It’s the midterms! This week’s show is about people changing their minds and not changing their minds — and the people trying to do the persuading. Start a Life Partners free trial to watch our new video, A Night of Stories and Improv. (00:00:00) Prologue: In Detroit, Rose Johnson tries to convince other Black voters to vote for Abdul El-Sayed. Her friend isn’t having it. (7 minutes) (00:07:30) Act One: In Montana's Senate race this year, Democrats have been caught up in a messy cloak-and-dagger fight, with longtime big-name Democrats not endorsing their own nominee...
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Is this episode right for you?
B1 · Intermediate
Fine if you can follow simple news
- 91% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 161 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
- 210 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
Transcript
The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.
harder words (B2+)
On the next through line from NPR, the surprising story behind the discovery of insulin, led by a failed Canadian surgeon. The best way to describe it would be a reluctant hero. It's a story rife with personal grudges and many, many dogs.
Listen to NPR's through line in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbeeped in today's episode of the show. If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org. So sure, over $11 billion is being spent on advertising for the election next week.
But of course, in addition to the ads, there are still human beings out there in this election trying to persuade the old-fashioned way, person to person, in one-on-one conversations. Which is where you really see what people are made of and how they're deciding who they're going to vote for.
That was the opening. The rest of the episode (60 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.
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