Power English

Small Is Beautiful Vocabulary Text

Hello, welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "Small is Beautiful."

Let's talk about our first word. Our first word is cultivate, to cultivate. Of course,

cultivate means to grow or to encourage something. So it's to cultivate, it means to

grow or to encourage something.

to

Our next word is envy, envy. He says our cultures are cultivating envy, they're

encouraging envy. Envy really means jealousy. Jealousy, it means someone else has

something good and you don't like it, right? You are jealous. You're jealous of them. If

they have something better than you, you don't feel good about them. You don't feel

happy because they are happy. Instead you feel mad or angry or jealous. You feel bad

because you think "Ah, I want that. I want that. I want that," right? So envy really

means jealousy.

Our next word is frenzy, a frenzy. A frenzy is uncontrolled action. It really means just

constantly doing a lot of things without control. So, for example, sharks in the ocean,

you throw a dead fish in the water they will..rawr...they will start attacking the fish and

they all go crazy. So that's this idea of, that they just start attacking and moving and

doing all of these things without control. So frenzy really means kind of go crazy, just...

aaaahhhh...just start doing a lot of things, going crazy about it...lots and lots of actions

with no control.

if

Our next word is consumerism, consumerism. Consumerism means the philosophy or

the idea that buying stuff is most important in your life. It's the most important thing. So

that you get meaning from buying things, that buying stuff, buying cars, buying

expensive houses, buying more, more, more, more, that's what is most important in life.

That idea is called consumerism. Consumerism, so Schumacher is saying that right

now most of our cultures are consumerist cultures...that we are focused on

consumerism in most countries.

Our next word is abate, to abate. He says that consumerism in most of our countries

does not abate as we get richer. So to abate means to slow down or to stop, or to abate

can also mean to lessen. To get smaller, to get weaker, it has this idea of slowing down,

stopping. So he's thinking if someone gets rich then their greed, their desire for money,

should go down. It should become lower. It should abate. But he's saying it does not

abate. It does not slow down. It does not get less. So again, to abate, to get less, to

lessen, to slow down.

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Small Is Beautiful Point-of-View Text

Hi, this is AJ. Welcome to the point of view lesson for "Small is Beautiful." Same

story...different points of view, different time frames. Let's go.

* * ** *

Since they were children Jeff has always had great hair. And Michael has always

been bald. He's never had hair. When Jeff was a baby, he came out with long,

blond, beautiful hair. He has always had long, blond, beautiful hair. And Michael

has always been bald, from when he was a baby until now. And so, Michael has

always envied Jeff's hair. Michael has always wanted hair, since he was a little

baby. He has always wanted to have great hair. He has always wanted to have

long, blond, beautiful hair like Jeff.

Michael has been preoccupied with Jeff's hair every day since he was a little

child. He has been totally preoccupied with Jeff's hair since he was a little child.

His preoccupation has never abated. Not one day, it has never abated. It has

never lessened. It has never gone away. Michael has been preoccupied with

Jeff's hair every day. His preoccupation has never abated. In fact, he has gotten

more and more envious every day of his life. He has gotten more and more and

more envious.

Well, one day Michael finally got into a frenzy. He just went crazy, "I must have

Jeff's hair! Imust have Jeff's hair....aaaaahhhhh!" He got into a frenzy on that

day. And on that day he grabbed a big knife and he went to Jeff's house. He

knocked on Jeff's door. Jeff opened the door. And Michael said, "I must have

your hair! I'm going to cut off your hair!" And Jeff said, “This is absurd. Just

buy a wig."

And Michael stopped. Suddenly his preoccupation with Jeff's hair abated. He

dropped the knife and became calm. Then he ran to a wig store and he bought a

long, blond, beautiful wig and he put it on. And every day he wore it and

everyone loved his new hair. Michael was very happy and Michael and Jeff

became very good friends.

The End

* * ** *

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Automatic English For The People

Small Is Beautiful Mini-Story Text

Hello, this is AJ. Welcome to “Small is Beautiful," the mini-story. Take a deep breath.

Smile, move your body. Shoulders back, let's go!

* * ** *

Jeff had great hair.

What kind of hair did he have?

Great, Jeff had great hair.

It was long, blond and beautiful.

What kind of hair did he have?

Well, great hair, long, blond, beautiful hair.

Who had long, blond, beautiful hair?

Jeff, Jeff did. Jeff had long, blond, beautiful hair.

But there was a problem, of course. Michael envied Jeff's hair.

What did Michael do?

Michael envied Jeff's hair.

What did Michael envy?

