节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-04-16
难易度:High
关键字:collision, ingest, tangle, rehabilitate, singe
Hello, everyone.
My name is Gabe.
My name is Carolyn.
And welcome to Studio Classroom.
Now the past two days we have been enjoying a lesson on birds of prey.
These rulers of the sky are very important to the areas they live in and help to
maintain a balance in nature.
Today we will learn about one place that is trying to help these predators
survive in the modern world.
So, open up your magazine, and let's begin learning about the Montana Raptor
Conservation Center.
Rulers of the Sky.
Montana Raptor Conservation Center.
The modern world is a dangerous place for these magnificent birds.
They can be hit by cars or injured in collisions with power lines.
They can eat poisoned meat or ingest lead from hunters' guns.
They can become tangled in wire or string.
Thankfully, there are places like the Montana Raptor Conservation Center in
Bozeman, Montana, where injured birds get a second chance at life and freedom.
At the center, volunteers do their best to rehabilitate injured birds.
Some die from their injuries, but around 32 percent are eventually released.
Some spend a few weeks or months at the center, while others may need a year or
more to recover.
(Music).
(Chinese).
Thank you, Michelle.
And I'm thankful for the Montana Raptor Conservation Center.
It's hard to believe just how dangerous the modern world is for these birds of
prey.
You know, it is hard to believe.
And you just used several phrases that we should talk about.
The first one is "hard to believe."
If something is hard to believe, that means it is not easy to believe that
something could be true.
Right.
For example, it's hard to believe that it's already April.
2014 is passing by very quickly.
I think it would be easier to believe if you told me it was February or maybe
March, but definitely not April.
Well, time does pass very quickly.
Another example could be: The excuse he gave me for missing class was hard to
believe.
So no one really believed the reason he gave them for missing class.
And it's hard to believe just how dangerous the modern world is for birds of
prey.
Shouldn't a modern society take better care of the animals that share this Earth
with us?
That is a good question, Carolyn.
But we should take a look at that phrase from our lesson: modern world.
And what exactly is the modern world?
The modern world is the term we use to talk about the circumstances or ideas
that are common at the present time.
So our modern world includes things like laptop computers, smartphones, high
speed trains, jets, cars, Google Glass, and many other advances in technology.
But if you look back in history, those things were not always around.
Those are mostly new inventions or modern technology, so they are part of our
modern world.
Unfortunately, in order to make all of these wonderful things possible, changes
are made to the environment like adding power lines or garbage being dumped.
And these things affect the animals that share the environment.
Right. And power lines are a big danger to birds because they are not easy to
see.
They're also high in the air, and birds crash into them when they're flying or
diving.
Speaking of power lines, Steve and Ken have something they would like to share
with us on the word "power" and the word "electricity."
Let's join them in the Information Cloud now.
Hi, friends.
Some of you may be wondering:
When should we use power and when should we use electricity?
Are the two words interchangeable?
Well, strictly speaking, electricity is what actually flows through the lines
and cables into our electric appliances,
and power is the energy that is produced by some mechanical, electrical, or
other means that is used to operate a device.
Right.
And different devices or appliances consume different amounts of power.
A light bulb might consume 40 watts or 100 watts of electric power.
Despite these definitions, we commonly refer to electrical energy supplied to an
area, a building, or an appliance as power.
That is why on electrical products, you will often see the switch labeled "Power
On/Off."
And we often talk about power lines, power outage, power companies.
The word "power" in these terms all refer to electricity.
If the electricity lines come down in a storm, we would say "the power went
off."
Of course we could say "the electricity is off" too, but that just takes more
time to say.
"Power" has fewer syllables.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
Well, birds of prey face many dangers including power lines.
And in the next sentence we learn that they also face the danger of eating
poisoned meat.
But why is there poisoned meat?
It is very sad, but some people illegally put out poisoned meat to kill animals
in the area.
Usually this meat is meant for animals like wolves or mountain lions that
threaten humans or their livestock or pets.
But birds of prey are predators, too, and eat meat.
That means that they're also victims of this poisoned meat.
There are better solutions to living with these animals than trying to eliminate
them.
I think you are right about that, Gabe.
Fortunately, there are places that try to help these animals when they become
injured.
One such place for birds of prey is the Montana Raptor Conservation Center.
Here the birds get a second chance.
And that is a great phrase for us to look at.
If you get a second chance at something, that means you are able to try again
after something goes wrong.
For example, after her first attempt to break the world record was not
successful, she was eager to have a second chance.
So she wanted to try to break the world record again because she wasn't able to
do it the first time she tried.
Another example might be he was given a second chance at life after recovering
from his injuries.
So he was seriously injured and maybe could have died, but he was able to
recover and was able to try living his life again.
Many times when we say that someone has a second chance at life, that means that
their life went through a very big change.
Perhaps someone was once an alcoholic, but they overcame their addiction to
alcohol and had a second chance at life.
So when they were an alcoholic, their quality of life was not very good.
But now that they have overcome the addiction, they are able to live a very
happy life and can try to start over.
That's not an easy thing to do.
It's also not easy to rehabilitate injured birds of prey, but the Montana Raptor
Conservation Center does its best to help them.
And that's another phrase we should look at: to do one's best.
Now if you do your best, then of course you do something as well as you possibly
can.
For example, Terry did his best on the English exam.
So he got the best score that he could possibly get, and he tried as hard as he
could.
It's always important to do your best.
Sometimes it's easy to become lazy or not really try or work hard at something.
But if we do our best, then we will feel much better about the results.
Right.
You know, when I'm preparing my lessons here at Studio Classroom, I always want
to do my best so that you will be able to have the best possible lesson.
And I hope that you do your best to practice your English.
Even if it's only 10 minutes a day, those 10 minutes can make a big difference.
Do your best to practice speaking English with someone today.
Well, while the volunteers try to do their best to help these injured birds, not
all of them are able to recover.
Sometimes they're too sick or injured, and they are not able to help them.
That is very sad.
Well, we will continue learning more about the Montana Raptor Conservation
Center right after this.