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When It Rains, It Pours
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When It Rains, It Pours English, baby! Video Lesson
不雨则已,一雨倾盆

Zero Conditional

Date: Aug 14 2012

Themes: Soap Opera, Weather

Grammar: Zero Conditional

Intro

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In many parts of the world, life depends on rain. The people and their crops get thirstier and thirstier. Then, all of sudden, there’s water everywhere. There’s more water than you can catch. It’s pouring rain.

The expression “when it rains, it pours” means that often, when something has not happened for a while, it will then happen a lot. A business might not have any customers for days and then suddenly be extremely busy. If you asked the owner how her business is going, she might say, “When it rains, it pours.”

Similarly, have you ever noticed that when one person is interested in you romantically, others become interested too? It’s funny how that works. Find out who is in the middle of a thunderstorm of love.

在世界的许多地方,生命都依赖着雨水的滋润。人们和农作物越来越感到干渴。突然间,大雨倾泻而下。水量大大超过预期。这是倾盆大雨。

“不雨则已,一雨倾盆”通常表示某件事好长时间没有发生,而后频繁发生。一家公司可能好几天没有客户,然后突然十分忙碌。如果你问老板公司生意如何,她可能会说“不雨则已,一雨倾盆”。

同样,你是否发现,当有一个人对你感兴趣时,其他人也会接踵而来?这个现象十分有趣。观看视频,找出谁处于恋爱暴风雨中。

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Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Mason

Jeff

Jeff

Mason:  Woo! Hey, bud.

Jeff:  Dude, what’s going on? Why are you so wet?

Mason:  Let me tell you, Jeff, when it rains, it pours.

Jeff:  What are you talking about? It’s a perfectly clear, sunny day outside.

Mason:  Oh, I know.

Jeff:  There’s not even a drop.

Mason:  It’s gorgeous outside. In fact, I just got back from a long walk with Vanessa in the park. It was great. We held hands. We stopped under a tree to kiss a little bit, and then we found a nice bench and started rubbing noses, just fantastic…

Jeff:  Ugh. OK. I get the picture. But that doesn’t explain why you’re soaking wet.

Mason:  You’re not hearing me, man.

Jeff:  It’s a nice day.

Mason:  When it rains, it pours…ladies, Jeff! When it rains, it pours ladies.

Jeff:  You’re still not explaining yourself.

Mason:  OK. So when I got back from the park, I was coming here, and Amanda was waiting for me, and she just jumped on me, and she started kissing me, and she was just all over my business, and I was like, “This is awful,” but, “This is great!” but, “This is awful.” I was kinda just like, “Whoa.” So I had to go run my head under some cold water to chill out.

Jeff:  Alright, I think I know what you’re saying. When you say, “When it rains, it pours,” it’s because before you had a girlfriend, no girl would look at you.

Mason:  Yeah.

Jeff:  But now you have a girlfriend, and two girls are into you.

Mason:  Yeah. It’s like, I was single for so long.

Jeff:  And now two girls like you.

Mason:  Yes! And it’s all happening at the same time. It’s like, there was no rain for like months and months, and then all of a sudden, the skies open up and ladies just start falling from the sky.

Jeff:  Yeah, two ladies are into you.

Mason:  Yeah.

Jeff:  That’s just two ladies.

Mason:  Well, I mean, is that not enough to be considered pouring?

Jeff:  Two ladies?

Mason:  Well, how many ladies do you think constitutes pouring?

Jeff:  I don’t know. Nine to twelve?

Mason:  What? No way.

Jeff:  Uh…

Mason:  Come on, man, you’re totally making that up.

Jeff:  Yeah, I’m sorry. I was. I don’t know why I did that. It’s just…since this Ella thing, you know? It’s been…I got nothing. Nothing. Complete dry spell.

Mason:  It’s OK, man. Look out into your forecast over there, and the rains will come back soon. I know it.

 

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Discussion

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Mason is very wet when he comes into the office. Jeff doesn’t understand. It’s a clear day outside. All Mason will tell him is that when it rains, it pours.

Eventually, Jeff learns that Mason hung out with his girlfriend in the park earlier in the day. Later, Amanda found him and kissed him. He put water on his head to chill out afterward. Mason is excited because after many months without love, he now has two women that like him.

