درسنامه اول

Commit – Interactive Essay Lesson A

Hi, this is AJ and welcome to this months’ VIP Interactive lesson. In this part, part A I will read the essay and then explain the vocabulary. In part B I will ask questions to help you learn all of the phrases deeply. Let’s begin.

Unfortunately, most of modern adulthood is perpetually hanging out in the locker room and talking, ever talking. Ultimately though, you only know who a man is and what he believes by what he does, not by what he sits around talking about, not by what he says or what he feels.

It’s only when he acts, when he does something that we start to know what he is. Action is character. Adulthood is action. Some people are going to be uncomfortable with this conclusion, they’ll want to say that true adulthood comes from something else. A man becomes a true man by recovering his natural wildness, for example. Or a man becomes a true man after he finds healing for his soul. Or a man becomes a true man when he starts to resist being over domesticated.

The great mistake we have made in our generation is to think we can make a man with words.

We need words certainly, we just don’t need words only. Yet, by making words our primary tool in building adults, we’ve talked the modern man to death. He is awash in a sea of words. He has language for things he hasn’t even thought about doing. Labels from a dozen therapeutic systems. Lists and descriptions and nifty slogans to keep him inspired. Fine, but has it made him a man? Has it made him act in noble ways? Not usually. I think it has bored him to death or worse, it has made him feel like a victim, or worse than that it has made him feel understood, as though being understood is the meaning of life.

Here’s the question… when does he start the doing? When does he act? I think the more talk the less action. I think the more drama the less adulthood. I also believe that the more talk, the more complex and unattainable adulthood starts to seem to most men, particularly since the average man doesn’t need that many words to begin with, on any subject. Hear me; true adults do things. Mere humans who want to seem like adults just talk. Adulthood is in the doing.

All right, let’s go back now and learn the vocabulary, the phrases. Back to the beginning.

Vocabulary

Unfortunately, most of modern adulthood is perpetually hanging out in the locker room and talking, ever talking.

Unfortunately – means it’s not good.

Most of modern adulthood – adulthood is just the noun. It just means all adults. It’s the state of being an adult, the condition of being an adult.

Is perpetually hanging out in the locker room – this is a metaphor, an image, a poetic image like poetry.

Perpetually – means forever. It means never ending. So it means, hanging out in the locker room forever… perpetually, perpetually, forever.

Hanging out – means just socializing right, just socializing, chatting, talking, hanging out. A little idiom we use. Very common, hanging out.

I in the locker room – the locker room, that’s like for example, in a gym that’s where men or women in a gym get dressed. The writer here is just giving you an image. Imagine people just hanging out, just chatting, talking in a locker room where you get dressed in the gym. Just talking and talking and talking forever.

This gets the idea right that in a gym you do the work, the action happens in the gym. That’s where you lift the weights or you run on the machine. That’s where you do the exercise. The locker room, that’s where you just get dressed and talk, nothing actually happens in the locker room. So he’s comparing our modern society of adults to just sitting in a locker room talking and talking and talking, but never doing anything.

Ultimately though, you only know who a man is and what he believes by what he does Ultimately – means finally, finally; ultimately-finally.

You only know who a man is, so here man, it could mean man like males not women, but you can also hear man can mean mankind, which just means all humans. So, if you’re a woman this also applies. It has two meanings, man can be used in two different ways, one only for men- for males not females, but also, we also in English use man to mean mankind. It means all humans. So you only know an adult human, a man, by what he or she believes, and by what he or she does.

So, he’s saying the action is the only real measurement. Action, that’s what shows who a person is, who they really are it’s what they do, not what they say, not what they believe, what they do.

You don’t know them by what… not by what he sits around talking about, not by what he says or what he feels. It’s only when he acts, when he does something that we start to know what he is.

Again, this is also true for women.

Action is character. Adulthood is action.

Character has several different meanings. Here character means like your true self, who you really are, your true inner self that’s your character. We have two words… reputation and character.

Reputation – that’s what other people think you are. Maybe they think you’re nice. Maybe they think you’re not nice. Maybe they think you’re intelligent. Maybe the think you’re stupid. That’s your reputation among most people. That’s outside that’s other people.

Character – it’s what you really are inside. So maybe some intelligent people don’t talk much or they’re shy, so maybe their reputation other people think they’re stupid, but actually their true character is that they’re intelligent.

So he’s saying, action is character. How do we know who a person really is? By watching their actions.

Some people are going to be uncomfortable with this conclusion.

He’s saying some people will not like this idea that he’s saying.

These other people, they’ll want to say that true adulthood comes from something else.

Then he gives examples of what other people say about being an adult, about being a man or a woman. Other people say…

A man becomes a true man by recovering his natural wildness.

Recovering – means to get back. It means you had something, you lost it then you get it back again; you recover it.

Natural wildness – we’ve done actually a VIP lesson about being wild, the wildness. So he’s saying that some people say that’s the key thing to be an adult or especially to be a man is to recover, to find your natural wildness.

Or a man becomes a true man after he finds healing for his soul.

So your soul or your spirit that’s who you deeply are inside. It’s the part of you that never dies.

Or, another example, or a man becomes a true man when he starts to resist being over domesticated.

Resist – means to fight against.

Over domesticated – this is a nice word. Let’s start with the root word… domestic… Domestic – means like in the home, in the home. Kind of like civilized, so domestic is kind of you know, the idea of being safe in the home like cooking, cleaning, and you’re at your home and everything’s very safe, and everything’s very controlled that’s domestic.

Domesticated – means to be controlled. So, for example, we use the word domesticated when we describe animals. We have two kinds of animals… we have wild animals like a lion and then we have domesticated animals like dogs, cats, even cows and other livestock. So the domesticated animals they’re very safe, right? They’ve been trained by humans, so they’re safe for humans. The wild animals are not controlled, they’re uncontrollable. People will try to train lions but still sometimes even a trained lion will attack the master. This happens because they’re wild animals.

