I always suggest my students that they go to TED, browse the library of talks, pick the one they like and listen to it, then work on the new vocabulary, and notice how words are combined.
So a student picked this moving and inspirational talk. Born with a rare genetic disorder called progeria, Sam Berns knew he’d be facing more obstacles in life than most. But this didn’t stop him from taking charge of his own happiness. Berns describes the three principles of the personal philosophy that allowed him to do so.
Before you watch it – watch and print the transcript here -, answer this question:
What is your idea of a happy life?
Can you list the three aspects to his philosophy? Do you agree with them?
Next, let’s look at some of the language we have been talking about in class, which we find in his talk.
“I’m Sam, and I just turned 17″.
turn verb (age/time) to become a particular age, or to reach a particular time
“So my family and I worked with an engineer to design a snare drum harness that would be lighter, and easier for me to carry”.
It is considered polite to mention oneself last in double subjects or objects.
Why don’t you and I go away for the weekend?
“I just want to give you some more information about Progeria”.
“When I can’t do something like run a long distance, or go on an intense roller coaster, I know what I’m missing out on“.
miss out phrasal verb
1 to not have the chance to do something that you enjoy and that would be good for you:
Some children miss out because their parents can’t afford to pay for school trips.
miss out on
Prepare food in advance to ensure you don’t miss out on the fun!
“But instead, I choose to focus on the activities that I can do through things that I’m passionate about, like scouting, or music, or comic books, or any of my favorite Boston sports teams”.
“Now we’re kind of goofy, a lot of us are band geeks, but we really enjoy each other’s company, and we help each other out when we need to”.
kind + of = kinda e sort + of = sorta. Essas palavras são usadas no geral para expressar a ideia de “um pouco” ou “meio”.
help out phrasal verb
to help someone because they are busy or have problems:
Do you need anyone to help out in the shop?
“So the bottom line here, is that I hope you appreciate and love your family, love your friends, for you guys, love you Bro’s and acknowledge your mentors, and your community, because they are a very real aspect of everyday life, they can make a truly significant, positive impact.”
the bottom line used to tell someone what the most important part of a situation is, or what the most important thing to consider is:
In radio you have to keep the listener listening. That’s the bottom line.
“It could be anything from looking forward to the next comic book to come out, or going on a large family vacation, or hanging out with my friends, to going to the next High School football game”.
come out phrasal verb
if a book, record etc comes out, it becomes publicly available:
When is the new edition coming out?
hang out phrasal verb
informal to spend a lot of time in a particular place or with particular people
hang out with
I don’t really know who she hangs out with.
Where do the children hang out?
“This is a friend of mine, who I look up to, Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, and this is us at TEDMED last year, chatting away“.
look up to somebody phrasal verb
to admire or respect someone:
I’ve always looked up to Bill for his courage and determination.
chat also chat away to talk in a friendly informal way, especially about things that are not important:
John and I sat up until the early hours chatting.
“About four years ago, HBO began to film a documentary about my family and me called ‘Life According to Sam'”.
When the word in question is the object of a preposition and not the subject of a sentence or phrase, we should use the object pronoun.
“Oh, wait, hang on a second, one more piece of advice” –- (Laughter)
hang on
used to ask or tell someone to wait [= hold on]:
Hang on! I’ll be back in a minute.
“So, all in all, I don’t waste energy feeling bad for myself“.
all in all
used for showing that you are considering every aspect of something
All in all, getting insufficient sleep is bad news.
All in all, I think it has been a successful conference.
We both thought that all in all it might not be a bad idea.
feel bad
to feel ashamed or sorry about something
feel bad about (doing) something
I felt bad about not being able to come last night.
feel bad for
I feel bad for Ann – she studied so hard for that test and she still didn’t pass.
Sam Berns died in 2014. He was a musician, Eagle Scout and junior at Foxboro High School in Massachusetts. Diagnosed at the age of two with a rare rapid-aging disease called Progeria, he spent much of his life raising awareness about the condition, eventually doing so on a national stage in the HBO documentary, “Life According to Sam.”
Okay…
So now, after having listened to this talk, has your idea of a happy life changed?
