078.(LV2-8)Obsessive Behavior MS

Okay, welcome to the mini-story for Obsessive Behavior lesson. Let’s get started.
Cathy always obsesses about English. She constantly worries about taking the TOEFL test. When
she worries, she always rubs her hands together. They are always chaffed. Her friend, Gabriel, is
the opposite. He always opts to remain relaxed. He always reprimands Cathy. “Cathy, stop obsess-
ing about English, damn it.” Cathy never stands up to Gabriel directly. She just says, “I’m sorry.
Please don’t be mad.” Then she says, “Um, but let’s go the library now and study English, please.”
Gabriel always nixes this idea. “Hell, no, we’re not studying English.” Cathy feels unsettled; but she
says, hesitantly, “Okay.” However, in her head, she silently starts to review English grammar. Then
she feels much better.
Okay, again, this time with questions. Back to the top.
Cathy always obsesses about English. Does she think about English all the time? Yes, that’s right.
She always thinks about English. Does she think about English in the morning? Yeah, that’s right.
She always obsesses about English in the morning. Does she think about English during the day?
Yes, that’s right. She’s obsessing about English, right? Always obsesses about English; so she
thinks about English in the morning, in the afternoon, at night before she goes to sleep. She
obsesses about English.
Does she obsess about French? No, no, no, she doesn’t care about French. She doesn’t always
think about French. She obsesses about English. Who always obsesses about English? Well,
Cathy always obsesses about English. Does Gabriel always obsess about English? No, no, Gabriel
doesn’t always obsess about English. Cathy always obsesses about English.
She constantly worries about taking the TOEFL test. Does she obsess about the TOEFL test? Yes,
yes, she’s always obsessed with the TOEFL test. She always obsesses about the TOEFL test.
When she worries, she always rubs her hands together. Right? She’s always rubbing her hands
together when she worries about English, when she obsesses about English.
Because she always rubs her hands together, they are always chaffed. Are her hands always red?
Yes, that’s right. Her hands are always chaffed. The skin is always red. Is the skin always a little
painful? Yeah, that’s right. Her hands are always chaffed, so her hands are always a little painful.
The skin is painful. The skin is a little bit red. Why are her hands always chaffed? Well, they’re
always chaffed because she rubs them together when she worries – when she worries about
English.
Are they chaffed because she washes her hands too much? No, no, that’s not why they’re chaffed.
Her hands are not chaffed because she washes her hands too much. They’re chaffed because she
rubs her hands together too much. They’re chaffed because she rubs her hands together. That’s
why they’re red and painful.
Now, her friend, Gabriel, is the opposite. He always opts to remain relaxed. Does he choose to
remain relaxed? Yeah, that’s right. He opts to be relaxed. He chooses to be relaxed. To opt to
means to choose. Now, we usually use opt to with an action. Opt to run. Opt to go shopping. Opt
to stay relaxed. It goes with the verb. If you’re choosing two things, if you have a red phone and a
blue phone, you don’t say, “I opt the red phone.”
You might say, “I opt for the red phone.” If you say that, then it’s okay; but, usually, we use it with
verbs. You opt to do something. I opt to buy the red phone. We would say that. That would be
okay. So he opts to stay relaxed. Does Cathy opt to stay relaxed? Does she choose to be relaxed?
No, Cathy does not opt to stay relaxed. She always opts to be worried. She always obsesses about
English, but Gabriel opts to remain relaxed.
He chooses to remain relaxed, and he always reprimands Cathy. Does he criticize Cathy’s obses-
sion? Obsession’s a noun. Does he criticize Cathy’s obsession – Cathy’s worrying? Yeah, that’s
right. He reprimands Cathy. Does he tell her she’s wrong, that she’s doing something bad? Yeah,
that’s right. He reprimands Cathy. He tells her, “Stop obsessing about English, damn it.” Right? He
reprimands her.
He criticizes her and tells her she’s doing something wrong. Does Gabriel reprimand his mother?
No, no, Gabriel does not reprimand his mother. Who does Gabriel reprimand? Gabriel reprimands
Cathy. Why does he reprimand Cathy? Well, he reprimands Cathy because she worries about
English too much. She obsesses about English.
Does he reprimand Cathy all the time? Well, no, he doesn’t reprimand Cathy all the time. When
does he reprimand Cathy? Well, he reprimands Cathy when she talks about English, when she
wants to study English, and when she rubs her hands together. Then he reprimands her.
