节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-12-25
难易度:High
关键字:carol, solemn, worship, salvation, manger, materialistic, Christ
Hello, everyone, and...
Merry Christmas!
Of course, welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
On this Christmas Day, we will be talking about a famous Christmas song called
"What Child is This?" That's right.
This song comes with a title that is a question: What child is this?
I love this song.
Actually, there are many Christmas songs that I love.
Carolyn, what's a Christmas song that you like to sing at Christmastime?
Well, I think a lot of people really enjoy singing Silent Night,
but my favorite song is a little bit less common called Child So Lovely, so also
talking about this child.
Yes, this child. And what child is this?
One of my favorite songs is O come, O come, Emmanuel.
And there are so many other Christmas songs and tunes that you might recognize
during the Christmas season.
Well, let's get started learning about this song.
(Music).
"What Child is This?".
The answer is in this favorite Christmas song.
In his beautiful Christmas carol, William Chatterton Dix asks a question people
down through the centuries have asked, "What child is this?".
Even today people wonder about this baby who was born in a manger in Bethlehem
over 2,000 years ago.
Dix provides some answers in this well-loved Christmas song.
The setting.
Dix wrote the lyrics for the song in 1865 during a time when Christmas was not a
large, commercial, materialistic celebration.
Some religious people remembered the day and celebrated it in a quiet, solemn
way.
Others didn't celebrate the day at all.
(Music).
All right. Let's go back to the beginning of our lesson here.
We read:
The answer is in this favorite Christmas song.
All right. The answer to what, Carolyn?
Well, the answer to our question in the title - What child is this?
And you see in your article the lyrics to this song.
That's right.
And Steve and Ken would like to talk about some of these lyrics.
Liz also has something to say.
All right. So maybe if you have your magazine, you can read along.
First, let's go visit with Liz in the Grammar Gym.
And then we'll see Steve and Ken in the Information Cloud. So pay attention.
Hello, friends.
I hope you're all doing well today.
Thanks for joining me here at the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
Our article today is about a song that we often hear during the Christmas
season.
And here's today's Grammar Tip sentence:
While shepherds watch are keeping?
Notice the word watch.
Normally we use "watch" to mean that time piece we wear on our wrists.
But in today's sentence, watch has a completely different meaning.
Here it means the duty or period of time of guarding something.
In other words, today's sentence just means while shepherds are doing their job
of guarding.
We use "watch" to mean duty or period of time of guarding something when we're
talking about people who have to guard something.
For example: Hank is a security guard at a museum, and during his watch, he
enjoys walking around the exhibits.
Or: The soldiers claimed that during their watch, they saw a mysterious aircraft
fly over them.
Want 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.
See you next time.
Hi, friends.
If I say to you "Who did you meet this morning?" would you say there's something
wrong with that sentence?
Most of you would probably say no, it's a perfectly good sentence.
But if we really want to be picky, Ken should have said, "Whom did you meet this
morning?" Why?
Because the person you met is the object of that sentence.
OK, here's the rule:
Use "whom" when you are referring to the object of a sentence.
Use "who" when you are referring to the subject of a sentence.
And how do you tell which is which?
Just look at the verb.
Here's a sentence that might help you remember:
Who throws the ball to whom?
"Who" is the person throwing the ball or initiating the action, and "whom" is
the one receiving the ball or being acted upon.
So with this rule in mind, we should say, "Whom did you meet this morning?" But
let's be honest, very few people talk like that these days.
When someone calls, we are far more likely to answer "Who do you wish to speak
with?" rather than the grammatically correct sentence:
With whom do you wish to speak?
So what should we do?
Well, if it's spoken, don't bother using "whom" unless you are already using a
formal phrase like: To whom am I speaking?
But if you're writing, especially if it's something formal like a thesis or a
legal contract, then stick to the grammar rules.
(Chinese).
The song does contain some very interesting words.
So thank you for giving us a little explanation and insight into this song.
Well, let's continue with the lesson here.
The answer is in this favorite Christmas song - so answering the question "What
child is this?" And we read:
In his beautiful Christmas carol, William Chatterton Dix asks a question people
down through the centuries have asked: What child is this?
And we need to take a look at an important word in our lesson today.
It has everything to do with this kind of song.
It's the word carol.
Now a carol is a song of joy or of rejoicing in something.
And especially we use the word "carol" talking about Christmas songs or
Christmas carols.
That's right.
So many people like to sing Christmas carols during Christmastime.
You might also hear people say that they enjoy going caroling.
It can be turned into a verb.
Now this is not the same as my name.
My name is Carolyn, not Caroling.
That's right. OK.
But sometimes I'm sure Carolyn goes caroling on Christmas Eve.
Am I right?
Uh, yes, Gabe. You would be correct.
OK, good.
And then if you do enjoy caroling, then you are a caroler.
You can go caroling with other people singing in front of people's houses or in
front of department stores or at open public spaces during Christmastime.
That is caroling.
And it is a lot of fun.
Well, people have always asked this question down through the ages.
They have wondered, "What child is this?" And we read:
Even today people wonder about this baby who was born in a manger in Bethlehem
over 2,000 years ago.
So this has been quite a long time that people have been asking this question.
Hey, he was born in a manger.
That reminds me of another Christmas carol: "Away in a manger..." OK.
Now little Baby Jesus didn't have a crib for a bed.
He rested in a manger, which is actually a feeding place for animals like cows
and goats.
That's what they would eat out of.
That's kind of strange.
It is kind of strange, but that is all part of the Christmas story that we find
in the Bible.
They did not have a crib to place this baby in, the dear Baby Jesus, so they
laid him in the manger.
Now in asking "What child is this?" Dix provides some answers in this well-loved
Christmas song.
So many people love this song. It is well-loved.
All right.
Well, let's take a look at the setting of the song - the time and the place.
Here we go.
Dix wrote the lyrics for the song in 1865 during a time when Christmas was not a
large, commercial, materialistic celebration.
And Carolyn, I love the way our author describes Christmas now.
Sometimes it is a large, commercial and materialistic celebration.
It is.
So it has gone from being something that was very small, something that very few
people celebrated to this very large event that focuses a lot on gift buying and
giving.
And it kind of has lost the true meaning that it originally had.
It's true.
And that's kind of what materialistic means.
You focus on material things.
The things that you have, the clothes that you wear, your cars and houses and
those kinds of things, how much money you have.
That's all materialistic.
So do you focus on materialistic things? Or do you focus on other more important
things in life?
That's right, so.
We continue reading here: Some religious people remembered the day and
celebrated it in a quiet, solemn way.
So it wasn't a large celebration.
It was done in a quiet, solemn way, which is a word from our Word Bank: solemn.
Now if something is solemn, then it is very respectful.
There's not a lot going on. It's done kind of in a quiet way.
OK, maybe kind of serious.
Maybe you have a solemn conversation with somebody, something that is not really
too happy.
You're having a serious conversation, but it's important to discuss that topic.
OK. You might be having a solemn time.
And this carol kind of sounds a little bit solemn.
It does.
And we continue to read that others didn't celebrate the day at all.
So this was not even a widely celebrated holiday, just a few people solemnly
celebrating it.
Well, right now it is time for us to continue learning with Michelle in the
Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).