节目资讯
刊物:美国行
日期:2009-07-24
难易度:Low
关键字:hectic, ATM, automated teller machine, manners, st
(Music).
Hi, friends.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to study English with us.
Well, drive-thrus are an American institution.
This month in our American Culture Corner, we’re looking at all of the things
you can do at a drive-thru without ever leaving your car.
For example, you can buy food, do your banking and pick up some medicine at the
pharmacy.
What else can you do?
Let’s listen in on Jack and Laura’s conversation after we become familiar with
our next two key words.
The first is hectic, as in:
Mary’s hectic day included going to five meetings and having four interviews.
Next is the acronym:
ATM,
which, if you remember, stands for automated teller machine.
Our example sentence for ATM reads:
You can use your bank card or credit card to get cash from an ATM.
OK.
Conversation A begins at the top of the right-hand column on page forty-eight.
A Car Drives Through It.
Conversation A.
Let’s go through the drive-thru at McDonald’s today.
Why?
Because it’s July 24.
So?
It’s National Drive-Thru Day!
You’re kidding.
No, I’m not.
Just think how much more hectic our lives would be without drive-thrus.
I suppose so.
I use the ATM in the drive-thru at the bank a lot.
Me too.
But did you know there’s a drive-thru convenience store in Missouri?
And there is a drive-thru check-in at Hawaiian Airlines in Hawaii.
That’s crazy!
It is.
You can even get married at a drive-thru chapel in Las Vegas.
No thanks.
That’s one thing you should get out of the car to do!
Hi, friends.
I’m Chip.
And I’m Rachel. And we’re so glad you join... joined us for our second day of
our American Culture Corner lesson.
We’ve been talking about drive-thrus.
Uh, T-H-R-U.
And we’ve been mentioning that these are so easy.
They’re convenient.
And if you don’t want to get out of your car but you need coffee or fast food or
medicine,
then you can just go through a drive-thru in America and get what you need in a
matter of minutes.
And it’s very appropriate that we are talking about drive-thrus today because
actually, today is America’s National Drive-Thru Day.
So you have joined us a very special day.
I didn’t even realize this was a holiday before I... I read this lesson.
But how exciting it is National Drive-Thru Day.
And if you have the chance to go through a drive-thru, well, then we encourage
you to do that.
Let’s look at our conversation right now.
Again, it’s between Jack and Laura. And this gives us a chance to look at some
dialogue about the subject we’re talking about.
What does Laura say to Jack?
Well, Laura says:
Hey, let’s go through the drive-thru at McDonald’s today.
And maybe Jack doesn’t totally understand why she would want to go through the
drive-thru at McDonald’s today, so he says:
Why?
Well, Laura says it’s because it’s July 24.
Mm.
But Jack still doesn’t get it.
He says:
So?
What’s the big deal about July 24?
And Laura answers him again:
It’s National Drive-Thru Day!
And what is Jack’s response to that?
You’re kidding.
Or...
And I... I think I would have a similar response as Jack had.
You’re kidding.
That means:
Uh, are... are you serious?
There’s such a thing as National Drive-Thru Day?
Well, you know, Chip, what’s kind of funny is there’s pretty much a holiday
every day of the year in America.
I once saw this calendar where there’s National Ice Cream Day, National Peanut
Butter Day, National Hug-Your-Pet Day.
And somebody is come up with these fun national holidays.
Of course they’re not celebrated like a true national holiday like Valentine’s
Day or Easter,
but they are kind of fun, special days.
And occasionally, restaurants or certain businesses will offer special
promotions or deals on these fun holidays.
Yeah. I need to find out when National Ice Cream Day is. That sounds like one I
need to celebrate.
I know it’s sometime in the summer.
You can probably look it up online.
But again, this is fun.
And Jack thinks she is just kidding.
But she’s not.
She says:
No, I’m not.
And what did she continue to say about drive-thrus?
Well, she explains how valuable drive-thrus have been to us.
And she says:
Just think about how much more hectic our lives would be without drive-thrus.
