English, baby!

peaks and valleys

Date: Feb 21 2002

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“Life is about peaks and valleys. You go through stuff for a reason.”
- Halle Berry, actress, talking about her life.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

This week, instead of writing a definition, we chose a perfect explanation written by Jesus (Torreon Coahuila, Mexico):
“Sometimes you are up, everything is good, nice, you feel happy etc… And sometimes you are down, everything goes wrong, everthing is bad, you get desperate etc…”

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

“Peaks and valleys” is most often used to describe the ups and downs of life, but it can also apply to more specific things like school, work, or sports. For example, if you do very well in math class, but very poor in history, school has lots of peaks and valleys. Or, if you win some sports games, but lose others, you could say that your experiencing peaks and valleys in your sport.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

””My relationship with my girlfriend has peaks and valleys. Sometimes it’s really fun, but other times we argue and fight.”“

””The Los Angeles Lakers are going through a lot of peaks and valleys this season. One game, they are the best team in the league and the next game they are terrible.”“

””My job is full of peaks and valleys. Some days, it’s the best job in the world, but other days I absolutely hate it!”“

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

Sometimes you are lucky, yet sometimes not. You have good days, and sometimes bad ones.
by Zhirong (Athens, GA, USA)
These words are meaning that the life isn’t always a easy life, you can live hard periods and happy moments.
by Maria
I think life is full of ups and downs and we must learn with them in order to grow as human beings. So peaks and valleys are ups and downs, times when we are very ok and times when we are not ok at all.
by Angela (São Paulo, Brasil)
“Peaks and valleys” means life has a lot of challenges and obstacles that one has to go through.
by Diona (Dumaguete City, Philippines)
Peaks and valleys means good time and bad time, everything in life.
by Lee (Memphis, Tennesse, USA)
She clearly refers to ups and downs in real life, good times and bad ones.
by Juan
Life is about peaks and valleys. It means that life is not always wonderful. you are always trying to get the peak but sometimes you find some problems and it is not easy to get the peak. In life it’s not easy to get everything that you want.
by Damarys (La Habana, Cuba)