A: Hey. How are things lately?

B: Not great. I’ve been in the doghouse lately with my girlfriend.

A: Again? What’s wrong this time?

B: She’s impossible. She gets mad at me over nothing. Last night she yelled at me because I came home 5 minutes late after hanging out with my friends. The other day she got really mad because I forgot to put the orange juice back in the fridge. It’s one petty argument after another.

A: It sounds to me like something else is bothering her. I’m sure she’s been bottling up a bigger problem.

B: That’s what I thought but every time I ask her she says that everything is fine.

A: I wouldn’t believe that so easily if I were you. I’ve had the same experience with different girlfriends in the past. They told me that nothing was wrong for months, and then all of a sudden, they wanted to break up.

B: What do you think the real reason was?

A: Later I found out that they were all mad at me because they thought that I cared about my friends more than I cared about them. They would all get mad at me for totally unrelated small things like forgetting to wash the dishes after dinner. Then instead of talking about the real problem, we’d just fight about the dishes. While I was in the relationship I was totally oblivious to what was actually going on.

B: What do you think I should do about it?

A: Well, if you care about this girl, I suggest that you take her to a nice quiet restaurant where there are no distractions. Try to make her feel comfortable opening up to you. When the time is right, ask her what is really bothering her. If you force her to talk, she’ll probably just put up a wall and you’ll never find out.

B: Thanks for the advice. I’ll try that.

Vocabulary

She’s impossible: If you say that someone is “impossible” it means that this person is

“very difficult to reason with”. It is very hard to reach an agreement with this person,

and they don’t seem to listen to any logic.

Paul: So, what are you up to today, tim?

Tim: I don’t know

Paul: Let’s go outside for a walk

Tim: It’s too cold outside

Paul: OK, then let’s stay in and watch a movie

Tim: uh, that’s too boring.

Paul: Dude, you are just being impossible right now.

Mission impossible

It’s impossible to predict the future.

It’s impossible to solve these math problems.

Petty argument: A petty argument is being in an argument about something that is not important at all. Sometimes when couples fight, they fight about petty things instead of talking about the real problems of the relationship.

Bottling up: If you “bottle something up” it means that you are angry or upset about something, but you are keeping this feeling inside and not telling anyone about it. It’s unhealthy to bottle up your emotions, and when you finally let your feelings out they are much stronger than before.

Oblivious: If you are “oblivious to something” it means that you are totally unaware of it. He thinks that people are looking at him because he’s handsome, but he’s totally oblivious to the fact that the only reason people are looking at him is because he is wearing his shirt backwards.

Distractions: A distraction is something that causes you to waste time or keep you from focusing on what you should do. Someone might have a hard time working in their home because there are too many distractions. The internet, the TV, and the telephone can all be distractions. If you want to have a serious conversation with someone, it is a good idea to go to a place with no distractions.