Learn English with a Short Story: Roller Coaster Day! (British English Podcast)

7,539 views ・ 2024-02-11

English Like A Native


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

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Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast, the listening
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resource for intermediate to advanced level English learners.
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My name is Anna and today we are learning English through a short story.
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We all enjoy a good story.
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As children, we often beg our parents to read another book and at bedtime, we
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can't possibly close our eyes and settle down until we've had a bedtime story.
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My children often want three, four, five, six stories at bedtime.
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So, we settle for one story each and then I sometimes will tell them an extra
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story once they're tucked up in bed.
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But stories don't just stop with children and childhood.
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We enjoy stories throughout our lives in many different forms.
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We enjoy reading books and we enjoy getting little glimpses of people's
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personal stories in magazines, on YouTube, on social media.
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We also enjoy stories in the form of film, or on the radio, or in podcast form.
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We like stories because it takes us on a journey.
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Sometimes, we learn something new.
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Sometimes, it verifies a thing we already know.
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Sometimes, it challenges us to consider another point of view or to change
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our own minds and points of view.
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And often they are heartwarming; they are thought-provoking; they are frightening.
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They provide us with some form of outlet or escape from our own lives.
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And so, stories can be beneficial in so many ways.
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We used stories back in the early times, back when we were, you know, making
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fire and wearing loincloths, we were telling stories to one another as a way
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to teach, as a way to pass down lessons and story is just as powerful today as
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it was back then, just as important.
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So, when it comes to learning, especially learning English, it's much more powerful
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to learn structures, vocabulary, within a story than it is out of context.
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So, if you're trying to onboard lots of professional English vocabulary so that
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you can use it in the workplace, it's much better to learn that vocabulary in context
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in the setting of a story than it is to try and just look at the list and onboard
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that to remember that list of words.
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So, with that said, today I'm going to be sharing with you a short story, and
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this is called "Roller Coaster Day".
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And I hope you'll enjoy it.
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So, without further ado, let me introduce you to this little story.
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What a day it has been!
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You know the ones when everything feels like a roller coaster ride?
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Well, today has been just that, full of ups and downs and surprises.
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The first couple of hours at work were a piece of cake.
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I work for a publishing company, and I have to deal with a lot of
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requests, deadlines and demands.
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I managed to finish everything ahead of schedule, and it felt great to
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breeze through my to-do list without too many interruptions or distractions.
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This doesn't happen very often, believe me!
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Later in the morning though, I received an email that completely changed my day.
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It was from my boss, notifying me that I had been selected to attend a prestigious
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industry conference next month.
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This was a golden opportunity to network with professionals, to gain
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valuable insights, and showcase our publishing company on a larger stage.
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She said she had passed on my contact details to the organisers and that I
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should expect to hear from them soon.
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Lucky me, eh?
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However, I soon got a follow-up email from the conference organisers stating that
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I had only been selected as a reserve; there had been some miscommunication,
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and I would only attend in the case that a colleague of mine was unable to.
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To add to my frustration, I then found out that a key project I had been working
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on diligently for weeks had hit a major snag; one of our partners had gone back
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on a promise to support us financially, putting the entire project at risk.
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At lunchtime, I seriously considered giving up on the
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day and going home to work.
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I had the flexibility to be able to do this, but I decided
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I would stick things out.
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Maybe after a good lunch at the pub around the corner I'd have a change of luck.
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I usually order the same thing, steak and kidney pie, but one of the specials
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of the day was chicken tikka masala.
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Well, I thought to myself,
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"If I have a hot curry then I'll have the perfect excuse to order a pint of beer."
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I don't normally have a drink until the evening, but I needed to put the events
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of this morning well and truly behind me!
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The curry was great, the beer too!
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I started wondering whether I could get away with ordering
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another, when my mobile pinged.
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It was my boss again.
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She'd realised that she'd jumped the gun when she told me that I'd be going to the
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conference, and she wanted to apologise.
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I'd come in here to forget all about that, and now I was
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thinking about it all over again.
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She was still trying though, and I tried to predict what she would say.
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Maybe she would give me a high-profile author to work with, or perhaps she'd
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find out that I was at the pub and want to join me to discuss the new project.
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It was a long message, and as she kept on typing I got fed up of just looking at the
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screen, and I got up to settle my bill.
