节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-04-14
难易度:High
关键字:superb, acute, snatch, plummet, talon, grizzly bear
Hello, everyone.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And welcome to Studio Classroom.
Today we are starting the first day of our NATURE lesson titled Rulers of the
Sky.
This sounds like a great lesson.
You might be wondering who are the rulers of the sky.
So we'll find out soon.
Open up your magazine, and let's begin with the first reading for today.
(Music).
Rulers of the Sky.
These majestic birds inspire wonder in all who see them.
There is something about a big and powerful eagle soaring in the sky that gives
people a sense of wonder.
Eagles, along with hawks and other birds of prey, have a well-deserved
reputation for inspiring wonder.
They are superb hunters, extremely skilled at taking live prey.
Their keen eyesight is one of the reasons for this.
It is up to eight times better than a human with the most acute eyesight.
A golden eagle can see a 46-centimeter rabbit from 3.22 kilometers away!
(Music).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
Thank you, Michelle.
I am very excited to talk about the rulers of the sky.
I'm sure you are.
So who or what are the rulers of the sky?
Carolyn, can you please tell us what we've read so far?
Well, I can, but before I do, let's look at a phrase located next to the title
of our lesson: in all who.
Hey, that's a good pattern to know.
You use this to show that everyone experiences a certain thing each time
something happens.
For example, chocolate provides happiness to all who eat it.
Hmm... Yes, yes, it certainly does that for a lot of people.
Good example.
Another one would be: The pastor spread God's love to all who meet him.
And that's a good example, too.
You could also say there is food available for all who are hungry.
And in our lesson, the rulers of the sky inspire wonder in all who see them.
They certainly do.
There's just something about a powerful eagle soaring in the sky.
Yes, there is.
And you just said something that Liz wants to tell us about in the Grammar Gym.
Then let's go there now.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym, friends.
My name is Liz.
Here's our Grammar Tip sentence:
There is something about a big and powerful eagle soaring in the sky that gives
people a sense of wonder.
Notice how the sentence begins with the phrase: there is something about.
This is a common phrase native speakers use to bring attention to a quality or
situation that produces a certain feeling or response.
So the writer is saying that this idea of a big and powerful eagle soaring in
the sky produces a sense of wonder in people.
We can use this phrase to talk about places like:
Even though the restaurant's food isn't so great, there is something about its
atmosphere that makes people want to come back again.
We can use this phrase to talk about people like:
Although Lisa doesn't know Paul well enough, there is something about his
personality that she finds attractive.
This phrase can also be used to talk about negative situations.
For example:
Even though the movie was highly recommended, there was something about it that
made me uncomfortable.
And that's all the time we have for today.
Be sure to check out today's Grammar Tip section for more example sentences.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
Well, these large birds certainly do inspire wonder.
They do.
Now Carolyn, can you please tell us who the rulers of the sky are?
OK, OK, we see the answer in this sentence: eagles, along with hawks and other
birds of prey.
So the rulers of the sky are birds of prey.
Right. There are many rulers, not just one, and they are birds of prey.
Now since we're talking about birds of prey for the next few days, we should go
over what this term means.
Good idea.
Birds of prey are birds that hunt and eat other animals.
So these would include anything from small owls to large eagles.
But just because a bird of prey is a bird of prey, that doesn't mean that it's
huge.
Hmm, good point.
So there are plenty of small birds of prey that eat things like mice.
Now birds that hunt other animals for food are called birds of prey because
"prey" is the term used to describe an animal that is caught by another animal
and then eaten.
But not all birds hunt.
Many other birds eat berries, seeds or nuts.
So what do we call these birds?
Good question.
If they're a type of bird that likes to sing, they are called songbirds.
These are birds that make beautiful sounds such as nightingales or robins,
blackbirds, finches, wrens and, of course, many more.
Songbirds are wonderful to have around the house unless, of course, you like to
sleep in.
These birds can be very noisy in the morning.
And since it is springtime, songbirds can be found everywhere.
See how many you can spot this week.
Nice challenge.
Many people are excited for spring because that means that the songbirds will
return to their gardens, build nest in trees and fill the air with their sweet
melodies.
Yes. Spring is a wonderful time of year.
Well, let's return to our lesson on birds of prey.
These are certainly not songbirds, but they are still amazing creatures.
We read that they have a well-deserved reputation.
And what does that mean?
Well, let's look at it.
If something is well-deserved, that means there is a good reason that something
happened.
For example, after all of the team's hard work, their victory was well-deserved.
So they deserved to win.
Or he has a well-deserved reputation for being a kind person.
He is always helping people.
And birds of prey have a well-deserved reputation for inspiring wonder.
Yes, they do.
They are very good hunters with keen eyesight.
If something is keen, that means it is very sensitive and able to process
information quickly.
So having keen eyesight means that they can see very well.
They certainly can.
They can see up to eight times better than a human.
Now that is amazing.
And I think that we should talk about the way this comparison is made.
We read eight times better.
That means if you took a person with very good eyesight and improve that ability
by eight times, that person will have the eyesight of an eagle.
So this is one way that we show statistics or a comparison between two things:
something is a number times better than something else.
For example, a dog's hearing is four times better than a human's because they
can hear things that are four times past the distance away that a human could
hear.
Huh. You could also say this homemade cake is ten times better than the one I
bought at the store.
Now that doesn't actually mean that you did a scientific study to measure how
much better one cake tastes.
That just means that you think one cake is much better than the other.
Right.
So if you see information that is scientific or factual, then this number
expression gives you detailed information about something.
But it can also be used to simply show someone's opinion about something.
Well, birds of prey have extremely keen eyesight.
You could also say that they have very acute eyesight.
And our lesson gives a great example of just how keen the golden eagle's
eyesight is.
Yes. A golden eagle can spot a small rabbit from over three kilometers away.
That's really amazing.
Another way you could describe their amazing eyesight is to say that it is
sharp.
Sharp, acute and keen all mean that they have a very developed skill like
eyesight or hearing.
Well, eagles and other birds of prey have sharp eyesight, and they're
fascinating creatures.
We have a lot to learn about them.
But we will have to wait to continuelearning after this.