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Funny People

Funny People

Date: Nov 11 2009

Themes: Friend, Health

Grammar: Second Conditional

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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What’s funny about terminal illness? Uh, well, you’ll have to watch the new comedy Funny People to find out. In the film, Adam Sandler plays a successful comedian who finds out he has just one year to live. He befriends a struggling comedian played by Seth Rogen, who tries to help him become a better person in his final days.

The director of Funny People, Judd Apatow, managed to make unplanned pregnancy funny in his movie Knocked Up. So if anyone can get laughs with fatal disease jokes, it’s probably him. Find out what Devan and Beren would do if they only had a year to live.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Devan

Devan

Beren

Beren

Devan:  So I just went and saw Funny People.

Beren:  Oh, that’s the Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen stand up comedy movie?

Devan:  Yeah, are you familiar with the plot?

Beren:  Kind of.

Devan:  So it’s like this guy, this comedian who’s really successful, and then he finds out he has a year to live. And he was kinda not a very good guy, but when he finds out he has a year to live he befriends this less successful comedian and starts trying to turn his life around and change it, you know? And it just made me think about what I would do if I only had a year to live.

Beren:  If you had some crazy terminal illness.

Devan:  Yeah, like what would you do if you found out you had one year left?

Beren:  See that’s the question. I don’t know, part of me…I would hope that I’d do something amazing and try to be a better person, but then I wonder if because I only had a year to live I’d just be like, “Let’s go crazy!” and like spend as much money as possible and go wild.

Devan:  I mean, that’s the thing, it seems like whenever there’s a movie with this premise, the story’s always them trying to turn their life around and help other people. But I wonder if that’s realistic, or if you found out you had a year left you’d just become really selfish and try to do a bunch of fun things for yourself, you know?

Beren:  I think that’s probably the more realistic take on the terminal illness.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Devan just saw Funny People, starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen. One of the characters in the movie gets told by his doctor that he only has one year to live. Seeing the movie made Devan wonder what she would do if she discovered that she had a terminal illness.

Beren says she hopes that she would try to do good and become a better person if she had only one year to live. But she thinks she might try to enjoy her final moments on earth as much as possible. She might even go crazy and spend tons of money, since she wouldn’t have to worry about the consequences. Devan agrees that this might be the most realistic response.

What would you do if you found out you had only one year to live? Do you think most people would try to do good, or would they just want to enjoy their final days?

 

Comments

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laurazhang

laurazhang

China

Em~~ one year to live,I will with my familiy together,and find sth I never do(not the illegality).To be a happy guy,I think that can make arround person feel better.Travel arround, go to some place I wanna before.

06:27 AM Nov 11 2009 |

fedorame

fedorame

China

one year left is cruel for everybody.A hundred people have a hundred ideas about their last time.As for me, I will accompany my family and my love, if time was allowed, I would travel all around the world with my love to see the beautiful sights which I would not see again.And I wish people I love would not be sad for me.All these things make me really upset now.

06:19 AM Nov 11 2009 |

wing xu

China

if  i  had one year to live. i should do sth i do not do before  and  chat with  family menber and friends ,  make them  happy instead of sadness.  i wish  every one all the best.

04:37 AM Nov 11 2009 |

vanessa zhang

Taiwan

yep.i toally agree witn ur.friend isnt just can talk and play ech other,is touch ur heart that people ,but the really friend just have 1 or 2

04:26 AM Nov 11 2009 |

John3

South Korea

I toally agree with your opinitions, but if I would be a this kind of life, I will go to a buddisim temple in the mountain and recall my life

03:11 AM Nov 11 2009 |

solbong

solbong

South Korea

I totlally agree with Ahn Soo-hyun in Korea!

02:24 AM Nov 11 2009 |

Ahn Soo-hyun

South Korea

I can't hear while I am listening. But I can understand after I read these questions. Their speaking is so fast.

If I  lived only one year, maybe I would travel all over the world, and  I would pray 'please!, Make me live longer!!!' ㅋㅋ

02:14 AM Nov 11 2009 |

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