节目资讯
刊物:旅游精选
日期:2010-03-22
难易度:High
关键字:set foot in, sobering, riveting, chronologically,
(Music).
Hi, everyone, welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Steve.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to study English with us.
Studio Classroom TRAVEL feature today... we want to head over to Europe and
visit that small but very enjoyable country called The Netherlands.
For the next three days, we’ll discover a country that aims to please with art,
tulips and cheese.
But, as famous as those things are, there’s plenty more that makes this country
a popular and worthy tourist destination.
OK, everyone, please get out your Studio Classroom magazines, turn to page 42,
and read with us: Enjoying the Netherlands.
Enjoying the Netherlands.
The Netherlands aims to please with art, tulips and cheese.
The Netherlands beckons.
What could be more tempting than enjoying friendly people and good food and
gazing at fine art, windmills, and tulips in vibrant colors?
Small towns call out to be explored, and quiet country lanes welcome all
bicycles.
Set foot in the Netherlands, and you will discover more than you imagined.
What better place to start than Amsterdam?
This world-class city hosts the Anne Frank Huis, Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum
to mention a few places.
The most popular tourist attraction in the city, the Anne Frank House is
sobering.
(Music).
Hi, friends, I’m Chip.
And I’m Chelsea.
Thanks for joining us for our TRAVEL article today.
We love to travel all over the world here at Studio Classroom, and today we’ll
be Enjoying the Netherlands.
Now the Netherlands, of course, is a country in Europe.
And today we are going to learn that the Netherlands aims to please with art,
tulips and cheese.
Now if you aim to please, that means your goal is to make someone or something
happy.
So we’re going to find out exactly how the... the Netherlands can make people
happy.
All right.
Well, the first line of our article says that the Netherlands beckons.
And if something is beckoning, or if it beckons, that means that it’s calling
out for people - for several people or for one person - to come.
So maybe you can hear the Netherlands beckoning you to come and visit.
And it goes on to say,
”What could be more tempting than enjoying friendly people and good food and
gazing at fine art, windmills, and tulips in vibrant colors?”.
Now, that’s a long sentence.
Let’s back up and talk about some of that.
So first of all, we can enjoy friendly people.
So it sounds like there are a very warm and welcoming culture and good food, of
course.
But we can gaze at fine art, and what else?
Windmills, Chip!
Right, well, windmills are buildings or they’re structures that have long blades
on them that spin in the wind.
So they’re actually wind-powered:
the wind blows and spins these large blades, which eventually pulls up water or
perhaps, uh, that wind produces some other kind of power.
Uh, we might have, uh... Today, I suppose we have windmills that produce
electricity.
You can actually see a picture of a windmill on page 42 of your magazine there
at the top of the page.
But not only windmills, but you can also see tulips in vibrant colors while
you’re visiting the Netherlands.
And the tulip is just a beautiful and bright colored flower.
You can also see some pictures of those on page 43 of your magazine.
Now let’s talk a little bit about the small towns in the Netherlands.
These small towns call out to be explored, and quiet country lanes welcome all
bicycles.
Chip, I kind of like this idea of the towns calling out.
Right, it sounds like these towns are beckoning people to come and enjoy them.
Come... because, uh, the Netherlands are aiming to please, uh, with several
different beautiful things.
And it sounds like, uh, you can enjoy bicycle-riding there.
Or you can set foot in the Netherlands, and you will discover more than you
imagined.
So, more than you thought possible.
Now if you set foot in the Netherlands, that means that you begin to go into or
you are starting to enter into a place.
So if you step foot into a room, that means that you probably take your first
step into a room.
And if you set foot in the Netherlands, what better place to start than
Amsterdam?
Amsterdam is a very famous city.
In fact, our article calls it a world-class city.
And if you visit, you will learn that Amsterdam hosts the Anne Frank Huis...
Uh, the way we would say that in English is the Anne Frank House.
The Van Gogh Museum...
And let me see if I can say this correctly...
the Rijksmuseum, to mention a few places.
Now we’ll talk about all of those places when we come back, but first let’s go
to Liz with Grammar on the Go.
