节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-12-05
难易度:Low
关键字:avenge, timid, audience, loom, samurai, negative
We're on the third day of our lesson Holiday Movies for Everyone.
Today so far we've talked about two adventure movies:
The first one, 47 Ronin, about samurai who must avenge their master's death.
And the second one, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, about a timid magazine
photo manager who finds himself in a real-life adventure.
Well, we have more movies to talk about today, so let's continue with our
lesson.
(Music).
Holiday Movies for Everyone.
Audiences loved Mary Poppins, but the film almost didn't get made!
The film Saving Mr. Banks tells the story of Walt Disney and author P.L.
Travers.
Disney talked her into allowing him to make a movie of her story.
Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson star.
Movie star Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco and became Princess
Grace.
Grace of Monaco tells how she helped save Monaco from a looming French invasion
in the early 1960s.
These are a few of the films that offer you the opportunity to enjoy a wonderful
story this winter.
Don't miss them!
Well, we don't want you to miss this part of our lesson.
Let's get back to the beginning of this section.
Here we're learning about Mary Poppins, or the making of Mary Poppins.
OK. We read here:
Audiences loved Mary Poppins, but the film almost didn't get made!
Carolyn, what did you think about Mary Poppins?
Oh, that is such a wonderful movie.
I loved watching it growing up, and I still enjoy watching it now.
It's a wonderful story and really great music as well.
It's true.
It's a family film, but people of all ages still enjoy watching this movie.
OK. Audiences loved this movie.
Let's take a look at that word from our Word Bank: the audience.
That is people who enjoy watching something or listening to something.
That's right.
And so many movie theaters are crowded because there are so many people sitting
in the audience.
So you can say audiences, meaning a large group of people who enjoy the same
thing,
or the audience, which means the group of people that are in a specific place
enjoying the same thing.
Now if you are a performer of some kind, you're an actor or a singer, or maybe
you give a speech,
or you have to do something with a large crowd, an audience,
then it is important to know how to have audience interaction.
How you can interact with the audience can make that a really enjoyable time.
That's right.
Now here we read that audiences really enjoyed Mary Poppins, but it almost
didn't get made.
That would have been so sad because it's such a wonderful movie that so many
people love.
Now how do we continue, Gabe?
Well, the film Saving Mr. Banks tells the story of Walt Disney and author P.L.
Travers.
OK, so Saving Mr. Banks.
Well, "Who is Mr. Banks?" you might wonder.
Actually, he was a very important character in Mary Poppins.
He was the father of Jane and Michael Banks.
That's right.
So this new movie is not called Saving Mary Poppins, it is Saving Mr. Banks.
And we continue: Disney talked her into allowing him to make a movie of her
story.
So if he had to talk her into it, does that mean that she was really excited
about it, Gabe?
No! And that's the point.
He had to persuade her.
Let's take a look at this phrase: to talk someone into something.
That means you're trying to convince someone or persuade them to think the way
you do or to do something.
So how else could you use that phrase?
Well, Gabe, I might try to talk you into paying for lunch today.
Oh, really!
Well, you're going to have to work really hard to talk me into paying for lunch.
Hmm... Or you might talk someone into joining you for a movie.
They say they have a lot of homework to do or a lot of things they need to do,
and you try to talk them into joining you for a movie.
So how else could you use that phrase?
Use it sometime today.
That's right.
Well, and we read continuing here: Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson star.
So very big names are in this new movie.
OK, they star.
We see that word as a verb, but of course you've seen it before as a noun.
They, of course, are movie stars. OK.
And we continue here learning about another movie star.
Movie star Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco and became Princess
Grace.
Now of course this is actual history, this really happened.
That's right.
So this is again based on a true story.
And we read: Grace of Monaco tells how she, Grace, helped save Monaco from a
looming French invasion.
So, and it was in the early 1960s, not too long ago.
Exactly, OK.
Well, let's take a look at this word from our Word Bank: loom.
We're learning about this looming French invasion.
That means it was kind of a threat.
People were scared about this because it was almost certain to happen.
It was just looming there.
What else can be looming?