He envied Jeff's hair.

Did he envy Jeff's money?

No, not his money...Michael didn't envy Jeff's money. Michael envied Jeff's long, blond,

beautiful hair. Michael wanted great hair also.

So did Jeff envy Michael's hair?

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Small Is Beautiful Main Text

Hi, this is AJ again. Welcome to the next lesson. This lesson is called "Small is

Beautiful." Small is Beautiful is the name of a book by E.F. Schumacher. It's a very

interesting book. It's a little bit difficult to read. The level of English is actually fairly

difficult, but I do recommend it. If you have an advanced level of English, go ahead, try

to read Small is Beautiful. It's an excellent book. E.F. Schumacher was an economist,

still is an economist. And he wrote Small is Beautiful to talk about the economic

problems we have in the world. Now this book was published back in the late 70s, I

believe, and it has been updated more recently. But the basic idea of Small is Beautiful

is that our economies in the world are big, big businesses, have become too big. And

they are not sustainable anymore.

Too big, in other words, we're destroying the planet Earth because we are consuming

too much. Our economies are too big; our population, too big; our companies, too big.

Everything has grown too large and his solution, as you might guess, is that we need

smaller economies, more local economies, more green economies. So he was writing

about this long before Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth and a lot of other things which

are quite common right now. But he was writing about these things way back in the

'70s.

He realized that we're going to have to make some changes. Our planet is being

destroyed, we have to do something. And we need to start at the economic level. We

have to change our economic system so that it is more human, so that it serves human

beings not just super large companies. And, of course, he talks about these economies

and his solutions in a lot of detail. Like I said, he was an economist, he is an economist.

So he has a lot of very detailed economic arguments and he analyzes things from an

economic viewpoint. It's very interesting.

Today I want to read to you just a short passage from his book and this book and this

passage really talk about the key, central core problem in his opinion. What is the most

basic problem? What is causing all these economic problems we see in the world, all

the environmental destruction, the wars we see constantly, what's the root cause? And

let me read from the book right now.

"Economically our wrong living consists primarily in systematically

cultivating greed and envy and thus building up a vast array of

totally unnecessary wants. It is the sin of greed that has delivered

us over into the power of the machine. If greed were not the

master of modern man how could it be that the frenzy of

consumerism does not abate at higher standards of living and that

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Big Picture Vocabulary Text

Hello, this is AJ. Welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "The Big Picture." I've got some

good news. This is a pretty easy article so the vocabulary lesson is quite short. Yay!

Let's start it.

Our first word is memorize. Dennis said real learning is not memorizing knowledge.

Real learning is knowing how to use and find knowledge or facts. To memorize means

to remember. It really means to force yourself to remember...force to remember. Make

yourself remember. Force yourself to remember. That's memorizing. For example, you

have a word list and you want to memorize the meaning of each word. So you repeat it

again and again and again and again and again. Memorize means remember.

Memorize means remember. Memorize means remember. Memorize means

remember. Force to remember, force to remember, force to remember, force to

remember. Memorize means force to remember. Memorize means force to remember.

That's the memorization technique. Memorization is the noun. You are memorizing the

meaning...just repeating again, again, again, again. You are memorizing the word and

its meaning. So we don't memorize here. Do not do that. Just listen to the vocabulary.

Don't try to study it, okay? We don't study at Effortless English. We listen and we

enjoy. That's all. So you listen to the vocabulary a few times and then you listen to the

other lessons. The other lessons are the most important. Don't try to memorize. Don't

force yourself to remember. It'll happen. You will remember automatically with our

method, don't worry.

Our next word is integrate. Dennis says real learning is knowing how to integrate

knowledge and use it. To integrate means to mix or combine or merge. It means you're

putting things together, putting things together...mixing...so to integrate means to mix.

And what it means is, it means you learn something new, it's not enough. You have to

combine it, you have to mix it with everything you already know, right?

You already know a lot of things then you learn something new. You have to combine

the new thing with the old knowledge. You are mixing them together. You're seeing

how they go together. You see how they fit together. How they integrate, how they mix.

So integrate has this idea of mixing and combining, putting things together in a useful

way. So to integrate...again, to integrate...put together, mix together in a useful way, in

an effective way. That's integrate.

Our next word is noted. Noted, he says as noted psychology expert Seymour Sarason

said...and then he tells you what he said. Noted psychology experts, so Seymour

Sarason is a noted psychology expert. Well, noted just means famous, that's all it

Big Picture POV Text

Hello, welcome to the point of view stories for "The Big Picture." Let's get started, same

story about that amazing dog Athena.