Now that word hectic uh, can mean uh...
Well, that’s one of our vocabulary words.
And it uh, often means crazy.
Or if your life is hectic, that means it’s full of business and craziness.
That maybe causes some stress or confusion or frustration.
So her point is:
If we didn’t have drive-thrus, our lives would be even more hectic than they
already are.
They’d be even more busy or crazy.
And Jack thinks about that for a second and says:
I suppose so.
I use the ATM in the drive-thru at the bank a lot.
So we talked about banks last time.
And we learned that often you can go through the drive-thru and exchange your
money um, deposit money, withdraw money.
But also you can use an ATM in the drive-thru.
And that word ATM uh, stands for an automated teller machine,
and that ”automated” is uh, very close to the word ”automatic” that we learned
yesterday.
Uh, that means it happens automatically.
You drive up, you put your card into the ATM, you push some buttons, and then
you will get cash out of your bank account.
Now you might wonder:
Why don’t Americans just walk to the ATM?
But in America, it’s... it’s much different than in Asia.
You can walk to a lot of places in Asia simply in your neighborhood.
But in America, you might have to drive thirty minutes sometimes to get
somewhere,
to like a mall or to... even to a grocery store if you live out in the country.
So it’s very convenient if you don’t always have to get out of your car,
if you can just drive through one of these uh, places like at a bank.
Now Laura mentions also a couple of other drive-thrus that are worthy of
mention.
And they are... they’re kind of fun.
What does she talk about in Missouri?
Well, she knows about a drive-thru convenience store in Missouri.
And she also mentions a drive-thru check-in at Hawaiian Airlines in Hawaii.
So a drive-thru check-in, uh, that’s... that would be pretty handy, I think,
where you can get your boarding passes and maybe uh, deliver your bags, is that
right?
I think so.
Basically you check in to ride the airplane and you don’t even have to get out
of your car until it’s time to board the plane.
So those are a couple of other drive-thru examples.
Jack thinks that’s a little bit crazy.
But wait till he hears her next idea.
What is the craziest of all about these drive-thrus?
Well, if that’s crazy, uh, she mentions that you can even get married at a
drive-thru in Las Vegas, Nevada,
in Las Vegas, in... in America.
Now getting married in a drive-thru, that seems a little extreme.
It is a drive-thru chapel,
which is like a... a very... a small church,
but still not even having to get out of your car.
Jack says:
No thanks.
That’s one thing you should get out of your car to do.
Well, hopefully, this gives you something to talk about.
These are some fun places, some fun drive-thrus in America.
But right now we need to take a break, visit the Chat Room,
and then we’ll be back with the rest of our conversation.
Welcome to the Chat Room.
I’m Ken.
And I’m Doris.
In conversation A, Laura and Jack discuss drive-thrus in America.
Now Laura mentions that one can get married at a drive-thru chapel in Las Vegas.
Is that really true, Doris?
Well, Las Vegas is not a typical American city.
So many unusual things take place there.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if people can get married at a drive-thru chapel in
Las Vegas.
But I don’t really quite understand Jack’s response. He says:
No thanks.
Usually we say no thanks when we’re trying to be polite to people when they
offer us something we don’t want, right?
Right.
But here Laura is not really offering anything to him.
That’s right.
It’s not like she’s proposing to Jack.
No.
That would be quite interesting when a woman pops the question.
Uh, pop the question?
Well, that’s just an informal way of saying ”to propose”.
When you pop the question, you ask someone:
Will you marry me?
Ah, I see.
(Chinese).
So if Laura is not popping the question, why does Jack answer ”No thanks”?
Well, here Jack is saying ”No thanks” to the idea of getting married at a
drive-thru chapel.
That’s something he would never do.
So he says:
No thanks.
Sometimes we might hear people say:
Thanks, but no thanks,
which has the same meaning.
OK.
(Chinese).
Well, I don’t think anyone would say ”No thanks” to a short break, so let’s take
one right now.