I often think about thunder clouds in the distance.
If a storm is coming, you talk about the looming thunder clouds overhead.
That's right.
So looming is not a positive thing.
If something is looming, that means that something bad is coming and may happen,
so.
If there are looming clouds, that means that it might rain soon, and there will
be a big storm.
Or you might talk about the financial crisis.
If the economy is not very good, there is a looming crisis coming.
All right.
Well, Grace Kelly or Grace of Monaco was an interesting woman.
I don't know if you've seen her movies.
I really loved the movie Rear Window with Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart.
You should watch that sometime.
But right now it's time for us to learn something else with Steve and Ken in the
Information Cloud.
Sometimes right before a movie begins, a short message will appear on the
screen:
Based on a true story or inspired by actual events.
Well, four of the movies in this month's ENTERTAINMENT feature are based on
real-life stories.
But just how much of each movie is real life is hard to say.
That's because sometimes directors will add fictional elements to non-fiction
movies to make them more interesting to the audience.
This is called artistic license, which is basically special permission artists,
like directors, have to distort the facts.
Take the new movie, Grace of Monaco, as an example.
It's based on an actual historical figure, Princess Grace, who tragically died
in 1982.
After a private screening, Princess Grace's family wrote a letter of concern to
the film's director claiming that historically, the movie had many glaring
inaccuracies.
In response, the director agreed that yes, the movie does have many
fictionalized scenes.
But then he said: I'm not a historian. I'm an artist.
See? As an artist, he has a free pass to distort reality.
Remember that the next time you watch a movie based on a true story.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
Many directors do like to take artistic license with their films.
Now continuing our article:
These are a few of the films that offer you the opportunity to enjoy a wonderful
story this winter.
Don't miss them!
Don't miss these movies!
And don't miss our review skit and time with Michelle in the Language Lab.
Let's go and enjoy those now.
Holiday movies! This season offers it all.
I know. You told me about all the holiday movies.
No, I didn't.
Yes, you did.
You talked about Ender's Games, Hunger Games, Frozen Games, historians and
dinosaurs, you know.
You said this season offers it all. I know.
Yes, but that's not all.
It's not?
No. There is the action adventure 47 Ronin.
Is it about math?
No. It's about a group of samurai set in the 18th-century Japan.
Wow, cool! Samurai! What an adventure.
And another adventure is most unlikely.
An unlikely adventure?
Right. It's about a timid photo manager who finds himself in a real-life
adventure.
Oh, cool.
Hey, do you remember Mary Poppins?
Ah, sure!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, right?
And a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down...
Right.
Yeah.
Well, there's not a sequel, but there is a movie called Saving Mr. Banks.
And it tells us more about that movie.
So it's a movie about a movie?
Cool! I want to see that one, too.
Me, too.
And there's one more you don't want to miss.
What's that?
It's the story of Grace Kelly.
Oh, Grace Kelly, the movie star?
Yes. She married the Prince of Monaco and helped save the country.
Wow! So there's a movie about a movie and then a movie about a movie star.
Whoa, there are so many movies to see!
Yes! This holiday movie season really does have it all.
Well, what are we waiting for?
Let's go to the movies.
OK!
All right.
(Chinese).
And now it's time to get back to our teachers.
Well, we've talked about all sorts of movies these last couple of days.
And some movies, of course, are great to watch in the theater.
And sometimes you might want to just wait till you're at home to watch it on
your TV or you rent a DVD or you can watch it online.
Is it better to watch a movie in the theater or at home?
What do you think?
Well, I think it really depends on the kind of movie.
If it's a wonderful movie with lots of great detail and action sequences, then I
really like to watch it in theaters.
Like the movie Pacific Rim, I saw it three times.
Yes, you did. I remember that, Carolyn.
Well, another movie I loved watching in the theater was Life of Pi.
I saw that twice in the theater, but I don't think I would watch it on a small
screen at home.
OK, what about you?
What kind of movies do you like to watch in the theater, and what kind do you
like to watch at home?
Talk about that in English.
And we'll see you next time right here at Studio Classroom.
See you.
(Music).