Hello and welcome to the English Like A Native podcast.
My name is Anna and you're listening to week 42, day 4 of Your English Five A Day, the second season.
Think of this as your fluency gym.
You're here to work out, expand your vocabulary, improve your listening skills and so that, as you exit the gym at the end of the episode, you feel a little bit stronger, a little closer to your goal and more like yourself.
But it doesn't just happen in one trip to the gym.
You have to go again and again and again.
And the more you come along, the stronger our bond and the greater your English becomes.
So stick with me for the long haul.
And now, Let's head into today's episode, starting with our snapshot of what's to come.
Nora's eye began to twitch nervously as she searched everywhere for her car keys.
She must have misplaced them somewhere in the house.
She was already on the edge of being late for the most important job interview of her life when the news broke on television about major traffic delays on the motorway and
Nora finally found her keys in the fridge and showed great humility by calling her potential employer to apologise and explain that she might arrive a few minutes late.
That makes me anxious.
Just the idea of being late for something so important.
I hate being late.
OK, let's dive into the vocabulary, starting with the noun humility.
Humility.
We spell this H-U-M-I-L-I-T-Y.
Humility.
Humility is the quality of not being too proud about yourself.
So not thinking that you're more important than others.
You don't think that you're better or of higher value than other people.
Humility is the opposite of arrogance.
So if you have... arrogance, then you think you're better than others.
But if you have humility, then you don't think that.
So it's a nice value to have humility.
Here's an example.
True humility means admitting you don't know everything.
Next we have the phrase on the edge of something.
On the edge of something on the edge T-H-E, edge E-D-G-E of O-F.
On the edge of something.
To be on the edge of something means you are close to the point at which something different, especially something bad, will happen.
You're on the edge of something.
But it can also be used in a positive sense to mean that something very good, important or just something new is close to starting.
In this case, context is key to know whether or not it's positive or negative.
But the phrase itself means that something is very close to starting.
Here's an example sentence.
They were on the edge of launching a product that could change the industry.
If I'm working too hard, which is often the case, you might say to me Anna, you are on the Next.
We have the verb misplace.
Misplace.
We spell this M-I-S-P-L-A-C-E.
To misplace something.
This is to lose something for a short time by putting it in the wrong place.
To misplace it.
Here's an example sentence.
Oh, I've misplaced my wallet again.
It's probably under a pile of papers.
I'm sure you've experienced this. misplacing your phone perhaps.
Have you ever misplaced your phone or your keys?
Those tend to be the two things that go missing most often.
Moving on, we have the verb twitch.
Twitch.
We spell this T-W-I-T-C-H.
Twitch.
If a part of your body twitches, then it suddenly makes a slight movement in a way that you can't control.
A little twitch.
If someone flicks their fingers in front of your eyes, you will twitch.
You will suddenly, without thinking, move.
There'll be a little twitch.
Your eyes might twitch.
If someone says something that you don't agree with or that shocks you, but you're trying not to give away your feelings on your face, you might slightly twitch your nose or twitch your eyes.
It can happen also when you hear a loud sound.
You'll twitch slightly.
Some people have an ongoing twitch, something that they can't control, and some animals have constant twitches.
Like a rabbit's nose, that twitches all the time.
Here's one example sentence.
His eye twitched slightly whenever he tried to hide his nerves.
Last, we have the verb break, B-R-E-A-K, break.
Now here, we mean to break news.
So if news breaks, then that means an important event becomes known.
So, for example, there's been a big earthquake and moments after the earthquake hit, News broke around the world about the earthquake.
So news breaks.
But you may break news if you have to tell someone about something.
And usually if you're breaking news, then it's normally something unpleasant.
So you might say, four of my students didn't pass their exams.
So I'm going to pull them to one side and break the news to them before they They head to class.
Okay, so you can break the news to somebody, or news will generally break when it becomes widely known.
Here's an example sentence.
The news broke that the Prime Minister was resigning.
Okay, that's our five, so let's do a quick recap.
We started with the noun humility, which is the quality of not being too proud about yourself.
You have humility.
Then we have the phrase on the edge of something which is close to the point at which something different will happen.
