Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 39, Day 1 of Your English Five a Day. If you're new to the party, this is the series that is focused on increasing your active vocabulary while improving your listening skills and keeping you company on your way to work or while you're exercising or simply doing some things around the house. So, today's list begins with the noun bundle, bundle. We spell this B U N D L E. Bundle. A bundle is a number of things that are tied or wrapped together. So, there's the image of the boy particularly in pantomimes, when you have the image of like Jack and the Beanstalk, or there's another one, Dick Whittington, and there's a boy with a stick over his shoulder. And at the end of the stick that he's carrying is a bundle. And you can only imagine that In that bundle, he has the only things that he owns in the world. All his worldly possessions are tied up in this bundle and it depicts a boy who is poor, as is the story of Dick Whittington, a boy who goes to London to find his fortune. And"Jack and the Beanstalk", of course. This boy is also a poor boy, him and his mother. They are so poor, they have nothing to eat. They have to sell their cow to get some money. But Jack, very silly Jack, sells his cow for magic beans. Although, it works out well in the end. Well, if you can call an interaction with a giant and stealing a good ending. Anyway, a bundle. I like this word. Because it always reminds me of having a baby because we have a phrase, a saying, a way of calling a baby and we can call it a little bundle of joy. So there's a bonus phrase for you, a little bundle of joy or a bundle of joy. And it's because normally when a baby is brand new, they're normally wrapped up. They're swaddled in a huge muslin or any kind of like blanket. They're wrapped up just like a bundle, but they obviously bring joy. So they are a bundle of joy. Okay, here's another example sentence,"She sorted her clothes into several different bundles and gave a couple of them to charity." Moving on to the next word. We have a verb and it is flutter. Flutter, F L U T T E R. Flutter. Flutter. To flutter is to move quickly and irregularly often in a way that's very light and graceful. I always think instantly of one particular insect when I hear the verb flutter. Can you think what it is? A butterfly. Yes. A butterfly flutters because it's light, it's graceful, it moves quickly, it beats its wings quickly, but it kind of darts around a little bit, doesn't it? You can't predict where it's going to go. It just flutters all over the place. Now people can flutter as well. And last week, at the end of the week, we had to flutter your eyelashes, which is that very quick movement of your eyelashes. Here's an example sentence,"The delicate butterfly fluttered its wings, landing softly on a nearby flower." I do love butterflies, as do my children. I think many children love butterflies. In fact, does anybody hate butterflies? I think loving butterflies is just a general state of being, isn't it? But we really enjoy butterflies and I ordered, mail-ordered, some caterpillars and we watched them turn into butterflies. We kept them in a little butterfly enclosure in the house and we fed them every day and then we watched them change into butterflies. And once they did, we released them into the world. And that was wonderful. I actually did a podcast episode all about that particular experience, which is way back in the day, a couple of years ago now, I think. Anyway, let's move on to the next verb. Yes. Two verbs today. And it is define, define. We spell this D E F I N E. Define, define. Okay. So, to define something is to explain the exact meaning of a word or concept, or to set the limits of something. So, I might have to define what a word means. So, here's a word kerfuffle. Oh, that's an interesting word."Can you define kerfuffle?""Yes, I can define kerfuffle. Kerfuffle means..." Or, if I said, let's play a game of football in the garden. We'll use our jumpers to define the edges of the goal. And we'll use cones, I've got a few cones, and they'll define the corners of the pitch. So here's another example using the verb define,"The dictionary defines'love' as an intense feeling of deep affection." Okay, so we've had bundle, we've had flutter, we've had define. Now we have an idiom and it is leave its mark. Leave its mark. Leave, L E A V E. Its, I T S. Mark, M A R K, mark. Notice I don't pronounce the R, we just have a long/ɑː/ vowel, mark. So, to leave its mark means that something has had an effect that changes someone or something, but usually in a bad way. So, if someone leaves their mark on me, or if an experience leaves its mark on me, it's almost like it's scarred me, it's hurt me deeply, or it's changed me deeply, and that change is the mark. So perhaps I used to be a flamboyant, confident person, but now I'm timid when I'm around other people. And that could be because I had a terrible experience with someone who was quite controlling and violent and unpleasant toward me. So, they left their mark. Or maybe I experienced a natural