节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-12-02
难易度:High
关键字:lyrics, commemorate, fabulous, symbolize, cauldron
Well, what do you like about the month of December?
Is it the most wonderful time of the year?
That's the way many people feel about December because it is considered the
holiday season.
And indeed, there are many things to celebrate in December.
Now how would you feel if you had a big cauldron dropped on your head?
Well, that's what happened in history in the country of Switzerland.
And this was to stop an attack from an attacking army.
And of course this stopped the attack, and so people now celebrate by eating and
smashing chocolate cauldrons.
Well, we have more to learn about the month of December.
So let's do that now.
(Music).
December.
From December 6 to 14 this year, the Dubai International Film Festival will show
fabulous films from around the world.
Some important medical issues are remembered this month.
December 1 is World AIDS Day, and December 3 is International Day of Persons
with Disabilities.
This month in Oslo, Norway, Nobel Prizes will be awarded to people who have made
outstanding contributions to the world.
The awards recognize scientific discoveries, profound literature and peace
efforts.
The flower associated with December is the narcissus.
December's gemstone, the turquoise, symbolizes happiness, success and
prosperity.
Those are things everyone hopes for during this wonderful time of year.
We have great festivals to learn about in this part of the reading as well, so
let's look at it.
From December 6 to 14 this year, the Dubai International Film Festival will show
fabulous films from around the world.
And we need to take a look at that fabulous word straight from our Word Bank -
it is fabulous.
Now fabulous is another one of those words that means wonderful or great or
amazing.
You could talk about a show as being a fabulous show.
Or you did a fabulous job in the show.
That's right.
So it just means something that is extremely good.
What is fabulous for you?
Did anything fabulous happen today?
I hope you are having a fabulous day.
And maybe you want to check out some of these fabulous films from around the
world at the Dubai International Film Festival if you have a chance to visit
this month.
OK. Well, let's continue here.
We're learning about something other than festivals here.
Some important medical issues are remembered this month.
All right. Now we just used the word remember.
We learned the word commemorate before.
But you shouldn't use the word commemorate here.
When you commemorate something, you are celebrating something.
But here we are remembering something important about medical issues.
That's right.
And the first one we have is on December 1.
We read: December 1 is World AIDS Day, and December 3 is International Day of
Persons with Disabilities.
So these are days specifically set aside to remember people who have these
issues.
That's right.
Well, we have something more to learn with Steve and Ken in the Information
Cloud.
Let's go there now.
An abbreviation is any shortened form of a word or phrase.
However, we need to be aware that there are two different types of
abbreviations: acronyms and initialisms.
An initialism, as the name suggests, is a group of initial letters used as an
abbreviation for a name or expression.
For example, USA is an initialism for the United States of America.
BBC is an initialism for the British Broadcasting Corporation.
An acronym is also made from the first letter, or letters, of a string of words,
but the difference is that an acronym is pronounced like a word.
For example, the abbreviation for the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, NASA, should be pronounced NASA, not N-A-S-A.
So it has to be one or the other.
Nobody pronounces USA "oo-sa" because it's an initialism.
And we should not pronounce the acronym AIDS A-I-D-S. It should be AIDS.
That's right.
It should be pronounced like a word, AIDS, not spelled out because it's an
acronym,
which, by the way, stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Now another mistake I often hear is A-P-P, which is not even an abbreviation.
No. It's a clipped word that comes from the word "application" as we mentioned
last month.
Therefore, A-P-P should always be pronounced app.
I just downloaded a new app on my cellphone.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
It is important to know the difference between an acronym and an initialism.
Well, continuing with our article:
This month in Oslo, Norway, Nobel Prizes will be awarded to people who have made
outstanding contributions to the world.
And I think it's very important to think about contributing.
How do you contribute to your society?
Of course if you contribute, then you could say you're making a contribution of
some kind.
So how do you contribute to your neighborhood or to the society where you live?
That's right.
And these are very special awards, not just for people who are helping their
community but helping the entire world.
The awards recognize scientific discoveries, profound literature and peace
efforts.
Well, we can recognize many of these kinds of things in the Nobel Prizes.
Well, what else can you recognize?
Well, I need you to recognize that word "recognize." And we're going to learn
more about this with Liz in the Grammar Gym.
Hello, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
In today's article we see this sentence:
The awards recognize scientific discoveries, profound literature and peace
efforts.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
And today our focus is on the word recognize.
Normally we use "recognize" to talk about seeing something and remembering that
you do know what it is, like for example:
I recognize the man's face but I can't remember his name.
But in today's sentence, to recognize means to officially say or show that
somebody did a good job.
So today's sentence just means that these awards are for the purpose of
officially showing how some people did a good job in literature and peace
efforts as well as scientific discoveries.
This use of recognize is most often used in formal situations, like, in a
speech:
Ladies and gentlemen, we want to thank and recognize all of you who put in so
much energy and time to help us with this project.
We can also see this word "recognize" on certificates, like:
This certificate recognizes the outstanding achievements of Peter Sanders.
So try practicing using this word.
And that's all the time we have for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
Continuing with this last part of the article:
The flower associated with December is the narcissus.
So each month we've been talking about the flowers for the month, and this month
is the narcissus, which is very similar to a daffodil.
Daffodils are actually in the same plant family.
That's right. And these flowers are, of course, very beautiful.
And we continue here learning about the stone.
December's gemstone, the turquoise, symbolizes happiness, success and
prosperity.
All right.
Well, those things go together most of the time, happiness, success and
prosperity.
Let's take a look at our word from the Word Bank: symbolize.
What does that mean, Carolyn?
How can you use that word?
Well, if something symbolizes something, that means it represents it very
clearly or it is a perfect example of something.
So you could say wedding rings represent or symbolize happiness, they symbolize
commitment, and they symbolize true love.
It's true.
And something else that symbolizes true love is a heart.
Anytime you see the shape of a heart, that symbolizes love.
Of course you know that.
So of course December's gemstone, the turquoise, symbolizes happiness, success
and prosperity.
And those are things everyone hopes for during this wonderful time of year.
All right.
Well, it's time for us to learn something with Michelle in the Language Lab.
OK.
(Chinese).
And I'll give the time back to our teachers.
There are so many wonderful things to enjoy in the month of December.
Today we talked about festivals, holidays and different things that are
remembered or commemorated during this month.
So, what holidays do you know about?
Are there any holidays that you know of in December, Gabe?
Why, yes, there are, Carolyn.
One holiday I can think of is Hanukkah, celebrated by many Jewish people around
the world.
Another holiday... well, it's not a holiday, but my mom's birthday is this
month.
So of course I'll just say right now: Happy Birthday, Mom!
Oh, that's so nice, Gabe.
Now of course one of the biggest holidays in the U.S. is Christmas.
And that is Jesus' birthday.
So many birthdays this month.
And there's another interesting holiday in the U.S. called Kwanzaa, which
celebrates African-American heritage.
So what other holidays can you think of?
Talk about it in English.
And we will see you here next time on Studio Classroom.
We'll see you then.
(Music).