مگا داستان

53 فصل | 570 درس

گفتگو

توضیح مختصر

در این درس گفتگویی واقعی بین دو نفر در رابطه با محتوای درس انجام می گردد.

  • سطح متوسط

دانلود اپلیکیشن «زبانشناس»

این درس را می‌توانید به بهترین شکل و با امکانات عالی در اپلیکیشن «زبانشناس» بخوانید

دانلود اپلیکیشن «زبانشناس»

راهنمای خواندن این درس

نکته اول:

ابتدا می‌توانید یکی دو بار به‌صورت تفننی این داستان را به‌صورت صوتی یا تصویری ببینید. اما برای یادگیری زبان انگلیسی بایستی تکنیک‌های سایه و استراتژی‌های گفته‌شده در نوشته‌ی پنج استراتژی برای تقویت مکالمه را روی این داستان پیاده‌سازی نمایید.

نکته دوم:

اگر سطح این داستان مناسب شما نبود، میتوانید به بخش داستان کوتاه انگلیسی وبسایت زبانشناس مراجعه کرده و داستان دیگری انتخاب نمایید.

فایل صوتی

دانلود فایل صوتی

متن انگلیسی درس

CONVERSATION LESSON

INTERNATIONAL BROMANCE

Dan: Okay Brother Aaron. Today we’re talking Brother Orange. Aaron: Hey, how’s it going, Brother Dan? Dan: Doing well, my brother. How come Matt doesn’t have a name, a nickname? Aaron: Oh, Matt Stopera? Dan: Yeah, Matt Stopera. Aaron: Actually, the Chinese netizens did give him a nickname. They called him “Doubi.” Dan: Doubi. What does that stand for? Aaron: Well, I know that “dou” means “bean” in Chinese, so it’s kind of like Mr. Bean. Dan: So is he supposed to be really goofy? Aaron: I guess so. He seems pretty goofy. I’ve seen his pictures on the internet and he seems like a fun loving, goofy kind of guy. Dan: So Doubi and Brother Orange. What’s the deal with these guys? Why did they get so famous? Aaron: Well, that’s a good question because there’s lots of stories out there but there’s a lot of reasons why I think this story took off. I don’t think it’s really so simple. But I was really attracted to this story because it has so many interesting angles to it. Dan: Sure. The whole making lemonade out of lemons, making something good out of something bad.

Aaron: Yeah, exactly. It’s one of these things that’s a blessing in disguise. We all experience this in our life. We have a down point where something bad happens and it seems terrible at the time, but it can lead to something, it could open new doors, new possibilities. And in this case, he had his iPhone stolen which is not like a big tragedy or anything. Dan: Well to me it would be huge. It would be huge if I lost my iPhone so I can feel… That’s why I was dragged to this story. I can imagine now how pissed off you would be and then have something wonderful happen from it. Aaron: Yeah, it’s amazing. And the wonderful thing that happened, nobody ever would have predicted it, and I think that’s why initially the story is so attractive. It’s like you get your iPhone stolen, you think that’s it. And a whole year goes by and you’ve just completely forgotten about it. You’ve moved on with your life and then suddenly, you get these weird photos of this mysterious guy taking selfies in front of orange trees in who knows where, and it just becomes so mysterious and interesting. Dan: So he became super famous in China. And what’s this social media that they use there? Aaron: Weibo. It’s like Twitter. Dan: Weibo. Like Twitter. Aaron: Yeah, similar to Twitter. Dan: And how many, he got like a million followers or something? Aaron: I don’t think it was that many. The story by the time it had finished, it had like 70 million views on it. So I mean clearly millions of people were following it. Dan: Okay, so that’s the other main element just like a regular Joe who becomes famous.

Aaron: Yeah, he becomes famous in China. And that’s also an interesting part of the story because China, unlike a lot of places in the world when it comes to the internet is such a closed-off area. China bans so many Western sites. Because we don’t speak Chinese, a lot of us don’t speak Chinese or read Chinese, we don’t have access to a lot of what’s going on in those social networks in China. So here’s one of the things that just comes together and the story bridges that gulf, if you will. Dan: Clearly this is a wild story but it makes me think that… You spent some time in Taiwan and Hong Kong and China mainland? Aaron: Yeah, I was in mainland China travelling around for about four months. Dan: And this was what? 20 years ago? Aaron: No, not that long. I’m not that old, Dan. Come on, man. Dan: Grandpa Orange. Aaron: This was in the late 90’s. I spent two years in Taiwan and I was in China for four months. Dan: So did you ever feel a little bit of a celebrity just being a Westerner? Aaron: Not really. When I went to China in some of the more rural areas, yes I got stared at by a lot of people and people would sit down and stare at me and take pictures of me while I was eating. So yeah, a little bit of that but not in Taiwan, not at all. Dan: Okay. The reason I asked is because we think about China being very international these days, of course it is international. But at the same time I was reading this article yesterday about these real estate developments that are kind of in the middle of nowhere. They’re kind of luxury properties and the way they market these is they just hire regular white guys and white women who are living in China to pretend like they’re living there to give it this international feel.