Jeff questions if two women is enough to use the phrase “when it rains, it pours.” He says he thinks Mason needs nine to twelve women in order to use that phrase. Mason accuses him of making that up, and Jeff admits that he was just being mean. He is lonely and stuck in a dry spell.

Do you think it’s true that when it rains, it pours? Which woman should Mason choose?

 

Comments

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saeedshin

saeedshin

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

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02:01 AM Aug 16 2012 |

ycb1122

China

      The saying ‘when it rains,it pours’ is always closer to everyone. when something has not happened for a while, it will then happen a lot.But i have different views on the brief dialog.For example,in our agriculture ,plenty of  living things depend on the rain and sun for their growth.but sometimes it has no a drop for a long time ,so they are extremely thirsty ,and the soil becomes rather dry,if going no how it was ,they would die。All of a sudden .it is rainy timely and heavily ,all of the crops are in the bath to grow greatly,however .owing to extremely enough water ,the crops are not to grow too.In our daily life,i believe that people only have a person loved by them ,if it is not how  it should happen ,they would hurt more people they love .now  i have noly a girlfriend ,not two ,not three,not four,i can’t hurt my girlfriend ,and i love her .


 


    Will you agree me.With this platform ,I wanna make friends from all over the world. My msn address is ycb1122@hotmail  .sincerely  hope that we can be good friends.I come from China.

02:31 PM Aug 15 2012 |

1 person likes this

Masbarar

MasbararSuper Member!

Turkey

It’s true that when it rains,it pours.I don’t know why but that’s working at the business life,relationships,friendships.The reason can be that at those times,the person can be so attractive or at the work he works well.A person already working in a company can be much much easier a job than unemployed person.I think if we have good things in our life,our life becomes good.If we have bad things,our life become worse day by day.But once something changes,everything starts to be inverse.


I think Mason must not chose one of them.Because nobody can love two persons at the same time.

01:07 AM Aug 15 2012 |

ola33

ola33

Japan

True statement. When it comes it comes, when it goes it goes.



  • “Everybody knows the fight was fixed,

  •  the poor stay poor, the rich get rich

  •  that’s how it goes

  •  Everybody knows.”


 Any girl is good. It’s up to Mason to decide ;) I miss Ella actually. I liked her childish and innocent demeanor;)

11:09 PM Aug 14 2012 |

marija luiza

Mexico

Well. I absouluty agree with that stament. It is hard to bealieve but is true in life.


I think that Mason should choose the womam that he likes more. I don’t know. He just need to follow his heart, and I’m sure that everything will be fine. 


Funny story but a true one :)

10:43 PM Aug 14 2012 |

1 person likes this

darnessa

darnessa

Poland

Well, maybe it’s true…

10:19 PM Aug 14 2012 |

sanaa2000

sanaa2000

Egypt

Honstely,ya I think so,but for me & specialy in love,I dont want it to pour.Cuz I want only one guy to complete my life with him.This is my lovely dream.Btw I hope that all the countries which have adry weather & need the rain to grow,I hope that it rains & pours.Ask allah to send the welfare to all over our countries.

09:25 PM Aug 14 2012 |

ErinDong

ErinDong

United States

lucky mason! he has two girls who like him a lot. unluckily, not a lot of boys are into me. but just as mason said, it is gonna rain soon!

07:03 PM Aug 14 2012 |

bellaboo2422

Pakistan


i think mason should opt for one girl who ll be more compatiable with his respective.

06:35 PM Aug 14 2012 |

bellaboo2422

Pakistan


topic is intresting today it happens, we experience many times in our life when a dry spell get broken and drought ends with raining and pouring. actually it makes huge impact on human psycology. most of the time it sounds good when it rains and pours. we enjoy the situtaions and keep them as good memories. even people try to remember these pours when they get old and senile. special events from the time of youth. i ll share an event of my uncle’s farewell party of college. he was very much into with his class mate but never expressd, this was the last day he decided to confess his feelings, buy a posy for her and confess infront of her. guss what happend??? she not only accepted his posy accepted his proposal too and they went on a dinner date that night. later they got married and living happily.

06:13 PM Aug 14 2012 |

Charmisse

Charmisse

Philippines

ofcourse he should stick to original gf,vanessa.

