درسنامه دیدگاه

Not a Victim – VIP POV

Hello, this is A.J. Welcome to the point-of-view stories for this month’s lesson. Let’s get started. Let’s start with version number one of the story.

Nicola is a woman. Her best friends are Chimmy the money and Heva the dog. They have been friends for a while. Together, they have created a treasure-seeker business.

Until now, they haven’t had much luck. They have had a lot of problems with a giant rat named Geddy. Geddy is also a treasure hunter and has been the rival of Nicola, Chimmy and Heva ever since these three took one of Geddy’s treasures in Thailand.

Both Geddy and Nicola and Chimmy and Heva have been trying to get the famous nunchucks of Bruce Lee because they are worth a lot of money. A big gangster named Rothschild owns the nunchucks. The nunchucks are being used in a new movie which is being shot on Hong Kong Peak.

Nicola, Heva and Chimmy sneak into the prop tent on the movie set. When they get there, Geddy the rat is already there and already has the nunchucks. Just as they are about to fight with Geddy, security guards rush in to the tent. Nicola, Heva and Chimmy look at the security guards and then at Geddy. Geddy looks at the guards then looks at the three. “We’d better stick together or we’re all finished”, says Geddy.

The security guards rush forward to grab Geddy, Nicola, Chimmy and Heva. Geddy spins the nunchucks. “Wa-ta!” he yells, as he jumps, spins, leaps and attacks the group of guards. Geddy knocks out all of the guards. “Let’s go!” yells Nicola and she, Heva, Chimmy and Geddy dive under the wall of the tent and crawl out. They are seen by more security guards who chase them. They run and run until finally, they come to the edge of Hong Kong Peak, a long drop below them.

The security guards run to catch them. Chimmy sees a long extension cord on the movie set. He grabs it, ties it to a post, then leaps over the edge of the peak and repels nimbly down to a street below. Heva grabs the cord gently with his teeth and he also repels down the side of the peak to the street below.

Geddy the rat approaches the edge of the peak and begins to shake. “I can’t do it”, he says. “I’m scared of heights.” Geddy has been scared of heights for most of his life. In fact, he has been terrified of heights for most of his life. “Hurry”, says Nicola, “they’re coming.” “I can’t. I can’t”, says Geddy, shaking harder as he peers over the edge. The guards run towards Nicola and Geddy. “We’ve got to go now!” yells Nicola. Geddy hands the nunchucks to her and says, “Go, I can’t do it. Go and save yourself.” Nicola grabs the cord and repels down. When she reaches the street below the three wait for Geddy, but he never makes it. “We gotta get out of here now”, says Chimmy.

“Oh, I feel sorry for him”, says Nicola. “Me, too”, says Heva. “Treasure seeking is a tough business”, says Chimmy.

The three run several blocks and catch a cab back to their hotel. They pack immediately, head straight to the airport and fly back to San Francisco. In California, they sell Bruce Lee’s famous nunchucks to a Hollywood collector for $360,000.

Now our second version of the story, changing the time a little bit. In that first version, we talked a lot about some things that started in the past and continued to the present.

We also had a mix of things happening in the present, too, in that first version. Just notice the changes. Notice the sentences and the phrases. Don’t analyze the grammar, it’s not necessary.

Version number two happens in the past.

There was a woman named Nicola. Her best friends were Chimmy the monkey and Heva the dog. They had been friends for a long time. Together, they had created a treasure-seeker business. They had had a lot of problems with a giant rat named Geddy. Geddy was also a treasure hunter and had been the rival of Nicola, Chimmy and Heva ever since those three took one of Geddy’s treasures in Thailand.

Both Geddy and Nicola and Chimmy and Heva had been trying to get the famous nunchucks of Bruce Lee because they were worth a lot of money. A big gangster named Rothschild owned the nunchucks. The nunchucks were being used in a new movie which was being shot on Hong Kong Peak. Nicola, Heva and Chimmy snuck into the prop tent on the movie set. When they got there, Geddy the rat was already there and already had the nunchucks. Just as they were about to fight with Geddy, security guards rushed in to the tent.

Nicola, Heva and Chimmy looked at the security guards and then at Geddy. Geddy looked at the guards and then looked at the three. “We’d better stick together or we’re all finished”, said Geddy. The security guards rushed forward to grab Geddy, Nicola, Chimmy and Heva. Geddy spun the nunchucks. “Wa-ta!” he yelled, as he jumped, spun, leapt and attacked the group of guards. Geddy knocked out all the guards. “Let’s go!” yelled Nicola and she, Heva, Chimmy and Geddy dove under the wall of the tent and crawled out, but they were seen by more security guards who chased them. They ran and ran until finally, they came to the edge of Hong Kong Peak with a long drop below them. The security guards ran to catch them.

Chimmy saw a long extension cord on the movie set. He grabbed it, tied it to a post, then leapt over the edge of the peak and repelled nimbly down to a street below. Heva grabbed the rope gently with his teeth and he also repelled down the side of the peak to the street below. Geddy the rat approached the edge of the peak and began to shake. “I can’t do it”, he said. “I’m scared of heights.” Geddy had been scared of heights for most of his life. In fact, he had been terrified of heights for most of his life. “Hurry”, said Nicola, “they’re coming.” “I can’t. I can’t”, said Geddy, shaking harder as he peered over the edge.

The guards ran towards Nicola and Geddy. “We’ve got to go now!” yelled Nicola. Geddy handed her the nunchucks and said, “Go, I can’t do it. Go and save yourself.” Nicola grabbed the cord and repelled down. When she reached the street below the three waited for Geddy, but he never made it. “We gotta get out of here now”, said Chimmy.

“Oh, I feel sorry for him”, said Nicola. “Me, too”, said Heva. “Phew, treasure seeking is a tough business”, said Chimmy.

The three ran several blocks and caught a cab back to their hotel. They packed immediately, headed straight to the airport and flew back to San Francisco. In California, they sold Bruce Lee’s famous nunchucks to a Hollywood collector for $360,000.

And that is the end of our second version of the story. Now, that version is in the past and there are also some parts that start farther back in the past and continue for a while. Don’t analyze the grammar. Don’t think about grammar rules. Just listen to each version of the story and to the original mini story every single day. Do that for 14 days or more, maybe for all 30 days of this month, listening to each of the versions again and again. As you do this, your understanding of spoken English grammar will improve gradually and automatically. And, with some time, your spoken grammar will also improve automatically without thinking about grammar rules.

So just enjoy the stories and I’ll see you next time.

Have a great day, bye-bye.