93. An Eye-Opener – Learn English Idioms with Videos

If you were rich and successful, would you be willing to give it all up to live a simple but happy life with few possessions? If so, you may be interested in watching this short documentary about a wealthy doctor who did exactly that (Slomo: The Man Who Skated Right Off the Grid). He gave up his highly-paid career as a surgeon to follow his passion and he now spends his days rollerskating along the beach! The documentary about his life is a real eye-opener!

Watch Dara’s video below for more examples of this idiom in use.

Learn English - Everyday Idioms #93. An Eye-Opener

Transcript

An eye-opener? That sounds like a device for torture! Ugh!

No! An eye-opener is an experience or thing that gives you a new, sudden, deeper understanding about something.

Let’s make this clearer by looking at a few examples:

• I had always thought I was quite poor, but then I visited Cambodia, and I learned what real poverty is like. It was a real eye-opener for me.
• These statistics are an eye-opener. The world has lost 30% of its arable land in the last 40 years. We need to make the environment our number one priority.
• The movie “Supersize Me” was a real eye-opener for me. After watching it, I cut down on the amount of fast food I ate.

So, there we have it. I hope this video has been an eye-opener for you!

Practice

Can you write your own sentences using today’s idiom? Use the prompts below to help you.

• Have you ever watched a movie or read a history book that taught you something surprising about the past? What did you learn?
• On your last vacation, did you find out something interesting about the local culture or country you visited?
• Were you shocked by any statistics or figures shared by experts on the news recently? Explain.
• Have you ever visited a place to learn how a product was made? For example, you may have taken a tour of a craft workshop, a brewery, a farm, or a factory. How did you feel about the experience?

We hope you now feel confident using today’s idiom. Let us know if you have any questions, and share your examples on our Facebook page.

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