirt)is a plain shirt that you usually wear underneath a dress shirt. So first, you put on a t-shirt—a white t-shirt—then you would put on your shirt, and then you would put on you jacket. T-shirts can also be used by themselves as your main shirt. It is usually an informal occasion that you would just wear a t-shirt. You probably wouldn't wear a t-shirt to your office, for example, though some people do. And, many people have t-shirts that have things on them—that say things on them. T-shirts usually do not have a collar like a dress shirt does.

“I pull out a pair of socks and underwear.” “Socks” (socks) are the things you put on your feet before you put your shoe on. Socks can be dark, or they can be light or white socks. Normally you don't wear white socks with a formal suit; you would wear black or dark blue socks.

“Underwear” is the piece of clothing that you put on and it covers up all of the—how should we say—things that you want to cover so that you can keep your pants and shirt clean. Underwear is something that goes over your back of your body, your butt or your rear, as well as the front of the body, whatever you have there. Underwear can come for men in two basics styles usually. There can be boxer underwear, or “boxer” shorts (boxer) and that's a kind of short—or rather, a kind of underwear that it is loose on the bottom. So, it's almost like a pair of shorts. The opposite of that would be “briefs” (briefs). Briefs would be underwear that is not loose at the bottom; it's tight at the bottom of the underwear. Usually it's a little smaller as well.

I “then decide which shirt I'm going to wear today. “I'm terrible,” I say, “at color coordinating.” “Color coordinating” means you wear things that have similar or matching colors. So, if you wore a pink shirt you would probably not wear green pants because they don't do together, we would say; they don't look very good with each other. Color coordinating is finding the right colors that you wear on your—with your shirt, and your pants, and your tie, and your jacket, and your socks, and your shoes. All of those have to be color coordinated. The verb “to coordinate,” (coordinate) means to put two things together so that they work well together, in this case.

Well, since I'm so terrible—I'm so bad—at color coordinating I usually bring in my wife, that is I go and ask my wife to come into the room. So, I “bring my wife in”—to the room— “at this point to help me,” meaning at this time, when I've already picked out some things, then I bring my wife to help me “match my shirt and pants.” I want them color coordinate.

“I put on my belt with the silver buckle and polish my shoes.” A “belt” (belt) is what you use to keep your pants from falling down. A buckle is the piece of, usually, metal in the front that connects the belt so it forms a circle around your body. I have a silver buckle that I put on with my belt.

I also “polish my shoes.” “To polish” (polish) means to clean and to make “shiny” (shiny). When we say something is shiny, we mean that it's bright—it reflects light. So, when you polish your shoes, you want them to be clean but you also want them to look like they are bright—they are reflecting light. I polish my shoes and my head, so it's very shiny!

“I put my cell phone,” my cellular or mobile phone, “and car keys in my front pocket.” You have front pockets and you have back pockets in a pair of pants. So, I put my keys and cell phone in the front pocket “and my wallet in the back” pocket. My “wallet” (wallet) is where I put my money and my credit cards and my driver's license; all of those things go in my wallet.

“I put on my glasses,” because I cannot see without my glasses very well, and I “check myself in the mirror.” “To check yourself” means to look at yourself, usually in a mirror, and you can see how you look. I usually look pretty ugly. I check myself in the mirror, and then I go into my “home office,” or my office in my house and get my bag. I used to carry a more traditional briefcase.” A “briefcase” (briefcase) – all one word – is not something that you put your underwear in—your briefs. A briefcase means the thing that you carry papers in when you are going from your home to your office. Usually a briefcase is square and it usually has hard sides on it, many times it has a lock on the top; that's a briefcase. A lot of people nowadays do not use a briefcase; they use a computer bag—a bag that they can put their computer and other information in, including their papers.

Well, I put my things into my computer bag, then I go “back into the kitchen to grab my Thermos,” to get or take my Thermos with my coffee in it “on the way out the door.” The expression, “on the way out,” means that you are about to leave or you are leaving your house, in this case. Somebody may call you on the phone and you are getting ready to go to dinner, you could say, “I can't talk right now, I'm on my way out the door,” means I'm just getting ready to leave.

Well, before I leave—before I'm going out the door—I “grab my Thermos. I lock the door,” to my house, “and then I hurry to my car in the garage.” The “garage” (garage) is the place where you keep your car.

“I'm usually running late and today is no exception!” When you are running late, you are behind your schedule; you're behind time that you want to be somewhere. “To run late” means the same as to be late or to be tardy (tardy). Usually that word, “tardy,” is only used in school. We say a student is tardy, we mean that they are late for school or late for class. To be running late means that you are not on the schedule that you want to be on—that you did not leave at the time you wanted to leave.

