📘 Part 3: Reading

This episode's vocabulary

To open up (phrasal verb) - to show something that was hidden or not previously known.

Critical (adj.) - saying that someone or something is bad or wrong.

Attainment (noun) - the act of achieving something.

Astonishing (adj.) - very surprising.

Profound (adj.) - felt or experienced very strongly or in an extreme way.

Flexible (adj.) - able to change or be changed easily according to the situation.

Self-help (adj.) - intended to help you solve a problem, end a habit, learn a skill, etc. by yourself.

Autobiography (noun) - a book about a person's life, written by that person.

To sink something into something (phrasal verb) - tto spend money on something or invest money in something.

Crucial (adj.) - extremely important or necessary.

To evaluate (verb) - to judge or calculate the quality, importance, amount, or value of something.

To sucker someone into something (phrasal verb) - to persuade someone to do something by deceiving them.

Unsavoury (adj.) - unpleasant, or morally offensive.

Questions and Answers

M: Why are so many people keen on reading?

R: Oh, God, well, as many reasons as there are people I imagine. In the first place, being literally opens you up to reading the ideas of other people, and you can learn a lot from them and the mistakes they've made as well. And it's a very easy mode of entertainment and a key part of education, which opens up millions of possibilities for people who might not have otherwise had those opportunities. And I suppose in general, it's just a giant key to a better life. In many ways.

M: Should parents help their children to develop their reading habits at an early age?

R: Oh, absolutely yes. I mean, indeed, they're critical. I remember reading a study on the educational attainment of people whose parents read to them at least once a day compared to those who didn't, and the difference was astonishing. Like even between people in the same, what, socio-economic status. Like, this has a very profound effect, and it led to better outcomes on just about every measure.

M: Is reading for fun or for work?

R: I don't see why it can't be both, really. I often find people who have read much more flexible in terms of the ways of their approach to life and in solving problems and work in their personal lives. And they seem to find it much easier to relax by reading or coming up with things to talk about, because they've read about these things and they've thought about them.

M: What reading topics are popular in your country?

R: Oh, well, probably as many topics as there are people, really. The ones you most often see in the headlines are things like self-help stuff and autobiographies of famous people. I'm not sure why that is, to be honest, though, at I guess, I suppose it's because people are always in need of guidance and love a good gossip.

M: What are the differences between books and movies?

R: Well, it's tempting to say something like the visual and audio element, but I'm not so sure about that, since we often imagine these things in our heads even when we read. So I think the biggest difference is actually the time and thought sunk into them by the reader. With movies, we tend to have the vision of the director or the studio presented to us, with minimal need to think and create in our minds, whereas with reading like especially with experienced readers, we have more opportunity to digest and think about what we're doing.

M: Do you think people of all ages need to read?

R: Yeah, absolutely. That's a crucial skill for just getting by in the world. You need to be able to access and assess and evaluate ideas and text to avoid being, I don't know, like suckered in by unsavoury actors and propaganda and to be generally well informed, it's not the only element of that, but it's a big part of it.

M: Hey! Thank you, Rory for your answers!

Discussion

M: Reading, dear listener. Have you ever met a person who dislikes reading, Rory?

R: I've met people who dislike reading certain kinds of book, which is always interesting.

M: But not like a reading in general...

R: I have. Although I don't usually talk to them for very long, because there's not much to talk about.

M: People are keen on reading. This means people are fond of reading, people like reading. You can say people are into reading. People are into reading. And we talk about being literate. Literate? Having literacy. So the ability to read and write. So to be literate is to be able to read and write, and you can say it's a very easy mode of entertainment. So reading is kind of entertainment.

R: Or an easy form of entertainment, or a way of entertaining yourself.

M: Reading opens up millions of possibilities for people who can't travel or who can't talk to so many people. So through reading, they experience like life, right?

R: Yeah. Or, well, they're more able to experience life.

M: We can develop our reading habits, improve our reading habits. And what about children? So they can develop their reading habits at an early age, dear listener. So when they are young, at an early age. So according to Rory, it's critical for parents to do this.

R: It's super important.

M: And parents can read to their children once a day.

R: Well, they should read to their children at least once a day.

M: Reading could be for fun or for work. So you can say, well, reading could be both, fun and work. And you can say that people who read have much more. Flexible ways of approaching life. So people who read are much more flexible. Flexible? Meaning like they are not fixed in their ways. They're open...

R: Or maybe they're just better with coming up with ideas.

M: Yeah, or they change according to the situation. So they adapt. They approach life differently. And also it's easier for them to come up with things to talk about. Come up? To kind of to have things to talk about with other people if they read a lot. So you read a lot, you know more. You know different facts, and you are more interesting to talk to, right? So you can come up with different topics to discuss with other people. And as for the reading topics, which are popular in your country? Well, it depends on your country, dear listener, but Rory talked about Scotland. So the topics that you see in the headlines. Headlines? In newspapers, right? Self-help stuff. So how to be the happiest person in the world? And also, autobiographies of famous people are very popular in Scotland. And this is because people always need guidance. So self-help. Like how to do things, how to get rid of negative emotions. And also, people love a good gossip. Rory, are you show there's an article here? A good gossip? Is good gossip?

R: Yeah... A good gossip is just like... Well, gossiping away. You could say people just love gossip, but a good gossip is like when you talk about things, when you have gossip or share gossip with others.

M: Yeah. When you discuss famous people behind their backs. Oh, like, did she break up with this guy, oh, did she marry this guy? You know? Yeah, these things. Books and movies, yeah, we have major differences. So we have visual element, movies and like visual and audio element in movies, and we have our imaginations in our heads.

R: But the audio and visual elements are just ways of saying the things you can see and hear.

M: And with movies, people tend to have the vision of the director, so the director sees it like this, and you kind of, you see it how the director sees it, but you don't use your imagination. And you have minimal need to think and create visual images in your mind. While reading is different. So we create images in our head, we use our imagination. So it encourages us to create things in our minds.

R: Well, it should do.

M: Yeah, so we see our own picture. People of all ages need to read. Yes, absolutely. So according to Rory, again, this is Rory's opinion, all right? About other people. Not about himself. So it's crucial, it's a crucial skill. Crucial is, like, very important. Like, essential. We're talking about, well, reading. Reading is part of our life, right? Everybody kind of should read.

R: I have a friend who's not very good with imagining things, and he prefers to read just factual information, which is fine, but you, I think, you'd be very hard-pressed to find someone, who absolutely really hates reading and never reads. I mean, you, you need it to be in the world. So they'd be living in a cave and you would never find them.

M: Yeah. Yeah, dear listener, and also reading the news, reading online news, articles, you know, websites, it's also reading. Because we read messages, 1000s of messages every day. That's a lot of reading, like posts on Telegram, on, I don't know, your social apps. So that's a lot of reading. So we need to be able to access and evaluate ideas and texts. Okay? So to be well informed, we need to be well informed, and this is why we need reading. And people of all ages should read. Yay!

R: Of course we would say that because we're teachers and we benefit from people reading, but ideally, most people benefit from this.

M: Yeah, and you can say reading is a crucial skill for getting by in the world. So when you get by, you kind of like, live, you live in this world, right?

R: Well, if you get by. In the world, then you are able to function in the world. If you don't get by in the world, then you're not functioning well in the world.

M: Yeah, so get by to be able to live or deal with situations with difficulty, like difficult situations. Lovely. Thank you very much for listening! And we'll get back to you in our new episodes. Okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

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