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I didn't carry a lot of cash with me as I pay for everything with my mobile these
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days, but I wanted to leave a tip as the chicken tikka had been a hit with me.
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I took out my wallet and scrambled around for a couple of
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quid to stick in the tips jar.
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My mobile pinged again and, assuming it was my boss, I wanted to see what
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she had been taking so long to type.
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I started juggling the coins and the mobile, and trying to do too
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much at the same time, I ended up knocking the jar off the counter.
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"Oh!"
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As I tried to catch it, I lost control of my mobile, dropped it and everything
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ended up crashing to the floor.
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Obviously, I attracted the attention of everyone in the pub.
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The staff came running over and tidied up the mess, separating the
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coins from the pieces of broken jar.
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They jokingly asked me if I was trying to take the tip's money
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in order to pay for my meal!
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I apologised and produced a ten-pound note to cover the
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tip and the price of a new jar.
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"I'll stick to the steak and kidney pie next time,"
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I said, and I went back to work.
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In the commotion, I'd forgotten about the message, and I was just getting back to
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my office when my phone started ringing.
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I answered and heard my boss's excited voice,
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"Well what do you think?!"
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The message!
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I hadn't read it, of course, so I had to ask her what was in it before
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I could tell her what I thought.
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She told me that she'd just heard back from the organisers of the
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conference and that there would be a place for me there after all.
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I think she had pulled a few strings so that I could go, but I didn't ask any
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questions; I was just as pleased as punch!
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The rest of the afternoon was unremarkable.
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But, on my way home, my car started playing up.
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I had to take it to the garage where the mechanic hit me with the bad news.
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It would cost me an arm and a leg to fix the issues.
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They gave me a courtesy car to use while they worked on my own.
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An automatic!
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Oh, it was going to be hard for me to get used to the non-manual system.
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On the way home I pulled over as I got a video call from my friend Morgan.
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He was grinning like a Cheshire cat, and I knew something exciting was coming.
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"Come on, Morgan!
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Spill the beans!"
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I insisted.
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They'd got the job they'd been after.
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I was genuinely chuffed for them, and their good news cheered me
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up while I tried to remember how to operate the courtesy car.
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When I got home, I thought to myself that life has a funny
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way of evening things out.
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One minute you're up, the next you're down, then you come back up again.
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That's the roller coaster of life, like I said.
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And it wasn't over yet!
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The evening took an unexpected turn when I received a message
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from my favourite author.
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Out of the blue, they were readying a surprise book launch on Sunday!
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Would you believe though?
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Right after getting this message through, my daughter Taylor called me and
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dropped the bombshell; she had finally decided to leave the student flat which
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she had been sharing with a group of, well, good-for-nothings, I called them.
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Anyway, she told them and they want her out ASAP!
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I would have to get her out of there this weekend.
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Sod's law strikes again!
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Life keeps you on your toes, alright!
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I retired to the living room with a beer while I waited for
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dinner to cook in the oven.
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I needed something to settle me down.
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No sooner had I plonked myself in the armchair than I heard a kerfuffle outside.
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I got up and looked out of the window.
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There seemed to be a bit of an issue with someone blocking
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another resident's driveway.
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More concerning to me though, was that there was an unfamiliar
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car in my parking space.
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"What now?!"
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I cried, and I was half-way out of the front door before I remembered
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that my own car was at the garage.
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The strange car was my temporary wheels.
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After dinner, I decided to have an early night and hoped that the day
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had finished with its surprises.
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I hit the hay at 9 and slept like a baby until my alarm went off the next morning.
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And that rounds up today's episode.
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Did you hear any interesting words or phrases that were unfamiliar to you?
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Well, if you would like to know more about some of those interesting words
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or phrases, then you can get a full vocabulary list for this podcast by
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clicking on the link in the description.
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Now, normally vocabulary lists, and transcripts are available to Plus Members.
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We send out an email every Monday for Plus Members to get their bonus content, as
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well as transcripts and word lists, but today I'm making the word list available
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to everyone, so that you can all benefit.
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But in future perhaps you'll consider supporting the podcast
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by becoming a Plus Member.
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To get your hands on that vocabulary list, just click on the link in the description.
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Until next time, take very good care and goodbye.
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