How does he reprimand her? What does he say? Well, he reprimands her by saying, “Cathy, stop
obsessing about English, damn it.” But Cathy never stands up to Gabriel. Does Cathy argue with
Gabriel? No, no, she does not stand up to Gabriel. Does she disagree with Gabriel directly? No,
no, she never says something to him. She never disagrees. She never argues. She does not stand
up to Gabriel.
Does Cathy stand up to other people? Well, we don’t know. Maybe she stands up to other people.
Maybe she will argue with her mom or her other friends, but she won’t stand up to Gabriel. When
Gabriel reprimands her, does she stand up to him? No, she doesn’t. She does not stand up to
Gabriel. He says, “Stop obsessing about English,” while she doesn’t argue with him.
What does she say? Since she doesn’t stand up to him, she just says, “I’m sorry. Please don’t be
mad.” But then later she says, “Um, but, um, let’s go the library now and study English, please.”
Gabriel gets angry. Gabriel always nixes this idea. Does Gabriel agree with the idea? No, no, he
nixes the idea, right? He shoots the idea down. He destroys the idea. He immediately says no. He
says, “No, we are not studying English.” He nixes the idea.
Does he nix all of Cathy’s ideas? No, no, no, he doesn’t nix all of Cathy’s ideas. He only nixes her
idea to study English. When she wants to study English, he always nixes the idea. He always says
no immediately. “No, we’re not studying English.”
Does Gabriel nix Bob’s idea? No, no, no, he doesn’t nix Bob’s idea. He nixes Cathy’s idea, right?
Gabriel nixes Cathy’s idea, not Bob’s idea; and when he nixes her idea, what does he say? Well,
Gabriel always nixes the idea and says, “Hell, no, we’re not studying English.”
How does Cathy feel when this happens? Well, Cathy feels unsettled, right? She feels a little
strange, a little uncomfortable. Does she feel very, very, very upset? No, she doesn’t. She feels
just unsettled, a little upset; and then when she feels unsettled, she says, hesitantly, “Okay. Um, it’s
okay.” However, in her head, silently in her head, she is thinking about grammar; and she is review-
ing English grammar. Then she feels much better.
When she says okay, does she say it strongly and quickly? No, no, no, she does not. She says it
hesitantly. She stops and she starts. She’s not sure. She says, “Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh, oh, okay.” She
says it hesitantly, right? When Cathy says okay, she does not say it directly. She says it very, very
hesitantly. What does she say hesitantly? Well, she says, “Okay,” hesitantly.
All right. So let’s go back to the top again; and this time, I’m going to pause after key phrases.
Please copy my pronunciation. Remember, this is not just repeating words. Repeating words does
not help. You need to copy my pronunciation. When I go up, you should go up. When I go down,
you should go down. Copy my intonation very carefully. Okay, let’s go to the top. Here we go.
Cathy always obsesses about English. (Pause) Good. Cathy always obsesses about English.
(Pause) She constantly worries about taking the TOEFL test. When she worries, she always rubs
her hands together. They are always chaffed. (Pause) Good. They are always chaffed. (Pause)
Her friend, Gabriel, is the opposite. He always opts to remain relaxed. (Pause) He always opts to
remain relaxed. (Pause) Good. He always reprimands Cathy. (Pause) He always reprimands
Cathy. (Pause) He says, “Stop obsessing about English, damn it.” (Pause) He says, “Stop obsess-
ing about English, damn it.” (Pause) Good.
Cathy never stands up to Gabriel. (Pause) Cathy never stands up to Gabriel. (Pause) She just
says, “I’m sorry. Don’t be mad.” Then she says, “But, um, but let’s go the library now and study
English, please.” Gabriel always nixes this idea. (Pause) Gabriel always nixes this idea. (Pause)
He says, “Hell, no, we’re not studying English.” Cathy feels unsettled. (Pause) Cathy feels unset-
tled. (Pause) But she says, hesitantly, “Okay.” (Pause) But she says, hesitantly, “Okay.” (Pause)
However, in her head, quietly, she starts to review English grammar. Then she feels much better.
Okay, that is all for this mini-story. Please pause now and try to tell all of the story yourself. Say it
out loud, not silently. Say it out loud, speak it out loud. Try to tell all of the story using the new
vocabulary and, also, using the correct pronunciation, the correct intonation. If this is difficult, if you
cannot do it, no problem. Just listen again. Listen again, listen again. Listening is most important.
Okay, good luck. On to the point of view mini-stories. Bye-bye.