Transcript: “Listening Time” Episode 71

Welcome to the Listening Time podcast. Hey everybody, this is Conner, and
you're listening to Episode 71 of the Listening Time podcast. As you might have noticed,
I'm starting to post weekly episodes again. I'm starting to upload episodes every
Monday. So, I hope that you're all excited about that. You're going to get the Listening
Time podcast every week now. So, this should be helpful for all of you, and it will give
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Alright, so in today's episode, we're going to talk about extreme sports. This is a
fun topic. I'm sure that some of you have done some of these sports before. And I'm
sure that a lot of these sports will be new for you. And so, we'll talk about that for today,
and I'll talk a little bit about my experience with these sports, if I have any, and I'll talk
about what I think about these sports.
And remember that you have the transcript available for this episode below the
episode in the Episode Description. So, click on that if you need it. And you can repeat
this episode as many times as you need it, using the transcript, until you can eventually
understand everything that I'm saying without the transcript. That should be your goal.
And if you like this podcast, please give it a five-star rating and share it with anyone else
who might find it useful so that this podcast can continue to grow. Alright, let's get
started.
Okay, let's talk about extreme sports. So, what are extreme sports? These are
sports that are a little bit different from normal sports because they require a high
degree of risk. So, it means that you could get injured more easily or you could just
have some pain from these sports more easily then if you do other sports. They're not
all really risky activities. Most of them are pretty safe, actually. But they require a lot of
courage and bravery, because they can be pretty scary. And like I said, some of them
are a little bit risky.
So, why do people practice extreme sports? Well, first of all, they're very fun. So,
anything that requires, maybe, a little bit of courage or bravery and is a little bit risky,
also has the opportunity to be fun, in my opinion. So, these sports are very fun. And
they involve a lot of adrenaline, right? When I say “adrenaline,” I'm talking about that
feeling that you get when you do something that causes you to be a little bit afraid or
stressed in a good way, right? If you go on a roller coaster, for example, you might feel
this adrenaline, and it actually feels good for a lot of people.
And another reason why people do extreme sports is because it gives them a
sense of accomplishment. A “sense of accomplishment” just refers to a feeling that you
did something well or you did something that required some skill or effort or something
like that. It gives you this sense of feeling good about yourself. So, you can get a sense
of accomplishment if you do some of these extreme sports, and it can be fun to talk
about with other people after you do these things.
Alright, so let's talk about some of these different sports. First, let's start with
some different sports that involve a board. So, first of all: skateboarding. I have a lot of
experience with skateboarding because when I was younger… when I was about 13,14,
15, around that age, I actually skateboarded quite a bit with some friends of mine. But I
wasn't very good. So, I was able to learn a few tricks, but I wasn't able to actually
improve a lot in skateboarding. In English, when we use the word “tricks” in this context,
we're talking about cool things or cool maneuvers that you can do with a skateboard or
with some other board or with whatever else you're using, right? So, when you're
skateboarding, when you do tricks, you make the board flip and do things in the air, and
then you land on the board again. These are tricks.
So, I knew how to do some tricks, but not many. But I had a friend who got really
good at skateboarding. He was much more talented than I was. And so, I still skated a
lot with him, but the more important thing was to film him skating and create videos of
his tricks and things like that. So, I remember filming him a lot and creating videos that
were like compilations of different tricks that he did. A compilation is like a collection of
something, a collection where you see a lot of different things in that one collection.
That's a compilation. So, I made these videos for him filming these cool tricks that he
did. And it was really impressive to see what things he could do with a skateboard
because I definitely couldn't do these things. And he was able to jump off high stairs and
high platforms and land on his board on the ground. It was pretty cool.
And so, I wasn't that good at skateboarding, but I did something pretty similar to
skateboarding that I was pretty good at. And this is RipStiking. A RipStik is kind of like a
skateboard, but it only has two wheels, and the front and the back don't stay completely
flat and stable. They actually move. And so, the way that you go forward is you move
your hips and your legs from side to side, and it propels the RipStik forward. In English,
when we say that something “propels” something else, this means that it makes the
thing go forward. It makes it advance.