Aaron: Wow, that’s interesting. Actually, I have (a friend)….a woman that I went to high school with who became famous in China. Dan: What did she become famous for? Aaron: Well, this was in the mid-90’s. She was there in Beijing and she got put on a sitcom, like a comedy show in television called “Foreign Babes in Beijing.” Her name is Rachel DeWoskin and she played, like, a sexy Western young woman who was like stealing the boyfriends of Chinese women and making them very angry and things. And she became famous for that. Dan: This was a friend of yours. Aaron: Well, I went to high school with her. I knew her. We weren’t close friends or anything. Dan: Was she in China when you were in China? Aaron: No. I don’t think so. I think she had left by the time I had gotten there. But her father is a professor of Chinese studies and she spoke really good Chinese or her Chinese was impeccable from what I hear. So I think it’s possible for someone who, if you’re in the right place at the right time, you could become famous in a big country like China. But would you want to be? I mean fame is one of those double-edged swords. Dan: I think that that’s also at the crux of the story, is maybe a lot of people secretly desire to be famous. Aaron: I think there’s something to that. I mean we have egos and we want to be recognized for our good qualities and I think there’s just something kind of, I don’t know, amazing or dream-like about being famous. People may want to experience that. It would be interesting to be famous for a day or famous for a week, but would you want to be famous your whole life? I wonder if that’s a good thing or not. I don’t know.

Dan: Well, I mean there’s different levels of fame. The kind of fame where you can’t go to the store. Probably Brother Orange fame or Matt Stopera fame, at least now, is the point where they can’t do anything without cameras coming out and taking pictures of them. That would suck. Aaron: No, that would not be good. Dan: But mid-level fame that allows you to make connections with people and open doors to access things that you can’t normally access. Aaron: Okay, but I think that they’re at that now. They were super famous for maybe a month or so and then gradually… They’re not major celebrities. They’re minor celebrities. But the interesting thing is, and I think this is another interesting aspect of this story, is that there’s an element of selfpromotion to it. When Matt steps off the plane in Weizhou to meet Brother Orange, Brother Orange knew that his was going to happen. He could sense that this was going to be a big thing and he took advantage of it. He put his own picture on his car and when they drove to the restaurant he owned, he had already renamed the restaurant “Brother Orange” in Chinese and had a new sign. I saw the picture. It had a new sign over the old sign. So he was clearly using this to kind of promote his business. And there’s nothing wrong with that but companies and television programs are using this story also and some of those companies had product placements. Dan: That also brings up another aspect to the story, is Matt Stopera works for Buzzfeed, and Buzzfeed their whole business model is they create content that goes viral in order to sell advertising. Aaron: I wonder if there’s an element to the story that could possibly be planned in a way. I don’t think Matt actually knew that this was going to be viral. But maybe, who knows, maybe they had a Chinese person translate it and seed it on Weibo. We don’t know that.

Dan: And the way the level that it spread, so it’s not just China. I mean this story was huge in the US and on the English internet and I wonder how much of that had to do with Matt Stopera’s employee, Buzzfeed, being behind this story and helping push it on the internet. Aaron: I’m sure they must have had some connections with Weibo employees in Beijing. I mean those big social networks and big websites, they meet each other at conferences and international… They probably had drinks together and maybe they had a talk and said, “Hey let’s look for a story. Let’s try and get a story. Let’s see if we can make it go viral.” Who knows? Dan: But viral stories, they can be manufactured but at the crux of it there has to be certain core ideas that attract people like things that shock or synchronicities or amazing coincidences or the idea of celebrity. Aaron: And this story had all those elements. One of the things that I also think is quite fascinating is the fact that I wonder if this story would have gone viral if it had not been China, if it had been let’s say a different country like Russia or Brazil. Maybe there’s something about the cultural differences between Chinese and Americans as well as the complex political climate. Because in the news we’re constantly seeing, we see positive things when it comes to Chinese economic development, but when it comes to politics we see a lot of negative stuff in the Western media that sort of promotes fear. “Oh, that China is growing, they’re growing superpower, and their army is growing and they’re starting to cause trouble in the South China Sea and with Japan.” The media riles that up and for probably reasons to attract more viewers and push certain political agendas. And maybe the same thing goes on in China. So here’s an opportunity for both normal, average, everyday Americans and everyday Chinese people to see something positive that has friendship involved, love, like goofing around, horsing around, having fun, and it’s built on something negative like the theft of a phone that ends up in a market. And it ends up in the hands of actually what seems like a really nice guy, Brother Orange. I mean, he’s not the thief.

