elllo
Views #657 | Intermediate 5

Steroids

Wendi and Todd talk about steroids in sports and who takes steroids and why.
image

Todd: Talking about body alterations, I think for men it's not so much cosmetic surgery, but it's steroids these days. That's the hot topic.

Wendi: Do you think so?

Todd: Well, I'll tell you, when I was in high school, I knew so many guys that did steroids, at least probably twenty, twenty-five guys I knew did steroids in high school.

Wendi: But do you think that currently, that kids are into steroids? Are you thinking of like athletic, for athletes type thing, or are you just thinking guys that wanna look big and stuff?

Todd: Well, that's a good point like I'm older now. I'm 36 and I haven't been in the states in awhile but when I was in university up until 22 it was still quite a common thing.

Todd: And I think athletes do it because they can get money. That know that...

Wendi: Oh, for sure. Yeah, I think definitely in the high school kind of sports scene, I think that there are a lot of youth taking steroids as performance enhancers.

Wendi: But when I was in high school, I knew some guys who were taking steroids just to look good. Well, what their concept of looking good was, which I thought was not good at all, but I know they were taking it because they thought bigger was better kind of thing, but yeah.

Todd: Now they know, all these things it can do to your body. It can give you cancer.

Wendi: Yeah. Yeah.

Todd: I mean, so it's the same thing with the implants that you were talking about earlier. Why would you do anything to your body that could be such a risk? I mean, it's just not worth the risk.

Wendi: But I guess that's not the perspective because like, it's all about right now is the moment and people don't really think of life as being like, like something that comes and goes. Like your life is your life and it's like it's here and it's here forever kind of and I don't think that people really put it into perspective, like actually like in the blink of an eye it can all be gone.

Todd: Rigth. Which is true. In a blink of an eye it all can be gone.

Wendi: Yeah, it all can be gone incredibly easy.

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

body alterations

Talking about body alterations, I think for men it's not so much cosmetic surgery.

Here, 'body alterations' refers to intentional changes to your body. These can be through surgery or medication. Notice the following:

  1. I don't even recognize here. She must have had some big body alterations.
  2. Would you ever get any body alterations?

performance enhancers

I think that there are a lot of youth taking steroids as performance enhancers.

Here, a 'performance enhancer' is a drug that helps you do something better than you could naturally. Notice the following:

  1. It was decided that he wasn't using performance enhancing drugs during the competition.
  2. Every Olympics a few athletes are accused of using performance enhancers.

put into perspective

I don't think that people really put it into perspective when they put their life at risk.

'Putting something into perspective' means to compare a certain situation with a similar situation to get an idea of how things really are. Notice the following:

  1. Let me help you put this into perspective. Look at the car you drive. You are not poor.
  2. When you are a teenager, it is hard to put things into perspective. Everything seems like a huge problem.

at risk

They put their life at risk.

Putting something 'at risk' means that you are putting it in a situation where something bad could happen. Notice the following:

  1. You are really putting the company at risk by doing this.
  2. He doesn't think about the fact that he is putting his children at risk with his actions.

the blink of an eye

I don't think those people realize that in the blink of an eye it can all be gone.

Here, 'in the blink of an eye' is used to show that something can happen or change before you even know what is happening. Notice the following:

  1. Everything in his life changed in the blink of an eye.
  2. I don't remember exactly what happened. The accident happened in the blink of an eye.

Vocabulary Quiz

alterations • performance • perspective
risk • blink
  1. When you put his actions into , he's not that different from most kids his age.
  2. People who smoke are more at for cancer.
  3. It's hard to believe it when things change in the of an eye.
  4. When she's done having kids, she says she's going to get some body done.
  5. It's pretty obvious that he is using enhancers. Nobody is naturally that big.
Answer these questions about the interview.

 

Free Courses from ELLLO

One Minute English Videos

Free Courses from ELLLO