节目资讯
刊物:旅游精选
日期:2009-07-02
难易度:High
关键字:peninsula, remainder, fortress, breathtaking, melt
(Music).
Hi, everyone.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
It’s really hard to define Europe using a single simple sentence.
It’s so diverse.
Consider the British isles to the west,
Scandinavia in the north,
and all the Slavic countries of the East.
Interestingly, our author today uses the same thing or says the same thing about
the Iberian Peninsula.
It, too, is hard to define because of its many different flavors and cultures.
Now before we go any further, we should look at our first key word which is part
of this lessen’s title.
It’s the word:
peninsula.
Our example sentence reads:
My grandparents live in Miami,
which is located at the southern end of the Florida peninsula.
Next is the noun:
remainder.
You can take three dozen cookies to school tomorrow,
and we’ll keep the remainder here at home.
OK. Let’s get into the reading now.
It starts on page fifteen in your magazines.
The Iberian Peninsula.
A world of cultures in one unique region.
Some say that Europe stops at the Pyrenees Mountains - the snow-capped mountain
range that acts like a natural fence separating France from the Iberian
Peninsula.
Even though the statement isn’t accurate,
visitors easily notice many features that make the Iberian Peninsula look and
feel different from its neighbors to the north.
Spain and Portugal comprise the majority of the peninsula, with Gibraltar,
Andorra and a small portion of France sharing the remainder.
As the crossroads of Africa and Europe,
the region has for centuries been a melting pot with many nations contributing
to the area’s interesting culture.
(Music).
Hello, everyone.
I’m Esther.
And I’m Chip.
And thanks for joining us today.
We’re looking at our TRAVEL article for this month.
And we’re going to be going to Europe.
Specifically we’re going to the Iberian Peninsula.
Now... peninsula is one of our first Word Bank words.
And a peninsula is a piece of land that is almost completely surrounded by
water.
Now an island is completely surrounded by water on all four sides.
But a peninsula is only surrounded by water on three sides.
So... Iberian Peninsula is in Europe.
It’s very close to Africa.
And we’re going to discover a world of cultures in this one unique region.
Now let’s jump in and see what our text says.
Our article starts off by saying that some say or some people say that Europe
stops at the Pyrenees Mountains,
or Europe uh, moves uh, west until it gets to the Pyrenees Mountain range and
then it stops.
And the Pyrenees Mountains are the snow-capped or the... the... the...
the snow-topped mountain range that acts like a natural fence or a... a natural
wall separating France from the Iberian Peninsula.
Now today we’ll be talking about France and Portugal and other countries.
So if you have your magazine open, turn to page fifteen,
and we have a very nice map for you that even shows you where the Iberian
Peninsula is located.
And you can see um, there where it says Andorra.
That’s where the Pyrenees Mountains would be separating France from the rest of
the Iberian Peninsula.
And even though Europe doesn’t actually stop at the Pyrenees,
um, visitors easily notice the difference between uh, the culture in the Iberian
Peninsula,
and maybe the culture um, just east of the Pyrenees.
Yes.
So visitors easily notice many features or special things that make the Iberian
Peninsula look and feel different from its neighbors to the north.
So who are its neighbors?
Well, these are countries in Europe like England and Norway and other countries.
And its immediate neighbor would be France to the north.
And it says that Spain and Portugal comprise the majority,
or they... they make up the majority of the peninsula.
And Gibraltar and Andorra, they’re very small areas or small portions of land.
And a very small portion of France share the remainder.
Now that word remainder is one of our vocab words.
What does that mean, Esther?
It’s a good word.
Now in this noun remainder, we see the word ”remain” or what is left over.
So here we’re talking about the part of land that is not included in Spain and
Portugal and Andorra.
And friends, then that is the remainder of the Iberian Peninsula.
OK.
And we can use this word remainder to refer to other things that remain.
For example,
sometimes after dinner, there will be some food that remains; some food that we
haven’t eaten yet.
And the remainder... er... we usually put the remainder in the refrigerator and
we eat it later.
So again, Spain and Portugal, they make up most of the Iberian Peninsula.
But France and Andorra and Gibraltar, the makeup the remainder of the peninsula.
Now for centuries, Chip, this area has been very special.
What does our text use to call it?
Well, our text refers to this area as a crossroads.
Now a crossroads is where two... um... two roads form a cross.
So you can envision that this is a very important area and a very... a very
important part of the world,
because it’s a crossroads of Africa to the south and Europe to the north and
east.
And this region is also a melting pot.
Here we’re not talking about a pot that you use when you’re cooking,
that it has lots of things cooking so it melts,
but we’re talking about a region where there are many different cultures and
they kind of blend into one.
So our text says:
For centuries, it has been a melting pot with many nations contributing to the
area’s interesting culture.
We’re going to learn more about this area.
First let’s visit the Chat Room and then let’s take a break.
Hi, friends.
Welcome to the Chat Room.
I’m Ken.
And I have Brandon here with me today.
Hello, everyone.
Hi, Ken.
It’s great to be back for another chat, Ken.
What would you like to talk about today?
Well Brandon, we’ve been talking a lot today about cultures.
But I’m wondering about all that different kinds of people that live in a
culture.
Is there a term that we can use to describe a country that has many different
cultures?
Well, yes, there is.
If a country or city has people from many different cultures, then we can say
that this place is multicultural.
This just means that there are many different cultures represented in one place.
I have heard the word diverse used when talking about culture as well.
Can you help us understand the meaning of this word?
Diverse means... various or different kinds.
So if a country is culturally diverse, then that means there are many different
clusters in that country.
We also can use diverse when talking about other things such as food.
I might say that my favorite restaurant has a diverse selection of foods.
So it means that the restaurant has different kinds of foods.
Right.
Another word you might hear is pluralistic.
Can you guess what that means?
Well, plural in grammer means more than one.
Like, the plural of child is children.
Right.
So pluralistic means having many parts.
We might talk about a pluralistic culture or a pluralistic society,
which is a society with many different kinds of people with different religions.
(Chinese).
Well Brandon, can you give us an example of a place that is multicultural?
Sure.
One place that comes to mind is New York City.
There are people from many different cultures or ethnic groups in New York City.
Uh, ethnic groups?
Yes.
An ethnic group is a group of people who are in some way connected.
Maybe they are connected through race or culture or in other ways.
So an ethnic group is different from a race?
That’s right.
An ethnic group is part of a race.
When we talk about a race, we’re referring to the color of one’s skin.
But an ethnic group is more about the language and customs of a group of people.
(Chinese).
Time now for a break.
Studio Classroom will be right back.