is transcripts

Inspiring Stories Transcripts

1. Butterfly’s Treesit
1. A rainstorm sent redwood trees down a hill, crashing into several houses.
2. A local company had clearcut areas of the forest.
3. A woman called Butterfly lived on a tree to protest.
4. The logging company harassed her with helicopters and horns.
5. She used a bucket for a toilet, took only sponge baths, and used supplies given to her by an environmental organization.
6. She climbed from branch to branch for exercise, but didn’t come down.
7. Finally, the company promised to preserve the tree. Now she works for the environment.

2. The People’s Bank
1. In 1972 Muhammad Yunus returned to Bangladesh to help rebuild his country.
2. He felt dissatisfied teaching economics because it involved empty theories rather than finding a solution for poverty.
3. Yunus started lending money to poor people so they could start their own businesses.
4. Many borrow money for farm animals, others to buy goods to sell, and so on.
5. When Yunus won an international award he brought a village woman to accept the award.
6. Yunus has a busy international speaking schedule, inspiring others to start similar programs throughout the world.

3. Desert Flower
1. Waris grew up in the desert, playing with goats, riding camels, and working hard to survive.
2. Like most Somali girls, she was forced to have a terrible and unnecessary operation.
3. When her father arranged for her to marry an old man, she ran away into the desert.
4. After a sound woke her, she was staring into the face of a lion.
5. While hitchhiking to the capital, a truck driver tried to rape her. She hit him on the head with a rock.
6. Later, her aunt got her a job as a servant at the Somali embassy in England.
7. She became an international model.
8. Now she works to save girls from the terrible operation they are forced to have.

4. Language Inspirations (fill-in listening, not grammar dictation)
1. Akihiro sometimes has to drive his truck all night. His irregular schedule means that he can’t attend English conversation classes. Akihiro found a good use for all that lonely driving time. He became fluent listening to English language tapes, repeating the phrases he hears out loud.
2. Kentaro can switch from nearly perfect British English to nearly perfect American English. As a university student, he admired John F. Kennedy and worked hard to memorize a 15 minute speech of his. After accomplishing that, he stood in front of Shinjuku station for 100 consecutive days, reciting the speech to crowds that would gather.
3. Maya didn’t have a lot of money for conversation school, so she borrowed a text and cd from a friend. Later she borrowed study materials from the library. She realized, however, she would need speaking time, so she wrote ads for a language exchange partner. She made foreign friends that way and became fluent in English.
4. Yuichi wanted to write and produce films, and figured learning to speak English would be very important. So he studied abroad, in America, but chose a small city in the south where he could avoid speaking Japanese. Yuichi practiced by listening to his favorite movie scenes over and over again, studying and memorizing the phrases. He became fluent with excellent pronunciation and intonation.

5. Bomb Alternatives (each partner gives and takes dictation for one narrative below)
1. Carl Kurtz believes wars are fought over energy resources such as oil.
2. The organization he started, Bikes Not Bombs, works to make transportation by bicycle more common.
3. They train mechanics in poor countries and ship them used bicycles.
4. Bike shops opened all over Central America, creating countless jobs.
5. Some bicycles get used as machines to process corn or coffee, or pump water.
6. BNB employees, most of whom are poor inner-city youths, also do community volunteer work.
(p. 34 answers: 1. F; 2. T; 3. NEI; 4. NEI; 5. T; 6. T)

1. In Washington DC there’s a man who blows bubbles and says, “Bubbles, not bombs!”
2. Every day since June 3, 1981 he has been protesting against nuclear weapons.
3. Many years before that he had been a successful businessman with a large house, two cars, and many possessions.
4. Frustrated that governments don’t do enough for peace, he quit his job, sold everything, and began walking.
5. He arrived at the White House and began educating tourists about the dangers of nuclear weapons.
6. He plans to continue protesting, “Until there are no more nuclear weapons.”
(p. 34 answers: 1. T; 2. T; 3. NEI; 4. F; 5. T; 6. T or NEI)

6. Peace Pilgrim
1. As a child Peace Pilgrim liked to climb trees and play with animals.
2. As a teenager she refused to start bad habits.
3. She was the first woman to hike the 1,600 kilometer mountain trail in the northeastern U.S.
4. For 28 years she walked throughout North America spreading a message of peace.
5. She didn’t eat until offered food and walked until offered shelter.
6. Once she overheard an angry father. Peace convinced him not to hit his young daughter.
7. Another time she almost died in a snowstorm and later said it was the most beautiful experience of her life.

