Glass beach is an interesting place that we visited this summer. It is on the coast of California, to the North. The town is not spectacular; it's the beach that draws(1) the tourists. I had never been to a California beach, and I suppose I was expecting it to be hot and sandy. However, it was cool and foggy for the first day. And there were many beaches. They were small, rocky coves(2), that had caves, and sandy cliffs. Seagulls and seals were here and there. It was the perfect place for exploring. My children climbed and jumped around like monkeys that had been let out of the zoo. There were many rock pools where sea water had become trapped; these are the perfect places to look for crabs, fish, and other sea creatures. We spent hours walking around and searching for treasure; not gold and silver, but glass. As its name suggests, Glass beach is full of old glass that has been broken and made smooth by the waves. For years, the tides (3)and the waves have tumbled bottles of different colors. And the result is wonderful. You can literally pick up handfuls of smooth glass pebbles. Interestingly, most of the blue glass has been picked up by tourists, leaving the greens, reds, and yellows still on the beach.
1. 'The beach draws tourists'. 'To draw' can mean 2 things: to create a design with a pencil or pen, or to pull in, to attract. In the podcast, I use the verb with the second sense: to attract.
a. Donald Trump always draws lots of media attention.
b. The honey face mask draws out impurities from the skin.
2. 'A cove' is the same as a bay: a small, rounded area of beach that is sheltered. It is also a sheltered area in a mountain or a narrow pass between woods or hills.
a. We had a picnic in a small, sandy cove.
b. We sheltered from the storm in a cove.
3. 'The tide/s' are the regular coming and going of the sea from the beach. We talk about 'high tide' and 'low tide': when the water is high and low at different times of the day.
a. The tide brought in a lot of sea weed and jelly fish.
b. We can't go onto the beach until low-tide.
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