I say “I'm running late and today is no exception!” That expression, “is no exception” (exception) means that today is the same as every other day—it is not different. An exception is when something is different. Well, today is no different, that means today is no exception—it is not different.

Glossary
closet – a very small room or a piece of furniture for storing clothes and shoes

• Kevin needs to stop buying so many clothes. He can’t even close his closet doors!

dress shirt – a man’s shirt worn for office work, with a collar, buttons, and long sleeves

• Do you think it’s okay for a man to wear a pink dress shirt to work?

pants – clothing worn over the legs

• Jennifer couldn’t decide whether she wanted to wear pants or a skirt, so she chose a dress instead.

tie – a long, narrow piece of fabric worn around a man’s neck

• He doesn’t like wearing ties because he says they make it hard for him to breathe.

sweater – a heavy, knitted shirt made of cotton or wool yarn (material that looks like a thick string)

• It’s very cold outside, so you and your sister should put on your sweaters if you want to play at the park.

suit jacket – a piece of formal clothing worn over a shirt, with long sleeves and buttons on the front, usually worn in formal business settings

• The sleeves of his suit jacket are too short. He needs to buy a new one for his interview.

t-shirt – a comfortable, casual, short-sleeved cotton shirt with no collar, often with a design or picture on the front

• You don’t have to dress up to come to my party. I plan to just wear a t-shirt and jeans.

socks – clothing worn on one’s feet

• In the winter, I wear socks and shoes, but in the summer, I prefer to wear sandals without socks.

underwear – clothing worn next to the skin and under other clothing

• We have to do laundry today because I don’t have any clean underwear!

to color coordinate – to identify things that look good together because they have the same or colors that look good together

• Her bedroom walls, floors, pictures, and toys are all color coordinated. I have never seen so much green in one room!

buckle – a piece of metal used to connect two ends of a belt, shoe, or bag

• American cowboys often wore large belt buckles with images of their daily life.

to polish – to rub something to make it shine

• Before going to the wedding, I need to polish my black shoes so they’ll look nice with my suit.

wallet – a piece of leather or heavy fabric with many pockets that is used to store money and credit cards

• He needed to clean out his wallet because it was too full of business cards and receipts to fit in his pocket.

to check (oneself) – to look at oneself, searching for something that looks wrong or is out of place

• I wish I had checked myself in the mirror before the big meeting because I had food between my teeth.

briefcase – a flat bag with a handle to carry documents, usually used by office workers to carry papers between their home and the office

• She forgot her briefcase at home and had to ask her husband to bring it to her at the office so she’d have her notes for the presentation.

garage – a room in a house for parking cars

• They have so many things in their garage that they almost don’t have room to park their car!

to run late – to be delayed; to be behind schedule; to be in a hurry because one needs to be somewhere very soon

• I didn’t have time to say goodbye to everyone at the lunch meeting because I was running late for my flight back to New York.

today is no exception – today is the same; today is not different

• I usually receive a lot of emails and today is no exception. This morning I had 238 messages in my inbox!

Culture Note
Reducing Access to Sugary Beverages Among Young People

“Sugar-sweetened beverages” (drinks made sweeter with sugar) are the largest source of added sugars in the “diet” (what people eat and drink each day) of U.S. “youth” (children and teenagers). Drinking these beverages increases the “intake” (putting into the body) of “calories” (units of energy for the body), which “contributes to” (adds to) “obesity” (being very fat or overweight) among youth across the country.

In the United States, childhood obesity has more than “tripled” (multiplied by three; x 3) in the past 30 years. In recent “decades” (periods of 10 years), drinking of sugar-sweetened beverages among children and teenagers has also increased. A national 2010 “survey” (questionnaire; piece of research) showed that although water, milk, and 100% fruit juice were the beverages most commonly “consumed” (drunken) during the seven days before the survey, daily drinking of regular soda, sports drinks, and other sugar-sweetened drinks were also very common.

Parents should help children and teenagers to make healthy beverage choices by making available or only buying certain drinks at the store. By doing this, parents can encourage their children to drink water and low-fat or fat-free milk, and/or limited amounts of 100% fruit juices.

Since young people spend a “significant portion” (large part) of each “weekday” (Monday through Friday) in school, making sure that healthy beverage choices are available—and that less “nutritious” (good for the body) ones are not—is “critical” (very important). “Implementing” (establishing) school “policies” (rules) that “restrict” (limit) access to sugar-sweetened beverages is an especially important for reducing childhood obesity and improving students' nutritional health.