04:13 PM Aug 14 2012 |

Aukse

Aukse

Germany

Yeah, I think it is true sometimes. Life gives a lot of surprises when you are not expect it. Mason should choose Vanessa ;)

02:56 PM Aug 14 2012 |

Englishty

Englishty

Egypt

I think we’re luckySmile

02:49 PM Aug 14 2012 |

1 person likes this

snoopyboy

snoopyboy

Antarctica

WoW  1 million? ;)


slowly but surely the women are catching up with  men , it’s the “what a man can do, a woman can do better” mentality


: )

02:30 PM Aug 14 2012 |

1 person likes this

Englishty

Englishty

Egypt

Snoopyboy   In my opinion some men can like not just two women but a million at the same time unlike women if they love they love so truely Wink

02:21 PM Aug 14 2012 |

snoopyboy

snoopyboy

Antarctica

Hey, Englishty what if he loves both women equally ?


I know it’s virtually impossible, but I just wanted to foam the soap opera a little bit ;)

02:12 PM Aug 14 2012 |

Englishty

Englishty

Egypt

The woman he loves of courseSmile

02:01 PM Aug 14 2012 |

snoopyboy

snoopyboy

Antarctica

Englishty, which woman did he choose?


I’m  for Team Amanda Tongue out

01:55 PM Aug 14 2012 |

1 person likes this

Englishty

Englishty

Egypt

Totally agree, i think it happens to most people here, one second you don’t have much, for example, money or job or spouse and the the other you have everything. Weird but it happens, which woman should Mason choose? wait a minute, Mason has a girlfriend, he already chose unless he wants to reconsider his choice. 

01:47 PM Aug 14 2012 |

snoopyboy

snoopyboy

Antarctica

 SmileBut what is it pouring ?


[When it rains, it pours].Unfortunately this expression brings back more hard times than joyous ones to my mind. I could be having the most normal day, uneventful as far as anything stressful and negative, then it only takes one trivial matter to unleash a fleet of problems. Ironically, I sort of can predict when my day is going to be filled with bad lucks; it’s like I could see the gray cloud hovering over my head. Having this ability to forecast those kinds of days where I know I’m going to be on the back foot for a while, is beyond my comprehension. For instance if I just got paid at work, I know there’s a big possibility that for a least a couple of days everything is going to be smooth and lovely, I hear no bad news, no friend wants to borrow money from me, I’m on top of my all of my debts, my rent is paid, everything is picture perfect and I’m begging for problem to knock on my door but it just wouldn’t show : ). These moments never seem to last long enough, I’d wake up one random morning (on the wrong side of the bed, I suppose) and my world would start falling apart, from the silliest pet peeves to bigger and overwhelming issues, have me wondering why those things didn’t happen to me last week, when I was generally more prepared to deal with them. I ask myself many questions when bad lucks come pouring down on me, but to most I don’t have any explanations or answers.


You can’t run away from trouble, if you should try, trouble will find you while you’re exhausted and more vulnerable, at least that’s how I look at it Smile.  Whenever the rain of bad luck rushes through and dampens my day with all sort of frustrations, I resolve to keep my composure and deal with it one trouble at a time, until I weave my way out. The worst thing in that case would be to give in to the pressures that I’m being challenged by. There were times that I would go manic and disgruntled if I’m swamped with problems that I cannot seem to handle right away, but only to add a splitting headache to the mix. So I’ve learned how to hunker down for those kinds of “rains”, although they seem to come way too often than I’d wish for. I take those  bad “when it rains, it pours” days as moments when my patience and mental strength are being put to the test, I don’t always come out as a winner and solve all issues, but I feel that I’ve earned some experiences, good and bad.


 Is it true that when it rains it pours? This isn’t a million dollar question from my understanding, and I guess most of you would agree that we all have had our run of good and bad luck. As a matter of fact, in a span of 2 weeks I have witnessed some good and bad “rains” and boy have they poured ;)  I’ve free fallen from being on the top of the world to hitting rock bottom, in record time. Oh well, such are the surprises life has in store for us.


Now about Mason and which woman should he choose, I’d suggest him pull a name out of his “cool” hat ;).Seriously, I’d lean towards Amanda, if I remember correctly Vanessa asked for Dale’s number at Jason’s wedding when she was supposed to be Mason’s escort. Also, just because some girls are into you don’t mean their intentions are good, rule of thumb Mason, visibility can be highly reduced when it’s pouring, proceed with cautious ;))

01:16 PM Aug 14 2012 |

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