So, I actually knew how to RipStick, and most people have never been on a
RipStik before. And they think that it looks really cool when people do it, but in my
opinion, it's not that hard. You just need to get the hang of it, as we say in English. This
just means that you have to get accustomed to it. I think that skateboarding and doing
all of these tricks is much harder.
Okay, now let me talk about snowboarding. I've had a little experience with
snowboarding. I've been snowboarding a few times. And the first time that I went it was
awful. I hated it because it was so hard, and I didn't take any lessons. And my friends
just took me to the top of the mountain and said “good luck.” And so, I had to get down
on my own from the top of the mountain, and I had never snowboarded before, so it was
really hard, and I had to learn through trial and error. In English, this phrase refers to
when you learn something by making mistakes again and again and again, until you
finally get it. This is trial and error. So, that's how I learned how to snowboard.
And as I mentioned, the first time, it was miserable because I couldn't get the
hang of it. I couldn't get used to it. But the second and the third time that I went
snowboarding, it was much funner because I was able to actually do it the right way,
and it became really fun all of a sudden, and it was cool to go down the mountain, and
not fall, and actually go pretty fast and make all of the turns that I needed to make. And
it got really cool really fast once I actually got the hang of it. So, I think that
snowboarding is super fun. I really like it, but I rarely get the chance to go because I
don't live near the mountains and I don't live near any snow. So, I'm probably not going
to be able to go snowboarding anytime soon until I take my next trip to the mountains.
And when I was little, I actually skied a little bit. My parents put me in skiing
classes, but I always hated it when I was young. I never liked it. And I never got good at
it. And so, I had much more fun when I learned how to snowboard the right way. It
seemed much more interesting for me than skiing did. But I know a lot of people would
say the opposite. They really like skiing and prefer it more than snowboarding.
Now, let me talk a little bit about surfing. I've only tried surfing once, and it was a
complete failure. It was a terrible experience because I couldn't stand up on the board,
and I couldn't even get started. And so, I can't say that I have any experience with
surfing, really, because I didn't even surf. I just tried, but I wasn't able to do it. And
surfing, to me, seems a little bit scarier than some of these other sports because you're
out in the water, in the ocean, which, in my opinion, automatically makes it a little scarier
than other sports because the ocean can definitely be a scary place. And I don't like
being underwater for a long time. And sometimes, if there are a lot of big waves, they
can keep you underwater for a long period of time, and I don't like this. So, I don't think
that I'll ever get into surfing.
And so, some of the risks with these board sports that I talked about…
skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing… involve injury when you fall off the board.
Especially with skateboarding… injuries are part of this sport if you do it for long
enough. Eventually, you're most likely going to get injured at some point. And hopefully,
it's not too serious. But a lot of people break bones and have serious injuries when they
do more daring things on a skateboard. The word “daring” in English just means
something that requires more risk. So, if you do daring things, you have the chance to
get injured.
And so, skateboarders often get injured. Snowboarders sometimes get injured. I
would guess that the risk is maybe somewhat less with snowboarding, but I might be
wrong, because I remember that I fell really bad once and I actually hurt my head a little
bit with snowboarding. So yeah, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe snowboarding requires just
as much risk as skateboarding or even more. Now that I think about it, it's pretty easy to
run into people or fall down or things like that. So yeah, snowboarding and
skateboarding both require some risk because you can fall down and the ground is
hard, and it hurts, and you can get injured.
With surfing, of course, you're not going to fall on the ground. You're going to fall
into the water. So, I would guess that that usually doesn't hurt too much. But as I
mentioned, there are other risks with surfing, like getting pulled underwater for a long
time or things like that. So, it has its own risks as well.
Let me talk about a couple other extreme sports that I've done. So, one of them
is whitewater rafting. This is where you go down a river in a raft, which is kind of like an
inflatable boat, and you're with other people, usually, and you have these paddles to
help you navigate in the water. And sometimes, the water isn't that fast, and it's not that
dangerous, and it's really calm. And sometimes, it requires more risk because the water
is moving very fast, and there are big rocks that you have to avoid, and there's more risk
of falling in. And I've fallen in the water once or twice when I was whitewater rafting, but
it was okay. It was pretty easy to get back in the raft afterwards.
