Views #708 | Low-Intermediate 4

Rocky Gets Hurt

Lisa talks about her cat, Rocky, and how she had a bad accident and how it happened.

Script
Vocab
Quiz


Lisa	Adrienne

Adrienne: So tell me about how Rocky is a survivor.

Lisa: So, Rocky is a survivor, for two reasons. One because of her surviving in the bushes, but... and that was only when she was really only a month old and we took her in. But she really earned her name last year, when she was about a year old, Rocky liked going out on my balcony, and I used to let her go out on my balcony with out a leash or without supervision and she decided that she

wanted to see what was beyond the balcony, so she climbed up to the top of the balcony which was like a concrete wall and she jumped. When I, you know five minutes after I had noticed that she has jumped, I went looking for her all around my apartment building. This was probably at eleven o'clock at night, and I couldn't find her anywhere, so I thought she had jumped to the roof next to my apartment building and she was out hanging around with other cats. I was very worried, but it was dark and I couldn't find her so I went to sleep. I woke up the next morning at five o'clock, a very worried mother looking for my cat, and I noticed that she had fallen actually between my apartment building and the roof, the apartment building next to mine and wasn't moving, so I picked her up and I brought her to the hospital and it turned out that she had actually broken her pelvis bone, which means that she could move her two front paws but she could not move her back paws, so she basically couldn't walk at all.

Adrienne: Oh, my goodness.

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

is a survivor

Rocky is a survivor.

When someone or something is a 'survivor,' it means that it is able to survive and overcome difficult situations. Notice the following:

I have always been a survivor.
You have to be a survivor if you are going to join the army.

used to

I used to let her go out on my balcony without a leash or without supervision.

If you 'used to' do something, it means that in the past you did something regularly but not any more. Notice the following:

I used to walk to school, but now I live too far away.
My dad used to look after me when my mum went to work.

hang around

She was out hanging around with other cats.

Who you 'hang around' with is who you spend time with. When you 'hang around' a place, it means that you spend time there. Notice the following:

I like to hang around with like-minded people.
Who do you hang around with at school?

it was dark

It was dark and I couldn't find her so I went to sleep.

'It was dark' means that there was no sunlight as it was night time. We can say that a place is dark if it has no natural or artificial light.
Notice the following:

It was dark, and I could not see where I was going.
I think it was dark when I first met him, so I can't remember what colour his hair was.

it turned out

It turned out that she had actually broken her pelvis bone.

'It turned out' is a phrase that is used to refer to what actually happened in a situation. This phrase is used most commonly when we think something that doesn't turn out to be true or we have no idea why something is a certain way. Notice the following:

It turned out really well, and we all got to go to the party anyway.
It will all turn out okay, so you don't have to worry.

Vocabulary Quiz

survivor • used to • hanging
dark • turned out

I have been out at the library a lot, because I never get any work done at home.
The light doesn't work in the closet, so it's in there and difficult to find the clothes I want.
He thought his car had an engine problem, but it that he just needed to put more oil in.
He is spicy food, so he doesn't really like much of the food here.
She has been through some tough times, but she is a .