[Start of story]

我回到我的卧室，打开衣柜门。我有大约30件正装衬衫，10条裤子，半打领带，还有一些毛衣、西装外套和T恤衫。我拿出一双干净的袜子和内衣，然后决定我今天要穿哪件衬衫。我在颜色协调方面很糟糕，所以我通常会在这个时候把我的妻子叫来，帮助我搭配衬衫和裤子。我系上有银扣的皮带，擦亮我的鞋子。我把手机和车钥匙放在前面的口袋里，把钱包放在后面的口袋里。

我戴上眼镜，对着镜子检查自己，确保我看起来还不错，然后到家庭办公室去拿我的包。我曾经带过一个更传统的公文包，但现在我只用电脑包来装我的笔记本电脑和文件。现在又回到厨房，在出门的时候拿起我的保温杯。我把门锁上，然后匆匆赶往车库里的车。我通常会迟到，今天也不例外！"。

[End of story]

第四部分叫做 "穿好衣服，准备工作"。我们首先由我走进卧室，打开我的衣柜门。"打开 "在这里指的是打开门。一个 "壁橱"（closet）是一个地方，通常在你的卧室里，你把衣服放在那里--你储存你的衣服。你也可以在你房子的其他地方有一个壁橱，它通常是一个你放东西的地方-你储存东西。

好吧，我 "打开我的衣柜门"，我看了看我的礼服衬衫。我的 "正装（礼服）衬衫"--两个词。是漂亮的衬衫，是我可以穿去工作的衬衫。正装衬衫的反面是 "休闲衬衫"（休闲）。正装衬衫是一件漂亮的衬衫；通常上面有一个领子的东西。领子"（collar）是指衬衫的顶部，即脖子上的东西。

好吧，我看了我的正装衬衫，我也看了我的 "裤子"（裤子）。裤子是你穿在腿上的东西。你可以有不同种类的裤子。牛仔裤是裤子的一种类型。我们可以说正装裤是指你上班时穿的漂亮裤子。我也有 "领带"。领带"（领带）是一个细长的东西，绕在你的脖子上，男人通常穿--通常穿去工作，它有不同的颜色，这就是你的领带。

毛衣"（sweater）是让你保暖的东西。它就像一件非常厚的衬衫。你通常把毛衣套在衬衫外面，这样你就可以保暖了。"西装外套"（suit jackets）--两个词--是你在正式场合穿的外套。因此，如果你要去工作，特别是如果你要去面试，你会穿一件西装外套。西装"（suit）一词指的是一套正式的服装，在这种情况下，指的是一个男人。对于一个男人来说，它应该是裤子和一件可能是白衬衫，以及一件套在衬衫外面的西装外套。通常，你还会有一条领带，你会戴着它。这就是一套西装。嗯，西装外套是西装的一部分。

T恤，拼写为（t-shirt）是一件普通的衬衫，你通常穿在礼服衬衫下面。因此，首先，你穿上T-恤--白色T-恤，然后穿上你的衬衫，再穿上你的外套。T恤衫也可以单独作为你的主要衬衫使用。这通常是一个非正式的场合，你会只穿一件T恤。例如，你可能不会穿一件T恤去办公室，尽管有些人这样做。而且，许多人的T恤衫上有东西--上面写着东西。T恤衫通常不像礼服衬衫那样有领子。

"我掏出一双袜子和内衣。" "袜子"（socks）是你在穿鞋之前放在脚上的东西。袜子可以是深色的，也可以是浅色或白色的袜子。通常情况下，你不会在穿正式西装时穿白袜子；你会穿黑色或深蓝色的袜子。

"内衣 "是你穿上的那件衣服，它覆盖了所有你想覆盖的东西--我们应该这样说--以便你能保持裤子和衬衫的清洁。内衣是套在你身体后面的东西，你的屁股或你的后背，以及身体的前面，不管你有什么东西。男性的内衣通常有两种基本样式。有可能是拳击手内衣，或 "拳击手 "短裤（拳击手），那是一种短裤，或者说，一种底部宽松的内衣。因此，它几乎像一条短裤。与此相反的是 "内裤"（briefs）。内裤将是底部不宽松的内衣；它在内衣的底部很紧。通常情况下，它也会小一点。

我 "然后决定我今天要穿哪件衬衫。"我很糟糕，"我说，"在颜色协调方面。" "色彩协调 "意味着你穿的东西有相似或匹配的颜色。因此，如果你穿一件粉红色的衬衫，你可能不会穿绿色的裤子，因为它们不在一起，我们会说；它们相互之间看起来不怎么好。色彩协调是找到正确的颜色，你穿上你的--你的衬衫，你的裤子，你的领带，你的外套，你的袜子和你的鞋子。所有这些都必须是颜色协调的。动词 "协调"（coordinate）的意思是把两件东西放在一起，使它们能够很好地配合，在这种情况下。

好吧，因为我是如此糟糕，我是如此糟糕，在颜色协调方面，我通常把我的妻子带进来，也就是我去叫我的妻子到房间来。所以，我 "把我的妻子带进来"--到房间里--"在这个时候帮助我"，意思是在这个时候，当我已经选好了一些东西，然后我把我的妻子带来帮助我 "匹配我的衬衫和裤子。" 我希望它们颜色协调。

