VOA · Words and Their Stories
Advanced · C1learner speed5:182024-12-05public domain
Words and Their Stories is VOA's classic program about American English expressions and idioms — where phrases like 'break the ice' come from and how to use them. Native-like idioms in slow, clear speech: a rare combination for learners.
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01And now, words and their stories from VOA Learning English.
02Playing cards is a popular pastime for people of all ages.
03Some games are easy, while others are complex.
04And people of all walks of life play cards.
05A set of playing cards is called a deck.
06A deck of cards is not costly and can be bought almost anywhere.
07With one deck of 52 cards, you can play many different games.
08Some of the games include poker, blackjack, bridge, rummy, 500, snap, hearts, and crazy eights, just to name a few.
09The deck of cards also gives the English language many idioms.
10Today we will talk about a few of them.
11To win at many card games, you must keep your cards hidden from the other players.
12In many games, the cards you are dealt and play with are called your hand.
13If your opponents know your hand, they can easily beat you.
14Some players keep their cards hidden by holding them to their chest.
15In life, you might need to keep some parts of a plan hidden or secret for them to succeed.
16You might need to keep your cards close to your chest.
17This idiom means to keep your plans, intentions, or methods secret.
18However, with most card games, players must show their cards to the other players at some point, sometimes at the end of the game.
19This gives us two similar idioms.
20To show your hand and to lay your cards on the table.
21As an idiom, to show your hand or your cards means to tell people your plans or intentions that you had kept hidden.
22The same is true of laying your cards on the table.
23In many card games, the players must show their cards by placing them face up on the table for everyone to see.
24When we put our cards on the table, we show something that we have kept hidden.
25These can be things like our reasons for doing something, our intentions, or our opinions.
26Now, in a game of cards, luck or chance plays an important part.
27You must play with the cards you are dealt.
28This is the case in life, too.
29Not everything is a choice.
30Sometimes we must deal with things that are out of our control.
31We must play with the cards we are dealt.
32We can also say, play the hand we are dealt.
33So, luck is part of the game.
34We cannot know or predict the cards we are dealt.
35But sometimes, other players cheat.
36They can do this by stacking the deck.
37When you stack the deck, you add cards to the deck that will help you win.
38This gives you an unfair advantage.
39In life, we can sometimes feel that things are stacked against us.
40This means that no matter how hard we try, we still struggle.
41We feel as though life has dealt us a bad hand.
42And we must struggle and fight to gain anything at all.
43For example, if the deck is stacked against you, the odds are not in your favor.
44You might have to struggle against all odds to succeed.
45These are just a few of the idioms English gets from a deck of cards.
46There are many more.
47But that's all the time we have today.
48Keep listening to Words and Their Stories to learn more.
49Until next time, I'm Ana Mateo.
50Thank you.
// transcribed with Whisper AI — reading it is easy; catching it by ear is the skill
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