* * ** *

Well, since she was a puppy, Athena has wanted to be the most famous dog in the

world. It started when she was a puppy. Now, of course, a puppy is a baby dog.

We don't say baby dog, we say puppy. So since she was a baby, since she was a

puppy, Athena has wanted to be the most famous dog in the world. She wanted

that. When she was young she would think about it.

In fact, she has been memorizing songs since she was a puppy. She has been

memorizing songs since she was a puppy. She started when she was a puppy.

She has been memorizing songs since she was a puppy. Now she knows 92,000

songs but she has been memorizing songs, one by one, since she was a puppy.

She has been practicing the piano since she was a puppy. It took time, right?

She had to practice a long time. So she has been practicing the piano. She

started when she was a puppy. She continued, continued, continued until now.

She still practices the piano every day. So she has been practicing the piano

since she was a puppy.

And she has been practicing the guitar since she was a little older, but still a long

time. So she has been practicing the piano since she was a puppy. She has been

practicing the guitar for a long time, for many years. Starting many years ago,

continuing until recently.

She has been practicing fighting for a long time. For many years she has been

training and practicing. It didn't happen suddenly one day. No, no, no, no, no.

She has been practicing boxing for a long time, for many years. She has been

going to the boxing gym. She has been practicing, practicing, practicing. And

then finally, of course, she started to beat other fighters. And finally she beat

6,022 boxers, 6,022 fighters, she beat them all.

And finally, she has been learning languages only a couple years, actually. Two

years ago she started. So since two years ago she has been learning languages.

In that time she has learned 55. In only two years she has learned 55 languages.

Wow. Amazing doggy!

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Big Picture Mini-Story Text

Hello, this is AJ. Welcome to the mini-story lesson for "The Big Picture." Let's start right

now.

* * ** *

Athena was the most famous dog in the world.

Who was the most famous dog in the world?

Athena, Athena was the most famous dog in the world.

Was she the most famous dog in the world or was she the most famous cat in the

world?

Of course, Athena was the most famous dog in the world.

Where was she the most famous dog?

In the world, in all of the world. She was the most famous dog in all of the world.

Why was she so famous?

Well, I'll tell you.

First, Athena memorized 92,000 songs and played them all on the piano.

How many songs did Athena memorize?

She memorized 92,000 songs.

Did she memorize 97,000 songs?

No, she didn't. She didn't memorize 97,000 songs. She memorized 92,000 songs.

How many did she memorize?

92,000, she memorized 92,000 songs.

What did she memorize?

Big Picture Main Text

Hello, this is AJ. Welcome to the next lesson. This one is called "The Big Picture." And

it comes again from a book called The Big Picture. And The Big Picture is by a man

named Dennis Littky. Now Littky is spelled L-i-t-t-k-y, Dennis Littky. The name of the

book is The Big Picture. I love this book. This is a book about education and Mr. Littky

is an extremely interesting guy. He is just a fantastic teacher, a fantastic educator.

Mr. Littky used to be a teacher and then he became a principal of a middle school.

Actually I think he started as a principal of an elementary school and then later a middle

school, public school, just a normal public government school. Well, he created an

incredible school at his first school, just an amazing school. There were articles written

about his school. It just became so famous because this school had a lot of low income

students, students from poor families. So this was not in some rich neighborhood with a

lot of money. And before Mr. Littky became the principal, the school was having a lot of

problems.

But he came in and he changed everything. He changed the teachers. He hired only

passionate, excited, energetic teachers, but not only that. He changed the whole

system. He stopped focusing on testing. He stopped focusing on grades. He focused

on the students as human beings. He wanted his students to grow as people. Not just

to memorize a bunch of facts, but to really learn how to think. And even more

importantly how to use their thinking and use their knowledge. So for example, most of

his classes were project-based. In other words, the students did not study textbooks

and take tests, no, no, no. What they did is they created a project. And each project

was individual. Each student chose a project or projects based on their own interests.

And of course the teachers helped to guide these projects and structure them.

So for example, if one child really loved dinosaurs they would create a project about

dinosaurs. The teachers, the math teachers, the science teachers, etc., the English

teachers, would help that student learn math, learn science, learn English, learn history,

learn everything, all focused on dinosaurs because this kid loved dinosaurs. So they

would use dinosaurs to teach math, for example. Maybe they had to learn how to

calculate the size of a dinosaur's bones or something. I don't know exactly how they did

it, but they used the students' individual passions to teach. And the students had to do

these incredibly, amazing, huge, difficult projects. These were not easy. They were

really tough. But the kids were very passionate about what they were doing.

