Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 31, Day 2 of Your English Five a Day, the series that aims to increase your active vocabulary and improve your listening by deep-diving into five items every day of the working week from Monday to Friday. So, let's start today's list with the idiom, bite off more than you can chew. To bite off more than you can chew. Bite, like with your teeth, B I T E. Off, O F F, bite off. More than you can chew, C H E W. So, we've been in this situation before, I'm sure all of us, where we sit down to eat, usually when we're on a date or trying to impress somebody. Maybe we have a burger in hand or a wrap and we put it in our mouth and we take a big bite and then we realise we've taken too much and now we have to try and chew it in a very stylish way and not show that we've just got too much in our mouth. So, we have bitten off more than we can chew in those situations. So, this means that you've taken on more than you can handle. So, for example, with this podcast, at the beginning of the year, I said,"I'm going to do a podcast every single day of 2024." That's on top of also making YouTube videos and content for Instagram and Facebook and TikTok and Twitter, LinkedIn, and looking after my students and running my courses and building courses in the background and doing my accounting, looking after my team, looking after two children. I had utterly bitten off more than I could chew with that promise. And so that's why I've had to rein it in a little bit, dial it back and say, actually, I'm going to commit to The Five a Day Series, but I can't do much more than that as a commitment. If I do additional episodes at the weekend, then that's a bonus. But if I can't, don't hate me because I have bitten off more than I could chew. I couldn't handle doing a daily podcast with everything else I have going on. Have you ever bitten off more than you could chew in a metaphorical sense? Here's another example,"The ambitious project proved to be too much for the small team; they had definitely bitten off more than they could chew." Alright, next on our list is the verb traverse, traverse. We spell this T R A V E R S E. Tra-. Traverse. Traverse. To traverse means to move across or through something. So, I always think of skiing when I hear this verb. When you're skiing down a mountainside, down the slope, you often traverse the slope. It's rare that you go straight down. It's rare that you stand at the top of a very long run, and just point your skis straight down, and just go in one line. You often zigzag, going side to side, moving across the slope, and turning, and across the slope and turn, across the slope, and turn. You are traversing the slope. This helps you stay in control, control your speed, and enjoy the ride. Obviously, if you are a daredevil, if you are a speed demon, then you can think of nothing better than to point your ski straight down and just go for it as fast as you can. I know a few people like that. Here's another example,"The hikers traversed the rugged mountain trail, navigating steep inclines and slippery slopes." Okay, next on the list is the adjective, relentless. Relentless. We spell this R E L E N T L E S S. Relentless. Now, relentless is describing someone or something that is persistent, never stopping; just keeps going on and on and on. For example, my three-year-old at times can be relentless. If he wants something and I've told him he can't have it, then he'll ask me again and again and again and he will cry and he will stamp his feet and he will beg until I finally say,"Okay, you can have it." Because he's so relentless. Here's another example,"Despite the harsh weather conditions, the runner's relentless determination led her to finish the marathon in an impressive 4th place." Next on the list is another adjective and it is treacherous. Treacherous. Treacherous. We spell this T R E A C H E R O U S. Treacherous. Treacherous. Treacherous is quite a mouthful actually. This word describes something or someone that is untrustworthy, or deceitful, or dangerous because they are unpredictable. So, for example, if you were to describe the conditions on a mountain as treacherous, then it can't be trusted because it's unpredictable. So, it's probably because there's a storm, maybe there's a lot of ice when you're skiing and there's ice on the mountain, you know, you hit a patch of ice, then you completely lose control. Or perhaps there may be a risk of an avalanche. So, that would be quite a treacherous mountainside that you do not want to ski down or snowboard down because it's untrustworthy. If you go hiking on a glacier, then that can be quite treacherous because glaciers are always changing and moving and often you need a guide to go through these kinds of areas of ice where it's extra dangerous, extra treacherous. You can also describe a person as treacherous if they are deceitful. Here's an example sentence,"The treacherous mountain pass was known for its sudden avalanches and hidden crevices, making it a perilous route for travellers." Alright, next on the list is the noun woe. Woe. We spell this W O E. Woe. Woe describes misery or sorrow. It actually feels like quite an old-fashioned word, although it still does pop up quite a lot. Although I think for me, I hear it more or see it rather, more in literature, in the children's books that I'm reading, in classical literature. Here's an example sentence,"Adam told me a tale of woe about how someone had stolen his wallet. Two days later, he found it hidden under his bed! Actually, that reminds me, there is a little saying, a little phrase that we sometimes use when we are frustrated with somebody who is telling a sad tale. And the phrase is,"Woe is me. Woe is me." So, this is when someone is telling you of their woes, when someone is saying, oh, I've had some misfortune because something bad has happened to me. But you don't feel sympathetic towards them. Maybe you think that they are being self-centred, that they're more concerned with themselves rather than other people