داستان کوتاه

OK, welcome to the mini-story lesson for the New Year’s Resolutions article. The vocabulary we will practice today are advantageous, vague, to reflect, to depict, sacred, interpreted, vitality and sensibly. Let’s get started with the little story.

There once was a king named Julius. On coins and in paintings Julius was always depicted as strong. He seemed to have a lot of vitality in the paintings.

People interpreted these pictures as fact. They thought they reflected the true Julius. They thought he was a sacred and holy and strong king. They loved him.

But, they did not truly reflect Julius. In fact, Julius had no vitality. He was weak. He was often sick. Worse, his mind had problems.. He never had clear ideas. His ideas were always vague. No one understood them.

Julius never acted sensibly. He always acted foolish and crazy. In fact, Julius’s wife was the true leader. She was smart, sensible and strong. She made all of the decisions; but, she let people think that Julius was a great king, because it was advantageous to her.

If something bad happened, the king was always responsible not her. So he got all the blame, but she had all the power.

Okay, one more time, this time with questions.

There once was a king named Julius. On coins and in paintings, Julius was always depicted as strong.

Was Julius shown to be strong in the paintings?

Well, yes he was. He was depicted as strong.

Was he depicted as being weak?

No, he was not. He was not depicted as weak. He was depicted as strong. He was shown to be strong.

Was he depicted as handsome?

Well, I don’t know, probably he was depicted as handsome, they made him look handsome. He was depicted as handsome, but mostly, he was depicted as strong. He seemed to have a lot of vitality in the pictures.

Did he have a lot of strength in the pictures? Did they make him look strong?

Yes, he always seemed to have vitality.

Did he have just a little bit of vitality?

No, he had a lot of vitality in the pictures. He looked healthy. He looked strong. He seemed to have a lot of vitality in the pictures. So the pictures made him look like he had vitality.

But did he really have vitality?

Actually, he did not really have vitality. He was quite weak. But the pictures made him look like he had vitality. People interpreted these pictures as fact.

Did they interpret them as a story, as fiction, as not true?

No, They interpreted the pictures, they understood the pictures as being true, the true Julius. So they interpreted the pictures as fact.

But were the pictures really fact?

No, they weren’t. They interpreted them as fact, they thought they were true, but they weren’t really true. So their interpretation (that’s the noun), their interpretation was wrong.

They thought the pictures reflected the true Julius, but they did not reflect the true Julius, they did not imitate the true Julius. The true Julius was weak. The pictures did not reflect the true Julius, the weak Julius. The pictures made him look strong. They depicted him as strong. They did not reflect the truth.

They thought, the people thought he was a sacred and holy king. They thought he was a religious king, like a god. They thought he was more than human. They thought he was sacred. They would worship him. They would pray to the king Julius.

They thought he was sacred and holy. But he was not really sacred and holy, he was Just a man. In fact, he was a weak man and kind of a foolish man. He was not sacred at all. But they thought he was sacred.

In fact, the pictures did not truly reflect Julius, they did not imitate the true Julius. In fact, true Julius had no vitality, no strength. He was weak, he was often sick. Worse, his mind had problems.. He never had clear ideas.

What kind of ideas did he have?

Well, he had vague ideas. His ideas were vague. They were never clear. They were never detailed. They never made sense. His ideas were vague, very general and foolish and crazy. He never had detailed plans. He never had good ideas. His ideas were always very vague. So, he had very vague ideas and nobody understood them.

Did people understand his vague ideas?

No, they did not understand his vague ideas. They were too vague, no one could understand them.

Did Julius act sensibly? Was he smart or his actions were smart and intelligent?

No, his action were not smart and intelligent. He never acted sensibly. He always acted foolishly and crazy, and crazily I guess we should say. He never acted sensibly. He always acted foolish.

In fact, Julius’s wife was the true leader. She was very sensible. She always acted sensibly. She was always sensible and she was very strong. She did have vitality. She was very smart. She made all the real decisions.