And another thing that Dennis Littky did, he involved the community. His school had

mentors, advisors, helpers, from the community...parents, especially parents, but also

experts. So for example, if a kid really loved dinosaurs or maybe a whole class was

really interested in dinosaurs, they brought experts from museums, from universities to

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Taoism Vocabulary Text

Hi, this is AJ. Welcome to the vocabulary lesson for "Taoism." Let's get started.

Our first word is skull, skull. Alan Watts said "You have all the necessary intelligence

you need inside of your skullI." Now your skull is your head bone, right? It's the bone

that protects your brain. We call that the skull, your skull. So again skull is simply head

bone.

Next is the word strain. He said "You can strain your head just like you can strain a

muscle." To strain means to try very hard, to work very, very hard, a lot of effort.

Sometimes it has the idea of working too hard, trying too hard, too much. Sometimes it

has this idea of too much. So if you strain your muscle, you work your muscle too

much. Maybe you're lifting something, it's a little too heavy. If you strain your mind,

strain your brain, it means you're thinking too hard. So it's trying very, very hard. To

strain, to strain, one more time, strain.

Okay, our next word is contemplate, contemplate. Alan says you need to contemplate

your problems. Don't think about them, don't strain. Just contemplate your problems.

Now to contemplate means to calm your mind. It means to have a calm mind, calm

brain, very relaxed. It's the opposite of straining your head, straining your mind.

Straining is trying hard. Contemplating is relaxing and thinking calmly. So it's thinking

very slowly, thinking very calmly, or maybe not thinking at all, just a calm quiet mind. So

to contemplate means to make your mind calm, or to think very calmly and slowly, to

contemplate. Contemplate a problem, think very calmly and slowly about the problem.

Our next word is to visualize, to visualize. To visualize means to imagine. So he says

imagine your question, visualize your question, then simply wait. So he's saying just,

just have a question, your question about your problem. Just visualize it. Just think

about it in a simple way. Just imagine it. Imagine the question only. Don't think about

the solution. Just visualize, just imagine the question and then just wait. So to visualize

means to imagine.

Next is the word brute. He says if you try to solve your problem with brute mental

strength, you may be disappointed. Brute mental strength, of course mental means

mind or brain, so brute strength means like animal...animal-like. Brute means very

strong and similar to an animal. So brute strength means strength like an animal, very,

very strong. It's the opposite of subtle, if you know the word subtle. It's the opposite of

careful strength. Brute strength just means super strong and...rawr...like an animal...

rawr. So he's saying if you try to use brute strength, just if you try to use a lot of

strength, very strong strength, with your mind in this case, you'll be disappointed.

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Taoism Point-of-View Text

Hi, this is AJ. Welcome to the point of view stories for "Taoism." Same story, but this

time we start with "Since last year..."

* * ** *

Since last year Tomoe has wanted to fight a gorilla. She has wanted to fight a

gorilla starting last year until recently. Tomoe has wanted to fight a gorilla since

last year. In fact, every day since last year she has contemplated her goal.

Starting last year, she started to contemplate and then every day she has

contemplated her goal every day since last year.

What has she contemplated?

She has contemplated her goal, her goal of fighting a gorilla. Because she has wanted

to fight a gorilla for one year, since last year.

But of course, every time she has contemplated fighting a gorilla, she has

realized that gorillas have brute strength. She has realized every time that they

are hard to fight. And so every day since last year she has gone to the gym.

Every day since last year she has gone to the gym and she has strained to lift

weights. She has tried very hard to lift weights. Every day she has strained to lift

weights. Every day she has worked out, exercised. Every day she has gotten

stronger and stronger and stronger, since last year. So she has wanted to fight a

gorilla. She has contemplated fighting a gorilla. She has gone to the gym. She

has exercised. She has strained to lift weights every day since last year, until

finally she was ready.

One day she said "I'm ready. I will proceed with my plan." And she did. She

proceeded with her plan. She flew to Africa. In Africa she saw a big, strong, huge

gorilla. But there was a problem. The gorilla had such a cute little baby. Oh no.

Tomoe visualized the baby crying. She imagined the baby crying. And so Tomoe

took the baby into consideration. She thought about the baby. And Tomoe

decided not to fight the gorilla. Instead she played basketball with the gorilla and

the gorilla baby. And everybody was very happy.

* * ** *

Okay, that's all. That's the end of our first mini-story. Again, you probably noticed there

was a change in there. Actually a couple of little changes, you may have noticed that.