Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Humans have a powerful survival instinct. This means that in moments of crisis, we can do incredible things. Things we never would have thought we could do.
The new movie 127 Hours tells the true story of a thrill-seeker who got trapped in a canyon with his arm stuck under a heavy rock. In order to escape, he had to do the unimaginable: cut off his own arm.
Marni recently saw 127 Hours and she was amazed by what the main character was able to do to survive. Hear her and Mason talk about this incredible real-life story.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Marni: Mason, I recently saw the film 127 Hours.
Mason: Oh yeah, is that the one with James Franco?
Marni: Yes, and it’s a true story. Are you familiar with the storyline?
Mason: Well it’s the…that’s the one that he cuts his arm off, right?
Marni: Yes. The story is incredibly compelling, and it really got me thinking about what I would have done in that situation, or what kind of drastic measures would a person take to survive. Because he’s trapped down in this cavern, nobody can hear him, nobody knows where he is, and his arm is pinned.
Mason: Now, how long was he down there before he was like, OK, this is what I have to do.
Marni: So 127 hours is a total of five days, roughly, around there. It’s incredible that he survived, but he clearly was determined to. I just was thinking, in that situation, I probably would have just given up. I don’t think I could ever do that to myself. But then, you know, the humans are just…we want to survive, right? Most of us.
Mason: Yeah. I don’t think…I don’t know that I could actually say what I would do in that case. Like you probably think you would do one thing, but when you’ve been trapped for three days in a cave or whatever, you might do something different.
Marni: Yeah.
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Gerunds vs. Infinitives" from this lesson
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Discussion
Marni saw the movie 127 Hours. She couldn’t believe the true story about a man who has to cut off his own arm in order to survive. She isn’t sure she’d be able to do something so drastic if she were in that situation.
Mason thinks that it’s too hard to say what you would be able to do to survive. People have a strong instinct to survive. They often manage to do things that seem impossible when they really have to in order to protect their lives or the lives of their loved ones.
Have you ever done anything extreme that you never imagined you’d be able to do?
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