Tintin in: Red Rackham's Treasure #4
Tintin in: Red Rackham's Treasure
Episode 4
Beginner
Hi everyone, my name is Ben, and you're watching Ben's Language Lab. As we know, stories are one of the best ways to improve at a language, and stories with pictures, like these, are even better. And so today, we're going to read a comic together. This video is meant for English beginners, and so if you need, there are subtitles available, or you can find the entire transcript on benslanguagelab.com. Make sure you subscribe for more videos like this one. We're currently reading Tintin and Red Raccoon's Treasure, that's what it's called. And if you haven't seen the other episodes, click the link in the description to make sure you watch from the beginning. All right, let's start learning. So in the last episode, the two Thompsons have put on their ridiculous disguises, their crazy clothes. And so we're gonna see what happens next on this boat as they're getting ready for their journey. And so here they're along the side of the ship, and they're walking along, and one of them says, we must behave like old sea dogs, they say, because they're trying to blend in. They want to look like they're sailors, right? So that people don't suspect that they're up to something. And so he says, for a start, we'd better learn to chew tobacco. For all those old sea dogs chew a quid, here, have one of these. So tobacco is the plant that is in cigarettes and it creates a bit of a buzz or a high, it's very addictive, and it's something that a lot of sea workers would chew, baseball players, a lot of people used to chew tobacco. Now, it's really uncommon for people to chew tobacco. It does still happen, but it's quite addictive and a lot of people don't like tobacco in a lot of ways. You might have heard it called chew in English, which is referring to tobacco. Here they are taking a bite. It's very tough. Oh, by the way, old seadogs. They're seamen, not actual seadogs. A seadog or just a dog in general is a way to refer to a person. Usually they work a lot or they're quite busy or something like that. So they're talking about sailors. And so here they take a bite of the chew, and they're trying to chew it. It's very difficult to chew. It's very tough. It's very thick, the tobacco is. And so then we go over to Captain Haddock and Tintin here. They look to be in the bridge. The bridge is the top part of the boat. That's what it's called. And so Tintin asks, what do we do, Captain? We're bearing down on that fishing fleet. I'll give a blast on the siren, that'll warn them, he says. And so we look outside here, and we see there's a bunch of fishing boats, right? That's a boat, that's a boat, there's some over here. A lot of boats together is called a fleet. A lot of boats, a lot of airplanes, a lot of something like that is called a fleet of something. And so they're calling it a fishing fleet, because the boats are there for fishing, right? They're trying to catch fish. They're bearing down on it, which means they're going toward it kind of quickly. To bear down on something is usually when you're kind of coming at it almost aggressively. If you think about going down to something like bearing down on it, that's why it sounds a bit aggressive or like you're attacking in some way. So they're driving their big boat towards these small little boats that could break. And so what Haddock says is to give a blast on the siren. Or something like that, right? A siren is a loud noise to let somebody know that something is happening, right? That's a siren. And a blast is like a big bat of noise to warn them, right? Look out! So, toot, says the boat, right, because it's a big steamboat. Toot, toot. And so that scares Thompson and Thompson. They go, goodness, my tobacco. Mine, mine too. I swallowed it. which you're not supposed to do. You're supposed to chew on it and then spit it out, because it's not very good inside your body. None of it's very good for you, but you're not supposed to swallow it. So they both swallow their tobacco on accident. Bunch of dummies. Bunch of dummies. So the next day, we see the boat moving along, a very big boat, right? It's going along. And the cook says, this has got to stop. Yes, it's got to stop. The cook comes up to captain says yes captain yesterday was a box of biscuits and this morning a whole chicken has disappeared He says because remember last time the food was going missing Somebody was stealing food and Tintin says that wretched dog He's snowy. They're thinking it's snowy. You stealing food snowy snowy. Where is he hiding snowy? snowy snowy And they're trying to find Snowy, yelling for him, looking for him. Where's Snowy? Is he stealing a whole chicken? Is he stealing biscuits? Snowy! Snowy! Where on earth can he be hiding? Where has he hidden himself? Where is he? And then he says to the captain, you really saw him make off with the chicken. I'm asking because he doesn't know where he is. So to make off with something is when you steal