Читать книгу Super English Course – Speak like a native - Alexander Chumakov - Страница 8

This is Alex and this is your vocabulary lesson for “Willy the worm”. It’s time to liberate you from the story. It’s time to make you free. Let’s go!

Okay, our first word for today is shy. When someone is shy it means that he is nervous, and he feels uncomfortable in the company of other people. Willy the worm is nervous, and he feels uncomfortable in the company of other worms. He is small, weak which means not strong and he is shy.

Our next word is to bully. To bully means to frighten or hurt someone who is smaller or weaker than you. So when Willy goes to school, everybody frightens him, everybody hurts him because he is small and weak.

The next word is to tease. To tease means to say something in order to make a person feel ashamed or embarrassed. So in school everybody laughs at Willy. Everybody says something bad or unpleasant to Willy in order to make him feel ashamed or embarrassed. Everybody teases him.

Next we see the expression to fall in love with someone. To fall in love with someone simply means to start to love someone. Willy the worm starts to love a butterfly. He falls in love with a butterfly.

In this lesson we also have a word rare. You can see it in the sentence, “Angela is a beautiful, gorgeous and rare butterfly.” A rare butterfly means a butterfly that is very difficult to find or see. But when you find or see a butterfly like that you like it very much or value it a lot.

Next we have the verb to impress. Willy the worm wants to impress Angela. Remember? So, impress. To impress means to want to make someone think good things about you. So Willy wants to make Angela think good things about him. He wants to impress Angela. That is why he gives her flowers. He brings her sweet nectar and he even sings love songs for her. He wants Angela to like him. He wants to impress her.

But as the story goes, the butterfly doesn’t love Willy. It is unrequited love. So unrequited love. What’s unrequited love mean? It means if your love for someone is unrequited, they do not love you even though you love them. So Willy the worm loves Angela the butterfly, but she does not love him.

Next we see the expression to be drafted into the army. Remember? Willy is drafted into the army. I think it is not difficult to understand what it means, but let me explain it to you. When someone is drafted into the army, it means he or she is going to join the army or is going to become a soldier. So Willy the worm becomes a soldier. He is in the army now, because he is drafted into the army.

Next we have a fantastic, gorgeous and very useful expression – to stand up for someone or something. By the way, this is one of my favourite expressions. I myself use it a lot. So to stand up for someone or something means to defend someone, to defend something that is being criticized or attacked. In the army Willy learns how to stand up for himself. In other words, he learns how to defend himself when someone criticizes him or attacks him. He learns how to stand up for himself in the army.

Okay, we move on and we see the sentence, “When William returns home, everybody is surprised by a new William…” A new William means that William is different now. It has the idea that before being drafted into the army, he was weak and shy. Remember? Everybody bullies him, everybody laughs at him and everybody teases him. Moreover, Willy has a drama, a big shock, when he falls in love with Angela and then he learns that Angela does not love him, and Willy the worm learns what unrequited love is. But when Willy joins the army, when he becomes a soldier, the army changes him. He becomes strong and courageous. He becomes different. He is a new William now. He is not that weak Willy. He is not shy any more. He is not the worm he was before. Now he is a new William. I think you get the idea, right?

Our next is expression is to get into University. To get into University means to enter a University or to become a student of a University. William gets into University. He becomes a student. He gets into University.

And the last word for today is to devote. To devote yourself to something means to spend a lot of time, energy or effort doing something. After University William becomes a doctor. And he decides to spend a lot of time, energy or effort serving, helping others. He decides to devote himself to helping others. William decides to devote himself to serving others as a doctor.

Okay, this is the end of the vocabulary lesson. I will see you next time for the mini-story, bye for now.