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Over the Hill
简体
Over the Hill English, baby! Video Lesson
走下坡路

Learn English with this age English lesson

Date: Mar 12 2013

Themes: Soap Opera, Time

Grammar: Gerunds vs. Infinitives

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Do you ever think about what shape your life would take if someone plotted it on a graph? Some people might imagine their lives as a straight line. Others might see their lives in a zig-zag pattern that has many highs and lows. Other people see their lives in a hill shape. They spend the first part of their lives climbing and climbing to the top, and then, at a certain point, they reach the peak and it’s all downhill from there.

When you get to the other side of the hill, you’re not so young anymore. In fact, you’re probably getting old. Being over the hill means that you’re closer to the end of your life than to the beginning. It also means that you’re getting out of touch with what young people’s lives are like. You can’t see what youth is like anymore, because that darn hill is blocking your view.

Of course, not everyone who’s over the hill realizes that they’ve already hit their peak. Find out whether Marni, Greta, and Amanda are over the hill or still climbing up in this age English lesson.

如果用曲线描绘人生,那么你的人生是什么形状的呢?有人可能认为自己的人生是直线。其他人可能认为自己的人生是锯齿状的,存在诸多起落。其他人认为自己的人生曲线像一座山峰。他们人生的前半程在不断攀登顶峰,然后,在某一个点,他们达到人生顶峰,从此始终步入下坡路。

当你达到山的另一边,发现自己青春不再。实际上,你正在老去。走下坡路意味着,比起人生的起点,你距离人生终点更近一些。这还意味着,你正在脱离青年人的生活。你无法再看到青春是什么样了,因为那座该死的山遮住了你的视线。

当然,不是所有走下坡路的人都意识到他们已经过了人生的顶点。在本节以年龄为话题的英语课上,看看玛尼、格里塔和阿曼达是在走下坡路,还是仍然处于向上攀爬的时期。

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Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Amanda

Amanda

Greta

Greta

Marni

Marni

Amanda:  Well, you have to pick one.

Greta:  But they’re all so uncool.

Amanda:  Come on, Greta. Thousands of men responded to this contest to date you. They want to go on a date with our spokesperson, movie star, Greta Vanderlake. So surely you can pick one guy you’re willing to go on a date with. How else are we going to do this big promotion?

Greta:  I know. I don’t know. I guess I thought the guys would be more hip.

Marni:  Look at that guy! He’s hip. He’s got a Sheryl Crow T-shirt on. I love her!

Amanda:  I love Sheryl Crow too, but I’m just not so sure how hip she is anymore, Marni.

Greta:  Yeah. I want to meet guys who like artists like Deadmou5 and Ke$ha.

Marni:  Is that a band?

Greta:  Uh, no. It’s two separate and extremely popular artists. Guys, no offense, but maybe you need some more youthful energy around here.

Marni:  Wow, I guess I’m starting to feel a little over the hill.

Amanda:  Over the hill? We’re not over the hill. Just because we don’t know what 15-year-olds like to listen to doesn’t mean we’re over the hill. Besides, over the hill means that you’ve peaked in life, and we’re just getting started, right?

Greta:  But maybe your knowledge of music, popular culture, and anything that’s cool has peaked.

Amanda:  Um, I’m pretty sure I own an Internet company, so I am what’s cool. Come to think of it, I think when you’re over the hill, you actually have gray hair or something like that, right? And I don’t. I’m good to go.

Marni:  Uh, Amanda.

Amanda:  What? Alright. Fine. So maybe I’ll hire a young intern or something tomorrow, but it does not mean that I’m over the hill. What was the name of that artist you wanted me to look up? Dead Rat or something?

Greta:  Yeah, Dead Rat. That’s it. You should Google that.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Greta is trying to find a guy to date on the company’s website. Unfortunately, she thinks they’re all uncool. She thinks their music tastes are boring. She thinks Marni and Amanda might be a little bit behind when it comes to their knowledge of what’s cool, too.

Amanda is surprised that Greta thinks she’s over the hill. She thinks she’s still getting started in life. She also thinks that she’s cool because she owns an Internet company.

Marni points out that Amanda is getting old in at least one way. Amanda has some gray hair. Amanda decides that maybe she should bring in someone younger to work in the office, after all.

How do you know when someone is over the hill? Have you ever felt over the hill? How can you try to stay young?

 

Comments

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Ariel Zhou

China

We are living in a fastly developing world, everything changed fastly,so we need to keep a studying heart to get new information from all over the world. Or else we would be over the hill.

03:14 AM Mar 12 2013 |

lion tear

lion tear

Yemen

I think people start to get over the hill when they’re around 55-60 years old. That’s my own standpoint :)

03:02 AM Mar 12 2013 |

1 person likes this

seungmanlee68

South Korea

To stay young in life is one of the popular issues for all the people in this world. Whenever I catch up my learning English at school, I often think that can I improve my English skills in a short time? Comparing young ages, they are really doing good to memorize words and also, speaks well. However, I forget many words and even sentences when I memorized repeatedly for a few days. Now I feel over the hill. It’s impossible  for me to maintain young physical status forever because of my limitation. However, I found one thing to do in my ages; it’s just hanging on the principles to get a better life. If I keep on sticking my principles about how to act or how to speak, I don’t need to memorize everything with big efforts.

01:21 AM Mar 12 2013 |

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