English Listening Practice - Level C1 Advanced EP01 - LIFE CHALLENGES – YouTube Dictation Transcript & Vocabulary

1.Advanced listening episode one life [Music] challenges a few months ago I went to a friend's place for dinner it was a fun night lots of lively company you know one of those nights you feel you've talked about everything and solved the world's problems towards the end of the evening I was feeling a bit tired and I just kind of sat back and watched and listened did nothing it was interesting it struck me how what we say sort of defines who we are talking is a way of fitting in you know a way of showing that we belong to a social group the next day I couldn't stop thinking about this and began to wonder what would happen if I just stopped talking all together and was just silent what would happen to me how would I come across to other people I decided to read up on the topic of vows of Silence there were some really interesting stories online often a vow of silence is for Spiritual purposes and people go into some kind of retreat to cut themselves off from the outside world I guess you could say that's not about communicating at all it's like taking time out to focus on yourself but some of the other stories I read were about people taking what you'd call a more public vow of silence what I mean is they continue to live in the real world and communicate with people just they didn't speak some people did this as a protest you know like against uh censorship or something like that I didn't have any kind of burning cause I wanted to protest against but for my own reasons I was still intrigued by the idea of a public vow of silence so I decided to take one just for a weekend and you i' find it hard to last much longer than that I looked on it as a kind of social experiment I knew it was going to be a [Music] challenge so a whole weekend without speaking the person I found hardest to deal with was myself when I'm alone I often talk to myself or sing or hum but no I wasn't allowed to do any of that I had to keep my vocal cords completely out of action I managed okay except for a couple of times like when someone held a door open for me and a little thank you slipped out also when my phone rang I couldn't answer I was quite proud that I remembered even when someone woke me up calling early on Saturday morning but I did text back so you see I still communicated email text all that sort of thing I just had to keep my mouth well and truly shut the first thing that amazed me was just how easy it is to communicate without words like buying a coffee I just sort of pointed to what I wanted and nodded in agreement when the person in the cafe got it right I even met a friend for a chat I could React to what he had to say by means of a facial expression occasionally I did have to write some things down on a notepad but I was amazed how much information I could get across without trying too hard the most interesting thing was the way other people related to me when I was queuing in the supermarket a woman tried to have a conversation with me she bombarded me with questions when she eventually realized that I couldn't or wouldn't speak she just made up her own answers to her own questions she had a whole conversation with herself about why I couldn't speak she thought I was unwell also my landlord was interesting I had to go and pay my rent on the Saturday he always goes on about something when I go and see him he usually likes to run down some politician or other I don't always agree with him and we often end up having a heated discussion but this time I just listened and when I left he said it was great to have a good chat this was interesting I don't think he really noticed that I hadn't been saying anything he was so caught up in what he was saying he wasn't very aware of me and it made me think well aren't we all a bit like that we're all so busy talking and expressing our ideas it's like a kind of prison that doesn't allow us to communicate with each other and see what's going on around us most of the time people treated me kindly I often felt that my silence brought out the best in people being silent for two days really gave me a chance to see and feel things without feeling I needed to respond or react I mean I often wanted to but I had to hold myself back and this meant I just had to let things go just let them be and you know I felt more peaceful more connected with everyone and everything so it really was fascinating my weekend of Silence I recommend giving it a [Music] go millions of visitors come to the Swiss Alps every summer there's walking climbing swimming cycling parag gliding almost no limit to what you can do here for some people these Sports aren't exciting enough instead they go base jumping this means jumping off a cliff and Free Falling before opening your parachute and Landing safely they hope in the valley below the idea of jumping off a mountain may be a nightmare for some people base jumpers say it's an experience like no other to find out I watched 24-year-old ARA Hoffman go on her first jump so Ada you're about to go base jumping and it's your first time yes I'm due to chump in about 10 minutes how are you feeling nervous yes nervous but also excited very excited I'm keyed up you know I'm going to enjoy this I've been parachute jumping quite a bit I've had training in that I jumped maybe about uh 300 Chumps most people say like 200 is a minimum other people say 500 is a minimum so I feel ready for this base jumping so yes it feels like a natural step and what are you going to do exactly you'll be jumping off the mountain right yes there is a platform which sticks out over the cliff and um yes basically I'm planning to jump off that one and then then I'll be jumping from about 900 M so I'm aiming to Free Fall for exactly 25 seconds and um then I'm going to fall for a further 30 seconds with uh the parachute completely open and land safely in the valley yes you'd hope so yeah and how will you know when it's time to open the parachute I'm going to count the seconds that's the only way of doing it um when I reach 20 seconds or count on 20 I'm going to pull this