And I really like this sport because I like being out in nature, and I like seeing the
forest around me and going down the river. It's really cool because you often do this
sport in really beautiful areas. And so, that adds something extra to this activity. And
usually, you do this with a guide who knows exactly what they're doing. They know how
to help you back into the raft if you fall out, and they know the river very well. So, it's not
that risky if you go with a guide. So, I've done that a few times.
And another extreme sport that I've tried once is parasailing, and this is the
extreme sport where you get towed behind a boat. When someone tows you, this just
means that they pull you. So, you get towed behind a boat in the air actually. So, the
boat is on the water, of course, and you're in the air with this parachute above you, and
the boat is pulling you around and you're flying in the air over the water. This is a really
fun sport. It was really cool to do this, but it can definitely be scary for a lot of people
who are afraid of heights because you go very high above the ground and just thinking
about it might make some people shiver because it seems pretty scary to just be flying
by yourself over the ocean, really high in the air. But it was really fun. I was definitely a
little bit scared.
And I know that there have been some accidents where the rope actually breaks
or the person somehow gets untied, and then they are just flying in the air without any
help, without any rope, and they hopefully have to make it down to some safe place
okay. I've heard some stories about this happening. So, that's definitely a risk when it
comes to this sport, but I don't think this is something you really need to worry about
that much. If you decide to try parasailing with a reputable company, this shouldn't be a
big risk. In English, when we use the word “reputable,” we’re talking about some
company, usually, or some other thing that is respected, that has been in the business
or operating for many years, and you can trust them. This is someone who's reputable.
So, I went parasailing with a reputable company, and nothing bad happened to me.
Lastly, let me talk about two more extreme sports that I haven't done, but these
sports are some of the most popular ones when you think about extreme sports. So,
one of them is bungee jumping. This is where you jump off a very high place with a cord
attached to your ankles. And then, once you reach down to a lower point, the cord stops
you from hitting the ground, right, or from hitting the water.
So, this looks like a very scary extreme sport, in my opinion. This might be the
scariest one, I think. I might try this, but it would definitely take some courage, and I
think that I would be super freaked out before I jump off the bridge or wherever the high
place is. So, I don't know if I would ever do this, especially because you jump and you
end up upside down. It seems really scary that the rope is tied to your your ankles, or
it's attached to your ankles. And so, you're actually upside down once you reach a lower
point. So, that seems pretty scary.
And the other really popular, really famous extreme sport that people think about
when they think about this type of sport is skydiving. And this is the sport where you
jump out of an aircraft, very high in the sky, and you fall to the ground. So, first you free-
fall, meaning you just fall without a parachute, and then you release the parachute so
that it can allow you to fall at a very low speed and make it safely to the ground. So,
many people pay money to do this sport, maybe, once in their life, or some people really
like it and do it multiple times. But I've never done this.
When I was younger, I really wanted to do this, but nowadays, I'm not so sure. I
think that this seems a little bit crazy for me now. I definitely like adrenaline. I like the
feeling of doing things like this, but skydiving seems pretty scary to me now. I think I've
gotten more and more scared of these types of things as an adult, especially now that
I'm a father. And I think of all the things, the responsibilities that I have, and I think “Is
this a responsible thing that I should be doing”? I know that it's not that risky, of course,
but in my mind, it seems a little bit scary. So, I don't know if I'll ever do this sport or not.
Alright, why don't we stop there for today? I hope this episode was interesting for
you, and I hope it was good practice for your ears, for your listening. Remember that if
you want more practice and you want my training, then become a Listening Time
Member, and if you want my advanced podcast episodes, then become a Listening
Time Family Member and you'll get two new advanced episodes every month. And this
will help you reach an advanced level of listening, and it will help you understand native
speakers. So, the link is in the Episode Description below this episode. That's
www.patreon.com/listeningtime So, sign up today if you want that.
And remember that you have the transcript for this episode in the Episode
Description as well. So, click on that if you need it. And if you like this podcast, then
please give it a five-star rating and share it with your friends, your family members,
anyone else who's learning English who could benefit from this podcast Alright, well,
thank you for listening to this episode, and I'll talk to you on the next episode of
Listening Time.
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