Emotionally Intelligent Husbands Mini-Story [Effortless English DVD1 > LV3 > 03]

The short story in the Mini-Story of the Emotionally Intelligent Husbands lesson

Bob is a newlywed. He and his wife Cathy have been married only two months. Unfortunately, Bob is an authoritarian husband. Every day he tells Cathy “Cook my food. Clean this house. Serve me woman!”.  Bob feels he is entitled to be served like a King by his wife. 

Cathy is very sweet. She is a very sensitive person and she emotes strongly. She always shows her true feelings. Cathy had a strict upbringing. Her mom told her to always obey her husband. Since she has strong moral fiber, Cathy tries to do what her mom taught. But every day she becomes more sad because of Bob. Finally, she is had enough. She yells at Bob with righteous indignation “Shut up, you pig! I wanna divorce. Bob is so shocked. Huhhh! He has a heart attack and dies. Ưaaah! But after he is dead nobody mourns. Cathy takes his life insurance money and now is very happy. The end!

Typed by Đồng Lâm and corrected by MT

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Vocabularies and grammar:

- authoritarian husband: ông chồng vũ phu

- entitle: có quyền

- moral fiber: nhân từ/bản chất tốt/có đạo đức

- "more sad" or "sadder"??

         + Explained by MuttQuad:

The basic progression is sad, sadder, saddest; but some people will say "more sad" and "most sad"; and they are acceptable. The construction is also used with some other adjectives such as hot or cold.

- righteous indignation: tức giận đúng lẽ (feeling very angry and correct; angry because you think you are right)
- you pig: đồ con heo/lợn
- heart attack: đau tim
- life insurance money: tiền bảo hiểm nhân thọ

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Disobedience - Mini-Story [Effortless English DVD1 > LV3 > 02]

The story in the Disobedience Mini story audio file

Once, there was a guy named Luke. Luke was a rebel. The authorities vilified him and said he was an abominable person, but Luke was really an admirable man. He had a good conscience. He always fought  for what was good and just. He refused to obey unjust laws. So, the authorities condemned Luke. And they sent Darth Cheney to kill him. 

Darth Cheney was an unscrupulous man. He tried to kill Luke. He tried to shoot him. He tried to poison him. He tried to stab him. But he always fails. finally, in the end, they fought each other. Luke won and killed Darth Cheney.

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Once = ngày xưa
Obey = tuân thủ
Poison = đầu độc
Stab = đâm (bằng dao)

Typed by Đồng Lâm, corrected by MT, the name "Darth Cheney" is suggested by An Trần

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Cafe Puccini - Mini-Story [Effortless English DVD1 > LV3 > 01]

The short story in the Mini-Story of the Cafe Puccini lesson

Okay, effortless English members. Welcome to the mini story for the article Cafe Puccini. All right, let’s get started. 

Mike is a writer. But he's not a normal writer, he is a very controversial writer. Liberal people love him, conservative people hate him. Mike is famous in the American literary scene. He helped to make history by challenging Steven King to a competition. He said to King "I am the best writer in America. I challenge you to a competition to prove who best writer really is". Steven King accepted. 

They decided to hold the competition in New York City. Both writers sat at the table with the pen, some paper, and a clock. They had only 10 minutes to write. Stephen King wrote calmly and slowly. he seemed very confident. 

Mike was very animated. He shook his head, he moved his feet, he smiled, he frowned, he cried and he laughed, as he wrote. After 10 minutes, they finished. 

A group of writers read their papers. They decided that both papers were so good. They could not pick a winner. Everybody else was shocked.  

Though there was not a clear winner. This competition started a new movement called "fast writing". Suddenly, everywhere in America, writers try to write quickly. Many writers try to copy Mike and Steven King‘s  fast writing style.  But unfortunately, most of them were terrible. No one could beat  Stephen King and Mike.

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Typed by Đồng Lầm & edited by MT

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Lost Custody Vocabulary [Effortless English DVD1 > LV2 > 05]

Welcome to the vocabulary lesson for the dear Abby letter,  “Lost Custody”. Let's get started.

“Young mother is frightened  by threat of lost custody.”

“To be frightened”, it means to be scared.  So “frightened” is the same as “scared”. He said, “I’m frightened”, it means “I'm scared” or it means “I'm afraid”.  Afraid; frightened; scared, all means the same thing.

And the word “custody” is important. “Custody” means "ownership". It means to own a person. It really means you are the person responsible for someone else. Usually we use this with children. For example, if I say, “I have custody of my son”, it means… mm.. I am the person responsible for my son.