Dan: But you know, this story is overwhelmingly positive about how amazing coincidences create this friendship and this bond across cultures when most of what we know of how news spreads of the way companies manipulate the news is by pushing the negative. So maybe we’re all secretly looking for something, some kind of counterweight, some kind of balance to all the negative war and murder and tragedy that we see on the news. Aaron: Yeah, and I think a lot of people are just hungry for that and it came along at just the right time. Dan: But didn’t it also come on April 1st, which is of course April Fool’s Day? Aaron: Did it? Dan: I think it was April 1st or April 2nd because actually I think you told me about it and you were wondering, could this be a hoax? Aaron: Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe that is a coincidence. Dan: But I think that was just another coincidence. Aaron: Yeah, I think that was a coincidence. It’s really interesting. And the other thing that I think is quite intriguing is the fact that when you follow the story you can so easily imagine that being you. When I read it, it was like, wow that could have happened to me so easily. Someone could have taken my iPhone and I saw all these pictures. Now, I didn’t work for Buzzfeed. I mean, where would I have published the story? It probably wouldn’t have gotten picked up. But you never know. In Facebook, anybody can put something on Facebook or make a video and put it on YouTube and they could be a celebrity. I mean look at that pop star Justin Bieber. You remember that guy, Justin Bieber? You know the famous…? Dan: Right. Well, I mean he was quite talented.

Aaron: No, he had a lot of talent but he got a start on YouTube, posting videos of himself in YouTube and it just blew up. So we’re not talking about a talent here but we are talking about a really interesting story. It had a lot of content and if that is the talent, then that maybe is one of the reasons why it blew up so easily. Dan: Right. There’s two regular guys and I think everybody can relate to them because they’re just normal but they’ve reached this level of fame that maybe a lot of people secretly desire. Aaron: Yeah. That’s right. Now here’s an interesting question. If you were Matt, like now, what would you do to use the fame that you have and the influence you have? Because it’s not going to be around forever. This is the kind of thing that it’s a flash in the pan. You become kind of famous for a little while and then life goes back to normal. But now Matt has an opportunity just like Brother Orange does to use this to build something, to build on it. What would you do in his situation to build on this? Dan: I don’t know. It sounds like you put a lot of thought into this. Aaron: No. Well, when I was writing some of the questions for the lessons, I did give that a little thought because there’s a section on– Dan: You probably would like try to usher in in the age of world peace. Aaron: Well, actually that’s pretty close to that. Dan: And just try to make the world a better place, you would give away all your possessions and somehow— Aaron: No. You know what I would do? Dan: What?

Aaron: I would— Dan: Yeah, right. I don’t buy it. Already I can see there’s– Aaron: Give me a chance to talk, brother. Dan: All right, Brother Aaron. Yeah, right. Aaron: If I were Matt, I would get in touch with Brother Orange and I’d say let’s set up some kind of intercultural international exchange, like an educational cultural exchange between young people and bring them together in the bromance sort of fashion. And it doesn’t have to be men; It could be women, as well. And try to match them together and see if, I don’t know, companies can donate money or maybe you can turn it into some kind of business model. But this is really important I think because China and the United States could so easily in the future, especially as China becomes more and more of a superpower and starts flexing its muscles more, it could lead to a lot of great conflict. And there’s a lot we don’t understand as Westerners about Chinese culture; there’s a lot that Chinese don’t understand about Western culture. I think it’s a great opportunity they have to bring more people together in dialog and in sharing and in friendship. Dan: And while you’re doing it, why not sell a little bit of orange juice, right? Aaron: Exactly. Why not? Dan: I know how you think. That’s your cover story. International peace and bromance. And why not sell a little orange juice on the side? Aaron: Well, who knows? Dan: So what’s Brother Orange doing? He’s got a restaurant and he’s using it to promote his restaurant?

Aaron: He’s got a restaurant but I bet he might start franchising it. Dan: Okay yeah. And what about Matt Stopera? What’s he’s doing? Aaron: I have no idea. This is such a fresh story that it’s still developing. Dan: Yeah, it’s the beginning of April so it’s about a month old. I wonder if their 15 minutes is already over, their 15 minutes of fame. Aaron: Yeah, I think it is but I think it’s still not too late to build on it to use it for something. Dan: Right, that’s what we’re doing. Aaron: What are you talking about? Dan: We use it to teach English. Aaron: Well, we’ve never had 15 minutes of fame. Have you had your 15 minutes of fame? Dan: That’s right. Well, maybe it’s right now. Aaron: I doubt it. Dan: Maybe this English lesson is going to go viral. Aaron: No, I think it’s just for members only. Dan: We need some amazing coincidences. Let’s talk about our origin story. You stole my iPhone that year back in 1998 and I hunted you down and I brought you to the light. I showed you the error of your ways and we formed Deep English!

Aaron: Yeah, that’s right. It’s all based on a stolen iPhone. Dan: They got an amazing origin story if they were to create something bigger. Aaron: Yeah, absolutely. Dan: And I’ve seen an interview with them. They really do, even though there doesn’t seem to be a language that they share, they do seem quite close. Aaron: They do. They seem like they have a very close bond and they seem very comfortable around each other. I saw a clip on Ellen, the show Ellen. Have you seen that? Dan: Yeah, I saw that one. Aaron: It’s on YouTube. Watch it. It’s good. They just seem happy. I like Ellen. Ellen is kind of a funny, smart person. So that’s the feel-good story of the year so far and I wonder what’s coming next. Dan: I don’t know but I like it and I don’t know. Aaron: I don’t know either, Dan. I’m all out. Dan: All right, Brother Aaron. Aaron: Okay, Brother Dan. Dan: Over and out. Aaron: We’ll see you soon, real soon.