something and get away with it. Right. So to make off like a bandit is when you steal a lot of stuff. And to make off with the chicken is to grab the chicken, steal it and get away to escape. Right. Cook says, well, I didn't exactly see him, but I supposed. So he didn't actually see him. He didn't see Snowy, he just guessed, he supposed. Because dogs like food and the food was gone, so Snowy stole it, right? You supposed, you supposed. Don't you accuse anyone of anything unless you have proof. Besides, how do you know you didn't eat the whole chicken yourself? How do we know? That's what he says. So now Haddock is a little upset because he just supposed, he just assumed. We have a phrase in English which is never assume because assume, never assume because assume makes an ass out of you and me because assume is spelled like this. So there's the ass, and then there's you, and then there's me. And to make an ass of someone is to sort of make somebody look silly, to make somebody look ridiculous, or make them look dumb. And so he's assuming that something happened, But if he's wrong, he looks kind of dumb. And he told them, Snowy stole this food, right? Snowy stole this. So he's kind of there, he's assuming something that's not, might not be true. And that's why Haddock is upset, right? Don't you accuse anyone of anything unless you have proof. Proof is something that proves or shows that something happened. Right? So proof of purchase shows that, yes, I bought this thing. I purchased something. Or proof of Snowy stealing a chicken would be like a picture of him or seeing Snowy steal it. Right? Proof is something important if you want to assume something or claim something or say something. And then he says, besides, how do we know you didn't eat that chicken yourself? because what if the cook was hungry? He ate the chicken and then said that Snowy stole it so that he wouldn't get blamed. That's possible, right? And so that's another reason Haddock's a little bit angry. But then we see Snowy is, in fact, chewing on some bones. So, huh, what's going on there? Later that evening, Haddock says, goodnight. You might wanna just keep an eye on that Snowy. Don't worry, I'll watch him. Good night, Captain. And so he says, like, keep an eye on him, watch him, make sure he's not stealing food. And so then Tintin says, don't worry, I'll watch him, it's okay. Then he's walking down the deck, down the side of the boat here, and we see it's night, it's dark outside, and he's got his coat on, it looks windy. Windy and cold, right? And then we hear somebody shout, thief, same to you. Crumbs, says Tintin, that's the two detectives. He hears that is their voices, Thompson and Thompson. Then he comes in, what's going on here? And they're both fighting. They have each other by the shoulders. They're trying to fight each other. And then he says, it's him, Tintin. He's stolen my pillow. That's what he's saying to him. A pillow is what you sleep on, right? The soft thing. And then the other one says, that's not true. It's him. He's taking one of my blankets. And the blanket is what you pull over yourself to get comfortable in your bed. And so he's missing blankets. He's missing his pillow. Who is stealing stuff? And then he says, aren't you ashamed at your age quarreling over such trifles? Now that's all over, isn't it? He says so. He asks them if they're ashamed, right? Because you better be ashamed, right? They're ashamed looking here. At their age, because they're fighting like children. They're fighting like nine-year-olds, but they must be 30 or 40 years old. So aren't you ashamed at your age? fighting over such little things. So quarreling is just fighting or arguing, to quarrel. And a trifle is a small problem of some kind, a trifle or a little thing. That can also be a little bit of food or just a small thing. And so in this case, a small problem, it's a pillow, it's a blanket, It doesn't matter, they're fighting over things that just don't matter, right? And so then Tintin says, now that's all over, isn't it? Not really as a question, he's not really asking, he's more of telling them that they're gonna be quiet because now let's go to bed, he says. He's tired, it's nighttime, he wants to go sleep. And then we hear billions of blistering barnacles from Captain Haddock up on the upper deck there. So there's Haddock above Tintin. And Tintin goes, huh? He wonders, asks a question. I wonder what's happening. What made Haddock swear like that? What's the matter, Captain? The matter? Blistering barnacles. My bottle of whiskey has vanished, he says. What's the problem, Captain? And somebody stole Captain's whiskey. It's gone. It's vanished. Kaput. Vanished? Someone must have been worried about your health and keeping to your diet, he says. Because remember, Haddock is not supposed to drink. His liver is failing and he has a diet. He can't drink. No drinking, says the doctor. And then Haddock says, you can laugh, but if I catch the crook, he's in for a rough time. So