Shadowing Practice: My Millionaire Parents Adopted a Spoiled Brat - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hi, I'm Kate from New York, and this is my story.

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I was born to the CEOs of a multi -million dollar aerospace company.

I grew up with everything a kid could want, and then some.

But I was practically raised by my nannies since my parents were always busy.

They tried to make time for me, but I didn't really have their attention.

And I craved it.

I think that's why I was in such a hurry to start talking.

I was forming my first words when I was only one, and by the time I was two, I could speak short sentences.

And once I started talking properly, a rocket couldn't have stopped me.

How was your first day of school, honey?

Oh, it was so good.

I felt kind of scared,

but then the teacher with the black hair and the green eyes and the big ears came and took me to class,

and my classroom was so nice and it's all yellow and there was 20, no, 21, no, wait, no, 20 kids and they're all my friends.

That's because I gave them all markers and my first class was about alphabets

and it was boring and then I saw a boy's butt crack

and I started laughing at it and Zitra looked mad but then...

Sweetie, that's lovely.

Why don't you just eat your food now?

I was at the best part, daddy.

Now I have to start again.

Okay, so my first day of school, I just had this need to interact with people.

I chatted to strangers in the park, at the grocery store, at the cinema.

When my friends came over for playdates, I had tried to make them stay as long as I possibly could.

But you haven't seen our basement yet.

It's really cool and I think it's haunted.

And you still haven't met my imaginary friends.

Okay, how about I show you my magic tricks?

I even talked to people in my sleep.

My parents found me exhausting and soon my teachers started complaining about my disruptive behavior in class.

I was tested for ADHD but there wasn't anything wrong with me.

She's very bright and just seeks attention a little more than other kids.

It's not uncommon in an only child and she'll grow out of it.

Do you spend quality time with her?

Well, we try, but we're very, very busy.

The doctor recommended some activities we could do together every day, but of course, my parents couldn't keep up.

Then one day when I was eight, my whole life changed.

I got home from school to find my parents in the

living room with a beautiful older girl who didn't look very happy.

Kate, we have some exciting news.

Come meet Lola.

She's 11, and she's your new sister.

She's my sister?

But I didn't see your tummy growing, Mom.

Where did she come from?

Why is she so big?

Why is her hair red?

Honey, she's our employee's daughter, and we've adopted her.

I'll explain to you later what that means.

Why don't you say hello and show her to her room?

Lola still hadn't spoken a word, but I talked nonstop as I took her hand and led her away.

And then she shut the door in my face.

She didn't even come down for dinner later.

My parents said she just needed time to adjust and I should give her space.

I tried really hard, but I just couldn't fall asleep and crept into her room.

I quietly opened the door and found her sitting next to a carton crying.

Lola, what's wrong?

Nothing.

I was just looking at some old things and it made me sad.

Ooh, space boots.

My dad got them for me when I was your age.

I always wanted to be an astronaut.

Well, you should.

It'll be so cool.

Yeah, but my dad won't be there to see me become one.

As the tears rolled down her cheeks, I suddenly hugged her tight and she didn't push me away.

I'll be there to see you take off on a rocket.

I'll always be there for you, Lola.

Lola smiled, then suddenly hopped onto the arm chair and held out a hand to me.

Want to take a closer look at the Milky Way?

Welcome aboard the North Star Express.

We imagined flying through the universe, dodging meteors and alien spaceships, and it was the best night of my life!

And I quickly grew to love Lola.

She had long red hair that she let me braid as much as I wanted.

She'd play with me whenever I asked, even if she was in the middle of something.

And soon, I became as obsessed with everything space -related as she was.

We both dressed up in matching

Princess Leia outfits that Halloween, and everyone in the neighborhood agreed we looked incredible.

Let's be Buzz Lightyear next time!

Sure thing!

Lola was an excellent student too, and she helped me with my studies.

But my teacher still complained about my behavior, and Lola had a solution for that too.

I used to get really scared of making speeches in class, so my dad showed me a trick.

I'd hold onto a penny so I could channel all my fear into it.

