BBC Learnings · Section 2

Are you following your dreams

When I was a boy, I wanted to be a fireman when I grew up. How about you, Beth?

Level: B2 · 84 sentences

Transcript

  1. When I was a boy, I wanted to be a fireman when I grew up.
  2. How about you, Beth?
  3. Did you have any childhood dreams?
  4. I wanted to be an astronaut and fly to the moon.
  5. When we're young, most of us have big dreams and plans for the future.
  6. Unfortunately, as we grow up,
  7. these childhood dreams often get lost in the adult world of jobs,
  8. money, families and careers.
  9. But not for everyone.
  10. Daisy from New Zealand and Herman from Argentina are two people who decided to follow their childhood dreams.
  11. They wanted the world to become a utopia – a perfect,
  12. ideal society where everyone is happy and gets along with each other.
  13. In this programme,
  14. we'll be hearing how Daisy and Herman made their dreams come true,
  15. not by changing the world, but by changing themselves.
  16. And as usual, we'll be learning some new vocabulary too.
  17. But before that, I have a question for you, Beth.
  18. Following your dreams can be tough,
  19. but not following them can leave you regretting all the things you wanted to do but didn't.
  20. In 2012, Australian nurse Bronnie Ware wrote her bestselling book,
  21. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying,
  22. after interviewing terminally ill patients about their life regrets.
  23. So, what do you think their top regret was?
  24. Was it... A, I wish I hadn't worked so hard,
  25. B, I wish I had followed my dreams, or C, I wish I'd made more money?
  26. Well, I'll guess it's B, they wish they'd followed their dreams.
  27. OK, Beth, I'll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme.
  28. The first Dreamer we're going to meet lives in Riverside,
  29. a peace-loving community in New Zealand where everyone shares everything.
  30. Riverside members work for the community's businesses,
  31. including a farm, a hotel and a café.
  32. All the money they earn is collected and shared between everyone equally.
  33. Daisy, who was born in East Germany, joined Riverside in 2004.
  34. Here she explains her belief in sharing to BBC World Service programme The Documentary.
  35. What I think I always believed in is that the sharing of resources
  36. can provide a group of people with quite a great advantage.
  37. But it doesn't matter how many hours you work or what work you do.
  38. Everyone is getting the same amount.
  39. And that is something that many people outside of Riverside really struggle with and where
  40. we are often getting this communism label attached to us
  41. because it seems so outlandish for people.
  42. Riverside isn't a communist community.
  43. In fact, people with many different political views live there.
  44. But Daisy says that local people struggle with the idea that everything is shared.
  45. If you struggle with an idea, you find it difficult to accept or think about it.
  46. Daisy also says some local people call Riverside outlandish, strange and unusual.
  47. Our second group of dreamers are a family, the Zapps.
  48. In 2000, childhood sweethearts Herman and Candelaria Zapp bought a vintage car
  49. and set off from Argentina to travel around the world
  50. with less than $3,500 in their pockets.
  51. 22 years and three children later, they have visited over 100 countries.
  52. meeting with countless people and experiences on the way.
  53. Here, Herman Zapp explains to BBC World Service's The Documentary how following his dream has changed him for the better.
  54. I am so happy with the Herman there is now, that I know now.
  55. Not the one who wanted to conquer the world,
  56. but the one who was conquered by the world.
  57. I learn so much from people.
  58. It's amazing how the more you meet people, the more you know stories,
  59. how much more humble you become because you notice that you are a beautiful tiny piece of sand,
  60. but a very important piece of sand like everyone is, right?
  61. After many years travelling, meeting new people and hearing their stories,
  62. Herman is more humble, not proud or arrogant.
  63. He no longer wants to conquer the world to control it by force.
  64. Rather, he has been conquered by his experiences.
  65. Herman compares himself to a beautiful but tiny piece of sand
  66. and uses the phrase a grain of sand to describe things
  67. which are insignificant in themselves
  68. but at the same time are an important part of the whole.
  69. Daisy and Herman are rare examples of dreamers who followed their dream and found a happy life lived without regret.
  70. Which reminds me of your question, Neil.
  71. Yes, I asked about Bronnie Ware's book
  72. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. What do you
  73. think the number one regret was, Beth?
  74. I guessed it was b not following your dreams.
  75. Which was the right answer.
  76. Not having the courage to follow your dreams was listed as the top life regret.
  77. At least we have people like Daisy and Herman to remind us dreams can come true.
  78. OK. Let's recap the vocabulary from this programme, starting with utopia.
  79. A perfect world where everyone is happy.
  80. If you struggle with an idea, you find it difficult to accept.
  81. The adjective outlandish means strange and unusual.
  82. To conquer something means to control it by force.
  83. Someone who is humble is not proud or arrogant.
  84. And finally, the phrase a grain of sand describes something which is both insignificant yet somehow important.