"我系上有银扣的皮带，擦亮我的鞋子"。"腰带"（皮带）是你用来防止裤子掉下来的东西。扣子是一块，通常是前面的金属，它连接着皮带，使它在你的身体周围形成一个圆。我有一个银色的扣子，我把它和我的皮带放在一起。

我还 "擦亮我的鞋子"。"擦亮"（polish）的意思是清洁和使 "闪亮"（shiny）。当我们说某样东西是闪亮的，我们的意思是它是明亮的--它能反射光线。因此，当你擦亮你的鞋子时，你希望它们是干净的，但你也希望它们看起来是明亮的-它们在反射光线。我擦了我的鞋子和我的头，所以它非常有光泽！"。

"我把我的手机，"我的手机或移动电话，"和车钥匙放在我的前口袋里。" 在一条裤子里，你有前口袋，你有后口袋。因此，我把我的钥匙和手机放在前面的口袋里，"而我的钱包放在后面的 "口袋里。我的 "钱包"（wallet）是我放钱和信用卡以及驾驶执照的地方；所有这些东西都放在钱包里。

"我戴上眼镜，"因为我不戴眼镜就看不清楚，我 "在镜子里检查自己"。"检查自己 "是指看着自己，通常是在镜子里，你可以看到自己的样子。我通常看起来很丑陋。我在镜子里检查自己，然后我走进我的 "家庭办公室"，或者说我在家里的办公室，拿我的包。我以前带的是一个比较传统的公文包"。一个 "公文包"（briefcase）--都是一个词--不是你把内衣放进去的东西--你的内裤。公文包是指当你从家里到办公室时，你携带文件的东西。通常情况下，公文包是方形的，它通常有硬边，很多时候它的顶部有锁；这就是公文包。现在很多人不使用公文包；他们使用电脑包--一个可以放电脑和其他资料的包，包括他们的文件。

好吧，我把我的东西放进我的电脑包，然后我 "回到厨房拿我的保温杯"，在 "出门的时候 "拿到或拿走我装着咖啡的保温杯。"在出门的路上 "这一表达方式意味着你即将离开或你正在离开你的房子，在这种情况下。有人可能打电话给你，你正准备去吃饭，你可以说，"我现在不能说话，我在出门的路上，"意思是我刚准备离开。

那么，在我离开之前--在我要出门之前--我 "拿起我的保温杯。我把门锁上，"到我的房子，"然后我赶紧去车库里的车。" "车库"（garage）是你放车的地方。

"我通常会迟到，今天也不例外！" 当你迟到时，你落后于你的计划；你落后于你想去的地方的时间。"迟到 "的意思与迟到或迟到（tardy）的意思相同。通常这个词，"迟到"，只在学校使用。我们说一个学生迟到了，是指他们上学迟到或上课迟到。迟到意味着你不在你想要的时间表上--你没有在你想要离开的时间离开。

我说 "我迟到了，今天也不例外！" 这个表达方式，"是没有例外"（例外）的意思是，今天和其他每一天都是一样的，没有什么不同。例外是指某件事情不同。那么，今天没有什么不同，这意味着今天没有例外--它没有不同。

Culture Note
减少年轻人获取含糖饮料的机会

"含糖饮料"（用糖做的更甜的饮料）是美国 "青年"（儿童和青少年）"饮食"（人们每天吃什么和喝什么）中添加糖的最大来源。喝这些饮料增加了 "卡路里"（身体的能量单位）的 "摄入量"（投入身体），这 "促成"（增加）了全国青少年的 "肥胖"（非常胖或超重）。

在美国，儿童肥胖症在过去30年里增加了两倍多（乘以3；x 3）。在最近的 "几十年"（10年的时间）中，儿童和青少年饮用含糖饮料的情况也在增加。2010年的一项全国性 "调查"（问卷；研究报告）显示，尽管水、牛奶和100%果汁是调查前七天内最常 "饮用"（喝醉）的饮料，但每天饮用普通苏打水、运动饮料和其他加糖饮料也非常普遍。

父母应该帮助儿童和青少年做出健康的饮料选择，在商店里提供或只购买某些饮料。通过这样做，父母可以鼓励他们的孩子喝水和低脂或无脂牛奶，和/或少量的100%果汁。

由于年轻人每个 "工作日"（周一至周五）的 "大部分 "时间都在学校，确保有健康的饮料可供选择，而没有 "营养"（对身体有益）的饮料，是 "关键"（非常重要）。"实施"（建立）学校 "政策"（规则），"限制"（限制）获得含糖饮料，对于减少儿童肥胖症和改善学生的营养健康尤为重要。