📙 Part 2: Describe something that surprised you

This episode's vocabulary

Catch sb off guard - to surprise someone by doing something that they are not expecting or ready for.

Plastered over sth (adj.) - spread.

Numb (adj.) - not able to feel any emotions or to think clearly, because you are so shocked or frightened, etc.

To be taken aback - to be very shocked or surprised.

Hindsight (noun) - the ability to understand an event or situation only after it has happened.

A breath of fresh air - someone or something that is new and different and makes everything seem more exciting.

-

Questions and Answers

M: Rory is gonna say what it is, how he found out about it, what he did, and he's going to explain whether it made him happy. Rory, are you okay? Are you okay? Are you ready?

R: Yes. Although this topic comes as a surprise.

M: What a surprising topic. Off you go!

R: Well, I think like many people, I was caught off guard by the election of Donald Trump in 2016. It wasn't easy to miss, since it was plastered all over every newspaper, news show and social media blogger outlet with every manner of headline and title. I can still remember waking up in the morning of that winter in 2016. And picking up my phone to see what the latest was. And then seeing that was the only headline. If it had been a movie, I think that would have been the moment I sat up in shock. But I just sort of raised my eyebrows and looked out the window thinking the sun hadn't even risen yet. And there was already going to be drama that day. I suppose I was quite numb to the whole thing in comparison to other people. But I was still quite taken aback. Since his opponent was a well known candidate with a history of working in public office, and a great deal of legal and political experience. It seemed to turn many people's worlds upside down, actually. She was also quite unlikable. So in hindsight, this shouldn't have come as that much of a shock. But there wasn't much calm for reflection at that time in the morning, because I had to get on my way to work. It didn't make me particularly happy since I knew a lot of my friends would be pretty upset about the whole thing, and you shouldn't really take pleasure in someone else's discomfort. But I wasn't really upset either, since as I said, Hillary Clinton wasn't exactly a breath of fresh air either. It definitely made for interesting times, though. There's no denying that. The world has definitely changed since then. And I think, despite the fact it was a surprise, what wasn't a surprise was the fact that everything just changed so radically since then, maybe the specific ways it's happened have been come as a shock. But definitely the fact that it happened shouldn't really be that much of a surprise.

M: What about your friends? Were they surprised?

R: Oh, I think everybody was. Thank you, Rory, for your surprising answer!

-