Hello, friends, welcome to Grammar on the Go.
My name is Liz, and I’m in Amsterdam in the Netherlands today.
This really is the place for art, cheese, and tulips.
As our article states:
This world-class city hosts the Anne Frank Huis, Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum
to mention a few places.
Notice how the sentence ends with a phrase, ”to mention a few places”.
It just means what was just mentioned is just a small part of a bigger list of
places.
In other words, going back to today’s sentence, there is more to see in
Amsterdam besides the Anne Frank Huis, Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum.
Use this phrase ”to mention a few places” when you want to save time and/or
writing space,
and you don’t want to bore or overwhelm your audience with a long list.
For example, let’s say you’re planning a big family vacation, and you’re going
to ten different places.
There’s no need to mention all ten places, so you can say,
”Our travel plan includes visiting a zoo, a garden, and an art museum to name a
few places.”.
Or, let’s say you’ve just returned from a business trip and need to give a quick
report.
You can say, ”I was in Europe last week and visited our branch offices in
London, Paris, and Florence to name a few places.”.
That’s it for today.
Be sure to check out the example sentences in today’s Grammar Tip section in
your Studio Classroom magazine.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go, signing off in the Netherlands.
Bye-bye.
Thanks, Liz.
So we’re in Amsterdam.
So we should probably go to the most popular tourist attraction in the city.
Our article says that that is the Anne Frank House.
And our article says that it is sobering.
Now Chelsea, if something is sobering, that probably means that it... it makes
us feel very serious.
We probably aren’t going to be laughing or, uh, joking around.
We’ll be very serious when we go to the Anne Frank House.
Right, and probably reflecting on a lot.
And the reason that this situation would be sobering is because of who Anne
Frank was.
Many of you probably know that Anne Frank was a... a young girl who lived during
World War II.
She was Jewish, and her family was in hiding for many years.
Uh, and while they were in hiding, she wrote a very famous diary called The
Diary of a Young Girl,
that told of all of her experiences while her family was hiding from, uh, the
Germans who were looking for Jews.
So we’re going to learn more about Anne Frank later, but first, let’s visit the
Chat Room and take a break.
Hey, Ashley, I have a question for you.
Yes, Ken?
If something ”beacons” someone, does that mean that it signals them to come
over?
”Beacon”?
No... that’s an entirely different word.
How do you spell it?
BECKON, the Netherlands ”beckons”.
Oh, that’s pronounced ”beckon”.
Oh, beckon, I see.
Uh, what does it mean?
Beckon means a few different things.
You know, Doris and I were chatting about today’s Studio Classroom article this
morning.
Let’s see what she had to say.
If you wave to someone to signal for them to come over to you, you’re beckoning
them.
So when something beckons you, it draws you in and makes you want to experience
it.
A place that is compelling because of its beauty, history, or culture can beckon
you.
This could be a country, city, restaurant or anything else that is famous and
attractive.
Oh... so both a place and a person can ”beckon”... sorry, I mean, beckon.
That’s right, Ken.
Like Doris said, if I look at you and signal for you to come over, then I’m
beckoning you.
I may nod my head or motion with my hand for you to come to me.
OK.
Now, you said that ”beacon” is a word too.
Yes.
You know, beacon, BEACON, is a light or fire that draws attention to a specific
area.
It guides pilots when they’re landing a plane, and direct sailiors when they’re
at sea.
How would it direct sailors at sea?
Where would you put the light?
Well, beacons at sea are called ”lighthouses” or ”light stations”.
These are towers that guide ships into harbors, warm them of danger, and help
them navigate through the waters.
Oh... really?
You know, it’s interesting that ”beacon” and ”beckon” both involve sending
signals to others.
That’s true.
In the past, a beacon was often on top of a hill to signal a town of an invasion
or attack.
Well, thanks for helping me say these words correctly.
I wouldn’t want to confuse someone by ”beaconing” them rather than beckoning
them.
Speaking of beckoning, someone is beckoning me for help at the counter.
OK.
(Chinese).
Well, a breakis beckoning, so let’s go to it right now.