Speaking English: SAY, TELL, HEAR, LISTEN – How to use them correctly

421,508 views ・ 2008-11-22

ENGLISH with James


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Wow, did he really say that?
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Hi, I'm James from www.engvid.com.
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If you haven't heard of it, you're going to.
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Stick with me, alright?
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Did he really say that?
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I don't know.
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Well, what did he tell you?
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I don't know.
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Well, what did you hear?
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Were you listening?
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These are four words I hear all the time when I teach English.
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Students get confused.
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So today, we're going to work on that.
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Say, tell, hear, and listen.
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What do they mean?
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Why do we use them?
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I don't want to hear you make these mistakes anymore.
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Okay, when you tell people things, you're going to say the right thing.
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Ready? Let's go.
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Alright, first of all, let's look at the seeing ones, yeah?
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Did I say see?
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I mean say.
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Ready?
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Say and tell.
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To keep it really, really simple, basically put, if I say something to you,
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it's going to be exactly what I said, and you just repeat it.
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What did John say?
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Now, the past of say is said.
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And in either case, you just repeat whatever the person said.
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What did he say to you?
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He said he was sorry.
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01:24
What did he say?
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He's happy.
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You just repeat.
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So when we say say in English, you basically repeat, okay,
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exactly what somebody said.
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That's it.
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Easy, right?
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Tell is a little different.
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This is where students get confused.
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When people tell you things, number one, I'm going to tell you about my vacation to Spain.
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By telling you something, I'm going to give you information.
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I'm not repeating something.
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I'm actually giving you information.
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That's one use of tell.
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We use it for information.
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For instance, I can't say to you, "Say me where you were last night."
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It makes no sense.
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I'll go, "Excuse me?
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What do you mean?"
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But you say, "Tell me."
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I go, "Ah, you want information."
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Okay?
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Now, let's say you are putting together, well, no.
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How about if I wanted to tell you how to get to www.engvid.com?
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Yes, you want information, but you want something else as well.
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You want instructions.
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I might have to say, "Turn on your computer, go to Internet Explorer," or whatever you use.
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So, you also want instructions.
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So, we say, "For instructions, we use this."
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Now, a third one are orders.
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When someone tells you, "Do this."
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Well, what did he tell you?
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He told me to go home.
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Do it.
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So, when somebody orders you or tells you to do something, okay?
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Now, if you're looking, "Say" is to repeat exactly what you were told.
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What did he say?
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He was happy.
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You might say it's information, but I'm repeating what the person actually said.
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"Telling" is different in that you can give information.
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It may not be the exact words the person used, but you're using them.
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You're giving the information.
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Instructions, maybe I need help with something.
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You're going to tell me what to do.
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Give me instructions.
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Or, maybe you want me to do it now.
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Maybe, I'm sure your parents would have said this to you, "What did I tell you?"
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What orders did I give you?
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What were you supposed to do?
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Say and tell.
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Before I go and give you the next lesson, what I want you to do is repeat to yourself.
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The blue screen will come up empty.
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You fill it in.
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There should be one for say, three for tell.
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Try it now.
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Good.
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Did you get it right?
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If you did, say, repeat exactly.
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Tell, for information.
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Instructions and orders.
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Good.
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Now, let's do the other part.
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This was talking.
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What about listening?
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Let's go.
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Now, in English, we like to say active and passive.
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Active means you do it.
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You're actually doing it.
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Passive means it happens to you.
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Okay?
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Now, in the case of listen and hear, one is active, one is passive.
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I'm going to give you a sentence and you figure out which one it is.
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You're in school.
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Your teacher is talking.
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Your teacher suddenly asks you a question.
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You say, "I don't know."
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The teacher will say, "A, did you hear me? B, were you listening?"
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Well, if you're in class, you're supposed to be listening.
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Listening is active.
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This means you are, in a word, focusing on sound or a specific sound.
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Okay?
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So, you're listening.
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In school, you listen.
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You actually listen to what the teacher is saying.
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Now, if you figured out which one is active, you know which one is the passive one.
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And in this case, what I mean is the sound comes to you.
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You're not focusing on it.
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It's just around you.
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Hold on.
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So, passive is when a sound just comes to you.
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That's what you hear.
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So, right now...
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Excuse me.
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I hope you didn't hear that.
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I'm so sorry.
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I know you were listening to the lesson.
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You didn't want to hear what I did.
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Right?
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Passive.
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You heard the sound.
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I know.
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Not the best, but I never said I was normal.
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Come on.
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So, passive is when you hear something.
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You're not focusing on it.
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It's just around you.
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So, that sound around you.
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Okay?
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So, next time someone is saying something and you want to tell them that you actually
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find what they say important, you would say, "I'm listening to you.
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I am focused on what you have to tell me."
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Now, if something happens, like...
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Don't worry.
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I'm not going to do it again.
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But, say, a bird is singing or a car door closes, you say, "Did you hear the car door
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close?
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Do you hear the bird singing?"
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Because you know the person may not be focused on it.
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So, let's do a quick review.
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Think about it.
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Which one is which?
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Blue screen is going to come up.
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You know the drill.
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We'll talk about idioms, okay, when you come back.
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You know the drill.
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Anyway, think about it.
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Blue screen comes up blank.
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You fill it in.
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All right.
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Active, the word "listening" or "listen."
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Passive, "hear" or "hearing."
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Okay?
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And a quick overall.
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What is "say" for?
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That's right.
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"Say," when you repeat exactly what someone said.
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"Tell," there are three.
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I'll give you one.
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"Orders," what are the other two?
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Good.
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And, what is "active," when we use our ears?
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That's right, "listening," and "hearing" is passive.
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"I hope you heard," oops, I forgot to tell you, that's post-participle.
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"Heard everything I told you," because I know you were listening.
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I didn't want to say it twice, but I'm sure you got what I was trying to tell you.
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Listen, have a great day.
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And before I go, I just want to tell you where to come to get more information about these
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and other words.
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There are, myself and other teachers are happy to help you, okay, in your learning experience.
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What I'd like you to do is, listen carefully, right, go to www.engvid.com, okay, where we
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will be able to tell you more about English, and you'll be able to say it to your friends
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that you learned it from us, okay?
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Take care.
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Have a good day.
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Are you still there?
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Good.
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You know the drill.
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It means you know what's going to happen next.
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Don't tell the students who left too early, okay?
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So you know the drill.
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Got it.
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You know what's going to happen next.
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Gotta go.
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See you at www.engvid.com.
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