节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-04-08
难易度:Low
关键字:rural, entertainment, performance, dye, canal, boxing
Welcome back.
OK. Now, close your eyes and imagine you are walking through your living room to
a window to look outside.
You look out, all you see is water.
Then you see a boat slowly making its way towards your open window.
A man on the boat yells out: (Chinese).
Did he say something about bananas?
You don't really understand his accent, but that's OK because you're about to
buy bananas from a guy on a boat in Wuzhen.
And the best part of the whole thing is... they're chocolate-covered bananas.
OK, you can open your eyes now.
Let's continue learning about Wuzhen.
(Music).
The Villages of Old China.
Entertainment can also be found on the water - boat boxing and bamboo pole
acrobatics.
The "boxing" is really a kung fu performance based on skills once used against
thieves.
You can also enjoy the experience of Wuzhen's old industries.
Located in "the land of silk," the village produces some of China's most famous
cloth.
You can also visit places where wine is made and clothes are dyed.
Meanwhile, going from sight to sight over Wuzhen's many bridges is enjoyable in
itself.
(Chinese).
And now let's go to our teachers.
Thank you, Michelle.
Gabe, I got you something.
You did? What is it?
Chocolate-covered almonds.
Carolyn, that's awesome.
That's great.
How did you know I like these?
Oh, just a guess.
You sure know how to guess correctly.
Uh... Gabe, not now. Eat them later.
Oh... OK.
Yeah, yeah. Right now let's get into this next section where we learn about
entertainment on the waters of Wuzhen.
We read: Entertainment can also be found on the water.
Wait. It can be found on the water?
Doesn't the author mean in the water?
No. He means on.
But I thought you go swimming in the water.
Well, you do go swimming in the water.
But if you're in a boat, you're... you're on the water, not in it.
I see.
So if you're mostly under the surface of the water, whatever you do there is in
the water.
And if you're mostly above the surface, you do things on the water.
For instance, if you're in a boat anywhere, whether it's a lake, the ocean or a
river, you are on the lake, on the sea or on the river.
And if you are swimming with the fishes, you would be in the lake, in the sea or
in the river.
Right.
Anyway, back to entertainment in Wuzhen.
We can see different forms of entertainment there.
I like that you use that word, Carolyn, form.
I know the word is not in our lesson, but we use this word when talking about
kinds of entertainment.
Good point.
We talk about different forms of entertainment.
TV is one form of entertainment.
A live concert is another form.
A play in a theater is yet another form of entertainment.
And it sounds like boat boxing is a very unique form of entertainment.
Bamboo pole acrobatics sounds like a cool form of entertainment, too.
It does.
And you know, I've only seen pictures of the bamboo pole acrobatics.
You can look some up online.
It really takes a lot of skill to do bamboo pole acrobatics.
We don't read much about that here, but we do get a brief explanation about boat
boxing.
It's actually a form of kung fu.
Do you know kung fu, Gabe?
No. I know a guy named Ming Fu.
Are they related?
Oh. No. Kung fu is not a person.
Kung fu is a kind of martial arts like karate or taekwondo.
But you just asked me if I knew kung fu like it was the name of a person.
Well, that's how you ask if people know how to do a certain kind of martial
arts.
Do you know kung fu?
Do you know karate?
Do you know taekwondo?
I see.
Then, no, I don't know kung fu, but I'd like to see boat boxing.
It does sound interesting.
It is.
It's a kung fu performance based on skills once used against thieves.
Now let's look at the words: based on.
This means boat boxing was kind of inspired by some fighting skills used against
thieves.
And we can use the phrase "based on" in other ways.
The way I hear it most often used is when people say that certain movies are
based on true stories.
Right.
They're inspired by events of true stories.
And some of the events in the movies may have actually happened in real life.
Well, boat boxing is based on skills once used against thieves.
And the "once" we see here does not mean one time.
People didn't just fight thieves one time.
No. Once means at a point in history or for a period of time in the past.
And of course, if you're fighting someone, like a thief, you can use the word
"against." You fight against someone.
I could say I'm fighting thieves or I'm fighting against thieves.
Now we could also use the word "against" when we are playing games with others,
if we are competing with them.
Right. You would say: I'm playing against him, or I'm competing against her.
If you are playing against someone or against another team, then there will be
only one winner or one winning team.
Well, there's something else that we can enjoy in Wuzhen: some of the old
industries.
We read: Located in "the land of silk," the village produces some of China's
most famous cloth.
And this cloth could be made from silk or other materials.
And do you know where silk comes from?
The silk factory?
No, no. An animal, Gabe.
Oh, I know.
Silkworms! They produce silk.
And people weave silk together to produce beautiful silk cloths.
But that's not all you can do in Wuzhen.
You can also visit places where wine is made and clothes are dyed.
And just to review, when you dye something, you are changing its color.
But let's talk about places where wine is made.
There's a word for that.
Do you know what it is?
The wine factory?
No!
I know, I know.
I only said that because you said silk comes from silk factories.
Wine, of course, comes from grapes.
But the place wine is made is called a winery.
Well, right now it's time for us to continue learning with Liz in the Grammar
Gym, and join Linda for the Editor's Summary.
Hello there, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
In today's lesson the writer mentions:
Meanwhile, going from sight to sight over Wuzhen's many bridges is enjoyable in
itself.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Notice the phrase at the end of the sentence: in itself.
It means alone or having no connections with anything else.
So what the writer is saying is even if tourists didn't do anything else but go
from sight to sight over Wuzhen's many bridges,
that activity alone is already an enjoyable thing to do.
We use this phrase, in itself, when we want to describe or focus on something
and how it has a certain quality that we should pay attention to.
For example:
Although the museum was closed by the time we got there, the trip in itself was
worth it.
Or: The movie is amazing; the soundtrack in itself is enough to give anyone
goose bumps.
So give this phrase a try.
Think of something that is worth talking about on its own, and practice using
this phrase.
And if you want to see some more example sentences, then check out today's
Grammar Tip section in your magazine.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Today we find ourselves in Wuzhen, a busy village located on the Grand Canal in
Zhejiang province.
Here you can experience the town's water market and see people selling their
products from boats.
And that's not all.
You can find entertainment like boat boxing and bamboo pole acrobatics on the
water, too.
This is also where some of China's most famous silk comes from.
So don't miss out on a visit to some of the old industries found here as you
cross over one of Wuzhen's many bridges.
Thank you, Linda.
Well, Wuzhen actually sounds like a lot of fun.
I think so, too.
And I think we have another fun old village to visit tomorrow, a village that
made an appearance in a famous movie.
So be sure to come back and join us then...
Right here at Studio Classroom.
(Music).