Transcript: Two Beautiful REAL Stories

When you see the news, when you watch the news, isn't it always just the pain here, the suffering there, the worry here? Why? Because this negativity sells. Pain makes money. Because it's exciting to read. And some people, like, especially older people, my parents maybe, like your parents, think that everything happening in the world is pain and suffering because that's what they see every day in the news!

It is not truly how the world is! Oh, yeah. There are also inspirational stories, beautiful stories, stories of heroes, of new discoveries, of making the world a better place every day. Stories that make us excited to be alive, here, now, today. But these stories are not normally in the news.

So today, we will share two positive stories that have happened in the world recently.

Hello, hello. I'm Tristan. I am the little friend in your ear. Speaking in simple English to help you learn English, to help you pick up English naturally by talking about different, exciting topics in intermediate English. The transcript for this episode, like always, is on my website: SimpleEnglishBooks.com

And remember, you can change the speed of this podcast in the settings. Maybe it's too fast for you. Maybe I'm too slow. So, change the speed.

About me. I have been an EFL English teacher for 12 years in five countries to about 1,600 students, and I am not AI. I am a real boy! I am a real boy on this podcast since 2019.

By the way, there are so many AI podcasts now, especially speaking simple English stories, especially on YouTube. So, listen to a real human, eh? Like me, and some other people out there.

Okay, we have positive stories today. Okay, positive story number one: A dog discovers something in the garden. What does the dog discover?

So, it was a cold Monday morning in the backyard. 'Backyard' is what Americans call 'backgarden'. UK - backgarden, Americans - backyard.

So, in America, Katie was in her home with her new dog that she had recently got from the dog shelter. It was a rescue dog. The backgarden was all quiet. It is winter in America, and there is snow everywhere.

A blanket of snow across the backyard. Katie and her dog went outside. She could see her own breath. So cold, and hear the thick snow crunching under her shoes.

Suddenly, her dog Jagger comes out the house. He's sniffing the air. His ears are up. The owner Katie shouts, Jagger! Jagger! (The dog's name) Where are you going? The dog is sniffing. Searching. It seems the dog knows something's wrong. The dog starts barking, Ruff ruff! I can't do a dog bark. Ruff ruff! This time the bark sounded different to Katie.

Jagger! Katie calls. The family follow the dog. Jagger, come back, boy! The dog runs to the very back of the big backyard and is barking louder and louder. Katie wonders why is the dog acting so strange today? There is thick snow everywhere. What does the dog find? The dog runs further back and he's barking and hidden in the corner of the back garden is an unconscious man, a man who is not moving! A man who is very cold, and he's not awake.

His skin has lost its color. He's pale. Was he alive? Was he breathing? The family did not know this man. The dog barked at the man again, and again, and again. Until the man, the man moved his head a little bit. He seemed so cold though. He, he was alive, but he could not speak. His fingers were blue and stiff.

The dog's owner, Katie, she jumped onto her phone and she rang 911, emergency services. And, she didn't know what to do. Uh, they waited for the ambulance. Time moved slowly. Katie kept looking down the street, hoping to see the flashing blue lights. And every second of silence was, was terrifying. But Katie didn't know how to help him.

Finally, they heard the sirens. Katie let out the breath, she didn't realize she was holding. The ambulance came and found the man had frostbite. 'Frostbite' is when the cold kills part of your body, like a foot or a finger, and that part of the body turns blue and black. The man had frostbite, but he was alive, but it was not too late to save him.

And the ambulance took him, and he made a full recovery. And so Katie, yeah, she looked at Jagger, remembering the day they brought him home from the rescue shelter. Now, Jagger, the dog, rescued someone else's life. And, uh, yeah, you can imagine Katie's dad shook his head in wonder, said, Whoa, Katie, your rescue dog just rescued a man's life!

Beautiful story. The dog rescued someone's life. Aren't dogs amazing? I swear they can, of course, can, I mean, can they really? Well, I mean, they can smell really well. They can hear really well. And sometimes, people feel that they can also see or sense ghosts and spirits and beings from other dimensions. Do you think that's, uh, there's something to be said?

Have you ever seen when, like, a dog starts just barking crazily? Maybe it's seeing something, right? I don't know. I've, I've always thought that. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Or maybe it's just gone crazy for a minute. Anyway, beautiful stories. Aren't dogs amazing, right?

Okay, next story, positive story two: We'll talk about new technology.

We have new technology that they tried to help deaf people hear again. (Vocabulary announcement) 'Deaf' is when you cannot hear - 'deaf'. 'Blind' is when you cannot see - 'blind'.

Okay. Dr. John Germler and his team tried to help a deaf 11 year old boy to hear. So this is a boy who had never heard a single sound ever before.

Dr. John Germiller and his team are now able to fix a gene that is needed for hearing. This is the OTOF gene, which makes the protein needed for hearing. Most of us have this gene, but some people do not, so they cannot hear. So, to fix this gene, uh, they would split the OTOF gene into two halves, and put them into the boy, like a puzzle.

The two halves of the OTOF gene would be put into the boy and fix themselves together inside the boy. So this is an 11 year old boy. This had never been done before, but if it worked, Dr. Germiller knew this could change everything, could change, could change the world!

So this boy has been deaf for his whole life. For 11 years he's lived in silence. He wonders if he would ever hear the sound of a voice. He doesn't even know what, like, even is a sound, right? He can't even imagine it.

So the team put the two halves of the OTOF gene inside the boy. At first, they didn't know if it was working. One week passed, and the boy still didn't hear a sound.

Two weeks passed, right? His parents, uh, probably watching him closely, yeah? Every morning, asking, Son, do you hear anything? Can you hear me? Can you hear yet? Nope, nope, nope. I'm sure everyone had high hopes. But then, right, I'm just imagining here, imagining this, uh, like how it, it happened. Then the boy's eyes widened.

Then there was the quiet sound of people speaking. The quiet sound of cars on the street slowly getting louder. His father saying his name and him hearing it for the first time. Beautiful! Beautiful. I'm sure there were many tears. Maybe he heard his father call his name for the first time and he heard the sound of his father's hopeful and loving voice.

And, uh, anyways, it worked! Now the boy can have a normal life. He can listen to rock and roll, and the sound of his own laughter, of high speed cars, and, and girls, and high school, right? Amazing. So, yeah sorry, I, added some extra details to the story, to give it a bit more drama. I mean, it's probably something similar to what I described, right? Like a truly beautiful moment there.

And the exciting thing is they should be able to use this gene therapy technology, uh, of putting in two halves of the gene to fix thousands of other deaf people. But also, other conditions too, they're hoping. Blindness. This could, well, it could affect thousands, maybe millions of families out there.

Okay, so the transcript, uh, if you want to read while listening to this podcast, which is a great, uh, learning exercise, by the way. Transcript is on my website, SimpleEnglishBooks.com with activities and stories and all kinds of fun learning materials. So have a beautiful, fantastic, fun filled week of laughter and thrills.

And remember, There are millions of positive news stories and heroes and inspirational moments that are not in the newspaper and that are not on social media. Unfortunately, it's pain and drama that sells. But it's not what's out there. Well, it's half out there and it's half good things too.

Okay, so listen to this again to understand more of it and have an amazing week and see you guys next time.