Bruce and Beth Meet at College, Explained：try me

What's really going on

Underneath the book talk, both are performing a version of themselves. One hides where he's really from, then declares he'll decide who he is: 'instead of letting other people dictate who I am' — a manifesto disguised as small talk, which the other instantly pricks with 'Other people or facts, apparently.' The favorite-author lists work as a personality test: women on one side, men on the other, each noticing. When the professor's name finally comes up, the banter turns into an opening — 'Would you mind introducing me to him?' — and the reply, 'Something tells me that you and I are gonna be spending a lot of time together,' makes the interest mutual and almost flirtatious.

Theme

このチャプターで学べること

• Use Do you mind if to ask for a seat
• Hear instead of letting as refusing a label
• Catch the jab in Other people or facts
• Use Something tells me for a hunch
• Soften a favor with Would you mind

発音のポイント

• mind if I — liaison
• never heard of — liaison
• want to take — elision