 The government, the courts, the law says that I am the owner of my son. Right! I have custody that my son lives with me. So, that's what it means this woman, she's worried that her child; her son… she will lose custody. It means she thinks her… If they get it…  If she gets a divorce, her husband will get custody. Meaning the son will live with him. He will have custody.

Right. He will kind of own the child. The child will live with him.So, she's worried that if she gets a divorce the husband would get custody. She would lose her son.

And then “threat” in the same sentence, “she's frightened by the threat of lost custody.”

So this has not happened yet. "A threat”  is something that seems dangerous. It means ahmm… something that might hurt you but it hasn't hurt you yet. Not yet. But it might hurt you.

For example if I have a gun and I point the gun at you; I have the gun and I'm… I'm saying… yelling at you, saying, “I'm going to kill you!” that is a threat. All right. I have not hurt you yet. I have not killed you yet. But I'm saying I will. So it's a possible danger. It means someone could possibly hurt you. So, her husband could possibly take the child. It’s a threat of lost custody.

Alright and then... In the first paragraph at this letter, we have the word "belittles". "To be little". Ahh.. She says her husband always belittles me. Always belittles her. So "to belittle" means to insult and criticize. But, in a... in a really bad way you try to make someone feel small. (That's where the word come from belittle).

It means you... You always putting them down. Always saying bad things to them. So, for example, you're stupid, you're ugly, you'll never succeed, you're always going to fail. There's something wrong with you.

OKay. I'm belittling you. Alright, I am saying bad things to you. To make you feel very small, make you feel weak. So it's a verb "to belittle", to make someone feel small by insulting them again and again.

On the end in the second paragraph, we have the word "unfit". She says... the man... the husband might tell the judge, might tell the government that she is an unfit mother. "Unfit" means... not good enough, not good enough to be something. So, "unfit mother" means a mother whose not good enough to be a mom. Alright. She should not be a mother, she cannot take care of her children. She's unfit. She's not good enough. She can't do the job.

If you say, "He's an unfit teacher", it means he's not good enough to teach, he should not teach. And it's a very strong word. So, It doesn't mean bad. It's stronger than bad. If you say he is a bad teacher, it means... you know, maybe he's boring or maybe he's not very good, but it doesn't, "unfit" is more than that.

"Unfit" means terrible, terrible, terrible, should not be a teacher at all. Alright, does not have the skills. Maybe he never went to college, maybe he doesn't know the subject at all. That's why we would say he is unfit.So, "unfit mother", it's not just a bad mother. It's a mother who cannot take care of her child at all.

 Alright! And then in the next paragraph, we have the phrase "to be better off".

She says, "I know my son won't be better off with my husband." Won't be better off. "To be better off" to mean.. means to have a better situation or to have a better life.  Alright, it can also have the idea to have an improved their life. Improved.

So, she said, uhm... she doesn't think her son would have a better life with her husband. She thinks he would not be better off with the husband. Not have a better life.

And in the same paragraph, we see the phrase "on disability".

"On disability". Now "disability" means... ahh... Exactly what it says

 "ability" means you can do something, right? Some skill or something you can do. "Disability" means something you cannot do. Usually we use this word for something physical.

For example, if I'm in a wheelchair, it means I cannot walk, right? I don't have the ability to walk. I have a disability. I can't walk. I have a disability. Or If I'm blind, I can't see, then I say I have a disability. But this phrase, "to be on disability", it's a little different. Now she's talking about a government program. Disability, the american government pays money to people who have problems, physical problems. Maybe they can't work.

So the government will give them money every month. And that program, the government program is called "Disability". that's a kind of casual name for it.

So, "to be on disability" means you get a check from the government because you have some kind of problem. Now it might be a big problem, very serious, or it might actually be something fairly small. We don't now, in this letter we don't know if it's serious or not. But anyway she's getting a check from the government because of some physical problem or illness or something like that.

And finally, in the last little paragraph, she asked Abby, "Should I stick it out with my husband?"

"Should I stick it out". "To stick it out" means to stay, it means to continue doing something. For example, I'm going to stick it out at my job, that means I'm going to continue working my job.

Now "stick it out", we use it in situations that are... a difficult or unpleasant, not fine. Alright. So if you stick out a job, you say, "I'm going to stick it out at my job", it has the idea that your job is not fun. Alright, you don't like your job, but you will continue doing it anyway.

So, she doesn't really like her husband, but she's asking, "should I stick it out with my husband" meaning... okay, she doesn't enjoy your husband, she doesn't like him, but maybe she should keep trying anyway.  Maybe she should stay with him and continue with him anyway.

So, "stick it out", to continue with a situation that is not easy or that is unpleasant.

And finally she signs this, "Trapped in New Hampshire."

