ESL Podcast 339 - Star-crossed Lovers
to defy - to disobey; to not do what one has been asked to do; to not do what one is expected to do; to not do what one is supposed to do
Chuck defied his parents by staying out until 4:00 a.m. after they told him to come home before midnight.
forbidden - prohibited; not allowed to do something; not permitted
Smoking is forbidden in this restaurant.
to stand up to (someone) - to confront someone; to fight against someone for one's beliefs; to say what one thinks to someone who disagrees
I need to stand up to my boss and tell him that it isn't fair for him to make me do all the work.
puppet - a person who is controlled by others; a person who is used by others for a specific purpose
When I was young, I felt like a puppet in my parents' divorce.
feud - a long fight or argument between two people or groups of people that lasts for many years
They have had a feud with their neighbors for years about who owns that cherry tree.
to confront - to speak with someone to show that one doesn't agree with him or her; to speak with someone about one's plans to do something that he or she doesn't agree with
Someone needs to confront him about the way his children mistreat their pets.
guilt - feelings of sadness and embarrassment because one believes that one has done something wrong, or something that another person would not approve of
Chanterelle couldn't sleep because of her guilt over lying to her teacher.
to give (someone) up - to end a relationship with someone, often to please another person; to stop having a relationship with another person
Even though she loves Peter, she's going to give him up so that he'll go to study at a good university on the other side of the country.
to manipulate - to use a person in a dishonest way; to do something to control the way that another person acts, often without that person realizing it
The organization lied and manipulated us into donating money.
to tear (someone) apart - to hurt someone emotionally; to put someone in a difficult situation where he or she cannot decide what to do and is in emotional pain
Dating two men at once was tearing her apart, so she decided she would have to choose one.
Cut! - a command used in making movies, television shows, or theater productions to get the actors to stop performing because it is completed or something is wrong with the scene
Cut! That was terrible! Try to do the scene again, but this time with more emotion.
director - the person who tells the actors and other people what to do when making a movie, TV show, or play
The director told the actress to cry when the man said, "I love you."
star-crossed lovers - a phrase from a Shakespearean play, used to refer to a romantic couple whose relationship cannot succeed
Although they love each other very much, they seem to be star-crossed lovers since he has to live in the States and she has to return to Laos.
trashy - worthless; with very poor quality; without value
Her mother told her to stop reading those trashy romance novels and read something else instead.
melodrama - a story, play, movie, or book where the characters seem to overreact to everything and be too emotional to be believed or realistic
The actors were so dramatic in the melodrama that the audience began laughing even in the saddest scenes.