节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-04-04
难易度:High
关键字:destination, stumble, tension, operation, Native American, Civil War,
telegraph
Hello, dear friend, my name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And you are watching Studio Classroom.
Thanks for joining us here today.
Open your magazine to the second part of our lesson called The Pony Express.
Yesterday we learned about the need for people in California to hear important
news about events 2,000 miles away.
And we learned about a few men who came to the rescue by setting up the Pony
Express, a way to get the news there quickly.
Of course, quickly meant about 10 days.
Remember, this didn't just happen a few years ago; the year was 1860.
Well, was working for the Pony Express an easy job?
No. It was even dangerous at times.
Let's read about that now.
(Music).
The Pony Express.
Success - and danger.
Shortly before Johnny Fry set out, another Pony Express rider set off from
Sacramento for St. Joseph.
These first deliveries reached their destinations in close to the 10 days
Russell had promised.
But the route was far from safe.
On April 18, 1860, a rider's horse stumbled and fell on the rider, killing him.
Riders faced rivers, mountains, extreme temperatures - and very unfriendly
natives.
In May 1860, tensions between the settlers and Native Americans turned into
fighting.
Native Americans attacked several Pony Express stations, forcing some of them to
close temporarily.
(Chinese).
Thank you, Michelle.
So the route wasn't always safe.
There was success, to be sure, but there was also danger.
And we read: Shortly before Johnny Fry set out, another Pony Express rider set
off from Sacramento for St. Joseph.
So those are the two destinations, the two ends, Sacramento and St. Joseph.
Well, let's look at a phrase that... in that sentence: shortly before.
Shortly before Johnny Fry set out.
That means a short amount of time or not long before.
And how else could you use that phrase?
You could say: I drink a glass of water shortly before giving my speech.
Or we went on a class trip shortly before graduating.
And of course, if you can say "shortly before," you can say "shortly after,"
too.
We will have a class discussion shortly after the movie.
Or shortly after his birthday, his sister was born.
So shortly before Johnny Fry set out, another Pony Express rider set off from
Sacramento for St. Joseph.
Now we see two phrases here that are pretty similar: set out and set off.
What's the difference?
Actually, in our lesson, they can be used in the same way.
You could say Johnny Fry set off, and the other rider set out.
However, set off usually only refers to starting a journey somewhere, and you
say it with the word: for.
For example, we will set off for Shanghai tomorrow.
And set out, on the other hand, could mean starting a journey or starting an
activity with a particular goal in mind.
I often use it with a word "to" because we set out to accomplish things.
For example, she set out to discover a cure for cancer.
Isn't English wonderful?
Yeah, and confusing.
Well, it can be.
We could say that Johnny Fry set out to take mail to St. Joseph while the other
rider set off for Sacramento.
And let's move on.
We read: These deliveries reached their destinations in close to the 10 days
Russell had promised.
Not bad.
They accomplished what they set out to do - get the mail from one place to the
final destination within 10 days.
Yes, or at least close to the 10 days Russell had promised.
So Russell said the Pony Express would deliver mail in about 10 days, which is
almost twice as fast as mail was being delivered before.
All right. Well, let's take a look at the phrase: close to 10 days here.
That could mean less than 10 days or more than 10 days.
And actually I probably think they reached their destinations in a little more
than 10 days.
Why do you say that?
Well, if they reached in less than 10 days, then our author would have written
"less than 10 days" because that is more impressive.
I see your point.
So people use the phrase "close to" when they talk about almost accomplishing
their goal.
For example, maybe you need $1,000 to buy something and you only need $15 more,
you have close to the amount that you need.
Well, right now it's time for us to join Liz in the Grammar Gym.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym, friends.
My name is Liz.
In today's lesson we see this sentence:
But the route was far from safe.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Our focus today is on the phrase: far from.
Normally when we're talking about "far from," we're talking about the distance
between two things and how they are not close to each other, like:
The airport is far from the hotel.
But in the case of today's sentence, we are not talking about distance.
Instead, the phrase "far from" means certainly not.
In other words, the writer is saying the route was definitely not safe.
OK. Let's have a look at some more examples.
Even though Danny has spent a whole day working on this project, he knew his
work was far from over.
Or: The team's proposal was rejected because it was far from acceptable.
So give this phrase a try.
Think of something that is definitely not a certain way, and practice using this
phrase.
And if you'd like to see some more example sentences, they're available in
today's Grammar Tip section in your magazine.
That's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Thanks, Liz.
We could use that phrase in other ways, too.
We are far from finished our lesson today.
You're right about that.
We have much more to learn.
We are far from perfect, but we are always improving.
You are far from lazy, that's for sure.
And the route for the Pony Express was far from safe.
We read about one incident here.
On April 18, 1860, a rider's horse stumbled and fell on the rider, killing him.
Wow! You got to be careful while riding big creatures like that.
I do not want to experience... experience a horse falling on top of me.
I hope that never happens, Gabe.
But how did this horse fall?
Well, it stumbled, which is natural.
We all stumble sometimes.
Right. If we're not careful where we step, we could stumble over something.
Sometimes when the lights are out at my house, I stumble over stuff in my room.
That means I need to turn on the light.
Gabe, I think that means you need to clean your room.
Well, yeah, that too.
Anyway, we can stumble over things, or sometimes we stumble on things.
I stumbled on a rock in the path.
And there's another phrase we use: to stumble upon something.
This phrase is pretty unique.
It doesn't mean that you trip or fall over.
It means that you discover something accidentally.
Oh. So do you have an example?
Sure.
I stumbled upon a great website the other day that had all sorts of recipes for
vegetarian dishes.
Hmm. Or I stumbled upon a hiking trail that I didn't know existed.
I'm going to hike it soon.
But of course, the horse in our story stumbled and fell on the rider.
We read that riders faced rivers, mountains, extreme temperatures and very
unfriendly natives.
And what are natives?
Well, in our lesson, we're talking about Native Americans.
Now I think of someone like the guy in this picture when I think of Native
Americans.
But of course many Native Americans don't dress like this today.
I know that some of you may want to call them Indians, but Indians are people
from India.
Native Americans are the original people living in America.
And I am part Native American.
What?!
I am! I'm one 64th Native American, Carolyn.
My grandmother was possibly one 16th Native American.
Possibly?
Yeah.
So you're not even sure about your grandmother.
Well, no, but she could have been.
Maybe you need to figure that out, Gabe.
We have more to learn right afterthis.