节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-12-03
难易度:Low
关键字:icy, await, threaten, preparation, alien, science-fiction
(Music).
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
We're talking all about holiday movies, Holiday Movies for Everyone.
Well, of course there are movies coming out all the time, but today we're
talking about holiday movies.
Is that films about holidays, Carolyn?
No, Gabe, it does not mean that they are films about holidays but they're films
that come out during the holiday season, so.
November, December, January, those are very busy holiday times because of
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.
That's right.
And of course some people will get winter break, or if you're in Australia, you
will get summer break.
And so you can watch one of these movies during the holiday season.
Carolyn, which movie are you looking forward to seeing?
Well, I'm really looking forward to seeing the second part of The Hobbit because
it's a three-part series and the second one will be coming out this month.
Well, I'm also looking forward to The Hobbit Part 2.
I love The Hobbit.
I'm also looking forward to a movie called Anchorman 2.
We will be talking about it over the next couple of days.
We'll be talking about many other movies, so let's get started.
Holiday Movies for Everyone.
Holiday films really bring in the crowds.
Alien enemies, icy adventures, Middle Earth... the 2013 holiday film season
offers it all!
Many people watch films at home or online.
But there is still nothing like seeing a film in a theater with other people.
What awaits moviegoers this holiday season?
Science-fiction fans are excited about Ender's Game.
The people of Earth must work together to save themselves after an alien war.
They choose Ender Wiggen, a smart, quiet boy, and send him to battle school.
Everyone hopes he will be the one to save them all.
OK, let's go back to the beginning of our lesson here today. We read:
Holiday films really bring in the crowds.
All right.
We see that phrase: they bring in the crowds.
That means they kind of get everyone together to enjoy something.
That's right.
And so it's the holiday season, what movies are you going to enjoy with the
people around you, with your family and friends?
So they bring in the crowds.
The movie theaters will be very crowded this holiday season.
Now we read in our article:
Alien enemies, icy adventures, Middle Earth... the 2013 holiday film season
offers it all.
Well, let's talk about this sentence.
There's a lot to look at here.
First we see that word "alien." You know what this means, right?
Someone from outside of our world - an alien.
Of course sometimes we talk about maybe feeling like an alien in some place
because it's very strange to us.
OK, but here we're talking about alien enemies and icy adventures.
Well, icy is from our Word Bank.
What does that mean, Carolyn?
Well, icy means that it's very cold or covered in ice.
A lot of times in winter, if you live in a place where there is snow, you might
tell someone:
Be careful. The sidewalk is very icy today.
Don't slip and fall.
That's true.
There are icy sidewalks.
Or maybe it's in the summer, and you want a nice, icy treat to cool you off
because it's so hot outside.
So you might eat something icy like a Popsicle or some kind of ice cream.
OK, so we have icy adventures and Middle Earth.
Well, what is Middle Earth, Carolyn?
Well, Middle Earth is where The Hobbit takes place.
So, that gives you a clue about some of the movies we will be talking about in
our lesson Holiday Movies for Everyone.
All right.
And of course it's this film season, and the season offers it all.
Well, let's take a look at what Liz has to share with us in the Grammar Gym.
And then of course, we will visit Steve and Ken in the Information Cloud.
There's a lot to learn here today.
Hi there, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
Our article today begins with this statement:
Alien enemies, icy adventures, Middle Earth... the 2013 holiday film season
offers it all.
Notice the three dots in the middle of the sentence.
We actually don't say "dot, dot, dot." Instead, there's actually a name for
this: ellipses.
And it acts like an em dash to show that an additional idea is coming up.
So in the case of today's sentence, the writer begins with a list of movie
themes,
and then suddenly makes a statement that the 2013 holiday film season has so
much to offer.
The ellipses is great to use when you're writing a statement and you want to add
an extra thought to that statement.
For example: I would like to take a trip... anywhere is fine.
Or: You can put all kinds of fruit on your shaved ice: strawberries, peaches,
pineapple... anything you like.
If you have a copy of this month's magazine with you, be sure to check out
today's Grammar Tip section for more example sentences.
And that's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
In the late 1990s, many people worried that on January 1, 2000, all of our
computers would shut down and civilization would come to a standstill.
Equally worrisome was what we would call the coming decade spanning from 2000 to
2010.
Some suggested the ohs, the zeros, the zips, the nadas, and the most creative
suggestion of all - the naughties.
But we never could come up with a term.
Right now it seems the name we use most to refer to the first decade of the 21st
century is "the first decade of the 21st century." Lame!
Well, it's not very often that English fails to accommodate our need for a
simple descriptive word, but this time it did.
And it was painful!
Was this language not rich enough or flexible enough to provide a word for the
trivial linguistic problem?
We were all reminded that yes, English does have its limits!
Well, what are people going to call this decade?
The teens?
If we take our cue from last century, we might call it the twenty-tens.
But that sounds weird, right?
I just can't wait for the 20s to get here.
Well, we'll just have to wait a few years.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
We are in a very interesting situation not knowing what to call these years.
Now continuing with our article:
Many people watch films at home or online.
And I think that's pretty true.
Gabe, do you watch films online?
No, actually, I don't watch films online, but I do watch films at home.
Or I watch TV series.
I go out and buy some DVDs, and I'll watch it on my TV.
But we continue here:
But there is still nothing like seeing a film in a theater with other people.
All right.
So many people watch films at home or online, but there's nothing like doing
something with other people, watching a movie in a theater.
Let's take a look at that phrase: there's nothing like something.
How else could you use this phrase?
Well, it means that nothing can compare with it.
So there's nothing like a cup of homemade hot chocolate on a cold day.
OK. Or maybe it's during the summer, and there's nothing like a nice, cold, icy
mango smoothie on a hot summer day.
Well, how else could you use this phrase?
You know, there's... there's nothing like being woken up at 4 a.m. by chickens,
Carolyn.
Well, I'm sure there is nothing quite like that.
Yes, I remember having a rooster crowing outside my room around four and five
and six.
Yep. Yeah, very unpleasant.
So it could be good or it could be bad, but nothing can compare to it. OK.
Use that phrase sometime today.
Well, we continue here.
What awaits moviegoers this holiday season?
A good question, and a good word from our Word Bank: await.
If something awaits you, that means it is waiting for you.
That's right.
So something will happen in the future, but you might not know what it is.
You might say: A wonderful dinner awaits you at home.
So dinner is waiting for you, and it will be delicious! You should hurry home.
All right.
And of course we see a question here: What awaits moviegoers this holiday
season?
And of course we learned that word "moviegoer" earlier this year that someone
who goes to watch a movie at the movie theater.
All right. Let's continue learning about the first one here.
Science-fiction fans are excited about Ender's Game.
All right. Well, what is science-fiction, Carolyn?
Well, science-fiction means it's not real, and it probably has something to do
with aliens or technology in the future.
So it's not really based on reality, but it's a lot of fun.
That's right.
And of course some famous or popular science-fiction movies include The Matrix
or Avatar, Inception, The Fifth element.
These are great science fiction movies.
And maybe if you love these movies, you'll be excited about Ender's Game.
The people of Earth must work together to save themselves after an alien war.
They choose Ender Wiggen, a smart, quiet boy, and send him to battle school.
Well, that is an interesting choice, someone who is smart and quiet, and then
sending him to battle school.
But we read:
Everyone hopes he will be the one to save them all.
So he is their hope.
And well, I have a lot of hope for you and your language learning, so let's
continue with Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).