EY Y01 L37 Bad Habits

  1. There are many bad habits of other people that annoy us when walking on the street, sharing a train, driving in our cars or when we are at work. Tell me one using the pattern "I hate it when....".
  2. What, if anything, do you do when someone does this?
  3. We all have bad habits ourselves that we are not proud of. These include snacking too often, smoking, binge drinking, being idle around the house, being messy, being late, being disorganized, being too loose with money, being curt with strangers, putting others down, ignoring family members and eating things that taste good but may ultimately be hurting us. Tell us about a bad habit you have.
  4. How, when and why did you pick up this bad habit?
  5. How have you tried to beat this habit? Is it something you can beat?
  6. Tell us about a bad habit you have made someone lessen or quit (a friend, spouse, colleague, sibling or son/daughter). Were you successful by carrot* or by stick** or by a combination of both?
*carrot=誘因、動因、インセンティブ, **stick=意欲をそぐ、行動を妨げる、阻害要因、脅迫、脅し、罰すること、処罰されていること

Question 1

I hate it when I see people litter. I was walking home from the train station last week and I saw someone throw a huge bag of trash next to the Yamatagawa river. He was on his bike, so he obviously lives in my neighborhood. I don't understand how people can do this.

Question 2

I usually don't say anything, but I said to him "Is that trash"! Really! I think that he was embarassed, but he didn't pick up the trash.

Question 3

I would say being loose with money and not being able to save money are my biggest bad habits.

Question 4

I think it started when I was around 12 years old. I used to deliver newspapers for my first job. Friday was when I collected the delivery fee from my customers. I would pass the convenience store on my route and would often spend some of the money before I got home.

Question 5

I have tried to open a seperate savings account, but I always end up spending the money that I trid to save. An unexpected expense or a credit card bill always comes up.

Question 6

I remember that my dad started smoking again after he had quit for many years. He would hide it from me. He went to the local coffee shop to smoke. My friend from school worked there. She said to me one day "I didn"t know that your dad smoked". I said "I didn't either". I confronted my dad and said "You shouldn't smoke". He quit again soon after.

Tough Vocabulary

- English - - Japanese -
embarassed 恥ずかしい
confronted 直面した
unexpected 予想外