https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMn8PkzKKaA
บทสนทนาซื้อเสื้อที่ร้านเสื้อผ้า
(คลิกอ่านเพิ่มเติม เพื่ออ่านบทสนทนาภาษาอังกฤษและไทย และคำศัพท์น่ารู้)
แบบทดสอบการฟังภาษาอังกฤษ จากบทสนทนาซื้อเสื้อที่ร้านเสื้อผ้า
มีคำถาม 5 ข้อหลังฟังเสร็จ เพื่อทดสอบการฟังภาษาอังกฤษของคุณ

#conversations #listeningtest #shopping

The conversations from the clip :

Customer: Hi! I’m looking for a cute top to wear to an event.

Salesperson: Hello! You’ve come to the right place. We have some adorable tops over here. Any particular style in mind?
Customer: Yes, I’d like something bright and trendy, maybe with floral or polka dots.
Salesperson: I think this top would be perfect! It has a nice floral pattern and is very popular.
Customer: Oh, I like it! How much is it?
Salesperson: It’s 950 baht.
Customer: Hmm, that’s a little more than I was hoping to pay. Could you possibly offer a discount?
Salesperson: I can understand! It’s a high-quality item, but I could give you a 10% discount, making it 855 baht.
Customer: That’s a bit better, but would you consider 800 baht flat?
Salesperson: Let me see what I can do... (pauses) Alright, I can agree to 800 baht for you.
Customer: Perfect! Thank you so much. Can I try it on first to make sure it fits?
Salesperson: Of course! The fitting room is just over there.
Customer: (tries on the top) It fits great! I’ll take it.
Salesperson: I’m so glad to hear that! Would you like to pay now?
Customer: Yes, please. I’ll pay with cash. Thank you for the great deal!
Salesperson: You’re very welcome! Enjoy your new top!

ลูกค้า: สวัสดีค่ะ! กำลังมองหาเสื้อน่ารัก ๆ ใส่ไปงานค่ะ
พนักงานขาย: สวัสดีค่ะ! มาถูกที่แล้วค่ะ เรามีเสื้อน่ารัก ๆ หลายแบบเลยค่ะ มีสไตล์ไหนในใจบ้างไหมคะ?
ลูกค้า: ค่ะ อยากได้แบบที่มีสีสดใส ทันสมัยหน่อย อาจจะเป็นลายดอกไม้หรือลายจุดก็ได้ค่ะ
พนักงานขาย: คิดว่าเสื้อตัวนี้น่าจะเหมาะนะคะ มีลายดอกไม้สวย ๆ และกำลังเป็นที่นิยมเลยค่ะ
ลูกค้า: โอ้ ชอบเลยค่ะ! ราคาเท่าไหร่คะ?
พนักงานขาย: ตัวนี้ราคา 950 บาทค่ะ
ลูกค้า: อืม แพงกว่าที่ตั้งใจไว้นิดหน่อย ลดราคาได้ไหมคะ?
พนักงานขาย: เข้าใจเลยค่ะ! เสื้อคุณภาพดีมากนะคะ แต่ให้ส่วนลดได้ 10% จะเหลือ 855 บาทค่ะ
ลูกค้า: ดีขึ้นแล้วค่ะ แต่ลดให้เป็น 800 บาทถ้วนได้ไหมคะ?
พนักงานขาย: ขอเช็คดูก่อนนะคะ... (หยุดสักครู่) โอเคค่ะ ลดให้เหลือ 800 บาทได้ค่ะ
ลูกค้า: ดีเลยค่ะ ขอบคุณมาก ขอไปลองก่อนนะคะว่าจะใส่พอดีไหม
พนักงานขาย: ได้เลยค่ะ ห้องลองอยู่ตรงนั้นค่ะ
ลูกค้า: (ลองเสื้อ) ใส่พอดีมากค่ะ เอาตัวนี้ค่ะ
พนักงานขาย: ยินดีมากค่ะ! จะชำระเงินตอนนี้เลยไหมคะ?
ลูกค้า: ใช่ค่ะ จ่ายเป็นเงินสดนะคะ ขอบคุณมากสำหรับส่วนลดค่ะ!
พนักงานขาย: ยินดีมากค่ะ ขอให้สนุกกับเสื้อใหม่ของคุณนะคะ!

