Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
What were you doing in 1994? If you’re a millennial, you were probably just a little kid at that time. In 1994, an American man named Jeff Bezos started a small internet company in Seattle, Washington. He called his company Amazon. At first, the company only sold books online. Now, Amazon is worth over $200 billion dollars.
What can you buy on Amazon now? Everything! You can purchase food, books, movies, clothes, furniture, and thousands of other things. You can also use Amazon as a streaming service. Amazon’s newest idea is a store without checkout lines. As you walk out of the store, scanners will charge your Amazon account instead. However, not everyone has an obsession with Amazon, as you’ll see in today’s lesson.
Romeo is upset that Andy made an order from Amazon. Listen to this English lesson to hear why Romeo believes that Amazon is a monopoly.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Andy_H: Hey, Romeo. Check out this awesome pen I just got, this laser pointer. $2.50 from Amazon!
Romeo: Yep, figures. What is it with the millennial obsession with Amazon? I just don’t get it.
Andy_H: Well, aside from the fact that it’s about to be the best streaming source, it’s got just about everything that anybody could hope for.
Romeo: Yeah, it also comes with unemployment. Putting the little guy out of a job? That’s just wrong.
Andy_H: I know where you’re coming, it’s definitely putting small business retailers out, but the amount of things you can actually purchase just at the click of a button, it’s making communication so much easier. Also, I bet you didn’t know, Amazon is actually the third most widely-used search engine. That’s awesome!
Romeo: Uh, yeah. Who cares. So, let me tell you about this short little story real quick.
Andy_H: OK.
Romeo: I was at work, putting an order in on the kiosk. I get a bonus every time I get somebody to do an order on the kiosk. And while I’m doing this, he decides he wants to scroll through Amazon, and he finds it for cheaper…
Andy_H: No…
Romeo: And decides to cancel the order.
Andy_H: Right in front of you?
Romeo: Right in front of me! There goes my bonus.
Andy_H: Man, I didn’t realize how much of a monopoly it really was.
Romeo: Well, now that you know, welcome to the good side.
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Andy bought something from Amazon. Romeo thinks that figures. After all, Andy is just another millennial with an Amazon obsession. Andy has his reasons, though. He thinks the website is great for streaming. He thinks it’s easy to make an order. And Amazon’s shopping search engine makes it simple to scroll through pages of products to purchase.
So, why doesn’t Romeo also like Amazon? Romeo believes that Amazon is a monopoly. If everyone shops on Amazon, then other stores will close. If those stores close, then people will lose their jobs. Romeo doesn’t want to buy from Amazon if it means unemployment for everyone else. Romeo wants people to cancel their online orders and shop at real stories instead.
Do you shop on Amazon? What’s the last thing you purchased online?
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