Tintin thought it's kind of funny because Haddock is saying, somebody stole my thing that I shouldn't have, right? But Haddock is saying that it's not funny, you can laugh, but if I catch the crook, he's in for a rough time. I'm gonna beat him up, give him a knuckle sandwich, right? And then Tintin says, we'll investigate in the morning. Now let's go to bed, I'm dead tired, good night. He's ready to go to sleep. He's tired. He says, good night. Then Haddock says, you go to sleep if you like. I know what I'm going to do. That's what he says. He's going to solve something. He's not going to sleep. He's not going to go to sleep. He's going to go to try to do something. He knows what it is. And so we see Haddock walking down the stairs, he's walking down the corridor, and he goes to a door. And the door says, no entry. So you can't see it very well, but it says, no entry. which means do not enter, right? Don't go inside, stay out. But he opens the door with a key here. He has got a key and he opens the door and he goes inside the room that says no entry. And he goes to a big old box of old Scotch whiskey. He puts in his crowbar. This is called a crowbar. They usually look like this or something like this. And you put it into something and you like wrench it up. They are lever tools where you can open things, right? And so this box, you can't open with your hand. It's too difficult. So he needs a crowbar in order to open it. Thundering typhoons! Because it says it's whiskey on the side. Old Scotch whiskey, right? But inside, there's some kind of machine. What is that? It's not whiskey. So he runs out of the door and runs back up the corridor, and we hear thump, thump, thump, thump banging on the door, and Tintin goes, huh, what? Tintin, Tintin, come quickly. There's not a moment to lose. We're going to blow. There's a bomb in the hold, he says. It's a bomb. It's going to explode. bombs explode. So Haddock thinks that there's a bomb in the hold. That's where you store stuff on a ship. So there's a bomb! There's a bomb! We're going to blow up! And so Tintin goes, what's going on? And so we've got to figure out what that thing is. I went down to the hole to open a case of whiskey. And instead of whiskey, I found a bomb there. He says, um, so they're walking back there. Um, here we are careful. He says, so they're walking back down the corridor. Here's the door and they go inside in here. Look. When they see them looking around, they're sort of worried, right? A bomb? And then it says, careful, don't go near it, right? Stay there, a bomb could explode, right? So stay away, don't go near. But the intention says, I have to, I must. We've got to get to the bottom of this. To get to the bottom of something, is to learn what happened, right? So we have to solve this mystery. What is this thing? So we have to figure out what's going on. I have to go close. I gotta. We've gotta get to the bottom of this. Well, he says, steel plates. He grabs something and it's a steel plate. Steel plates, he says. A steel plate is not like a plate for eating that you can eat off of, but like just a piece of steel, of metal. And so if you get a steel plate, it's just a large piece of metal, right? So he has a big piece of metal in his hand. Steel plates, he says. You're right, by thunder. Then it's not a bomb at all. Then Tintin says, definitely not a bomb. Look, we'll open another case, he says. blistering barnacles, more steel plates? And in this one, more steel plates, he says, there's lots and lots of steel plates. So there's one there, there must be dozens in this box, a bunch more in here, lots and lots of steel plates. Steaming blood there's not a drop of whiskey aboard if I catch the monster who played this trick on me on us He'll be in for a rough time He says So steaming blood is just a way of swearing right blistering barnacles thundering typhoons steaming blood there's no whiskey on board on the ship on a ship is called on board and If I catch the monster who played this trick on us, he'll be in for a rough time. So that's what he's threatening to say. We should do. Come on, Captain. We'll try and solve this mystery in the morning. It's late. I'm tired, Tintin says. Let's go. And so the next day, we see that they wake up and they're out on the ship again. And Tintin says, anyway, we can't accuse Snowy anymore. Some biscuits, even a chicken, perhaps, but not a bottle of whiskey. He's a dog. He can't steal things and change things for steel plates. It's not Snowy that's causing the problems. However, we're going to have to get to the bottom of this mystery in the next episode. We're going to leave it there for today. Thank you so much for watching and for enjoying. Make sure that you subscribe to the channel so that you can get updates on the next video that comes out. And remember, there are transcripts for everything that I make on Ben's Language Lab dot com. I'll see you next time. Have a good one. Bye.
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