It totally works.

So whenever you feel the urge to talk during lessons, just hold onto this and channel all your energy into it,

and save all your stories for me.

My parents were so proud of my progress

and they adored lola life seemed perfect but then lola started high school

and everything started changing she cut her beautiful hair short

and changed her wardrobe and

when i asked her to do something with me she always had an excuse i have a club meeting after school.

I'm meeting up with a couple of friends.

I have a paper to finish.

Sorry.

On the weekends, she started interning at my parents' company, and we spent no time together.

But the perfect opportunity came on my 13th birthday

when my parents gifted me tickets to an amazing space park and even arranged a hotel stay for me and Lola.

100

I'd barely seen her at home lately, so the next day at school, I ran over to her at recess.

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Hey, Lola, guess what we're doing on my birthday?

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We're going to Space World, and we'll have the whole weekend to ourselves Woo -hoo!

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This weekend?

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I completely forgot it was your birthday.

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I'm going to a concert with my friends.

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What do you mean?

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It's my birthday.

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Well, we can do it another weekend.

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But how could you forget?

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If you won't come to Space World, then at least take me to the concert with you.

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No way.

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No toddlers allowed.

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Of course I'm not bringing her.

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We always spend our birthdays together, Lola.

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What's wrong with you?

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You've changed so much, and now, will you stop being a baby?

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The universe doesn't revolve around you.

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I have a life, and it doesn't have to include you all the time.

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Why can't you make friends of your own?

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You're being annoying.

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Lola had never spoken to me that way before, and I ran off before she could see my tears.

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I hid in the janitor's closet and was crying my eyes out, when suddenly, I jumped out of my skin.

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A boy from my class, Jamie, was sitting on a bucket and casually eating his lunch.

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What are you doing here?

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I could ask you the same thing.

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I'm crying, can't you see?

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I'm eating a sandwich.

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Can't you see?

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Do you want one?

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This is really not a good sandwich.

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Oh, I know that.

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And I have to eat two every day.

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My sister never eats her lunch because she hates it, and I don't want to hurt mom's feelings.

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But why are you hiding in the closet?

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Aren't you one of the cool skateboarding kids?

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Yeah, but I like being alone sometimes.

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I have three older sisters and the youngest one who practically lives in my room.

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She's so annoying.

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My house is almost empty and my sister's too busy for me.

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She's like you, I guess.

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She finds me annoying now.

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Yeah, so how about you back off a bit?

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And dude, your house sounds like heaven.

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Jamie and I became friends that day and soon I started inviting him over.

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We play video games and have arm wrestling matches.

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He even taught me how to skate.

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And maybe he was right.

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I just needed to give Lola some space to fix things between us.

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Except they got so much worse.

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Over a few months, Lola changed into this person I no longer recognized.

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She suddenly ended the internship, saying she didn't want to work at my parents' company anymore.

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One day, I walked past her room to see

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that she'd torn down her Neil Armstrong poster and replaced it with Justin Bieber.

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She was never home for dinner because she was out with her friends, and even her grades began to suffer.

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Late one night in ninth grade, when my parents were away, I woke up to some sound and spotted Lola outside in the garden,

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kissing a strange boy.

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I sneaked out to get a closer look, but then they both climbed onto his bike and left.

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I hopped onto my bicycle and pedaled fast to keep up.

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And to my surprise, they ended up outside my parents' company and then started putting on ski masks and gloves.

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We don't have a lot of time.

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The security guards will be coming by in an hour.

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I'll get you into the system, and you have to make sure the software is completely wrecked, okay?

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Are you sure about this?

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Yes, I'm sure.

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Okay, okay, just checking.

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It'll only take me 30 minutes, babe.

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Hold it.

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What do you think you're doing, Lola?

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Kate, did you follow me here?

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Yeah, and good thing I did.

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Are you insane?

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Why are you planning on wrecking our parents' software?

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Your parents are not my parents.

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And there are things you won't understand.

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I'm not a kid anymore, so try me.

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You wouldn't believe me if I did, but trust me, your parents deserve this.