disaster that was quite frightening and that has left its mark because now, I maybe wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, having visions of being in that predicament again and again and again. So, that's the mark that's been left. Here's an example sentence,"Picasso's bold brushstrokes left their mark on the art world, inspiring countless imitators and changing the course of painting." So there we see that's a positive use of this idiom. So to leave your mark on the art world means that you have impacted, in a good way, you've inspired and motivated and created a whole horde of work that all stems from the work that you did that's had an effect on everybody. I do love Picasso. I studied art at college and Picasso, I think everyone who studies art just loves the work of Picasso. It's so imaginative, so abstract. Anyway, I'm sidetracking. Let's get back on track with our final item for today, which is a noun. Bedrock. Bedrock. We spell this B E D R O C K. Bedrock. Bedrock. Bedrock describes the fundamental and unyielding beliefs or values that are the foundations of a person's thoughts and actions and decision making. So your bedrock is the foundation of you, what you think, what you believe and what you do. Okay. Bedrock is what's underneath everything. Here's an example sentence."Amanda's bedrock principles of honesty and integrity guided her every step in life, shaping her character and determining her path." Okay, so we've had our five for today. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the noun bundle, which is a number of items all tied or wrapped together. Then we had the verb flutter, which is to move very quickly and irregularly, usually in a light and graceful way. We had the verb define, which is to either explain the meaning of a word or concept or set the limits of something. We had the idiom, leave its mark where something has an effect that changes things or changes people often in a bad way, but not always. And then we had the noun bedrock, the fundamental and unyielding, so it won't change, unyielding beliefs or values that serve as the foundations of someone's thoughts, feelings, and actions. Okay, let's do this now for pronunciation purposes. If you can, please repeat after me. Bundle. Bundle. Flutter. Flutter. Define, define. Leave its mark, leave its mark. Bedrock, bedrock. Excellent. If I see a little butterfly flying in front of me, what is it doing? What verb would I use? Flutter, absolutely. And if I wrap up all my worldly possessions in one big blanket and tie it up, what do I have? What's this wrapped up group of things? A bundle. Yes, I have a bundle. And if you want me to explain the exact meaning of a word, you're asking me to do what? Define the word. And what's the noun that is the fundamental beliefs or values that are the foundations of someone's thoughts and actions. The bedrock. Yes, the bedrock. And finally, what's the idiom that you can use to describe having an effect that changes someone or something? Leave its mark. Yes, something has left its mark. Great. Let's bring all these items together in today's storytime. Amanda had sorted her clothes into various bundles. Ones to give away to charity, to keep, and to sell. All the sorting had sent dust flying everywhere. She opened a window to air the room. The draft sent a pile of papers fluttering into the air. They were old love letters from Rick. She was tempted to read them, but so far, she had only sorted through her wardrobe. She needed to go through their book and record collection too and figure out what was hers. Amanda wouldn't be able to move out and move on with her life until she had. It was hard to define how she felt. She and Rick had been together for more than five years. Their relationship had left its mark on her. Although she had loved him, she had felt suffocated. Rick could be jealous, to the point of becoming controlling. It was unhealthy. She had decided to end their relationship before things got any worse. Rick had asked her to move out. She knew it was for the best. But it was hard to undo their life together which included a home and shared possessions. They had even raised a puppy, Bella. Now grown into a full-sized dog, they planned to share her, letting her stay with each of them for a week at a time. This meant that Rick would stay in her life, playing a more minor role. Courage was the bedrock of her values though. So as hard as it was to imagine a future on her own, Amanda continued sorting through her stuff. As she looked through her books, she found many old favourites. Her favourite characters from the literature were all courageous women. As she came across her well read-copy of Pride and Prejudice, she decided to re-read it to take some strength from Elizabeth Bennet, one of her favourite heroines. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. I do hope you found it useful. Remember, you can access the database, see the show notes for details of that. Otherwise, I hope to have you here again tomorrow for another episode of Your English Five a Day. Until then, take care and goodbye.