节目资讯
刊物:生活知识家
日期:2009-03-19
难易度:Medium
关键字:download, get the ball rolling, access, on the go,
(Music).
Welcome, everyone, to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for taking the time out of your day to join us today and study English.
The next time you’re in a public place,
take a look around and count how many people have earphones stuck in their ears.
Most likely, they’re listening to the radio, their favorite music or a podcast.
What’s great about podcasts?
Is that you can listen to what you want, when you want?
Let’s start the lesson with a very important word.
The verb:
download,
as in:
Michael downloaded a software program so he could type in Japanese.
Next is the idiom:
get the ball rolling.
Our example sentence reads:
Once we hired a new co-worker, we got the ball rolling on this project.
Let’s get the ball rolling now as we begin the reading on page thirty-five.
Please follow along in the left-hand column as we read.
Podcasting Power.
Listen to your favorite programs anywhere.
Grab your MP3 player, head outdoors and tune in to your favorite radio program
you missed this morning.
How is this possible?
You’ve downloaded the podcast.
The word podcast combines iPod and broadcast.
This combination reveals what podcasts are:
broadcasts you can listen to on an iPod or other MP3 player.
MTV video jockey Adam Curry and software developer Dale Winer got the ball
rolling in two thousand four.
Curry wrote a computer program that automatically downloaded online broadcasts
to his iPod.
Other people also wrote software, websites began hosting podcast programs,
and podcasting (the online broadcasting of podcasts) developed.
(Music).
Welcome to Sudio Classroom, friends.
I’m Chelsea.
And I’m Chip.
And I’m Rachel.
And I love today’s lesson because we’re talking about Podcasting Power.
And I happen to be a big fan of podcasts.
In fact, I must confess I’ve probably listen from uh, anywhere from one to two
hours of podcasts a day on my iPod.
Let’s jump right into the text.
The very first line says:
Grap your MP3 player, head outdoors and tune in to your favorite radio program
that you missed this morning.
That sounds great to me.
I think I would like to do that.
But how is that possible?
Well, it’s possible if you’ve downloaded a podcast or downloaded your favorite
program which has been a podcast.
And that word ”podcast” is a combination of two words, isn’t it?
It sure is.
It’s a combination of the words iPod and broadcast.
So we’re going to be using that word a lot.
We’re going to use the word ”podcast,” and we’re also going to use the word
”download”.
So let’s not skip over that too quickly.
That is one of our vocabulary words.
And Chelsea, what does it mean if we download something?
Well, download is a verb, and it means to load information from the Internet
onto your own computer.
And we use it all the time when we’re talking about working on a computer.
Sure.
I have downloaded software from the Internet onto my computer.
I’ve downloaded videos and pictures and podcasts onto my computer.
Me too.
So again, you download the podcast and that... that word podcast does reveal
what podcasts are.
They are broadcasts you can listen to on an iPod or... an... another MP3 player.
Probably a lot of you are already doing this.
You are downloading programs onto your MP3 player so you can listen to them
anytime.
And this podcasting is a very smart, intelligent way of getting information out
there to people,
and a very efficient and useful way of getting the information from the
Internet.
Now we had two men who started this back in two thousand four,
which is five years ago.
Our text tells us that Adam Curry, an MTV video jockey, and software developer
Dale Winer got the ball rolling in two thousand four.
”Got the ball rolling” is an interesting idiom that we like to use.
Rachel, what does that mean?
Well, if you get the ball rolling, then you start something; you begin
something.
You are the one who puts it into motion,
and then everybody else uh, gets excited about the idea and takes it from there.
But these two were kind of the brains behind this idea.
I like how one was an MTV video jockey and the other was a software developer,
because it shows us they were two very different people.
So it looks like Adam Curry was a video jockey or a person who controlled the
movements of the videos on music television, MTV.
And Curry wrote a software program that automatically downloaded these programs
onto his iPod.
Very intelligent guy.
It sounds like it.
Now it also goes on to say that other people also wrote software and websites
began hosting podcast programs.
Hosting or holding or using their websites to broadcast these podcasts.
And podcasting, the online broadcasting of podcasts developed. Now it sounds
like we have a lot of uh, tongue twisters there.
But basically what we’re trying to say is these guys got the ball rolling.
Other people saw the potential in this.
And the websites began hosting the programs.
And people began realizing you can go to a website and download the podcast.
And I really think this whole podcasting thing has really taken off.
Now Rachel, you said that you really enjoy listening to podcasts.
What are some types of podcasts that you enjoy?
Well, I listen to a lot of news, American news.
I listen to uh, some radio program, some shows in the morning that I used to
listen to in American.
And I listen to uh, religious programs, all sorts of things,
even uh, some that are helpful for people with children or people and families.
Mmhm. I do a little bit of podcasting myself.
I download them onto my iPod.
Or sometimes I just listen to them from my computer,
uh, maybe teachings on uh, Chinese language or even some religious programming,
some religious teachings.
I find them very interesting.
The very few podcasts that I’ve listened to, I’ve enjoyed very much.
And now that I’m learning more about podcasting here today, I think that I’ll go
home and download some podcasts on my computer.
Good idea.
And I know for a lot of you out there who enjoy learning English, there are so
many to help you with the English language.
There are even podcasts for native English speakers who want to improve their
own English.
There is something for everyone.
Well, we have much more to learn about.
But right now we need to take a break.
First let’s watch today’s skit.
Ha... Oh, that’s funny!
Why are you laughing?
What’s so funny?
Huh?
Oh, I’m listening to the HAHA funny radio show.
It always makes me laugh.
Huh?
But that program was already on.
You missed it.
Yes. So I downloaded the podcast.
Podcast?
What’s that?
Take the word ”iPod” plus the word ”broadcast” then you get ”podcast”:
a broadcast you can listen to anytime on your iPod or MP3 player.
You can do that?
Sure.
A software developer started accessing and collecting broadcasts in two thousand
four.
That’s what got the ball rolling.
So I can listen to my favorite shows anytime?
That’s right.
You can listen to other podcasts too.
News, comedy shows, all sorts of programs.
That’s amazing.
You can podcast your own programs too.
So how do I download?
Do I need to subscribe?
How can I listen on the go?
Uh, ask me later.
Right now I’m listening to mypodcast... Hahahaha.....!