每日口說挑戰一週四千頓飯？！疫情下的 NBA 御用廚師是怎麼料理的！（How Chefs In The NBA Bubble Make 4,000 Meals A Week | Big Business）

Good day, Pronunciation Challenge listeners! Great to have you back and practicing on your pronunciation with me!
Are any of you listeners NBA fans? For those who aren’t, don’t worry! All you need to know is that the NBA played in a “bubble”when this pandemic first hit. What do I mean by bubble? Well, it means that the entire NBA played all their games at the Walt Disney World Resort. The players weren’t allowed to leave and had to stay at the resort until the season ended. That means that the players weren’t even allowed to see their family or friends for months. Everything was locked down, even the caterers! The food that the Disney World resort served the players at first was so bad that they had to hire caterers! (a person or company providing food for an event or gathering) Ok, so let’s get to the featured sentence first!

Today’s featured sentence:
But after negative Twitter reviews and complaints from players, the NBA brought in chefs like Lex to live inside the bubble under strict quarantine.

I’ll say that again.

But after negative Twitter reviews and complaints from players, the NBA brought in chefs like Lex to live inside the bubble under strict quarantine.

Ok, now time for the Pronunciation Tips.

For the first word, we have
Negative
Three syllables.
“NE” has a short E sound. “GA” has a short A sound and “TIVE” sounds like “live” but with a T in front instead. Negative.

Next up, we have
Complaint
Two syllables
“COM” sounds like the word “come” like coming in and out. “PLAINT” is where a lot of people get it wrong. Make sure you’re saying the letter A here and stretch it out. “AINT”. Now add “PL” in front and you have “plaint”. Complaint.

For the last one we have,
Quarantine
Three syllables.
“QUA” sounds like the word “core” like when you’re working out your abs. “RAN” ironically sounds like “run” like you’re running even though it’s spelt “ran”. “TINE” sounds like “teen” like a teenager. Quarantine.


Moving onto Vocabulary!

The first word is:
1. Negative
Definition
bad or harmful
“I wasn’t satisfied with the service so I gave the restaurant a negative review.”

Next word,
2. Complaint
Definition
a statement that something is wrong or not satisfactory
Used in a sentence, you could say:
“The waiter was very rude to me so I made a complaint.”

And lastly,
3. Quarantine
Definition
a period of time during which an animal or person that might have a disease is kept away from other people or animals so that the disease cannot spread
Used in a sentence, you could say:
“Upon arrival, I had to do a 14 day quarantine in Taiwan.”

You know, I actually wouldn’t mind living in the bubble if I were playing in the NBA! The outside world is full of distractions so living inside and playing basketball (which is my favorite sport) and eating good food doesn’t sound so bad! I think it was definitely easier for the single players to enjoy the time away from everyone but the players with families, it must have been tough. Fun fact, but did you know some writers in Hollywood book hotel rooms and essentially “quarantine” just so they could focus and get some writing done? I’ve already done 6 quarantines and I must say that I did get a lot of writing done every time!

Hope everyone is staying safe right now with the new Omicron variant going around. Remember to bring an extra disinfectant spray with you at all times if going out!
Alright, I’ll be wrapping it up here. As always, thanks for listening and practicing with me! I’ll be back with another episode on Saturday so see you then! If you can’t wait until then, find me on Instagram @hughtran_! Ok, bye!

翻譯應該稱作是 ，"泡泡聯盟"
這是發生在前年的事件，因為疫情的關係， NBA決定在奧蘭多迪士尼樂園，舉行無觀眾進場的季後賽到冠軍站。
（來自資深NBA球迷路過～）

標題用「泡沫」這個詞感覺很詭異…
好像什麼經濟泡沫之類的

But after negative Twitter reviews and complaints from players, the NBA brought in chefs like Lex to live inside the bubble under strict quarantine.

Bubble Bubble Bubble Pop!
Bubble Bubble Pop! Pop!

ㄅ知為何忽然想到這首歌 (・ิω・ิ )

But after negative Twitter reviews and complaints from players, the NBA brought in chefs like Lex to live inside the bubble under strict quarantine.
然而隨著球員在推特上對食物的負評與抱怨不斷，NBA 於是請來了像是 Lex 這樣的主廚住在有著嚴格隔離規定的防疫泡泡中。