— VOA Learning English — Words and Their Stories Source: Voice of America Learning English (https://learningenglish.voanews.com/) Licence: Public domain (work of the U.S. federal government, 17 U.S.C. §105) Audio is served by the publisher; Budi does not host or modify it.
0:08And now, words and their stories from VOA Learning English. In many parts of the world, temperatures are dropping for the winter season. But even for those in warm weather, our show on the word cold will help your English. Cold is not just an adjective describing temperature. It can also describe stopping something suddenly and surprisingly. It also means starting or doing something without preparation. These definitions give us several expressions and idioms. When someone or something stops cold, it stops completely, suddenly, and perhaps with surprise. For example, I was surprised when my car stopped cold on a recent trip. I had just had it fixed. With this expression, we often say the thing or person being stopped.
1:25So in that example, I could say, Engine trouble stopped my car cold. When we stop someone cold, we completely stop them from doing something suddenly or immediately. Here's an example. Sometimes we add in my tracks to this expression, such as Other variations of this expression include to stop someone dead in their tracks and to stop someone on a dime They all mean the same thing Something or someone has come to a standstill, and we can use them the same way. Now let's talk about how we use cold in the business world. Sometimes we need to call someone who does not know us, and we do not know them. These are cold calls. A cold call can also be a visit to a person or business. And usually, we want to sell something.
2:59For example, a salesperson may have a cold call list to get new business. Cold calls, whether on the phone or in person, are unsolicited. This means that no one asked contact. In business and also in life, if you come to something cold or come into something cold, you are not prepared. Here is an example. Last week I came into the meeting cold. I hadn't read any of the materials. However, if come in from the cold, you are in luck. It means you rejoin a group or a normal society again. After being outside, we often use this expression to describe someone like a spy who was able to come in from the cold and enjoy a normal life. Come in from cold can also be used when someone or something becomes popular, accepted, or
4:17active again after being unpopular, unaccepted, and inactive for a time. And that's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. Until next time, I'm Ana Mateo.
This transcript was generated automatically from the recording, so it will contain mistakes — especially around names and places.