Vocabulary (คำศัพท์น่ารู้)

Customer (คัส-เทอะ-เมอะ) n. แปลว่า ลูกค้า
Salesperson (เซล-เพอ-เซิน) n. แปลว่า พนักงานขาย
Top (ท็อป) n. แปลว่า เสื้อท่อนบน
Pattern (แพท-เทิร์น) n. แปลว่า ลวดลาย
Floral (ฟลอ-เริล) adj. แปลว่า ลายดอกไม้
Price (ไพรซ์) n. แปลว่า ราคา
Discount (ดิส-เคาท์) n. แปลว่า ส่วนลด
Quality (ควอล-ลิ-ที) n. แปลว่า คุณภาพ
Manager (แม-เน-เจอะ) n. แปลว่า ผู้จัดการ
Fitting room (ฟิท-ทิง รูม) n. แปลว่า ห้องลองเสื้อผ้า
Popular (พอพ-พิว-เลอะ) adj. แปลว่า เป็นที่นิยม
Event (อิ-เวนท์) n. แปลว่า งานหรือกิจกรรม
Try on (ทราย ออน) v. แปลว่า ลองสวม
Cash (แคช) n. แปลว่า เงินสด
Counter (เคา-เทอะ) n. แปลว่า เคาน์เตอร์

Shopping🛒🛒

“Nutritional” vs. “Healthy”: Are These Synonyms?

The words healthy and nutritional seem to go hand in hand. We often see them used to describe the same foods. For example, it makes sense that a carrot would be healthy and nutritional. But does that mean these two words mean the same thing?

Sometimes food labels can be misleading, so it makes sense to ask, what does healthy mean? What is nutritional, and are these terms synonyms? With a close examination, we can determine the scope of each word. We can have a clearer understanding of how they apply to our daily food choices, so we can make better ones.

(And just so we’re clear … we may be talking about healthy food, but that doesn’t mean we’re asking you to toss out that certain breakfast cereal with little, multi-colored marshmallows that are “magically delicious.” No judgment!)

What do healthy and nutritional mean?

First, let’s look at our own definitions of the terms. We define the word healthy as “pertaining to or characteristic of good health.” The word healthy was first recorded in 1545–55.

The word nutritional is defined as “the act or process of nourishing or of being nourished.” The word nutrition first originated in 1375–1425 from late Middle English, and it’s derived from the Latin word nūtrīre (meaning “to feed”).

But, what’s nourish? It’s supplying what is necessary for life, health, and growth.

So, nutritional and nourish pertain to what foods provide us with in the way of vitamins, minerals, and sustenance. And, interestingly enough, the word nutrition is recorded before healthy—but did nutrition influence the meaning of healthy?

Does good nutrition equal good health?

When we say health, we are pretty much referring to our bodies, the machines that run hard every day and that need maintenance and care.

When we say nutrition, we’re generally talking about the right kind of fuel to make our human-body machines run. Simple enough. It seems that good nutrition does equal good health then.

How are nutritional and healthy different?

Is sugary, marshmallow cereal nutritional? A look at the food label reveals that yes, it is nutritional. Cereals typically provide important vitamins that nourish our bodies. But is it healthy? That is where we begin to see the divide, and where it becomes clear the words healthy and nutritional are not synonyms.

If the word healthy means something that is conducive to good health, it seems wrong to label sugary cereals as nutritional and definitely inaccurate to label them as healthy. Foods loaded with sugar are not healthy.

But, what about superfoods? Is this just a way of rebranding some pretty humble foods like blueberries, walnuts, salmon, and sweet potatoes to boost sales? Maybe. But, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. These foods used to be staples of the American diet but have fallen out of popularity over the years with the rise of processed and fast foods. However, with the new superfood status, the popularity of truly nutritional foods is on the rise again. These foods deserve the healthy and nutritional labels.

What happens when we drown kale in brown sugar (and sesame, yum) though? Is it a nutritional and healthy food? The kale may not lose its nutritional value, if cooked properly, but the healthy aspect is now jeopardized by the addition of sugar. Most nutritionists agree that sugar is a fairly evil force in the food world that can taint even the healthiest superfood. And, while eating kale drowned in brown sugar may not be as bad for you as those sugary marshmallows, it’s definitely not considered healthy anymore.

Similarly, acai berry is a superfood, but it loses it high nutritional value when it’s turned into juice with high levels of added sugar. Green tea has very high levels of antioxidants, but falls on the wrong side of healthy when it’s processed with less healthy teas and served with sugar. Some whole grains are processed to a degree that causes them to lose their nutritional value or prompts the body to process them in a way that spikes sugar levels.

So, perhaps the best thing to remember when shopping for (good) nutritional and healthy food is that you can take a perfectly nutritious food and turn it into something that has a less positive, or healthy, effect on your body. If you process it in a certain way, overcook it, or add enough sugar (or cute little marshmallows), it won’t be healthy at all.

What does nutritional labeling tell us?