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After adopting you and raising you as their own kid, they only adopted me to be your companion.

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They were too busy to deal with you themselves, so they dumped you on me.

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That's what I am?

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A burden you got dumped with?

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I thought I was your sister, and you've been my everything.

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I've always looked up to you, and now I don't even know who you are.

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I didn't ask you to make me your role model, and you're right.

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You don't know me.

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And you don't even know your parents.

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What do you mean?

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Please, Lola, let's just go home and talk, okay?

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I'm not letting you into that building anyway.

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I'll call security myself this minute if you try.

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Lola looked furious, then took her boyfriend's hand and left with him.

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Feeling shaken, I was riding back on my bicycle when I missed a speed breaker and went flying.

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My head hit the ground and everything went black.

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When I woke up, I was in the hospital with my parents, Lola, and Jamie in the room.

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Oh, thank God you're finally awake.

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We still can't believe that you went cycling out alone so late at - night if Lola hadn't found you.

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I looked over at Lola, sitting with her head hanging, and then she quietly left.

197

I was discharged soon from the hospital, and I knew I just had to talk to Lola soon.

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But the next morning when I went to her room, she was gone.

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My parents reported her missing to the police, and they searched high and low.

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But it seemed like she'd just vanished.

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Mom, Dad, why do you think she was so mad at you guys?

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You must have some idea.

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Sweetheart, we don't know, really.

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We'll find her, and whatever it is, we'll fix it.

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But months went by with no news, and I almost gave up hope.

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I even shut out Jamie, and my grades were falling rapidly.

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I just wanted to know if my sister was okay.

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One rainy day, I was walking out of a coffee shop

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when I spotted a girl with red hair getting onto a bus, and she turned her face just a little.

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Lola!

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I started running after the bus, calling her name, but it just kept going faster.

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Suddenly, I slipped on a puddle and landed on the pavement.

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I looked up to see the bus getting smaller in the distance, and my heart broke all over again.

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Just then, someone helped me up.

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It was Jamie.

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He pulled me into a hug, and I cried like a baby.

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The girl on the bus?

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That wasn't Lola.

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I got off that same bus, and I saw her too.

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It wasn't her.

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Do you think Lola's okay?

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Yeah, I think so.

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She's almost a grown -up, Kate.

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You can't find her because she doesn't want to be found yet.

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Till then, you can have all four of my sisters.

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I started hanging out with Jamie again, and slowly I started getting better.

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By the time we graduated high school, we'd started dating.

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I began my degree in astrophysics because I still wanted to be an astronaut, just like Lola and I had dreamt.

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My parents asked me to visit them one weekend at their office, and when I entered, I was completely shocked to see Lola inside.

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She looked thinner, but as beautiful as always.

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Kate, we were waiting for you to start.

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Lola is here because she's suing our company.

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Uh, what?

234

Why?

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Because your parents are responsible for what happened to my dad.

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What?

237

When I started working as an intern here, I wanted to know more about dad's accident at work.

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I looked into his records and realized that he'd been working 80 hours a week.

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Sometimes he'd work both day and night shifts.

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I'd hardly see him at home because you guys worked him so hard.

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You caused his heart attack.

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Lola, he never mentioned any medical condition in his records.

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and he requested to work overtime for extra money.

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It was his choice.

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But it's way beyond the legal limit, and you should have never allowed it.

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My parents stepped out of the room with their lawyer while my head was still spinning.

247

When they returned moments later, my dad spoke.

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We don't want to fight our daughter, and you're right, Lola.

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We never should have allowed that.

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We didn't realize the toll it might take on him.

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We'll pay whatever damages you've demanded, with our deepest apologies.

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And we can't replace your dad, but you will always have a family to come to if you want it.

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Lola teared up and left the room wordlessly, and I followed.

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No, you don't get to do that again.

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You're going to leave without even speaking to me?

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If only you talked before.

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I was so angry.

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I felt rage every time I thought about my dad and the life I never got to have with him.

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I don't want your parents' money.

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I just wanted to make them suffer, but I can see I've already done that.