But, she let people think it was Julius who made the decisions. She let people think Julius was a great king.

Why did she let them think that?

Well, because it was advantageous to her. It was helpful to her. It let her make decisions; but, she never had to worry about people blaming her or being angry at her; because, if there was a bad decision, they blamed the king.

So this situation was advantageous for the queen. It was good for the queen. It was an advantageous situation for her.

Was it a bad situation?

No, it was an advantageous situation for her.

So, this was an advantageous to her. She let everybody blame the king when something bad happened; but, when something good happened, of course, she was the one who really made the decisions. She had all the power, but he took all the blame. This was an advantageous situation for her.

OK, great. One more time, this time I want you to speak. I will ask you a question, then, I will pause and wait. You should answer the question during the pause.

So if I say: there was a king named Julius, if I say: what was the king’s name? When I pause, you should say: the king’s name was Julius. Try to answer in a full sentence, not just one word.

After the pause, I will give you the answer in full sentence. After I give the answer, I will pause again, you should repeat my answer, copy my pronunciation. OK, here we go.

There once was a king named Julius. On coins and in paintings Julius was always depicted as strong.

How was Julius depicted?

He was depicted as strong. (pause) Good, he was depicted as strong. Very nice. He seemed to have a lot of vitality in the pictures.

What did he seem to have?

He seemed to have a lot of vitality. (pause) Good, he seemed to have a lot of vitality. People interpreted these pictures as fact.

How did people interpret these pictures?

They interpreted these pictures as fact. (pause) Good, they interpreted these pictures as fact. (pause) But, the pictures did not reflect the true Julius.

Did the pictures reflect the true Julius?

No, they did not reflect the true Julius. (pause) No, they did not reflect the true Julius. People thought Julius was a sacred and holy king.

What kind of king did they think Julius was?

They thought he was a sacred and holy king. (pause) They thought he was a sacred and holy king. Good. Okay, but this did not truly reflect the real Julius. In fact, Julius had no vitality.

Did Julius have vitality?

No, he did not have vitality. (pause) Good, no, he did not have vitality. He was weak. He was often sick and his mind had problems, too. He never had clear ideas. In fact, his ideas were always vague.

What kind of ideas did he have?

He had vague ideas. (pause) He had vague ideas. (pause) Good, no one understood his vague ideas. Julius never acted sensibly.

Did Julius act sensibly?

No, he never acted sensibly. (pause) No, he never acted sensibly. (pause) Okay, good, he never acted sensibly. He always acted foolish and crazy. In fact, Julius’s wife was the true leader.

What kind of woman was Julius’s wife?

She was smart and sensible. (pause) She was smart and sensible. (pause) Okay, good, she was smart and sensible. She made all of the decisions, but she let people think Julius was a great king, because it was advantageous to her.

Why did she let people think he was a good king?

She did it because it was advantageous to her. (pause) She did it because it was advantageous to her. (pause) She did it because it was advantageous to her. (pause) Okay, good, she did it because it was advantageous to her.

If something bad happened, the king was always responsible, not her. So, he got all the blame, but she had all the power.

Okay, great. Now what I want you to do is to tell the story yourself, all of it, the whole thing. Try to tell the story yourself in your own words. You don’t need to get every word correct. Get the general story, but do try to use the new vocabulary: depicted, vitality, reflected, sacred, vague, sensibly, sensible, advantageous.

So, retell the whole story, stop this now, pause it and tell the whole story out loud to yourself and try to use the new vocabulary.

If you can’t do it, if it’s too difficult, if you can’t remember, listen to this lesson again. Listen to this lesson many times when you’re on the bus, when you’re going to work, before you go to bed, in the morning. And repeat the sentences and the answers and then try to retell the story again using the vocabulary correctly.

OK, good luck. Please do this, this will help you a lot to remember the vocabulary and to use it correctly.

OK, I’ll see you next time. After this lesson, listen to the original article again, New Year’s Resolutions, and you should be able to understand it more.

OK, see you later. Bye-bye.