Are you following your dreams? ⏲️ 6 Minute English — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:07Hello.
2. 0:08This is 6 Minute English from
3. 0:09BBC Learning English.
4. 0:11I’m Neil.
5. 0:12And I’m Beth.
6. 0:13When I was a boy, I wanted to be
7. 0:15a fireman when I grew up.
8. 0:17How about you, Beth?
9. 0:18Did you have
10. 0:19any childhood dreams?
11. 0:20I wanted to be an astronaut
12. 0:22and fly to the Moon…
13. 0:24When we’re young most of us have
14. 0:26big dreams and plans for the future.
15. 0:28Unfortunately, as we grow up these
16. 0:31childhood dreams often get lost in the
17. 0:33adult world of jobs, money,
18. 0:36families and careers.
19. 0:38But not for everyone…
20. 0:39Daisy, from New Zealand, and, Herman,
21. 0:42from Argentina are two
22. 0:44people who decided
23. 0:45to follow their childhood dreams.
24. 0:48They
25. 0:49wanted the world to become a utopia – a
26. 0:51perfect, ideal society where everyone is
27. 0:53happy and gets along with each other.
28. 0:56In this programme, we’ll be hearing how
29. 0:58Daisy and Herman made their dreams
30. 1:01come true – not by changing the world,
31. 1:04but by changing themselves.
32. 1:06And, as usual,
33. 1:07we’ll be learning some new vocabulary too.
34. 1:10But before that I have a question
35. 1:12for you, Beth.
36. 1:14Following your dreams can
37. 1:15be tough, but not following them can leave
38. 1:18you regretting all the things you wanted
39. 1:20to do but didn’t.
40. 1:22In 2012, Australian nurse,
41. 1:24Bronnie Ware, wrote her bestselling book,
42. 1:26The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, after
43. 1:28interviewing terminally ill patients about
44. 1:31their life regrets.
45. 1:32So, what do you think
46. 1:34their top regret was?
47. 1:36Was it:
48. 1:37a) I wish I hadn’t worked so hard?
49. 1:39b) I wish I had followed my dreams?
50. 1:42or
51. 1:43c) I wish I’d made more money?
52. 1:45Well, I’ll guess it’s b) they wish they
53. 1:48had followed their dreams.
54. 1:49OK, Beth.
55. 1:50I’ll reveal the correct answer
56. 1:51at the end of the programme.
57. 1:53The first dreamer we’re going to meet lives
58. 1:56in Riverside, a peace-loving community in
59. 1:59New Zealand where everyone shares
60. 2:01everything.
61. 2:02Riverside members work for
62. 2:04the community’s businesses, including
63. 2:06a farm, a hotel and a café.
64. 2:10All the money they
65. 2:11earn is collected and shared
66. 2:13between everyone equally.
67. 2:14Daisy, who was born in East Germany,
68. 2:17joined Riverside in 2004.
69. 2:20Here she explains
70. 2:21her belief in sharing to BBC
71. 2:22World Service programme, The Documentary.
72. 2:26What I think I always believed in is that
73. 2:29the sharing of resources can provide
74. 2:31a group of people with quite a great
75. 2:33advantage, but it doesn’t matter how
76. 2:35many hours you work or what work
77. 2:37you do, everyone is getting the
78. 2:39same amount.
79. 2:40And that is something
80. 2:41that many people outside of
81. 2:43Riverside struggle with, and where
82. 2:45we’re often getting this ‘communism’
83. 2:48label attached to us, because it’s so…
84. 2:51it seems so outlandish for people.
85. 2:54Riverside isn’t a communist community.
86. 2:57In fact, people with many different political
87. 3:00views live there.
88. 3:02But Daisy says that local
89. 3:03people struggle with the idea that
90. 3:06everything is shared.
91. 3:08If you struggle with
92. 3:09an idea, you find it difficult to
93. 3:11accept or think about it.
94. 3:13Daisy also says some local people
95. 3:15call Riverside outlandish –
96. 3:18strange and unusual.
97. 3:20Our second group of dreamers are
98. 3:22a family - the Zapps.
99. 3:24In 2000, childhood
100. 3:26sweethearts, Herman and Candelaria Zapp,
101. 3:29bought a vintage car and set off
102. 3:31from Argentina to travel around
103. 3:33the world with less than 3.500 dollars
104. 3:37in their pockets.
105. 3:38Twenty-two years and
106. 3:40three children later they have visited
107. 3:43over a hundred countries, meeting
108. 3:45with countless people and
109. 3:46experiences on the way.
110. 3:49Here, Herman Zapp explains to BBC
111. 3:51World Service’s, The Documentary, how
112. 3:53following his dream has
113. 3:55changed him for the better.
114. 3:57I am so happy with the Herman there is now,
115. 4:00that I know now – not the one who
116. 4:02wanted to conquer the world, but the one
117. 4:04who was conquered by the world.
118. 4:06I learn
119. 4:07so much from people, and it’s
120. 4:08amazing how the more you meet people,
121. 4:10the more you know stories, how
122. 4:12much more humble you become because
123. 4:14you notice that you are a beautiful, tiny
124. 4:17piece of sand, but a very important piece
125. 4:20of sand like everyone is, right?
126. 4:23After many years travelling, meeting
127. 4:25new people and hearing their stories,
128. 4:28Herman is more humble – not proud or
129. 4:31arrogant.
130. 4:32He no longer wants to
131. 4:33conquer the world – to control it by force;
132. 4:36rather, he has been conquered
133. 4:38by his experiences.
134. 4:41Herman compares himself to a beautiful
135. 4:43but tiny piece of sand and uses the phrase
136. 4:46'a grain of sand' to describe things which
137. 4:49are insignificant in themselves, but
138. 4:51at the same time are an important
139. 4:54part of the whole.
140. 4:55Daisy and Herman are rare examples
141. 4:58of dreamers who followed their dream
142. 5:00and found a happy life, lived without
143. 5:02regret – which reminds me
144. 5:04of your question, Neil.
145. 5:05Yes, I asked about Bronnie Ware’s book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.
146. 5:11What do you think the number one regret was, Beth?
147. 5:14I guessed it was b) not following your dreams.
148. 5:18Which was the right answer!
149. 5:20Not having
150. 5:21the courage to follow your dreams was
151. 5:23listed as the top life regret.
152. 5:26At least we
153. 5:27have people like Daisy and Herman
154. 5:28to remind us dreams can come true!
155. 5:30OK, let’s recap the vocabulary from
156. 5:33this programme, starting with
157. 5:35'utopia' – a perfect world where
158. 5:38everyone is happy.
159. 5:39If you 'struggle with an idea',
160. 5:41you find it difficult to accept.
161. 5:43The adjective, outlandish, means
162. 5:45strange and unusual.
163. 5:48'To conquer' something means
164. 5:49to control it by force.
165. 5:51Someone who is 'humble' is
166. 5:53not proud or arrogant.
167. 5:55And finally, the phrase 'a grain of sand'
168. 5:57describes something which is both
169. 5:59insignificant yet somehow important.
170. 6:02Once again, our six minutes are up.
171. 6:04Bye for now!
172. 6:05Goodbye!