داستان کوتاه

Hello welcome to the mini-story for the Jack Kerouac, King of the Beats article.

We’re gonna learn a few vocabulary words today, practice them. We’re gonna learn spontaneous, confessional, catalyst for or catalyst, prowess, to not pan out, seminal, tentatively, marginalized and hemorrhage.

Spontaneous means without a plan. To suddenly, quickly do something without thinking about it first.

Confessional means to tell about your life, tell your secrets, very honestly and directly.

Catalyst is something that encourages change or causes change.

Prowess means skill, usually a physical skill.

To not pan out means to not be successful or to not work out, to not be effective.

Seminal means very creative and original. Can also kind of mean special or great.

Tentatively means temporarily or not completely sure, not in a sure way.

Marginalized means weakened or separated from, we usually use it with groups of people or maybe a person. It means the large group of people makes another group very small or powerless, it takes away their power, it criticizes them and attacks them. The small group that’s attacked we say they are marginalized.

And finally a hemorrhage, hemorrhage is bleeding inside your body usually.

All right, let’s start with our story. First the story at normal speed.

Andy is a marginalized man, he’s poor and he’s homeless. He lives on the street in San Francisco. Nobody likes Andy. He’s too spontaneous, he never thinks before he acts. If he is angry, he will immediately yell and scream and throw things.

Sally is very successful. She has great physical prowess. She is a professional basketball player. She’s rich.

One day, Andy saw Sally. He tentatively approached her and said: “Can you give me some money? I used to have a good job, but it didn’t pan out. I’m really an honest person”.

Andy then told Sally a confessional story, all the secrets about his life, all his details. When he finished, Sally laughed and said, “Go away you bum”. Then she punched him in the stomach.

Andy fell down crying. Her punch caused an internal hemorrhage in his stomach. The police came and toke Andy to the hospital. Luckily Andy lived.

Sally’s punch was a seminal event in Andy’s life. Since he almost died, Andy started to think about his life. He decided he needed to change.

When he got out of the hospital, he found a job. Then he went to night school. Eventually, he became very successful. Now he is happy that Sally hit him. She was the catalyst that caused his life to change.

OK, next time, let’s tell the story again. This time I will pause and ask questions. Here we go.

Andy is a marginalized man.

Is Andy a popular man?

No, he is not a popular man.

Is Andy a powerful man?

No, he’s not. He’s not a powerful man. He is a marginalized man. He is on the edge of society. He is a marginalized man. Most people don’t like him. He has no power. He is marginalized.

Why is he marginalized ?

Well, he’s marginalized because he’s poor and he’s homeless. He lives on the street in San Francisco, nobody likes him.

Why not?

Well, he’s too spontaneous.

Does Andy plan every thing he does?

No, he never plans. He’s spontaneous, always spontaneous.

Does he control his emotions?

No, he never controls his emotions. He’s always very spontaneous. If he feels something, he immediately acts. So Andy is very spontaneous, for example he never thinks before reacts. If he is angry, he will immediately start to scream and yell. So, he’s too spontaneous.

Our next character is Sally. Sally is very successful. She has great physical prowess.

Does she have physical ability?

Yes, she does. She has physical ability.

Does she have physical skill?

Yes, she does. She has great physical skill. She’s very good with her body.

What kind of prowess does she have?

Well, she’s a professional basketball player. She has basketball prowess. Because she’s a professional, she’s very rich.

One day in the past, Andy saw Sally. He tentatively approached her.

Did he go to her in a very fast way, in a very direct way?

No, he tentatively approached her. He wasn’t sure. He was unsure. He went slowly. He was… uh,uh,uh excuse me, eh, eh, eh excuse me. He went to her very tentatively, not sure.

And he said: “Can you give me some money? I used to have a good job but it didn’t pan out”. So in the past Andy had a job.

Was his job successful?

No, he was not successful at his job. It didn’t pan out.

Did he stay at his job?

No, he didn’t stay at his job. It didn’t pan out. His job didn’t pan out, so he left the job. He quit the job or he was probably fired, right? Maybe he was fired because he was too spontaneous. So the job did not pan out, it wasn’t successful.

Then after he tells her this, he says: “I’m really an honest person”. And then he tells her a long confessional story.

Does he tell her a science-fiction story?

No, he tells her a confessional story. A story about his own life. A story about secrets in his life. He tells her a confessional story.

After this confessional story, does Sally feel sorry for him? Does she want to help him?

No, even after this long confessional story, Sally is very mean. She says: “Go away you bum. Go away you jerk. Go away you loser”. Then she hits him in the stomach. And Andy falls down and he’s crying.

Why does he cry?

Well, because he’s hurt a lot. He has a hemorrhage in his stomach. His stomach is bleeding.

Is his stomach just a little bit hurt?

No, he has a hemorrhage in his stomach. It’s bleeding inside his stomach. It’s a very serious injury. He’s hurt very badly. So he has a hemorrhage in his stomach,

What happen next?

Well, the police come. They take him to the hospital.

Why did they take him to the hospital?

Well, they take him because he has a hemorrhage in his stomach. It’s very serious.

Sally’s punch was a seminal event in Andy’s life.

Was it a small event?

No, no, it’s a seminal event. It’s a very important event. It’s a very original special event. Because it created a new life for him in the future. Because of this happening, because of this experience.

So this event was a seminal event. It was an original event. It was a seminal event, a special event, a seminal event, a special event in his life. Because he almost died.

Since he almost died, he started to think about his life a lot. He realized, “Oh my God, I need to change my life. I almost died and I’m living a terrible life. I’m marginalized and I’m homeless. I need to change.”

So when he gets out of the hospital, he finds a job. He goes to night school. Eventually, he becomes very successful. And now he’s happy that Sally punched him.

Why is he happy that he got punched? Why is he happy he had a hemorrhage?

Well, because the punch and the hemorrhage, they were the catalyst for changing his life. They caused him to change his life. They started the change, so they were the catalyst. These events were the catalyst. The catalyst, it starts a reaction, it starts a change. So, this catalyst helped to change his life.

OK, now one more time. This time, I’m going to just repeat some of the phrases and sentences and then I’ll pause and then you repeat after me. And then I’ll say it again and then you say it again. OK, here we go.

Andy is a marginalized man (pause). Andy is a marginalized man (pause). He’s too spontaneous (pause). He’s too spontaneous (pause).

Sally has physical prowess (pause). Sally has physical prowess (pause). Andy tentatively approaches Sally (pause). Andy tentatively approaches Sally (pause).

Andy’s job didn’t pan out (pause). Andy’s job didn’t pan out (pause). He tells her a confessional story (pause). He tells her a confessional story (pause).

Andy had a hemorrhage (pause). Andy had a hemorrhage (pause). It was a seminal event in his life (pause). It was a seminal event in his life (pause).

The punch was the catalyst for change (pause). The punch was the catalyst for change (pause).

Okay, now one more time. I’m going to repeat only the new vocabulary words. So please repeat the vocabulary words after me, copy my pronunciation. OK, here we go.

Marginalized, marginalized.

Spontaneous, spontaneous.

Prowess, prowess.

Tentatively, tentatively.

Pan out, pan out.

Didn’t pan out, didn’t pan out.

Confessional, confessional.

Hemorrhage, hemorrhage.

Seminal, seminal.

catalyst, catalyst.

Okay, that is all for the mini-story lesson. Please repeat this lesson a few times, even if you understand everything, even if you know the vocabulary.

Repeating will help you learn it automatically and then later use it automatically. So repeating each lesson is very important. Please repeat all the lessons, all the audio.

Thank you, I will see you next time. Bye-bye.