Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 27, Day 5 of Your English 5 a Day. The series where we aim to reinforce and build your active vocabulary by focusing on five pieces every day of the working week from Monday to Friday. We have an extra episode on Saturday and a bonus episode on Sunday for Plus Members. Plus Members help to support this podcast and if you're interested in becoming a Plus Member, all the details will be in the show notes. Let's get on with today's list. We start with the idiom make ends meet. We spell this make, M A K E. Ends, E N D S. Meet, M E E T. To make ends meet. This means to have just enough money to cover your expenses. So, if I need£320 every week to cover my bills and my food, and I make£322 a week, then I have just enough to make ends meet with£2 left over. But that's just enough money to pay the bills. So, it's not good to be in a position where you're only just making ends meet. It's always good to have a little extra to save for your future and for a rainy day. Here's an example,"In order to make ends meet, Robin had to pick up a second job. The worst part is, he now misses saying goodnight to his kids as he has to work nights." I completely understand that feeling, having to work as much as you can, having multiple jobs in order to make ends meet. Have you been in that position? Are you currently in that position? Hopefully not. Let's move on. Our next item is a noun and it is generosity. Generosity. We spell this G E N E R O S I T Y. Generosity. Generosity describes the act of giving or sharing without expecting something in return. So, a person who is generous has lots of generosity. There might be a nice act of generosity that someone does. Here's an example,"The billionaire's generosity was evident in his large donations to various charities." People don't always have to be generous with their money either. You can be generous with your time. You can be generous with your advice, your knowledge, your expertise. Next on the list we have a noun and it is acumen. Acumen. We spell this A C U M E N. Acumen. Acumen. Acumen is like a keen insight or a skill in a particular area. So we often talk about people having business acumen. So they have experience and knowledge within the business world, usually within a particular area. Here's an example,"Melanie's business acumen was evident in her strategic decision-making and impressive profits." Next on the list is an adjective and it is palpable. Palpable. We spell this P A L P A B L E. Palpable. Palpable. Palpable describes something that can be felt or touched or sensed in the air because it's quite strong or it's quite intense. We can talk about a tension between two people being palpable, like you can sense it as you walk in the room. You can sense it from the body language, from the tone of people's voices. You'd say the tension was palpable. Or the excitement was palpable. Here's an example,"The tension in the room was palpable as the two opposing teams prepared for the championship game." Okay, last on the list is a collocation and it is stay afloat. Stay afloat. We spell this S T A Y, stay. Afloat, A F L O A T. Stay afloat. To stay afloat means to remain stable financially or to keep a business running successfully. Normally we talk about staying afloat during times of trouble or turmoil. If I'm working extra hours or doing something I don't really want to do, I might say,"Well, I need to do this in order to stay afloat, in order to make ends meet." Or during the pandemic times were hard, but we stayed afloat by doing these additional jobs. Here's another example,"Despite the economic downturn, the small business was able to stay afloat thanks to their loyal customers." Okay, so that's our five. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the idiom make ends meet. Make ends meet. This means to have enough money to cover your expenses. Then we had the noun generosity, which is the act of giving or sharing something without expectation of something in return. Then we have the noun acumen, acumen, which is to have a keen insight, understanding, or skill in a particular area. Then we had the adjective palpable, which describes something that can be felt or touched because it's so strong or intense. And then we had the collocation stay afloat, which is to remain financially stable. Now let's do this for pronunciation. Please repeat after me. Make ends meet. Make ends meet. Generosity. Generosity. Acumen. Acumen. Palpable. Palpable. Stay afloat. Stay afloat. Fantastic. Alright, in a very simple way, let me test your memory. What noun describes having a keen insight or skill in a particular area? Normally we say you have good business what? Acumen. Yes. Good business acumen. And what noun describes the act of giving or sharing without expecting anything in return? Generosity. Yes, generosity. What collocation could we use to describe remaining financially stable? Stay afloat. Very good. And if something can be sensed or felt in the air because it's so strong, what adjective could I use here? Palpable. Finally, what idiom can I use to describe having just enough money to cover my bills? Make ends meet. Fantastic. Let's bring these items together during today's storytime. Sienna sat at her kitchen table, staring at the stack of bills in front of her. The weight of their financial struggles felt palpable, suffocating. She had always prided herself on her acumen, her ability to budget and make ends meet. But lately, it seemed like no matter how hard she tried, they were drowning in debt. Her husband, Tom, had lost his job six months ago due to budget cuts at his company. Since then, he had been struggling to find another job. Sienna had been working overtime at her job as a nurse, but it was still not enough for them to stay afloat. Their two children, Lily and Max, were blissfully unaware of the stress and tension in the household. Sienna and Tom had made sure to shield them from their financial worries, and they were determined to keep it that way. But as the pile of bills continued to grow, Sienna couldn't ignore the reality any longer. They were barely making ends meet, and the future looked bleak. She felt like a failure as a wife and a mother, unable to provide for her family. As she sat there lost in her thoughts, the doorbell rang. Ding dong! Sienna opened it to find a group of people from the local church standing on her porch. They had heard about their financial struggles and had come to offer help. Sienna was overwhelmed with emotion as they handed her a cheque to cover their bills for the next few months. She couldn't believe the kindness and generosity of these strangers. She felt a sense of relief and hope wash over her, realising that they were not alone in this struggle. From that day on, Sienna vowed to pay it forward and help others in need. She learned that in times of hardship, it's important to reach out for help rather than suffer in silence. And she also learned that there's still kindness and compassion in the world, even in the darkest of times. As for Tom, he finally landed a new job a few weeks later. And while they were still recovering from their financial setback, they were now able to slowly rebuild their lives. I do love a happy ending. Don't you? And that brings us to the end of today's episode and the end of Week 27. I do hope you found this useful. Don't forget to come back again tomorrow for a longer episode. Until then, take very good care and goodbye.