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maybe it was nobody's fault.

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Just come home, please.

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I can't, but I'll make plans to see you in a few days.

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I promise.

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And she kept her word when she met me at a cafe a week later with a beautiful red -haired baby.

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Is this your daughter?

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Lola then told me that she'd moved to another town with her boyfriend, who she was still happily with,

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and she'd put herself through community college to study engineering and had also been working on the side.

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I was so driven to save up for a lawyer to fight your parents.

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And I've caused everyone so much pain.

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Most of all, you.

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I am so sorry.

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You are in pain yourself, Lola.

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Just come back and be an astronaut with me.

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I don't think that's my dream anymore, Kate.

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It hasn't been for a while.

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But I'm so proud that you're pursuing yours.

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And I'll be there to see you take off on a rocket.

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And I'll always be a part of your life.

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Four years later, I'm on my first mission to space.

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And my big sister's face is the proudest.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “My Millionaire Parents Adopted a Spoiled Brat”. This video has 281 sentences and 2774 words to shadow. The speech runs for 14:13. The speaker talks fast, about 195 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 43 of its 281 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
tear verb	/tɛɹ/	To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
rocket noun	/ˈɹɑk.ɪt/	A cylindrical projectile that can be fired to a great height through combustion, (specifically) a type of firework of this form, typically exploding with light…
adopt verb	/əˈdɑpt/	To take voluntarily (a child of other parents) to be in the place of, or as, one's own child.
astronaut noun	/ˈæstɹəˌnɔt/	A member of the crew of a spaceship or other spacecraft that travels beyond Earth's atmosphere, or someone trained to serve that purpose.
trick noun	/ˈtɹɪk/	Something designed to fool, dupe, outsmart, mislead or swindle.
suffer verb	/ˈsʌfɚ/	To undergo hardship.
hop noun	/hɒp/	A plant of species Humulus lupulus, native to northern Europe, female flowers of which are used to flavour many types of beer during brewing.
honey noun	/ˈhʌni/	A sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans.
complain verb	/kəmˈpleɪn/	To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
practically adverb	/ˈpɹæk.tɪ.k(ə.)li/	In practice; in effect or in actuality, though possibly not officially, technically, or legally.
quietly adverb	/ˈkwaɪ.ɪt.li/	Producing little or no noise.
closet noun	/ˈklɑzɪt/	A small room within a house used to store clothing, food, or other household supplies.
sandwich noun	/ˈsæn(d).wɪd͡ʒ/	A dish or foodstuff where at least one piece, but typically two or more pieces, of bread serves as the wrapper or container of some other food.
dump verb	/dʌmp/	To release, especially in large quantities and chaotic manner.
scare verb	/skɛɚ/	To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
keep up verb	To maintain; to preserve; to prevent from deteriorating or falling.
look up to verb	To show respect or admiration for (someone); to see (someone) as a role model.
back off verb	To move backwards away from something.
come back verb	To return to a place.
end up verb	To bring to a conclusion.
get off verb	To move from being on top of (something) to not being on top of it.
give up verb	To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone).
grow out of verb	To emerge from (something); to take a particular shape as a result of (something); to come to exist from (an origin).

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Why don't you just eat your food now?
Why can't you make friends of your own?
I'm crying, can't you see?
Aren't you one of the cool skateboarding kids?
You're going to leave without even speaking to me?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	haven't seen · haven't met · we've adopted
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was born · was practically raised · was tested

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 101 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thin /ˈθɪn/, ninth /naɪnθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shock /ʃɔk/, shake /ˈʃeɪk/, casually /ˈkæʒuəli/, internship /ˈɪntɜːnʃɪp/, vanish /ˈvænɪʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: practically /ˈpɹæk.tɪ.k(ə.)li/, apology /əˈpɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, imaginary /ɪˈmæd͡ʒɪˌn(ɛ)ɹi/, astrophysics /ˌæs.tɹoʊˈfɪz.ɪks/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like tear, rocket, adopt.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: My Millionaire Parents Adopted a Spoiled Brat - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?