When Effort Feels Uneven

Dialogue script

Each entry shows the English sentence first, with the translation on the line below it. To practise speaking, cover the translation and repeat after the audio.

1. Emma 0:00

   Lately I plan every catch-up with Zoe, and I'm starting to feel more like a coordinator than a friend.

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2. Tom 0:06

   Has she always been passive, or has the imbalance become sharper only in the past year?

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3. Emma 0:12

   She's never been organized, but recently she replies late and forgets things I've told her.

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4. Tom 0:18

   So the difference may be partly style, but the degree of it seems to have changed.

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5. Emma 0:22

   Exactly, and I keep wondering whether I'm being unfair because I'm naturally more proactive than she is.

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6. Tom 0:30

   That's worth checking, because equal care does not always look like equal behavior.

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7. Emma 0:35

   True, but she also asks for help quickly and rarely follows up when something big happens to me.

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8. Tom 0:42

   That pattern goes beyond scheduling, since it suggests the emotional exchange may be one-directional too.

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9. Emma 0:48

   I want to raise it without turning five years of friendship into a full complaint list.

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10. Tom 0:53

    Then pick two clear examples and pair them with what you'd like to see going forward.

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11. Emma 0:58

    Maybe I ask her to initiate the next two plans and to check in after things I mention matter to me.

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12. Tom 1:05

    Specific requests land better than telling someone vaguely to become a better friend overnight.

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13. Emma 1:11

    If she tries, even imperfectly, I'll take that as habit needing adjustment rather than indifference.

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14. Tom 1:18

    And if she becomes defensive or changes nothing, you'll have stronger grounds for stepping back a little.

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15. Emma 1:23

    That feels fair, because I don't need symmetry in everything and only need some reciprocity.

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16. Tom 1:30

    Then the conversation becomes a test of willingness rather than a trial about the whole friendship.

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Native audio, line-by-line recording and pronunciation scoring for this dialogue are in the EngTalk app.

Key vocabulary

Content words from this dialogue, ranked by the CEFR level at which they appear across the whole 500-dialogue library. Function words and proper nouns are excluded.

• sharper /ˈʃɑrpər/ adjective

  more sharp

• forgets /fərˈɡɛts/ verb

  fails to remember something

• proactive /proʊˈæktɪv/ adjective

  acting early to control or improve a situation

• follows /ˈfɑloʊz/ verb

  goes after or acts according to something

• one-directional /ˌwʌn dəˈrɛkʃənəl/ adjective

  moving or working in only one direction.

• initiate /ɪˈnɪʃiˌeɪt/ verb

  to start something

• tries /traɪz/ verb

  attempts to do something

• imperfectly /ɪmˈpɝfɪktli/ adverb

  not perfectly

• needing /ˈnidɪŋ/ verb

  requiring something

• grounds /ɡraʊndz/ noun

  reasons or evidence supporting an action or belief

• symmetry /ˈsɪmətri/ noun

  balanced similarity between parts

• reciprocity /ˌrɛsəˈprɑsəti/ noun

  mutual exchange or cooperation

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