Try mSpy Phone Tracker for Your Kid's Safety
Click on a word and I’ll read it
Or select some text and then click on play.
Lazaro Arbos has lived with a speech impediment almost his whole life. He has been bullied and alienated by his peers because of it. But thanks to God, he has a special gift and when he starts singing, a miracle happens. Look at his participation in the talent-search programme American Idol.
- Hey, hello.
- Hi. How are you, handsome!
- Good.
- Tell me your name and how old you are. Where are you from?
- My name is Lazaro, I'm from Cuba and I moved to Florida when I was 10.
- Tell me about the way you speak. Is that something you're working on or...?
- It's like a roller-coaster.
- Living with a stutter is really hard 'cause, erm..., like the things that normal people would thing would be so easy, become so hard for me.
- Lazaro began stuttering since the age of 6. He went through a lot of therapy, but he never improved.
- We don't know where my stuttering came from 'cause, you know, it's just something that goes on and no one really knows why.
- When we got to the US his stutter got much worse to the point where he couldn't speak and I had to say everything for him.
- No one wanted to hang out with me in school. As I had no friends to go out with... so I'd be home. Yeah.
- Since he's always alone and have few friends, I think music is his life, and I think without it he wouldn't know what to do with his life, because he loves his music.
- Always since I was small, I've always wanted to sing.
- Normally, when he wouldn't be able to tell me something because of the stutter, I would just say, "sing it to me, sing it to me".
- I've always told myself, you know, it's not going good now, but you can't let things get you down 'cause you have to keep going.
- What you gonna sing first?
- I'm gonna sing "Bridge Over Troubled Waters".
- Ok, great song, great choice /amazing song/ Ok.
When you're weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all
I'm on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled waters
I will lay me down
- Just sing all the time. Beautiful voice.
- Randy, what do you think?
- Very pleasant. Really really nice, man. Love your voice. It's amazing that like... the stuttering doesn't happen when you sing. So... Keith just said, just sing all the time, just sing all the time.
- Your story is very very inspiring. I think you've brought a really great vibe into the room, so...
- I love your +++ and I love the way you sing and I love that you did that song; that's one of my all-time favourite songs, it's just so... it elicits so much emotion...
- Thank you.
- (I) Think you've a beautiful voice...
- I love you so much.
- Thank you. So... let's vote.
- I feel like this is gonna be unanimous, guys, so should we do it together?
- I'm ready.
- One, Two, Three... YES!
- Very good job.
- Thank you.
- Oh my God!
- Gimme a hug, gimme a hug.
- Oh my God!
- You're adorable, you're gonna do great.
- Very good job. Very good.
HOW OLD YOU ARE= There is no inversion here because this is not a question:
- How old are you? (a question)
- Tell me how old you are (not a question)
WORKING ON= If you’re working on an ability, you’re trying to improve it.
ROLLER-COASTER= A funfair attraction where a train-like car moves up and down along the crazy rails (see picture)
STUTTER= A stutter is a speech problem that makes it very difficult for you to speak fluently; instead, your words come out in separated groups. A person who stutters is a stutterer.
‘CAUSE= (coll.) Because.
LIKE= This is the comparative preposition, not the verb, but in colloquial English people often use LIKE meaning nothing at all, and that is the case in this example and in some other sentences you will hear on this video.
- I like cats (verb)
- A tiger is like a very big cat (comparative preposition)
- I was like a bit tired and went to bed like at 9 o’clock (both LIKE’s here mean nothing)
IMPROVED= To improve is to do something better.
YOU KNOW= This phrase is very common in conversation and it means nothing, it’s just a gap-filler to help you keep your talking going while you think.
- Well, John is a bit, you know, difficult to talk with.
- It’s too far away, you know, I don’t think we could get there in two days.
In these examples “you know” doesn’t mean that you know it, it simply means nothing.
HANG OUT= If you hang out with friends or people, you go out with them, talk, play games, have fun… you enjoy their company.
AS= Since, because (a connector of reason)
The next sentence begins with the connector SO, which is a grammar mistake because it should be a main clause, not another subordinate clause, but things like this happen when we’re talking. The grammatically correct sentence should be:
- As I had no friends to go out with, I would be (stay) at home.
In this case, WOULD is not a conditional auxiliary but a modal verb expressing a habit or situation in the past, equivalent to USED TO.
GET YOU DOWN= If something gets you down it makes you feel very sad or depressed or desperate.
KEEP GOING= Continue with life.
- I know that’s been a tragedy for you, but you have to keep going.
GONNA= (col.) be going to.
- He’s gonna do it = He is going to do it.
- He gonna come = He is going to come.
- Gonna have more? = Are you going to have more?
AMAZING= Wonderful, fantastic, great, super!
WEARY= Tired, exhausted.
ROUGH= /rʌf/ Difficult.
VIBE= (col.) Feeling, sensation (short for “vibration”)
ELICITS= To elicit a particular reaction is to evoke it, to produce that reaction.
UNANIMOUS= When everybody takes the same decision.
GUYS= You, people.
We can also use it to mark the plural form of “you”:
- Mike, you will sit here, and… John and Susan… you guys will sit here.
GIMME= (col.) Give me.
HUG= A hug is an embrace, a cuddle, when you hold someone putting your arms around them, usually to show love or affection.
ADORABLE= If someone is adorable they are very very cute and lovable; people can love them very easily.
YOU'RE GONNA DO GREAT= You're going to have success; you're going to have a good life.
GOOD JOB!= You say this when someone did something very well (showing approval)
Official → Cool
