IS12. $ 201.000 Phone Bill

Дата публикации: Oct 25, 2015 8:14:35 AM

Transript

R: Selina has five brothers and sisters but two of her brothers are very special.

S: They both are mute, deaf, no sound, no nothing. They can't make sounds but they can talk

R: Both guys are born deaf. Shamir is the younger one and Selina is especially close to him.

S: He's a sweetheart and he goes to college and so.. I do anything for him.

R: Since Shamir is in colledge and he doesn't work , Selina got him a phone and put it on her plan. In last month she got their phone bill.

S: Yes, two hundred and one thousand dollars. Over two hundred and one thousand dollars

R: This is a two hundred and one thousand dollars phone bill on in fourty-three pages. When Shamir saw it, he couldn't believe .. run it up.

S: He just spent two weeks in Canada there's no way .. the high and he was in shock. It was like no way.

R: Shamir had been on vacation in Canada where he didn't turn his data roaming off. Texting over two thousand times and using the phone to download videos run in this charge for 18 hundred dollars. This one for 13 hundred dollars . This one for twenty-five hundred dollars. On, on and on.

S: You leaved it on, when you go to see movies and delivered on or you off it? On? Apparently he's using it for internet and I don't know how to .. these guys .. high

R: Since Shamir is on Selina's phone plan, two hundred and one thousand dollars bill is her responsibility. But she says, paying it - is impossible.

S: ... .. never get paid, I can't paid that. That is like paying for .. my house now, based on what the house is going for.

R: She wondered why the phone company should not told her that the bill was blowing up.

S: I want .. me as a .. holder ... and they say, you know, we respect your privacy. What privacy that's my account!

R: Now she's faced with this. A phone bill very few people could pay in a life time. Much less on ..

S: Oh, my God. My future is done. That's it. That I like to think about. Oh my. That's it, my life is over and I can do nothing. It's done.

R: Well, How the data roaming charges can serve you out to the country but legaly the company has to notify that your bill is breaking of ...

Lawyer (Howard Finkelstein): No, they do not. Their job is to provide their service and bill you accurately. If you intentionaly or, as in this case, accidently run up the huge bill, legaly, you have to pay for it.

R: When they contacted T-mobile, it gave them an enourmous credit they were resonable. They wrote that Shamir was billed 10 dollars per megabyte. They say that rate was texted to him and four additional text were sent to his phone as the charges soared. T-mobile then did what they legaly didn't have to do. They lowered Celina's phone bill from two hundred and one thousand dollars to twenty-five hundred dollars and even gave her six months to pay that bill. Celina still has a big phone bill and even bigger story to tell people who all say the same thing when she tells them about two hundred and one thousand dollars bill.

S: You're joking, right?

R: It's no joke, but fortunately the bill is the whole life lo... You're welcome, Shamir.

Wordlist

Deaf BrE /def/ ; NAmE /def/ - physically unable to hear anything or unable to hear well [↪ hearing impaired]

Mute BrE /mjuːt/ ; NAmE /mjuːt/ - someone who is mute does not speak, or refuses to speak[= silent]

Charge - the amount of money you have to pay for goods or services

charge noun BrE /tʃɑːdʒ/ ; NAmE /tʃɑːrdʒ/ (money) [countable, uncountable] charge (for something) the amount of money that somebody asks for goods and services

We have to make a small charge for refreshments.

admission charges

Delivery is free of charge.

To notify - to formally or officially tell someone about something [= inform]

Accurately - correctly and truly in every detail

Intentionally - done deliberately and usually intended to cause harm

to soar verb BrE /sɔː(r)/ ; NAmE /sɔːr/ = [intransitive] if the value, amount or level of something soars, it rises very quickly, synonym rocket

soaring costs/prices/temperatures

Air pollution will soon soar above safety levels.

Unemployment has soared to 18%.

see sore vs. soar vs. sour (homonyms)

rocket verb BrE /ˈrɒkɪt/ ; NAmE /ˈrɑːkɪt/ [intransitive] (+ adv./prep.) to increase very quickly and suddenly, synonym shoot up

rocketing prices

Unemployment has rocketed up again.

The total has rocketed from 376 to 532.

Sales have rocketed by 213 percent.

They were forced to move out because of the rocketing crime rate.

way out = выход из положения

Comprehension Check

1. How big is Celina’s family? Why are 2 members very special?

2. What way out did she find for Shamir in order to be able to communicate with others and get new information?

3. What problem did it cause?

4. Why did it happen? Whose responsibility is it? Can she pay?

5. Does the company have to inform the clients when the bills are blowing up?

6. How does she comment on it?

7. What favor did the company do for the family?

8. What is the people’s reaction when they hear about this misfortune from Celina?