So he’s saying, some people say that to be a true man you need to fight against being over domesticated. So not to be too controlled, not to be too safe, not to be too civilized. That men, and here they’re really talking about males/men, need to always have inside them some kind of wildness and toughness, even violence or have the ability to fight. So these are all other ideas.

The great mistake we have made in our generation is to think we can make a man with words.

So he’s saying the big mistake our society has, and I think not just this generation but all living generations now, is that we made the mistake to think that to be an adult, to be a true man or a true woman you just need to talk. You just need to talk in the right way or to think in the right way. He’s saying that’s not true. He’s saying yes, we need words certainly, definitely. We just don’t need words only.

He says… Yet, by making words our primary tool in building adults, we’ve talked the modern man to death.

Again, he’s exaggerating to make a point, but he’s saying that we focus on words too much. Too much talking, talking, talking, talking and because we focus so much on words the modern man, and really I think modern women also, we’re talked to death.

Talked to death – just means we’re talked until our brain dies, until our brain turns off. Too many words, not enough action.

The modern man, he, is awash in a sea of words.

Awash in – means like swimming in, covered in, kind of like water, like you’re taking a bath.

Like you’re covered in water. So, if you’re awash in water it means you’re covered with water, like you’re swimming or taking a bath. If you’re awash in a sea of words it means you’re covered in words. It means like you’re swimming in words, you’re surrounded by words, words, words, words, words right. Reading, listening, television, media… words, words, words, words all day long from beginning to end… that’s what he’s saying.

Modern man, he, has language for things he hasn’t even thought about doing.

So he’s saying, we have all these words, we even have a lot of words and know a lot of words for things and ideas that have no connection to our life, no connection to any action we plan to take ever.

Modern man has labels from a dozen therapeutic systems.

A dozen – is 12, it’s just another word for 12. A dozen equals 12.

Therapeutic systems – therapeutic comes from the word therapy. This is the adjective, therapeutic. Therapeutic means something that is good for your psychology, good for your emotions, something that gives you therapy, that helps you mentally. So therapeutic systems, so systems for therapy.

We have lists and descriptions and nifty slogans to keep him inspired. Nifty slogans… Slogans – a slogan is just a motto. It’s like a one sentence or phrase that makes you feel good, kind of like a propaganda. It’s a slogan, a motto… used in advertising a lot.

Nifty – is kind of an old word. It just means nice or neat or good.

Fine, but has it made him a man? Have all these things made him a man or a woman, an adult?

Has it made him act in noble ways?

He’s asking, all these words, words, words and all this reading and all these ideas that we have and all this stuff, has it made us better people? Do we act in more noble ways?

Noble – means good and truthful and honorable.

He answers the question… Not usually. I think it has bored him to death. It has bored modern man and woman to death.

So he’s saying that all these words and all this talking and all this media has just bored us. Most of us are bored because we’re just surrounded by words and not enough action all day every day.

Or worse, it has made him (modern man) feel like a victim, or worse than that it has made him feel understood, as though being understood is the meaning of life.

So he’s saying that being understood is not the meaning of life, that there’s something far more important than just feeling like people understand you.

Here’s the question… when does he (modern man/you and me) start the doing? When does he act? I think the more talk the less action. I think the more drama the less adulthood.

So he’s saying, the more we talk the less we actually do. And he says the more drama we have the less we are adults.

Drama – has a few different meanings. Of course drama is a type of movie or a play that’s serious. But, there’s also a slang meaning for drama and the slang meaning for drama is like gossip, basically like gossip. It’s just… nit-picking, everybody talking and getting excited and gossiping constantly about each other. We see this in the media all the time, especially about celebrities, but even now we’re seeing it in just normal news. CNN and the BBC, they don’t tell you the news anymore, instead mostly it’s gossip. Often it’s just lies, it’s always just emotional and gossipy. That’s drama.

So he’s saying, the more drama we have in our life from the media or from our friends and family, the less we are adults, the more we’re acting like teenagers or children.

He says, I also believe that the more talk, the more complex and unattainable adulthood starts to seem to most men

So I believe more talk, the more and more words we have in our life and talk, adulthood starts to seem more complicated, more complex.

Complex - means complicated, same basic idea. Complex means complicated and difficult.

Unattainable – means cannot be achieved, cannot be reached. It’s kind of like impossible to get, impossible to get, unattainable.

So he’s saying, if we’re constantly reading and words, words, words and gossip and drama, than being a good strong adult starts to feel impossible.

Particularly, since the average man doesn’t need that many words to begin with, on any subject.

So he’s saying, actually as men and women, as adults we really don’t need that many words.

Actually I say this all the time just teaching English. You don’t need 50k vocabulary words, it’s not necessary. You can just use simple direct words and that’s the best way to communicate meaning.

Hear me, he says, true men and women, true adults do things. True adults do things. Mere humans…

Mere humans – meaning only humans, only they’re not yet adults … who want to seem like adults just talk.

So mere humans means, they’re only human but they’re not yet adult humans, who want to seem like adults. They want to look like adults but not actually be adults, they just talk. So he’s saying, most people who are pretending to be men or pretending to be women they’re just talking and talking. They’re just pretending, they aren’t actually true adults.

Adulthood is in the doing.

So he’s saying, you become an adult through your actions. It’s your actions that decide if you are a man or just a boy. It’s your actions that show if you’re a woman or still a girl.

All right, that is the end of part A. In Part B I’ll use the mini story technique and ask you some questions so that you will learn all these phrases and vocabulary deeply.

See you in part B.