Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 736, Following One's Dream.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 736.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to our website at eslpodcom and download a learning guide for this episode to help you improve your English even faster.
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This episode is a dialogue between Cassandra and Laszlo, going to be talking about following your dream, your goal for the future.
Let's get started.
I've had it, I'm quitting and I'm not coming back.
I was meant for greater things than working in this pathetic place.
Life is passing me by.
You can't quit.
You need the money and you have responsibilities.
Remember I've sacrificed enough for security.
I want to make a difference.
I want to do big things.
I want to have an impact on the world.
That's very admirable.
Most people want to make a difference in the world but don't have the guts to try.
What is your dream?
Well, I'm not quite sure what I'm destined to do yet, but as soon as I figure out my true vocation, I'm following my heart.
That's great.
Until then, lunch break is over.
Could we get back to work?
Our dialogue begins with Cassandra saying, I've had it.
When you say I've had it, you mean I have had enough.
It's an expression of frustration.
You don't want to continue doing what you're doing or experiencing what you're experiencing anymore.
Cassandra says, I'm quitting.
When you say that you are meant for something, you mean you are intended for something.
Or you have specific expectations for yourself about something.
I feel I was meant for podcasting.
This is what my life has been preparing me to do.
Well, probably not, but that's the idea.
Pathetic P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C means it's very uninteresting, it doesn't deserve any respect.
Someone says oh, that was a pathetic attempt to make me laugh, meaning it was a very weak uninteresting, not a good attempt.
So this is a pathetic place, Cassandra says.
Life is passing me by.
To pass someone by means to Go on without you, especially we say this when time is passing very quickly and you feel as though you are missing opportunities in life.
Life is passing me by.
I'm getting older, but I'm not experiencing anything better.
Laszlo says, you can't quit.
You need the money and you have responsibilities.
Remember?
Cassandra says, I've sacrificed enough for security.
To sacrifice as a verb means sacrifice to give something up, to decide not to do something because you think there is some greater good, there is some greater benefit in the future.
Sometimes you have to sacrifice your appetite for food in order to lose weight.
You have to give something up.
Or people make sacrifices, they sacrifice so that their children can have a better life.
The parents work more hours or work harder so that their children can go to a better school.
That would be an example of a sacrifice.
Cassandra says that she has sacrificed enough for security reasons.
Security here means a feeling of safety, of stability, that you have money and a house or a place to live.
She says, I want to make a difference.
To make a difference means to change the world in some positive way, to change people, what is happening around you, in some positive way.
There was a song back in the 1980s, you may remember, called We Are the World.
I think it was Michael Jackson who wrote the song.
He was trying to make a difference in the world.
You remember.
We are the world.
We are the children.
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving, so let's start giving.
Never liked that song, really.
Anyway, Cassandra says that she wants to make a difference, hopefully not singing We Are the World.
She says, I want to do big things.
I want to do something that is important.
I want to have an impact on the world.
To have an impact, I M P A C T, is to have an effect on the world.
To do something that changes some other activity or some other people.
Nowadays, people use the word impact as a verb.
I don't like this use.
I don't use it myself.
But it's become acceptable to say that I am going to impact something.
Personally, I hate that use of the word, but it is becoming common now.
Cassandra wants to have an impact.
That's okay.
Impact is a noun there, as it's supposed to be.
Laszlo says, that's very admirable.
When you say something is admirable, you mean that you respect it, you value it.
Admirable comes from the verb to admire.
A-D-M-I-R-E.
When you admire something, you respect it.
You think it's good.
You may want to be like it.
Laszlo says most people want to make a difference in the world, but don't have the guts to try.
The word guts.
G-U-T-S.
Here means courage, bravery, willing to do something that is difficult or even dangerous.
There are other meanings of the word gut.
Take a look at our learning guide to find those.
Cassandra says, you are so right, she's saying to Laszlo, that she agrees with him.
But, she says, I'm going to make it happen.
I aspire to do great things and I won't rest until I do, until I do great things.
To aspire, A-S-P-I-R-E, means aspire. to try to do something that is difficult but important.
He aspires to be in the Olympics.
It's not easy.
It's a very difficult goal, but he wants to do it.
He aspires to do that.
Cassandra says she aspires to do great things.
And she won't rest, meaning she'll continue working until she does something great.
She says This expression to follow your dream means to follow your goal, to do what you want to do, to do what you've always thought you should do.
That's to follow your dream.
Laszlo says, what is your dream?
Good question.
Cassandra says, um, well...
I'm not quite sure, I'm not very sure, what I'm destined to do yet.
To be destined D-E-S-T-I-N-E-D to something means to be intended to be in the future or to have in the future.
It can simply mean... the purpose of something.
This man is destined to be a great leader.
It's almost as though that is the way that nature or God or fate has made this person.
They will eventually become great.
They are destined to be great.
We have another word, destination.
That's the place where you are going.
You can see they are sort of related ideas.
Your goal, your object, your destination.
They're related to this idea of being destined or intended for something.
Cassandra says she's not sure what she's destined to do yet, but as soon as she figures out her true vocation, she will follow her heart.
A vocation.
V-O-C-A-T-I-O-N is what you believe that you should do, what career, what job you should do.
But it's a little more than just a job.
We have another word which is related to the meaning of vocation, which is calling.
What is your calling?
It often relates to some deeper calling. sometimes even spiritual purpose or religious purpose.
We talk about vocations to the priesthood, to the ministry in the Christian churches.
That's the idea.
It's a deeper sense of what you should be doing.
Cassandra says she doesn't know what her true vocation is.
But when she finds out, when she figures it out, she's following her heart.
To follow your heart means to do what you believe is right, to do what you think is good or correct.
It can also be used, as I think it is here, to mean the same as to follow your dream, or Laszlo says that's great.
Until then, until you figure it out, lunch break is over.
Lunch break is the time in the middle of the day, usually at noon at 12 pm in most places in the US, where you stop and eat a meal, your lunch.
Laszlo says lunch break is over.
Could we get back to work?
So Cassandra has all these ideas and all these dreams, but she's not really sure what she wants to do.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I've had it.
I'm quitting and I'm not coming back.
I was meant for greater things than working in this pathetic place.
Life is passing me by.
You can't quit.
You need the money and you have responsibilities, remember?
I've sacrificed enough for security.
I want to make a difference.
I want to do big things.
I want to have an impact on the world.
That's very admirable.
Most people want to make a difference in the world but don't have the guts to try.
You are so right.
But I'm going to make it happen.
I aspire to do great things and I won't rest until I do.
I want to follow my dream.
What is your dream?
Oh, well, I'm not quite sure what I'm destined to do yet.
But as soon as I figure out my true vocation, I'm following my heart.
That's great.
Until then, lunch break is over.
Could we get back to work?
I think Dr. Lucy Say was meant for writing scripts because she does such an admirable job.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