string heart and um then the parachute will open in about 5 Seconds okay well good luck I'll talk to you again after the jump thank you hi hi you made it yes so how was it oh it was good it was was a good jump everything was fine how did it feel amazing there's nothing like it really absolutely amazing a bit scary at first you know you walk along this platform and then you just have to jump and then you feel really calm completely in control and after the parachute opens it's quite peaceful you know it's just you drift down and it's oh it's just wonderful so will you go Bas jumping again oh yes definitely I'm definitely going to do it again maybe I'll go later today actually I'm also thinking of trying a tandem chump sometime you know when you chump with somebody else you chump together I think that should be really fun but uh you have to be very careful with a number of jumps likely to hit 30,000 this year it's clear that the sport is highly attractive but there's no question that it is a very dangerous sport and not everyone survives many people say it should be better regulated or even banned but base jumpers disagree well it certainly is dangerous yes it's very dangerous and I think you need to be aware of the risks when you take a chump so if you don't if you're not aware then you maybe shouldn't chump but you know you're not coming here thinking oh I'm planning to have an accident that's that's not what you're aiming to do you come here with the intention of having a great experience and and that's what you do [Music] right so I'll pick you up about 7 great what else is going on today then nothing much Max is due back soon Max who's Max my brother he's staying with me at the moment remember oh yeah that's right he's getting on my nerves to be honest there's just not enough space wait he's not still sleeping on the sofa is he yes and his stuff's everywhere and he's just so volatile it's like walking on eggshells half the time isn't it about time you asked him to leave well I keep dropping hints but he doesn't seem to notice why don't you just tell him straight then don't beat around the bush there's a lot to be said for being upfront about things I can't just boot him out hang on did you say his name is Max yeah Max Redwood yes the same as that guy who wrote solar wind no he is the guy who wrote solar wind you mean it is him your brother is the max Redwood it's no big deal I don't believe it Oscar is interviewing him tomorrow I know look I've really got to go Max will no doubt be hungry when he gets in see you tonight yeah okay bye then [Music] so max I was thinking have you thought about the possibility of finding your own place to live I hadn't really thought about it to be honest well I mean it's not as if you're short of cash anymore is it true it might be in your interest to invest some of it into property invest property what are you talking about well it would be lovely to have your own workspace wouldn't it what you think sure yeah yeah but I can't think about any of that right now why not well I've got that radio interview tomorrow uh-huh I don't know what to say oh don't worry about it you might want to have a think about what you could say tonight there's nothing else to say about solar wind the book is the book oh Max don't get so wound up about it it's only an interview only an interview you're joking hey I'll be able to listen to you don't you dare listen all right all right calm down maybe I'll just go far far away take a vow of silence live in a desert island somewhere yeah you might as well Emma [Music] the social activity I liked most was the white water rafting Excursion I'd never done anything like that at all and it was a lot of fun it was quite expensive to do but I think it was worth it we had to pay for the guide and hire of the wet suits and everything like that but the feeling of being swept Alone by the current of the water was a bit like being on a roller coaster it was infinitely more exciting because everything was far less predictable the only negative thing that happened to me was that when I got off the raft I slipped on a wet Rock and sort of twisted my ankle still it won't stop me from trying this again mm I did both the social program activities white water rafting and the ban jump the rafting was nowhere near as exciting as the jump I loved it so much in fact I'm planning to do another jump before I go back home for me there was one thing I found a bit strange about these activities when we went to the river and to the jump site we were just picked up by a minivan driver there was no one from the social program who came with us I mean we had a good enough time just with ourselves but it was a bit odd that no one from the comittee was there not very friendly I thought Paulo actually I didn't do either of the sports activities I like sports but I'm not so keen on these extreme sports the more dangerous they are the less I want to do them so with the whitewater rafting well I'm not such a good swimmer and I was told it'd be a bit risky and then with the bun you jump well I've never really understood the thrill of throwing yourself off a bridge I'm quite good normal Sports football tennis volleyball and I like hiking why do Sports have to be extreme all the time some people complained about the cost but that didn't surprise me these things cost money I don't mind paying it's just it needs to be something I really want to do chying for me the highlight of the year was doing the bungee jump to begin with I really wasn't sure about it and I remember when we were in the minivan on the way there the closer we got the more nervous I became I almost pulled out at the last minute but everyone encouraged me to go ahead with a jump it was truly amazing the initial freeall is the most incredible sensation I've ever felt just a big rush with this amazing sense of Freedom the only negative aspect of the experience was that we had to pay half the price $100 is a lot of money i' been led to believe that all these activities would be paid for I mean I could afford it and it was worth it but I thought these things were meant to be covered as part of the social program