Page 76 - PowerE-L05-C

Lesson 19

Tongue - tied

Recently, I saw a girl in campus and let me tell you that
it was “love at first sight.” She wasn’t what you might call

pretty or hot or anything of the sort that would make men
take a second look. In fact, she was just a plain girl who

would fade in the crowd. But what made her stand out was
the way her hair would dance in the breeze. It was the way

she walked that made her hair bounce and when the sun would kiss her shiny black hair, it

took my breath away. I definitely fell head over heels in love with her. But I couldn’t muster
the courage to approach her and tell her how I felt for her. I was a coward, you might say,

but that’s fine by me. By nature, I’m an eloquent person, not that I’m bragging, but I can per-
suade an audience, or tear the opponent in shreds in a varsity debate. However, whenever it

comes to talking with women I like, I’m terribly tongue-tied. But one day, taking courage from
a passage I read “It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”, I stag-

gered to her and opened my mouth to speak. No sound came out. “Cat got your tongue?”
she smiled. I mumbled an incoherent reply, and asked an insane question even I couldn’t

remember at this time. Next, it was a fiasco, a total disaster. I suppose my mind was protect-
ing me from becoming insane out of sheer humiliation.

Comprehension
1. According to the paragraph, what is the girl like?
2. In what aspects is the writer attracted by her?
3. What is the writer’s problem?

Questions
1. Tell me about your first date.
2. How did you feel at that time?
3. What are you attracted by when you meet a woman or man?

4. Have you ever been tongue-tied? If so, when was it?

Vocabulary & Expressions
muster : to try to find as much courage, support, etc. as you can in order to do something difficult
coward : someone who is not at all brave
eloquent : able to express your ideas and opinions well, especially in a way that influences people
brag : to talk too proudly about what you have done, what you own, etc.
shred : a small thin piece that is torn or cut roughly from something
varsity : the main team that represents a university
stagger : to walk or move unsteadily, almost falling over
incoherent : thought, ideas, etc. that are incoherent are very badly expressed or badly
arranged and are difficult to understand
fiasco : an event that is completely unsuccessful, very embarrassing or disappointing
sheer : luck, happiness, stupidity, etc. with no other feeling or quality mixed with it

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