So when something will start or some big change will occur, you are on the edge of something.
Then we have the verb misplace, which is to lose something like your phone or your keys for a short time by putting it in the wrong place.
You misplace it.
We have the verb twitch. which is where you have a slight movement that you cannot control.
A twitch.
Then we had the verb break referring to news, which is when news becomes known or you make the news known to someone.
Break.
Let's now do this for pronunciation purposes.
Please repeat after me.
Humility.
On the edge of something.
On the edge of something.
Misplace.
Misplace.
Twitch.
Twitch.
Break.
Break.
Fabulous.
OK.
I'm going to revisit the snapshot now.
Have a listen.
Nora's eye began to twitch nervously as she searched everywhere for her car keys.
She must have misplaced them somewhere in the house.
She was already on the edge of being late for the most important job interview of her life when the news broke on television about major traffic delays on the motorway.
Nora finally found her keys in the fridge and showed great humility by calling her potential employer to apologise and explain that she might arrive a few minutes late.
OK, now I want you to listen out for our target vocabulary once more as we head into Storytime.
The hand twitched first, a small uncertain movement. like a dreamer waking from a long sleep.
Dr. Kendall Allegro froze, afraid to breathe.
For years he had waited for this very moment.
The creature lay on the metal table beneath the harsh white lights, its pale skin shining with sweat that was not its own.
Then the legs twitched.
After the chest began to rise and fall slowly at first, then with a strange rhythm that almost sounded human.
It lives, Kendall whispered, his voice trembling, his heart pounded.
He was on the edge of something extraordinary, the greatest discovery in modern history.
He had done what others only dared to imagine.
He had created life.
For a long moment he could not move.
His eyes filled with tears as a sense of wonder washed over him, the deep awareness that he had touched something sacred, something far greater than himself.
Welcome, he murmured, stepping closer to the table.
Welcome, my child.
The creature's eyes opened.
They were grey. cold, uncertain and full of something that looked very much like fear.
It tried to speak but only a dry gasp came out.
Kendall reached for a cloth to wipe its brow, but in his excitement he misplaced it fumbling around his desk.
When he turned back the creature was sitting up.
''No, no, easy now,'' he said quickly.
''You must rest.'' but the creature did not understand.
Its movements were clumsy, animal-like.
It tore at the wires that held it, snapping them one by one.
A low sound, half moan, half growl, filled the air.
Then, before Kendall could react, it swung its legs off the table and stood.
Kendall Allegro!
A voice shouted from the corridor.
It was Dr Munro, his assistant.
You've done it, haven't you?
The sensors are off the scale.
Stay back, Kendall cried.
It's not ready.
The door burst open.
Light from the hallway spilled in and in that instant the creature turned its head towards it.
The sudden brightness frightened it.
With a terrible strength it pushed past Kendall and Munro and ran.
Stop, Munro shouted, but it was too late.
The sound of shattering glass echoed through the laboratory as the creature broke through a window and disappeared into the dark night.
Kendall stood frozen, shards of glass glittering at his feet.
His hands shook.
The experiment had worked, but at what cost?
He realised in that moment that his research had been driven by pride. rather than humility.
He had believed he was smarter than anyone else, that he could create life from nothing.
Now he understood how wrong he had been.
Pride had made him careless, and carelessness had led to this disaster.
Professor, Monroe said softly, what shall we do?
Shall we call the police?
Kendall looked towards the broken window.
The night outside was silent now, except for the wind.
Somewhere out there, his creation was alive and alone.
Not yet, he whispered.
Let me be the one to break the news.
The world is not ready to hear this, not until I find it.
He turned back to look at the empty metal table that still gleamed under the laboratory lights.
The experiment that had begun with hope had ended in fear.
All that was left was for Kendall to head out into the night and find the creature before anyone else did.
And that brings us to the end of today, today's episode.
I do hope that you enjoyed it and that you found it useful.
If you did, then please take a second to leave a like if you're watching on youtube, or a rating or review if you're streaming from any other platform, until tomorrow, where i'll bring everything together that we've learned this week in one big story.
Until then, take good care of yourself and goodbye.
