English Conversation Questions

Life

Questions

1. Do you enjoy life?
2. What life-changing moments have you had in your life?
3. Do you ever feel you have wasted your life?
4. What is the meaning of life?
5. What’s your biggest goal in life?
6. What word would you use to sum up your life?
7. Who has been your biggest influence in life?
8. What will life be like fifty years from now?

Videos

Ric Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? At TED, he tells his story publicly for

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the first time.

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Category:  Psychology
Keywords: Accidents | Learning | Life | Planes
As dawn breaks over a moveable city of ten thousand yurts, Queen Boraqchin readies her kingdom for departure to their summer camping grounds. While her husband, the grandson of Genghis Khan, is out raiding, she

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juggles the duties of managing flocks, family and a city of thousands. Anne F. Broadbridge outlines a day in the life of a Mongolian queen.

Lesson by Anne F. Broadbridge, directed by Els Decaluwe.

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Category:  History & Culture
Keywords: Countryside | Life
The year is 15 CE, and the Roman Empire is prospering. Most of the credit will go to the emperor, but this success wouldn’t have been possible without loyal soldiers like Servius Felix. Robert Garland illuminates what life was

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like for a solider in the Roman army.

Lesson by Robert Garland, animation by Brett Underhill.

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Category:  History & Culture
Keywords: History | Life | Retirement

We spend a little too much time worrying about how we must appear in the minds of others. However, the poignant, useful truth is that almost everyone doesn’t care at all about who we are, what we’re doing and how we’ve messed up.

Category:  Psychology
Keywords: Life | Worry

The legendary boxer Muhammad Ali shares some of the wisdom that he has acquired.

Category:  Psychology | Sports
Keywords: Life | Retirement | Time
Follow a queen fire ant as she builds a colony, protects it from neighboring ant armies and fends off would-be usurpers vying for her throne.

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In the spring, just after a heavy rainfall, male and female fire ants swarm the skies for a day of romance, known as the nuptial flight. Thousands of reproduction-capable ants take part in a mating frenzy, and for one successfully mated female, her work is only beginning. Walter R. Tschinkel details how the new queen builds a colony and protects it from neighboring ant armies.

Lesson by Walter R. Tschinkel, directed by Lisa Vertudaches.

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Category:  Nature & Environment
Keywords: Insects | Life
Vox

Where you were born makes all the difference.

Category:  Science
Keywords: Death | Life | Lifespan
New videography techniques have opened up the oceans’ microscopic ecosystem, revealing it to be both mesmerizingly beautiful and astoundingly complex. Marine biologist Tierney Thys has used footage from

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a pioneering project to create a film designed to ignite wonder and curiosity about this hidden world that underpins our own food chain.

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Category:  Nature & Environment
Keywords: Fish | Life | Oceans
Our culture is obsessed with happiness, but what if there’s a more fulfilling path? Happiness comes and goes, says writer Emily Esfahani Smith, but having meaning in life — serving something beyond yourself and developing

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the best within you — gives you something to hold onto. Learn more about the difference between being happy and having meaning as Smith offers four pillars of a meaningful life.

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Category:  Psychology
What if Andy Warhol had it wrong, and instead of being famous for 15 minutes, we’re only anonymous for that long? In this short talk, Juan Enriquez looks at the surprisingly permanent effects of digital sharing on our personal

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privacy. He shares insight from the ancient Greeks to help us deal with our new “digital tattoos.”

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Category:  Technology

Vocabulary:
cove
secluded
float
shore
anchor
lighthouse
greenhouse
handsaw
hammer
power tool
nail
board (noun)
ton
land sick
biomass
canoe
paddle
real estate
prosper
fulfilled

Expressions:
subsistence living
hon

Vocabulary:
word
word
word
word
word
word
word
word
word

Expressions:
expression
expression
expression
expression

Vocabulary:
prestigious
involuntary
swindler
fraudulence
unwarranted
concern
unfounded
impostor
syndrome
faculty
pervasive
prevalent
disproportionately
underrepresented
downplay
abnormality
self-esteem
spiral
accolade
threshold
susceptible
voice (verb)
peer
dismiss
excel
ease
mentor
competence
banish
frank

Expressions:
nagging doubt
shake a feeling
put something to rest
surefire way

Vocabulary:
filmmaker
principle
handcuff
clown
distill
underdog
aspect
familiar
unfamiliar
chopsticks
keyboard
organic
grounded
clarity
stuntman
steady
gag
perfectionist
rhythm
distinct
continuity
elbow
bunch
flail around
unlike
invincible
impressive
humanize
asset
payoff
relentlessness
finale

Expressions:
kick ass
going above and beyond
get smacked in the face
sell a joke

Vocabulary:
explosion
smoke (noun)
engine
unique
pilot
route
unemotional
terror
instant
reach out (to someone)
postpone
urgency
purpose
regret
humanity
ego
reflect
eliminate
frame (verb)
artistic
talent
bawl
miracle

Expressions:
bucket list
brace for impact
mend fences
make sense
connecting dots