📘 Part 3: Public facilities

This episode's vocabulary

• Accessible (adj.) - able to be entered or used by everyone, including people who use a wheelchair, people who are blind, etc.
• Publicly (adverb) - by the government.
• To fund (verb) - to provide the money to pay for an event, activity, or organization.
• To cater to someone/something (phrasal verb) - to satisfy a need or to provide what is wanted or needed by a particular person or group.
• Reliable (adj.) - someone or something that is reliable can be trusted or believed because he, she, or it works or behaves well in the way you expect.
• To maintain (verb) - to keep a road, machine, building, etc. in good condition.
• Overuse (noun) - the fact that something is used too often or too much.
• To instil (verb) - to put a feeling, idea, or principle gradually into someone's mind, so that it has a strong influence on the way that person thinks or behaves.
• Enclosed (adj.) - surrounded by walls, objects, or structures.
• To fall to pieces (idiom) - if a relationship, organization, or system falls or goes to pieces, it fails.
• Generalization (noun) - a written or spoken statement in which you say or write that something is true all of the time when it is only true some of the time.
• Greenery (noun) - green plants or branches, especially when cut and used as decoration.
• Urban (adj.) - of or in a city or town.
• Sprawl (noun) - (especially of a city) to cover a large area of land with buildings, especially gradually over a period of time.
• To boost (verb) - to increase or improve something.
• Scenery (noun) - the general appearance of the natural environment, especially when it is beautiful.
• To host (verb) - to provide the space and other things necessary for a special event.
• Binary (adj.) - relating to or consisting of two things, in which everything is either one thing or the other.

Questions and Answers

M: What are the benefits of public facilities?

R: Well, generally, they're pretty accessible in terms of location and membership. And if they're publicly funded, then there's some minimum standard of care involved usually.

M: Why are public transport methods popular, such as the subway?

R: Well, lots of reasons, I suppose. It's cheap, direct, and, usually, easy to access because it's got to cater to a lot of people at one time. In most countries, it's rather reliable too.

M: Why are some public transport methods unpopular?

R: Well, probably for as many reasons as the ones I gave the last time. I mean, they could be poorly maintained, unreliable and not work properly due to a combination of poor investment and overuse. And just a general lack of care and respect if, people haven't had that instilled in them. I mean, would you want to spend any length of time in an enclosed space that's literally falling to pieces around you?

M: What kind of transport do young people and old people prefer?

R: Oh, wow, I think that depends a lot on the context and the culture. I mean, for example, in my country, the young value a sense of independence, so they like having their own cars and bikes, whereas older people like the sense of community, so they're more likely to use public transport. I mean, that's a very broad set of generalizations, I should say.

M: Is it important to have parks in the city?

R: I mean, it's good to have them anywhere, really. People need places so they can be in the open and surrounded by greenery to help them come down and reconnect to nature. Or plus they look nice compared to just endless buildings or urban sprawl.

M: What benefits can a park bring?

R: Oh, lots. People can relax there. Hold community events with more ease in the sunshine. It can also boost the value of an area if it has this kind of access since it tends to raise the quality of the scenery.

M: Do we need big or small parks in the city?

R: I mean, why not both? Small parks would be good for local communities, but larger parks can host big attractions and events with greater ease. So I'm not sure it's such a binary choice, to be honest.

M: Do young people like to go to parks?

R: I would certainly say so. Yes. You see them hanging out there all the time in my country. And that's what they're there for. They can play different ball sports and games or just lie down and relax. And it costs them absolutely nothing, which is important if you're a young person.

M: Hey, thank you, Rory, for your answers!

R: That's okay.

Discussion

M: So public facilities, what are they? Parks, gardens.

R: Well, places that are available for public access.

M: And we say that public facilities should be accessible, so people can access them. Okay? And some of them are publicly funded, which means that the state pays for the facilities. It's like museums, art galleries, there are some state museums. So they are accessible, they are publicly funded, but Rory, what benefits are for the public, for the people?

R: Well, people can use them, and they can use them easily. If they're supposed to be public facilities, then I suppose they're meant to be accessible by the public, so it should be more accessible. I don't know if they are free necessarily. Because you need to pay for the maintenance somehow. So if they're privately owned but publicly accessible, then people who own it could charge people to use them, but they use this money to maintain it.

M: Then we talk about public transport methods. So the subway or you can call it the Netro or the tube in London, for example. You can say that the subway or the Metro is cheap, accessible, and direct. What do you mean by direct? The subway is direct.

R: I mean, it goes directly to a place. You don't have to faff around walking to different places.

M: Yeah. You don't change trains, you just like take the metro and off you go.

R: Well, you might have to change trains in some places, but it's a fairly straightforward process.

M: And the subway is usually easy to access. Yeah? The subway caters to a lot of people at one time. Caters? Here it means serves. So it serves a lot of people at one time. And in most countries, it's reliable. So you can rely on the subway, Well, maybe not in London. I've heard stories. Yeah... Some methods of public transport are not popular or unpopular, they could be poorly maintained. So to be maintained? To be taken care of. So the government, and the local council should maintain transport facilities, or some of them could be poorly maintained. So they're not maintained well. They could be unreliable. Trams, buses, trains, ships, and horses could be unreliable. No, a horse is a private transport, right? We talk about public transport methods or means.

