Catalonia’s leaders make a bid for independence, but regional president Carles Puigdemont is arrested. The Houston Astros won the World Series for the first time in their franchise history. In the second half of the program, we review the English expressions “stop short” and “a stretch.”   PLAIN ENGLISH is a weekly podcast for intermediate English students. The pace of the show is a little slower than native English speech and listeners can read the transcript as they listen so they never miss a word. FULL TRANSCRIPTS of the show are available for free online at plainenglish.com. Practice your English by reading transcripts as you listen. Stay in touch with us! Sign up to receive email updates and exclusive content at plainenglish.com/mail ¿Hablas español? No hay problema. Lee transcripciones interactivas con traducciones de palabras y frases en español. Visita a plainenglish.com/es y busca este episodio. ENGAGE with the show by writing to Jeff on Twitter (@plainenglishpod) or Facebook (plainenglishpod) USE your new English! Each episode has English vocabulary, phrasal verbs, and English expressions. Use your new English vocabulary in a sentence in the comments at the bottom of the show’s web page or send us a message on Twitter or Facebook and I might read your example on an upcoming show. Questions? Email me! jeff@plainenglish.com Mentioned in this episode: The Expressions are back! Subscribe to our new podcast, "Essential English Expressions." Each episode shows you step-by-step how to use a common English expression, with plenty of examples. Season 1 is available now. Download or stream all 14 episodes at [link].

A series of three large earthquakes hit Mexico in the last month, including the strongest earthquake to hit the country in over a century. The new features of the iPhone X are impressive, including what is possibly the newest word in the English language, “animoji.” In the second half of the program, we review examples of the English phrases “bundled up” and “comb through.” PLAIN ENGLISH is a weekly podcast for intermediate English students. The pace of the show is a little slower than native English speech and listeners can read the transcript as they listen so they never miss a word. FULL TRANSCRIPTS of the show are available for free online at plainenglish.com. Practice your English by reading transcripts as you listen. Stay in touch with us! Sign up to receive email updates and exclusive content at plainenglish.com/mail ¿Hablas español? No hay problema. Lee transcripciones interactivas con traducciones de palabras y frases en español. Visita a plainenglish.com/es y busca este episodio. ENGAGE with the show by writing to Jeff on Twitter (@plainenglishpod) or Facebook (plainenglishpod) USE your new English! Each episode has English vocabulary, phrasal verbs, and English expressions. Use your new English vocabulary in a sentence in the comments at the bottom of the show’s web page or send us a message on Twitter or Facebook and I might read your example on an upcoming show. Questions? Email me! jeff@plainenglish.com Mentioned in this episode: The Expressions are back! Subscribe to our new podcast, "Essential English Expressions." Each episode shows you step-by-step how to use a common English expression, with plenty of examples. Season 1 is available now. Download or stream all 14 episodes at [link].