7. Zero Landmines
1. Moon was a respectful and serious child. He struggled to understand how church members could support war.
2. Wanting to do service work, Moon arrived in Cambodia to work the dangerous job of clearing fields that had landmines.
3. He and two Cambodian interpreters were captured by guerillas who intended to kill them.
4. While driving through the jungle, Moon experienced a scene he had seen in a dream--the smell of sandalwood and thousands of beautiful butterflies fluttering before his eyes.
5. In Mozambique Moon lost his leg and arm to a deeply buried landmine and very nearly died.
6. Moon refused to feel sorry for himself. He was determined to run again.
7. Just 13 months after the accident he entered the London marathon to raise money for landmine victims.

8. Giving Away Gardens
1. While trying to recover from a divorce, Dan was robbed at gunpoint in a grocery store.
2. Rather than let hate and fear control him, he decided to walk the path of compassion and healing.
3. Giving Away Gardens is based on the miracle of the seed.
4. When people don’t have enough money or strength to garden, GAG provides them with a vegetable garden and the knowledge to make it grow.
5. Children pick veggies and eat them on the spot.
6. Gardeners enjoy sharing their produce with neighbors.

9. Chipko Tree Huggers
1. Aani liked to spend time alone in nature, listening to birds, appreciating silence, and enjoying the view of the distant Himalayas.
2. One day she heard a noise more terrible than a tiger’s growl. She ran and found her mother filling a jug with water.
3. Woodcutters were felling numerous trees of a nearby forest.
4. The increased treecutting caused a flood.
5. Women had to walk further and further to gather firewood.
6. One day, in desperation, Aani threw her arms around a tree just before the woodcutter’s ax struck it.
7. Other villagers followed Aani’s example. The “tree hugging movement” spread throughout India.

10. Dream Inspirations: Extraordinary Dreams (fill-in listening, not grammar dictation)
1. Days before he was murdered, Abraham Lincoln dreamed of himself wandering throughout the White House, hearing crying, seeing a dead man, and being told it was the president.
2. For a long time Robert Louis Stevenson was suffering from writer’s block. Then one night he dreamed a scene in which a criminal was being chased. When the criminal drank a powder his identity changed. Thus, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was born.
3. As a young soldier in World War I, Adolf Hitler dreamed he was being buried under earth and red-hot iron. He woke up and immediately wanted to leave despite warnings from his fellow soldiers. Just after climbing out a bomb hit burying others under earth and metal from the bomb.
4. On September 11, 2001, the editor of the Sun magazine dreamed of a big city with tall buildings. He heard a huge explosion and saw a
mushroom cloud over a tower. He raced into the lobby. People were running in a panic in all directions. A reporter told him that a religious
group was to blame.

10. Dream Inspirations: Ordinary Dreams (fill-in listening, not grammar dictation)
1. A man dreamed of enjoying an outdoor hot spring. Suddenly he noticed a man in the water wearing a suit! He was American. The water was getting dirty. He thought that a Japanese person would complain. The owner questioned him. Then a girl tried to hide the man. She helped him sneak out. Would the owner ban foreigners?
2. A woman who suffered from terrible headaches dreamed of a man laying a hand on her head and saying that she would never again experience a bad headache. Her headaches disappeared.
3. A man had two terrifying dreams of himself crying, covered in blood. He told friends that something terrible would happen. He then got very sick with a blood-related illness.
4. The dreamer was in India (actually). With no plan or destination in mind, he took off into the air. The feeling was indescribable. He invited his student to join him. They flew around, enjoying the sights.

11. The Prison Project
1. In the summer of 1969, Bo and his wife sailed around the world.
2. When their sailing friend tried to buy and sell illegal drugs, he got caught and sent to prison.
3. Prisons, which are supposed to help people who commit crimes, actually hurt them more.
4. Prisoners often feel bitter, lonely or violent. The prison project offers them counseling and friendship.
5. Prisoners are taught a variety of techniques that help them develop compassion.
6. Many prisoners, their families and spouses, find comfort and healing through regular correspondence.

12. The Hugging Saint
1. Sudhamani composed devotional songs from the time she was three. Villagers would delight in listening to her love songs to the Indian god Krishna.
2. She grew up in a poor fishing village. Her father sometimes abused her, but she did her chores without complaining.
3. As a teenager, she refused to be married.
4. Her great love attracted crowds, but she caused a scandal by hugging everyone who came to her for blessings.
5. Amachi has developed an extraordinary network of charity institutions, some that provide direct aid to the needy.
6. She also established educational institutions designed to release people from poverty.
7. During a conference at the United Nations, Amachi received the Gandhi-King award for non-violence.
8. She is said to only sleep a couple of hours a night and to have hugged over 20 million times in her life.