"New hampshire" is a state, it's a part of the United States, in the northeast, part of the country.

"To be trapped" means you can't leave. Alright! It means you're stucked. You are... For example, if I say "I'm trapped in my room", it means my door is locked and I cannot get out, I cannot leave my room, I'm trapped in the room.

"To be trapped in a job" means you are... you a're in a job but you can't leave the job. Maybe you can't find a new one. So you... But you need money so you can't leave the job, you're trapped in the job.

She feels trapped in her marriage. She doesn't like her husband. He's not a good guy, but she feels she can't leave, because she's afraid to lose her son.

So, she feels like she can't leave the marriage. So that's why she signs it "trapped in New Hampshire".

 Alright! That is all of the vocabulary for this little Dear Aabby letter.  Move on to the mini story next. 

Bye-bye!

This vocabulary is typed by MT.Dang. Please do not use it in business. Nội dung bài Vocabulary được gõ lại bởi MT Dang. Vui lòng không sử dụng lại với mục đích kinh doanh - mua bán.Thank you!

    

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Disobedience Vocabulary [Effortless English DVD1 > LV3 > 02]

Hello and welcome to the Effortless English vocabulary for Disobedience.

Ok, I’m goanna talk about the word “just”. “Just” is an important word. It’s a different meaning than the word “just” when you say, “I just want to go to sleep.” In that case,”just” means “only”, right? I only want to go to sleep. But in this case, in this article, “just” means good or fair. It comes from the word “justice”. Ok, so it means goodness, or to be good, fair, correct. That’s what just means.

All right! Little bit later, I use in that same, the first paragraph, Thoreau, in the Thoreau quote, I use the word “admirable”, or he uses the  word “admirable”.

“Admirable” means should be admired. And “admire” means to think good things about someone, to think someone is good. So if someone is admirable, it means you should think they’re good: “Wow, he’s a good person!”; “He is an admirable person.”

All right, I use the phrase “against their wills”, or “against your will” or “against his will”.

“Against your will” means against your choice. It means you do something but you don’t want to do it. Maybe you must do it, but it’s against your will. You don’t really want to.

All right, these… There’s a word here: conscience.

“Conscience” in this case with a “c”, “s-c-i-e-n-c-e”.Your “conscience” is your feeling for right and wrong. What is right and what is wrong. It’s how you decide. You think, “Oh, no, this is bad. This is good.” That’s your conscience. You say, “He has a strong conscience.” It means he always thinks about what is right and what is wrong. He never wants to hurt people. That’s “conscience”.

All right, in of that first paragraph, you’ll see the word “unscrupulous”. An unscrupulous man in power.

“Unscrupulous”, we use it to describe people usually, maybe a company. And “unscrupulous” means you don’t care about right or wrong. It means you do not have a conscience. You only care about power. That’s all you care about. “Unscrupulous”.

All right, the next paragraph, you’ll see the phrase “the State”. “The” is important here.”The State” means the Country or the Nation.

All right, in the next sentence, you’ll see the phrase “standing army”.

“A standing army” is a permanent army. That means an army that’s always, always ready. So America has a standing army. It’s a professional army. It’s not temporary.

All right, you’ll see the word “manufactured” in that paragraph. “Manufactured” means made. The verb “to manufacture” means to make something.

Right! You’ll see the phrase “lump of dirt”.

“A lump of dirt” is a round piece of dirt, like a ball, ball of dirt. “A lump” is something that’s kind of round, a small round thing. We call that a lump. If I hit you on the head with a rock, your head will get a lump on top of it.

Ok, next, so that’s the end of the quote. Next paragraph, I use the word “abominable”. I see many of the abominable problems in the world. “Abominable” means terrible, horrible, really, really bad. “Abominable”.

“Obedience”, is an important word for this article. “Obedience” is a noun. The verb is “to obey”. “Obedience” means you do what other people tell you to do. All right. You follow other people. You follow your boss, or you follow your parents, or you follow the president. That’s obedience.  That’s a noun. The action is actually called “to obey”. All right, “obey”.

All right, the next sentence I use the word “moan”. “Moan” is this sound. (…urrrrrr… urrr….).It’s a sound you make when you are hurt. You are hurt. (ohrrr…ohrr..). And it also sometimes has the idea of criticizing, criticizing someone. Right. “Oh, he’s terrible. Oh, she’s horrible. She’s bad.” You’re moaning.

Ok, I use the word “solely” in that paragraph. “Solely responsible” that means only, only responsible. Right! “Solely” means only.

At the end of that paragraph, I use the word “abandoned”. “These people have abandoned their conscience”. “To abandon something” means to leave it, leave it forever, or to get rid of it. If a mom, a mother abandons her children, she takes her children; she puts them somewhere, and she goes away; she never sees her children again. She has abandoned her children.