around them. So, for example, let's imagine a very rich young woman is visiting a homeless shelter and she's surrounded by people who have nothing. They don't even have a roof over their head. They don't have somewhere to call home. They don't have money or food or security. And this rich girl is walking around saying,"Oh, I'm really, really frustrated because my car, my car is at the garage and they can't fix it for two whole weeks. So, I'm not going to have a car for two weeks. And my groceries were delivered, but they substituted all my whole foods. And so now I've got to eat nasty processed food. I'm really frustrated." So, she's complaining about things in front of people who have much bigger problems than she has. In that circumstance, whoever she's complaining to, or whoever hears her complaining will not have very much sympathy for her. They'll think that she's misjudged the situation, and they'll think that she's a bit self-centred and shallow. And they might say out loud to her,"Oh, woe is me." And it's a way of pointing out to a person that their troubles are not that bad and that they're being self-centred. Okay. So moving on to our recap, that's our five for today. So, recapping we started with the idiom bite off more than you can chew, which means to take on more responsibility than you can manage. Then we had the verb traverse, which is to move across or through something. We had the adjective, relentless, when something or someone just keeps going, they are very persistent. They don't stop. They just keep doing the same thing over and over again. Then we had the adjective, treacherous, when something or someone is untrustworthy, deceitful, or dangerous because they are unpredictable. And we finished with the noun, woe, which is misery or sorrow. Okay, so let's now do this for pronunciation purposes. Bite off more than you can chew. Bite off more than you can chew. Traverse. Traverse. Relentless. Relentless. Treacherous. Treacherous. Woe. Woe. Very good. Okay. Let me just test your memory a little bit. If my three-year-old is asking for the same thing over and over and over again, and he doesn't give up, he's so persistent. What adjective could I use to describe his constant whinging? Relentless. Yes, he's relentlessly whinging. Ah, I just turned it into an adverb! He is relentless. Yes, there we go. So, next, what do I do if I'm moving across a mountainside? What verb could I use here? What am I doing? Traverse. Yes, I am traversing a mountainside if I'm moving across it. Now, if that mountainside is actually quite dangerous because the weather keeps changing and you can't trust the conditions, what adjective could I use to describe this mountainside? Treacherous. Yes. And I find that although I thought I could handle the mountain, it's actually too much. I don't know what to do. I'm in over my head. I've taken on too much. What idiom could I use? I've bitten off more than I can chew with this mountainside. It's too much. I need to stop. Okay. And the last one. What's another word for misery or sorrow? Woe. Yes, tales of woe. Woe is me. Okay, fantastic, let's listen out for these items once again in today's storytime. The mountain trail stretched out before him, an endless expanse of rugged terrain and breathtaking vistas. The hiker, a seasoned adventurer known as Rico to his friends, had always dreamed of conquering this legendary trail. He had been preparing for months, meticulously planning every detail of his journey. But as he set off on his trek, he soon realised that he had bitten off more than he could chew. The first few days were exhilarating, as he traversed the lush forests and stumbled upon hidden waterfalls. He met fellow hikers along the way, sharing stories and laughter over campfires. But as the days turned into weeks, the trail grew more challenging, and Rico found himself walking most of it alone. The solitude began to weigh heavily on his spirit. The once mesmerising views now seemed to mock him, reminding him of his isolation. The relentless climb up the steep mountain slopes left him gasping for breath and the unforgiving terrain tore at his boots. One day, as he trudged along a particularly treacherous section of the trail, he heard a faint cry for help. He followed the sound, his heart pounding with anticipation. There, at the bottom of a ravine, he found a fellow hiker who had slipped and broken his leg. Rico sprang into action, using his knowledge of wilderness survival to stabilise the injured man's leg. They now had to find a way to descend steep slopes and traverse treacherous terrain to get to the nearest first aid point. The climber was in a bad way. He told Rico about losing his brother to cancer and explained that he was out here on the trail to forget about his woes. Rico thought of this man's poor mother and suddenly felt a strong sense of responsibility to ensure that he got the climber home to his family safe and sound."Do you think you can hop?" Rico asked tentatively. The broken climber struggled to a standing position, took a deep breath, and while biting his lip, he hopped."Argh!" His scream echoed in the vastness surrounding them."I, I don't think I can!" he cried, defeated as he slumped to the ground. Rico's mind was running a hundred different scenarios. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, he thought to himself. The only thing that made sense to him at this point was to leave the climber and go to find help. There was no time to waste, so he followed his gut, wrapped up the climber, and headed off alone, promising to return with help as soon as he could."Hold on, okay?" he shouted over his shoulder."I'll try," followed the trembling voice. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. If you found today useful, then please take a moment to leave a like, a rating or review. And of course, if you know any other English language learners, then please don't hesitate to recommend The English Like a Native Podcast. Thank you for letting me tickle your eardrums. Until tomorrow, take care and goodbye.