节目资讯
刊物:旅游精选
日期:2009-11-04
难易度:Medium
关键字:scenery, trio, idyllic, fascinate, cable car, trav
Hi, everyone.
Welcome back from the break.
Now as I mentioned before the break, the highest point in Western Europe is not
in Switzerland.
But it’s not too far away either.
Do you know where it is?
I’ll give you a clue.
It’s in the same mountain chain at Switzerland’s beautiful Jungfrau Region.
Think about that as we preview a couple more key words.
The first is idyllic.
The grassy spot under that beautiful tree is an idyllic place for a picnic.
And now the verb:
fascinate.
The toy’s bright lights and interesting sounds fascinated the baby.
OK. Let’s finish discussing the Swiss Alps’ famous trio.
And then get on a train for the ride of a lifetime.
We’ll resume the reading on line twelve.
The Top of Europe.
These three massive snow-covered mountains and their surrounding valleys,
waterfalls and lakes make the region an idyllic vacation destination.
The train ride of a lifetime.
Trains and cable cars conveniently connect many of the region’s villages, making
it easy to see all the sights.
At Kleine Scheidegg, a beautiful ski and hiking area, tourists board a cogwheel
train for a thrilling climb to Jungfraujoch,
Europe’s highest railway station.
After offering amazing glacier views, the train enters a 7.3-km mountain tunnel.
As the train creeps upward, the railroad’s engineering - a 16-year construction
effort - fascinates tourists.
Welcome back.
Now we’ve been talking about the Jungfrau Region in Switzerland.
We know it’s located in central Switzerland.
And just before the break, we talked about the most famous trio of... I guess we
could say mountains.
And those are the Eiger, the Monch and the Jungfrau.
These particular mountains dominate the area.
And the word, Chelsea, that our author uses to describe them is that they are
massive.
So they’re pretty huge, aren’t they?
Yes, massive is another word for huge.
It means very, very large.
And not only are they very, very large but they are also snow-covered.
As you may have guessed, it gets very cold in Switzerland.
So these mountains are very beautiful.
They’re covered with snow.
And around the mountains, you can see the valleys and the waterfalls that
surround them.
So again, we’re just talking about a very beautiful location, very well-known
for its natural beauty.
And between the combination, I guess we could say, of the mountains and the
valleys and the waterfalls,
it makes the region an idyllic vacation destination.
Now I love the word:
idyllic.
It’s a great word to learn.
And this is a word that means that something is... is... it’s almost perfect,
isn’t it?
It’s almost like you’re in paradise.
Yes, it’s very beautiful.
It’s very natural.
It’s simple.
It’s idyllic.
It’s... it’s ideal.
So this place sounds very idyllic.
Yes. And that’s great to mention that word:
ideal.
And you can almost see that word in... in the word:
idyllic.
So it’s a great place to go for vacation.
If you need a place to go and you’re heading toward Europe, we hope you can stop
in Switzerland.
Now we’re going to talk about a train ride.
And our author describes this as the train ride of a lifetime.
Now I’ve written a number of trains in my life.
But if we see this phrase, it... it kind of tells us that this might be one of
the best train rides we ever take.
I think I’d definitely want to check out this train ride.
As we see in the first paragraph here:
Trains and cable cars conveniently connect many of the region’s villages, making
it easy to see all of the sights.
Now that word cable car is referring to a vehicle that hangs from a moving
cable,
and it transports or takes people up and down the mountains.
Now I’ve ridden on a few cable cards.
It’s a pretty fun experience.
It’s a little bit scary.
But I think in this setting it would be pretty amazing.
I agree.
Cable cars are fun.
They’re a little bit unique and so if you have the chance to ride one, I hope
you... you take the chance.
And again, these cars connect the region’s villages.
So you can see all of the sights you need to see.
Just uh, the transportation is very convenient.
Now there is another area in this uh, Jungfrau Region called...
Uh... Chelsea, how do you say this?
I think it’s kind of Kleine Scheidegg.
Hmm, Kleine Scheidegg.
Well, this is a beautiful ski and hiking area.
And I know that Switzerland is famous for its skiing as well.
A lot of downhill skiing in the wintertime.
And this hiking is also popular.
And in this area you can board a cogwheel train for a thrilling climb to the
Jungfraujoch.
Now first of all, what’s a cogwheel train?
Well, you’re going to have to get creative and picture this in your head.
