Life Is Like a Cup of Coffee

Short stories are one of the most pleasant ways to build your English. You get vocabulary in context, a clear storyline to follow and a message worth remembering. Read the story below, then check the words to remember and listen to the recording.

The story

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass and crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite. He told them to help themselves.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup itself doesn't add to the quality of the coffee, and in some cases it even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, yet you consciously went for the best looking cups."

Then he began eyeing everyone's cups. With compassion, he added: "Life is like coffee. The jobs, the money and the position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change, the quality of the Life we live. While you pursue the fine cups, be sure to keep your focus on enjoying the coffee!"

Words to remember

• •alumni: former students of a school or university
• •to turn into: to change and become something else
• •exquisite: extremely beautiful and delicate
• •consciously: deliberately, knowing what you are doing
• •compassion: a feeling of sympathy and care for someone
• •to pursue something: to try hard to achieve or get something