All aright, next page of the learning guide, you see the word “soldiers”. Of course, “the soldier” is someone in the army, an army man or army woman.

Talk about “pulling the trigger”. “A trigger” is part of a gun. It’s a part you pull.You pull the trigger that little piece of metal, and then (….), the gun shoots.

I use the word “torturing”, comes from the verb, verb: to torture.

“To torture” is to hurt someone. You try to hurt someone. But it means to hurt someone who has no power. They’re helpless, maybe a prisoner or a child or something. So you hurt them; you hit them; you beat them; you do terrible things to them, that’s called “torture”. It’s a noun or verb.

All right, and then at the end of that part - at the end of that paragraph, I use the verb “to refuse”, “to refuse an order”. To refuse something means to say no. someone asks you to do something or tells you to do something, but you say no, “I won’t do it.” That means you are refusing. Right, I refuse, I will not do it. So refuse is a little bit like a word in the next paragraph, which is “disobey”. “Disobey”, it has a similar meaning, a close meaning. It means, “disobey” means not obey. Do not do what someone tells you to do. You do not follow orders.

And you see the word “unjust”. “Unjust” is the opposite of just. So, “unjust” means bad. “An unjust law” is a bad law. It’s a law that hurts people. So, Thoreau, and Gandhi and Martin Luther King, they all said “disobey unjust laws. Do not follow bad laws.”

Ok, and these people (are)… were rebels. You see in the same paragraph the word “rebels”. “A rebel” is a person who fights the government. They go against the government. Martin Luther King was a rebel. Gandhi was a rebel. Many famous people were rebels. They fought against the government at some time.

All right, at the end of the same paragraph, you see the phrase, “the Vietnam War resisters”.

“A resister” is a person who resists. Of… of course. (hah hah). And “to resist”, the verbs, means… It’s a little like “refuse”, but it has the idea of going against something, fighting against something or trying to stop something. So Vietnam War resister is a person who tried to stop the Vietnam War. An Iraq war resister is someone who’s trying to stop the Iraq war.

Next paragraph, I say that “these people, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Thoreau, they were always condemned in the present”, means during their life, people condemn them. “To condemn” means to criticize, to say very bad things about someone, to blame them, to say they are wrong. Right! So, when Gandhi was alive, the British, many British people especially the government, they said “He’s bad. Gandhi is terrible.” The same thing, Martin Luther King. Many people in the 1950s, they said “Martin Luther King is a bad guy. He’s terrible.”

All right, and I say they’re vilified. These people are vilified.

To "vilify someone” is to describe them as being evil. You say they’re evil, terrible people. That’s “vilify”. So Martin Luther King was vilified during his life. Gandhi was vilified by some people, Thoreau also.

All right! But I say “During the 1950s, Martin Luther King was vilified as a radical.”

A "radical” is someone who wants very big changes. They want to change a lot of things, especially the government. Now it has a little bit of negative meaning. It has the idea of someone might be violent. Of course Martin Luther King was not violent. So, you know, was he a radical? I don’t know. He did want big changes, but he was not violent. So “a radical”: someone who wants big changes.

All right. And then I say, next paragraph, “The authorities he resisted are now viewed as scum.”

“The authorities”, you need “the (/ði/)” or “the (/ðə/)” in front. Those two together, means, usually it means the government, it means people with power. The authorities.

And scum is an insult. It’s a bad word. Don’t call someone a scum unless you hate them. A scum is a low class person, a really bad person, maybe a criminal, maybe someone with no education, is very terrible, bad person. “Scum”.

Alright! And finally the word “lifetime” means, of course, the time that someone lived. Martin Luther King’s lifetime, he lived in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Gandhi lived in, (you know), late 1800s, 1900s through World War II, etc. Thoreau lived in, you know, 1840s and 1850s, etc.

Ok, that’s it for today’s vocabulary. I went fast today. So if you don’t understand the first time, listen again. That’s the magic of Mp3s. you can listen many many times, repeat this many times. The repetition, the repeating will help you a lot. It’s… It’s easier than trying to memorize and study so hard. Alright! Just relax and listen again. No problem. If you don’t remember, so what? Listen again. It’s really easy.

Ok, after you finish this a few times, listen to the mini-stories, that might also help you. Ok see you next time. Bye bye.

  

This vocabulary is typed by MT.Dang. Please do not use it in business. Nội dung bài Vocabulary được gõ lại bởi MT Dang. Vui lòng không sử dụng lại với mục đích kinh doanh - mua bán.Thank you!

    

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