Double VIP Class Notes (Nick) [S + W]

Vocabulary

Talk vs. Tell – a general word for making words with your mouth; tell is to give someone information
e.g. They were talking on the phone for an hour.
e.g. Excuse me, could you tell me where this restaurant is at? (you think that this person knows this and can give you that information)

Staycation – a vacation where you stay at home
e.g. If I have a choice between traveling 16 hours a day or staying at home and sleeping, I’ll take the staycation.

Touristy – the kind of place that attracts too many tourists and is not a really local experience
e.g. West Nanjing Road is a very touristy place. Locals don’t spend much time there.

Either one is ok / both are fine with me – 都可以
e.g. Which one would you like to order? It doesn’t matter. Both are fine with me.

For [time period] straight – to show that you did something, probably every day, for some period of time; to do something without stopping
e.g. I have been going to the gym everyday for three months straight.
e.g. I have been going to the gym twice a week for three months straight.
e.g. I have been studying for six hours straight now (I haven’t stopped studying for six hours)

Make sense – for something to be easy to understand, something you have already been able to understand
e.g. Now that I have explained the grammar rule, does the sentence make sense? Yes!

Bright – 有光, when something makes a lot of light
e.g. When Nick plugged in his computer, the screen got much brighter.

Open-minded – 开放, someone who is very accepting of other people’s opinions
e.g. Yannis is open-minded, but still knows that she can disagree with other people.

Exaggerate – to make, say, or describe something as more than it really is (without quite telling something totally false)
e.g. I saw this huge guy, he must have been 3m tall! (Not really, but it’s a nice picture)

Lie – when you say something that is false, and you know that it is false
e.g. Donald Trump says almost one lie every day.

Consistent – to do the same thing all the time, or in the same way
e.g. Not only is his cooking good, it is consistently good (his food always tastes good)
e.g. When you are writing in English, you can spell the word as “color” or “colour,” but make sure to be consistent (whichever one you choose, you that one all the time)

Combination – when you put two or more things together (“combo” is the short form)
e.g. This drink is a combination of coffee and milk.
e.g. I will order the #7 combo meal, with a hamburger, fries, and soda.

Describe – to tell someone details about something
e.g. Her paintings are hard to describe, but they really make you feel something.

Guilt – what Chinese Mom’s make their kids feel if they are not the #1 student, feel bad something you did or should not have done
e.g. Mom, you don’t have to make me feel guilty for not being the #1 student!

Overwhelm – to be too much, too much emotion, too much work, etc.
e.g. Now you don’t have to go to a museum to see art. You can see millions of pieces of art all on your computer. It is easy to feel overwhelmed trying to find good art.

Polarizing – something that people either really like, or really hate; a “pole” is one end of something, and to “polarize” means to make put things at opposite ends
e.g. Some modern art is too exaggerated and polarizes people who either love it or hate it.

Bad attention is better than no attention at all – when a kid feels that they aren’t getting attention (aren’t loved), then they will begin to do bad things to attract attention

Grammar

He want I talk to him – He wanted me to tell him

Have – for something in the past but related to the present; for something that you have done at least once, but you aren’t telling me when.
e.g. I have been eating healthy food recently (started in the past, and I’m still doing it)
e.g. Have you been to the United States? Yes, I have. I went there in 2009.
e.g. I have been to California, but I don’t remember much about it because we spent the whole time just driving.
The simple past (like: went, did, ate, drove) is for things that happened once and are done.

He doesn’t like it too – he doesn’t like it either

Speaking exercise

Three years ago I have been to California, but every day we just drive for 21 days, and I still think I see nothing, because always driving. So if I have a chance I want to go to America again. Maybe I want to like local people, eat some local food, and I hope everyday can slow. Because every Chinese go traveling they will do more plan and maybe everyday they will start at 6 and finished at 10. I don’t want like this. I can let every day to slow. I think it’s too terrible, if traveling like this I prefer to sleep in home.


Three years ago, I went to California, but every day we just drove, for 21 days straight, and I still think I didn’t see anything nothing, because we always just kept driving. So if I have a chance I want to go to America again. Maybe I want to live like the locals people, eat some local food, and I hope everyday can be slow.** Because every when Chinese go traveling they will do more plan too much, and maybe everyday they will start at 6 and finish at 10. I don’t want to travel like that. I can let every day go slowly / pass slowly. I think it’s too terrible to work so hard on vacation. If I have to travel like this, I would prefer to sleep at home / stay at home / a staycation.

** I hope that we can just take it easy / relax / take it slow

Writing exercise

I always believe that art is not only to expression skills but also the response of human heart. So maybe people in different times have different ideas of the world. Also I think because of today is unlike the past,good things need time to spread and improve, and people always focus on something they liked or understood ,it would be more professional. But now the internet and media are too developed, some people will do some exaggerated(夸张) works for to be famous, and no matter who can judge it, so maybe some people don’t like it but some people like it very much.

I also believe that the world in the eyes of some artists is really different to ordinary people, like genius or Picasso at that time. Sometimes we felt ugly maybe because we didn’t understand.


I always believe that art is not only to expression your technical skills, but also the response of another human heart. So Maybe people in different times have different ideas of the world, and we can feel this through their art. Also I think because of today is unlike the past, good things need time to spread and improve. and If people always focus on something they liked or understood, it would be more professional. But now that the internet and media are too developed / overwhelm us with art that shows great technical skill, some people will do make some exaggerated(夸张) works for to get / become famous, and no matter who can judge it it doesn’t matter if it gets criticized, so maybe some people don’t like it but some people others like it very much.

I also believe that the world is really different in the eyes of some artists is really different to than for ordinary people, like for geniuses or like Picasso at that during his time. Sometimes we feel that some art is ugly maybe because we didn’t understand it.

Pronunciation

“L” at the end of a word: l is putting the end of your tongue up behind your teeth and using your voice
e.g. Fool, rule, cool, goal, hall

Choose vs. Chose – “u” vs. “oh”