A cogwheel is just a wheel that has teeth on it.
Not the teeth that we all have in our mouth, but it kind of has a pattern where
there are areas that are cut out.
And the cogwheel train has cogwheels.
And as it goes up the mountain, those teeth kind of latch into the teeth on the
rails,
and it just makes it more secure and it makes it easier for this train to go up
very, very steep inclines up to the very top of this mountain.
That sounds fascinating.
Well, you can take this train through a 7.3-km mountain tunnel.
And this whole entire train took 16 years to build this. It’s a construction
effort.
And it will fascinate or amaze you.
Now let’s enjoy the beauty of this area before we visit the Chat Room.
In the heart of Europe lies a country which, although small in size, is rich in
natural...
That country is Switzerland.
And here north of the great Alpine chain in the beautiful Bernese Oberland lies
the Jungfrau Region,
famous for its towering trio of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau.
For many visitors, a trip up to the Jungfraujoch, top of Europe, is the
highlight of a tour of Switzerland.
The holiday resort of Interlaken is the captivating capital of the Jungfrau
Region.
It’s located between the lovely lakes of Thun and Brienz and offers a wide range
of excursion and of the holiday attractions.
It’s here that we begin our remarkable trip to the Jungfraujoch.
The Bernese Oberland railway takes us first to Lauterbrunnen, passing idyllic
holiday resorts and majestic mountain landscapes along the way.
Lauterbrunnen is the main town in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, and it’s dominated
by the imposing Trummelbach waterfall.
Then we change to the Wengernalp railway, the longest cogwheel railway in
Europe.
This takes us to the polular, year-round resort of Wengen, which is closed to
motorized traffic.
From Wengen, we continue up to the Kleine Scheidegg, winding our way past
flowering fields, sparkling streets and crystal clear lakes.
(Music).
Hi, friends. Welcome to the Chat Room.
I’m Beth.
And I’m Ken.
Hi, everyone.
Beth, we just learned about a famous trio of beautiful mountains in the Alps.
The Eiger, the Monch and the Jungfrau.
Right. And you know, Ken, I was thinking that since we’re learning about these
three mountains,
that today would be a good chance to learn some useful expressions with the word
THREE.
What do you think?
OK. Great.
So tell us one.
Have you ever heard of a three-ring circus?
No. What’s that?
Well, you know what a circus is, right?
Yes, a circus is (Chinese).
Right.
Well, a three-ring circus is a circus where there are three separate
performances occurring in three different rings or circles.
But we can also use this... use this expression to talk about a situation that
is disorderly, confusing or even amusing.
For example, Mr. Swan’s students are known for their misbehavior.
His classroom is a three-ring circus.
OK. Well, I just thought of an expression that has to do with three.
Three strikes and you’re out.
Good one.
And I bet you know where that expression comes from?
Baseball, of course.
That’s right.
But we can use this expression outside of baseball too.
We can use it to talk about anything where you have three chances to succeed at
something or three chances before you fail.
I see.
(Chinese).
Three strikes and you’re out.
Another expression with the word THREE that you might hear is the three Rs.
Hmm.
What are the three Rs?
Well, the three Rs are reading, writing and arithmetic.
Even though arithmetic, which means math, doesn’t begin with an R.
Reading, writing and arithmetic are considered the most basic skills that
students should learn.
But of course, nowadays there are many more subjects that students study.
(Chinese).
Thanks for joining us, friends.
Now it’s time to go see Michelle.
Hi, everyone.
I’m Michelle.
(Chinese).
And that’s it for today.
I’ll see you tomorrow.
Bye-bye.
(Music).
Thank you again, Michelle.
OK. Before the break, I asked if anyone knew the highest point in Western
Europe, did anyone get it?
Yes. It’s in the Alps.
Not the Swiss Alps but in the French-Italian Alps.
The name of the peak is Mont Blanc if you live in France, and Monte Bianco if
you live in Italy.
Yes, this mountain sits right on the border between the two countries.
And it peaks out at 4,695 meters.
Just a few hundred meters higher than Switzerland’s Jungfrau.
OK.
Even though the Jungfrau is thousands of meters high, there is still a train
that goes up into this region,
giving visitors incredible access to amazing Swiss Alps scenery.
We’ll dig into that tomorrow.
So until that time, friends, on behalf of everyone here at Studio Classroom
Worldwide, I hope all of you have a fascinating day.
Bye-bye.