Sometimes, in a moment of utter hunger, we may look at the label of a pre-packaged snack food and see that it’s under 200 calories with only a few grams of fat. Yes, it has a bunch of sodium and added sugar (how much is too much?), and a bunch of other things we’re not sure about. But, it seems slightly healthy (and it says “low fat” in a green banner), so down the hatch it goes.

The way your body breaks down that processed food—and its list of mystery ingredients—is quite different from the way your body would process, say, an apple and a handful of nuts. These are whole foods (see where that supermarket chain got the name?), which are always more healthy and nutritional than anything processed and pre-packaged. Your body breaks down whole foods slowly throughout the day, allowing those nutrients to do their job, giving you more energy, and keeping you full and fueled.

Nutritional labeling is important, and an important part of it is the ingredients list. The fewer the ingredients (and the fewer mystery ingredients), the better. The ingredients list for a crisp, juicy apple is: apple. That’s the best kind of list.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has good information on its web site about reading these labels. They advise that the most important things are the serving size (beware that some packages are considered two servings, when you might think of it as one), the nutrition info (fiber, sugar, salt, fat, etc.), and the percentage of “daily value” (you want a high daily value of the nutrients that are good for you, like calcium, and a low daily value of the nutrients that aren’t so good, such as saturated fat).

The power of words

That said, even the FDA revises its standards frequently for what it deems “healthy foods,” as they did recently to consider “added” sugars vs. “naturally occurring” sugars. Now, all sugars are not equal.

The science of nutrition is a fluid one and keeping up takes some work. Understanding the nomenclature is helpful, as is knowing that healthy is a state of being, and that good nutrition is what gets you there.

But, beware of catchy marketing and claims to be part of a “balanced” meal, because without the nutritional info to back it up, those claims are just food clickbait.

Copyright 2024, XAKKHRA, All Rights Reserved.

Take it easy 😊
Noah at Richmond Shopping Centre.

What Is Cyber Monday? Discover The Origin Of This Day

For many, Cyber Monday provides the perfect shopping solution: all the holiday deals with none of the holiday crowds. But, where did the name Cyber Monday come from?

What and when is Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday is an annual event during the holiday shopping season that’s devoted to online shopping. Online retailers are known for offering deals and discounts on the day.

The annual Cyber Monday takes place on the Monday after Thanksgiving (which is the fourth Thursday in November). In 2021, Cyber Monday is November 29. In 2022, it will fall on November 28.

Cyber Monday is part of a series of unofficial holidays focused on shopping opportunities at what’s considered the beginning of the holiday season. This period begins with Black Friday, the oldest and most established of such days. Cyber Monday is a more recent addition, along with Small Business Saturday (the day for buying from small businesses). The yearly charitable giving campaign known as Giving Tuesday takes place on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Giving Tuesday is an annual event devoted to encouraging people to donate to charitable causes or to volunteer.

What is the origin of the name Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday was first used in 2005 by the National Retail Federation to encourage people to shop online. Cyber Monday is often considered to be the online shopping equivalent of Black Friday, which dates back to at least the 1950s and has historically been one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

What does cyber mean?

Prior to the advent of the internet, cyber was used in the formation of words relating to computers, computer networks, or virtual reality. This usage can be traced to the word cybernetics, which was ushered into English in the 1940s by the scientist Norbert Wiener. Cybernetics refers to “the study of mechanical and electronic systems designed to replace human systems.” It comes from the Greek term kybernḗtēs meaning “helmsman” or “steersman.”

The first instance on record of cyber as a combining form is from 1961 in the Wall Street Journal: “A major difference between the Cybertron and conventional computers … is the ability of the Cybertron to make use of raw data and signals.” The Cybertron was used for commercial and military use at the time, and it was touted as a machine that could learn as it solved problems. Also in the 1960s, fans of the popular sci-fi show Doctor Who heard another cyber combining form: cybermen. These deathly cyborgs have been frequent visitors throughout the show’s run.

Other words that use cyber

Today, cyber- is largely used in terms relating to the internet, and it appears in many commonly used words. One notable coinage in the evolution of this term is the word cyberspace by novelist William Gibson. He used it first in his 1982 story “Burning Chrome.” He used the word again in his 1984 novel Neuromancer in a passage that predated the introduction of the internet to mainstream culture (but captured its mystery surprisingly accurately):

“Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts … A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding …”

Cyber- is also part of these frequently used terms:

cyberattack
cybersecurity
cyberterrorism
cyberwarfare
cyberpunk
cyberpet
cybercafé
cyberbully

Whether you love or loathe the idea of a day of online shopping, Cyber Monday has already been with us for more than 15 years. As technologies continue to change, the ways we use the word cyber are likely to adjust, too! What will the next wave of cyber-realities bring?

Copyright 2024, XAKKHRA, All Rights Reserved.