节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-04-07
难易度:Low
关键字:splendid, dynasty, surroundings, eye-opening, Ming
Hello again.
How well do you know your home country?
Have you seen everything that it has to offer?
Have you visited all of the famous sites?
What about the places located in the corners of your country, the places less
people know about?
In today's lesson, we are learning about a village in China that is just such a
place.
It's called Cuandixia.
And the original buildings there make it seem like a place forgotten by time.
Let's continue learning about this village now.
(Music).
The Villages of Old China.
The homes in Cuandixia were built by one family starting during the Ming
Dynasty.
Many of the villagers are willing to house visitors for the night.
Guests can take in courtyards, walls with messages from the 1800s and the
village temple.
Built on the side of a hill, the town has tree-covered mountains all around.
Visitors can enjoy hiking in these beautiful surroundings.
Both the history and nature of Cuandixia make it a popular spot for
photographers.
Most agree that it makes for an eye-opening day trip into the past.
(Chinese).
And now let's go to our teachers.
Thank you, Michelle.
OK. Now let's talk about Cuandixia in greater detail, shall we?
We already know that this village is not too far from Beijing.
Yes, only two hours.
Right. And we read something pretty incredible here.
The homes in Cuandixia were built by one family.
Now I find that hard to believe.
I do, too.
But maybe that's because we think of family as being a handful of people that we
are very close to.
Maybe "clan" is the more proper term here.
Yes, a clan is a large group of relatives within a tribe that traces back to the
same ancestor.
And if the legend is correct, members of the Han clan built this village.
And one person in particular, Han Shoude, built many of the courtyards there.
All right.
So this village dates back to the Ming Dynasty, so several hundred years ago.
And we see something about the people that live there now.
Many of the villagers are willing to house visitors for the night.
I wonder if many of the villagers are making a living off of the tourists that
are visiting.
Well, let's look at the word "house" for a moment, or house.
Do you notice anything different about the way that it's pronounced?
You mean the Z sound at the end?
Yes. There are a few words in English that have an S sound when they're nouns,
and a Z sound when they are used as verbs.
House is one of them.
Thanks for housing me during my stay in your country.
What's another word like this?
Abuse.
As a noun, it is abuse, as in the little dog suffered abuse from the young boys
in the neighborhood.
Or it could be a verb, abuse.
The boys abused the poor little dog.
Well, maybe you can think of some other English words like this.
But right now we read on that guests can take in courtyards, walls with messages
from the 1800s and the village temple.
Now what does it mean to take in something?
Is that how the villagers take in visitors?
No, but great question.
Actually it can have that meaning, too.
Take in can mean to house visitors.
You take in some guests for the evening.
That means you host them, giving them a place to stay with you.
But that's not what our lesson means by "take in," is it?
Take in here means to look at something thoroughly or completely enjoy observing
it.
Some things are easier to take in, like perhaps a pretty courtyard, other things
require more thought.
Right.
I imagine taking in messages from the 1800s might take more effort if you're
trying to figure out what the messages are saying.
I often use the words "take in" when talking about beautiful scenery.
I took in the view after we reached the top of the mountain.
Now one of the things we can take in at Cuandixia is a temple.
It's called the village temple here in our lesson.
What is a temple?
That's a building created for religious purposes.
Jews used to call their places of worship temples, and some still do.
Living in Taipei, I've seen many temples, especially Buddhist or Taoist temples.
And some other religions use temples as well.
If a town or village is small enough, it will only have one temple.
And that's the case with Cuandixia.
That's why we read about the village temple and not a village temple.
And we see more about Cuandixia here.
Built on the side of a hill, the town has tree-covered mountains all around.
So trees cover the surrounding mountains.
There are tree-covered mountains.
And I like using the word "...-covered" like this.
Add a noun to the beginning of this word, and remember that little hyphen when
writing it.
For example, I love chocolate-covered almonds and yogurt-covered raisins.
So Gabe likes almonds that are covered in chocolate and raisins that are
covered...
Oh! And chocolate-covered coffee beans.
Right, coffee beans that are...
And chocolate-covered strawberries and chocolate-covered pretzels and...
OK, Gabe... Gabe, we get it.
You like chocolate-covered anything.
No. I do not like chocolate-covered (Chinese).
I... I don't think there is such a thing.
Well, that's good.
Anyway, Cuandixia is covered by chocolate-covered mountains...
No, tree-covered mountains, Gabe.
They're tree-covered.
Well, what did I say?
Chocolate-covered mountains.
Hey, that would be nice.
OK, you can go dream of chocolate-covered mountains; I'm continuing with the
lesson here.
Visitors can enjoy hiking in these beautiful surroundings.
Both the history and nature of Cuandixia make it a popular spot for
photographers.
I like that phrase: both something and something else make.
You could say both the shops and the snacks make night markets amazing.
I think that...
And the chocolate-covered peanuts.
Gabe, OK...
What? Do you have another example?
Well, OK... well, it's... right now it's actually time for us to join Liz in the
Grammar Gym, and then Linda for the Editor's Summary.
Hello, friends.
How are you today?
My name is Liz, and thanks for joining me here at the Grammar Gym.
In today's lesson we see this sentence:
Most agree that it makes for an eye-opening day trip into the past.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Notice the phrase: makes for.
There are different meanings to this phrase, but here it means to create or
contribute in a way so that something is possible.
So in the case of today's sentence, the writer is saying visiting this town
allows visitors to see how things were like in the past.
Use this phrase, makes for, when you want to talk about how a certain thing is a
good or effective way to bring a certain result.
For example: Keeping workers happy makes for greater productivity.
Or: The professor's newest research discovery makes for an interesting
discussion at the science conference.
If you'd like to see some more example sentences, then check out today's Grammar
Tip section in your Studio Classroom magazine.
That's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
I'll see you next time.
Our TRAVEL article this month takes us to the older, smaller areas of China
instead of the big, splendid locations we usually hear about.
Our first stop is Cuandixia, located about two hours outside of Beijing.
Many original buildings, which date back to the Ming Dynasty, still exist.
And you may even be able to stay in one of them as the villagers like to have
guests.
Surrounded by mountains covered with trees, it is a wonderful place to go
hiking, and photographers love it.
So if you like history, this is one great place to visit.
Thank you, Linda.
Well, I enjoyed learning about Cuandixia.
I hadn't heard of it before but now I want to visit.
I do, too, so I can experience the tree-covered mountains.
Well, come back next time before we have more... because we have more villages
of old China to learn about right here at Studio Chocolate...
Studio Classroom. (Studio-covered Classroom).
(Music).