R: Yes.

M: And just a general lack of care. So lack of maintenance, and respect, like people don't respect the government's property.

R: Well, or just public property. It doesn't have to belong to the government, it could just be publicly owned.

M: And some public transport methods could be falling to pieces. So could be kind of like. They could be getting destroyed when you look at it, at them. Methods. Like an old tram. Oh, it's falling to pieces. Or a bus, an old bus. It's falling to pieces.

R: But that just means it's not very well kept, or well maintained. And it's not in a good condition.

M: Young and old people might prefer different transport means. Means or methods. But it depends on the context and culture. Then you can give an example, about your country. For example, in my country, like in Rory's country, Scotland, the young, young people, or the young value a sense of independence. Okay? So they appreciate, it's important for them, this sense of independence. So they prefer their own cars and bikes. Maybe e-scooters. Their own private transport. While, but or whereas older people, like the sense of community. Community? When we're all together, okay? Let's get together, get on the bus and just like, yeah, rock this world. So this is what older people usually do.

R: I don't know if older people are rocking the world.

M: They get together, they get on the bus, so it becomes packed with older people. So they are more likely to use public transport. And also they usually don't have much money, to kind of to use a taxi or to maintain a car. But some older people like to use cars, no problem.

R: They do. Yeah.

M: But kind of like most older people. Yeah.

R: That's why I said those are very broad generalizations.

M: Yeah, yeah. A broad generalization. Then the examiner can ask your questions about parks, which are also public facilities like public parks or gardens, botanical gardens. And Rory told us that people need places where they can be in the open. So we need places where we can be in the open. In the open air. And in parks, we are surrounded by greenery, dear listener. Greenery is like... What it is greenery? The green stuff.

R: Well, plants, trees, anything that's green. Green stuff, like you said.

M: So it's important to be surrounded by greenery, which helps people to come down. It helps us to reconnect to nature, dear listener. We connect to nature in parks. Do you usually do this? No?

R: Then you should.

M: And it's nice to use urban sprawl. What is urban sprawl? Urban? Like city.

R: Urban sprawl is just endless developments of properties. It's not particularly pleasant, because it's just houses. Endless houses. Nothing is there apart from the houses.

M: So you can say that we do need a green break from endless buildings or urban sprawl. So parks are important, and the benefits. People can relax there. Community. Different communities hold their events, in an English-speaking community, you can hold an event in a park. And we enjoy the sunshine, so we sunbathe in the sunshine. And also people could enjoy the scenery. The scenery? Beautiful views, on a lake, on trees.

R: Scenery. The nice things you can see.

M: Here, I really enjoy Rory's answer. Rory goes like, I mean, why not both? Small parks and big parks. Like why should we choose?

R: Why must you force me to choose?

M: And Rory then explains. Small parks would be good for local communities. Like local groups of people in neighbourhoods, larger parks can host big events. Host an event. Okay? Like, you organize an event, you host an event. And larger parks can host big attractions and events. And attractions, you mean like...

R: Like fares.

M: Like what?

R: Could be like a fare, for example, or some other large event. Like a concert.

M: A street market.

R: Yeah, a street market. A park market. I'm not sure if it's a street market or if it's in a park.

M: And then our favourite expression. So I'm not sure it's such a binary choice. Rory, could you explain it again?

R: Yeah. If you're ever presented with two options, and you don't think that it really is two options like it's one choice or the other. But really, you could have big and small parks, there's no reason that you can't.

M: And here, I say like I'm not sure it's such a binary choice? Just like this. Can I change the expression?

R: I'm not sure it's such a binary choice. I'm not sure it's a binary choice. I just said such because it's talking about what we just had presented to us.

M: And can I say like, it shouldn't be a binary choice?

R: You could say that, yes. But then it depends on what we're talking about. So I think it's more complicated this way.

M: Young people enjoy hanging out in parks. So they meet their friends, and they hang out. Yeah, but also, old people enjoy going to parks as well. Young people can play different ball sports. Football, volleyball, you know, basketball. You get the logic. Yeah, dear listener? So ball sports, volleyball, basketball.

R: Anything involving a ball.

M: Different games, like Frisbee. Or just lie down and relax. So lie down. On the grass, in a park, dear listener. And it costs them absolutely nothing. Cause usually younger people don't have much money. So they can do it for free. Hey! Yeah, and like what leisure facilities can be used by people of all ages?

R: Well, we already talked about parks but swimming pools as well. Footpaths, if you have like a forest walk.

M: Yeah. Also kind of like restaurants, cafes, and bars.

R: Libraries.

M: Ooh, libraries, right. This is also like a public or a leisure facility. Well, a leisure facility, dear listener, is usually a place where you just have fun. Thank you very much for listening! And we'll get back to you in our next episode! Okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

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