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This is the sixth in a series of texts about a boy named Brian O’Brien. The seven texts make up something of a prequel to an actual book called The Flying O’Briens. They are all quite short and easy to understand (though much harder to recount, as students will undoubtedly find), as they have been designed to be used in less-advanced-students classes. Each text is followed by a point-out section, explaining which parts of text the teacher should focus on (or point out) in class.

BRIAN’S STORY: INTRO /6/ HAM RADIO

My brother and I share no hobbies, either. He has been interested in photography ever since he discovered our dad’s old camera a couple of months back and he talks about nothing else these days. He keeps explaining to me how to take pictures and bragging about how he built his own darkroom. As if I care. It’s not that I don’t like technical stuff, I do. But I prefer radios. I’m what they call a ham, an amateur radio operator. I actually built my own radio last year and whenever I can I try to contact people all over the world.

I get a big kick out of that. Not from the conversations, though, they can get pretty boring. Most hams do this so that they can talk to you for hours about themselves. I suppose their families are sick of having to listen to them so they made them take up this hobby. Anyway, no one else in my family even knows I am a ham. And if my parents knew, they would probably just tell me to drop it and pick up a book.

POINT-OUTS

my brother and I … me and my brother (inf) … we with my brother, I with my brother, me with my brother

„my brother and I share a lot hobbies, too“ ale we don’t share many hobbies, either … … „you like photography? so do I (me too)“ a podobně „you don’t like photography? neither do I (me neither)“. zákruty překladu českého „také“ by studenti měli na konci studia mít zvládnuty

dobrá příkladová věta: I’m interested in … becoming a police officer (předložka – ing tvar)

ever since … je zesílené since (od té doby pořád) z čehož také vyplývá předpřítomný čas … I haven’t seen her since … since then, until then, by then, then

two years back … (inf) – two years ago … before two years

he keeps explaining … he never stops explaining, he’s always/constantly explaining … he still explains

explain to me … + describe to me … pokud možno bez předmětu: why don’t you explain what happened? Cary described the man she saw

I got a new camera the other day and ever since then I’ve been taking pictures like crazy … proč si komplikovat život slovy jako „take snapshots“ nebo „photograph st“ když zde máme takhle jednoduchý a navíc asi nejčastější způsob jak vyjádřit koncept fotografování

Ted likes to brag about how … he won the game (about that how) … he told me about what happened during the game … the movie was about who actually killed JFK

I don’t care (how you find him but I want him on the phone by tonight) x I don’t mind (what movie you rent as long as it’s not a romantic comedy) x it doesn’t matter (which bike you choose, they’re all the same)

it’s not that I don’t love him, I do. It’s just that sometimes he drives me crazy and I don’t know how to make him stop doing that … nejde o to … akorát že…

I actually built my own radio („actually“ vyjadřuje něco ve smyslu „isn’t it amazing?“) … na rozdíl od slabšího „really“: I really built that radio / I did build that radio (you have to trust me)

whenever I can, I try / podobně: every time I can … ale: every time when I see them … další slova tohoto typu: whatever you want, you can have it (anything you want) … wherever we went, we saw dead bodies (everywhere)

použít though na konci věty namísto but na začátku je frajeřina největší. my job is tough and not very well paid. I like it, though (but I like it)

very soon, the conversation got (started to be, became) boring and I got (started to be, became) bored

while most people have brains in their heads, most of the people I met today apparently don’t … most of people

they become hams so that they can talk to other people (for talking, for to talk) … so that they don’t have to spend time with their families (not to spend time)

we’ve been talking for hours … I haven’t seen him for/in years … for several hours, in many years

frankly, we are sick of having to listen to them (are tired of, are sick and tired of, are fed up with) … are sick of listening + have to listen … are sick of that they must listen

”if my parents knew what I do every morning, they would punish me“ – všeobecně, na rozdíl od „if they had caught me that day, they would have punished me“ (tehdy) a také do budoucna namířeného „if they catch me stealing their money, they will punish me for sure“

drop it, stop it, cut it out (inf) … drop the gun (pustit … let the gun), the man dropped the heavy bag (spadnul mu … the heavy bag fell the man)