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Life Review - VIP Mini Story

Hi, this is AJ. Welcome to the mini story. Let’s get started. This one is about Heva.

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So Heva and Chim-chim, of course, had a salsa company. They built a big salsa empire and they made a lot of money and they became famous and as they became famous they made lots of great friends and one of their friends was Richard Branson, the guy who owns Virgin. So one day they get an invitation from Richard Branson for a party on his yacht.

So where was the party?

It was on Richard Branson’s yacht.

Of course, a ‘yacht’ is like a big expensive boat, a private big expensive boat.

So on whose yacht was the party?

Richard Branson’s. The party was on Richard Branson’s yacht.

And who was invited to the party?

Chim-chim and Heva, of course.

So they went to the party on Richard Branson’s yacht. At the party a journalist took a picture of Heva talking to Paris Hilton.

A ‘journalist’ is a writer, someone who works for a newspaper. It’s a reporter, basically.

The common word is reporter. Journalist, I don’t know, means the same thing, basically.

So a journalist, a reporter, took a picture of Heva with Paris Hilton.

Who took the picture of Heva with Paris Hilton?

A journalist. A journalist took a picture of Heva with Paris Hilton.

Where were they?

On Richard Branson’s yacht.

They were on Richard Branson’s yacht and then the journalist took a picture of…?

Heva and Paris Hilton.

Did the journalist take a picture of Heva and Chim-chim?

No, the journalist did not take a picture of Heva and Chim-chim. The journalist took a picture of Heva and Paris Hilton.

The next day in the newspaper there was a headline. It said ‘Heva’s New Squeeze.’

So a ‘squeeze’ is like slang for a girlfriend or a boyfriend I guess too. It’s kind of like you’d say this is my main squeeze. It’s kind of an old slang and it’s just one way of saying boyfriend, girlfriend, someone you’re dating, that kind of thing.

So what did the headline say?

It said ‘Heva’s New Squeeze.’

And what does squeeze mean?

It’s slang, kind of an old slang for girlfriend or boyfriend, basically.

And was Paris Hilton Heva’s new girlfriend?

No, no, no, no, no, Heva already had a girlfriend. Paris Hilton was not his new squeeze.

Paris Hilton was just a friend.

So was Heva happy about the headline ‘Heva’s New Squeeze’ with their picture, him and Paris Hilton?

No, he was very unhappy about this headline, but even worse, his girlfriend was irate.

‘Irate’ means very, very angry, super angry. We’ve had that word many times I think.

‘Irate’ means super angry.

So who was irate?

Heva’s girlfriend was irate.

What was she irate about?

She was irate about the headline ‘Heva’s New Squeeze’, Heva’s new girlfriend.

And what picture went with the headline?

A picture of Heva with Paris Hilton was attached to the headline.

So Heva’s new girlfriend was irate. She was super, super, super angry and so Heva was super upset and so he decided to sue the newspaper for libel.

So what did Heva do?

He sued the newspaper for libel.

Who did he sue? Whom did he sue?

He sued the newspaper.

He sued them for what?

For libel.

‘Libel’ is a kind of legal term. More or less it means lying. I mean the common use of the word is like something that’s printed that is a lie. The basic idea is the newspaper knew it was not true. They knew it was a lie, but they printed it anyway. So it’s kind of like an official told or officially printed lie and it’s called libel, libel. ‘To sue’ means to go to court, right? It means to go to court and try to get money because someone did something wrong to you.

So Heva sued Paris Hilton?

No, Heva did not sue Paris Hilton. Heva sued the newspaper that published the story.

What did he sue them for?

He sued them for libel.

We usually say ‘sued for’, sued for libel, sued for damages. ‘Damages’ means money that you get from the court because someone did something bad to you. They hurt you in some way.

So Heva sued the newspaper for what?

He sued them for libel. He sued them for lying about him.

Did Paris Hilton sue the newspaper for libel?

Paris Hilton did not sue the newspaper for libel. Heva sued the newspaper for libel.

Did he sue them for injury?

No, he didn’t sue them for physical injury. He was not physically hurt. He sued them for libel. Heva sued the newspaper for libel because they lied. They said Paris Hilton was his new girlfriend and that wasn’t true.

At the trial, Paris Hilton testified for Heva.

So ‘to testify’ for someone, we use this in court, the legal process, something like that.

‘To testify’ really means just to tell your story, to tell your story, but when we say testify for, to testify for someone, it means you’re telling a story that supports that person. So she testified for Heva. It means she’s on Heva’s side. She’s telling a story that supports Heva. If she testified for the newspaper it means she would tell a story that supported the newspaper’s version.

Did Paris Hilton testify for the newspaper or did she testify for Heva?

She testified for Heva. She supported Heva in court. She told a story that supported Heva. She said “I’m not Heva’s girlfriend. I was never his girlfriend.” Did Heva testify for Paris Hilton?

No, no, no, Heva did not testify for Paris Hilton. Paris Hilton did not go to court against the newspaper. Heva testified for himself. He told a story for himself to support himself in court and Paris Hilton testified for Heva.

All right, do you understand? Good.

So Paris Hilton testified for Heva. She said “No, the newspaper lied. I was never his girlfriend and I’m not his girlfriend now.” Finally in the end the judge awarded $10 million dollars to Heva. So Heva got the judgment from the court. He got the judgment in his favor.

So ‘the judgment’ in a court is the final decision. So if you say I got the judgment that means that the court said I was correct, that I am the winner. So Heva got the judgment in this case. He won the judgment in this case.

And that is the end of our mini story, nice, simple, straightforward mini story. What I want you to do is listen to this story at least once a day for seven to 10 days, even up to 14 days if you want to. Answer the questions. Pause if you need to. Answer the questions.

Just listen again and again and again. Little by little the basic grammar just gets stronger and stronger and stronger every single month. It will become more automatic when you speak.

All right, I’ll see you again for the point of view. Okay, bye-bye.