节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-12-28
难易度:High
关键字:professional, creativity, dwell on, carefree, bring to the table, vocal
percussion
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And your English is going to improve today.
We're continuing to learn about O-Kai, this group of incredibly talented
musicians.
They are singers.
They sing a cappella, and their style is quite unique.
We already looked... at the history of O-Kai yesterday.
And of course we're going to be talking a little bit about their future today
and where they get their inspiration from.
But they are a team of people that are working together with a single goal.
Now I wonder about you.
Have you ever had any interesting teamwork experiences?
Carolyn?
Well, teamwork is not always easy, and it's difficult to depend on people if you
don't really know them that well.
So I remember I had a class project, and we had to work as a team to complete
it.
And in order to do that, part of our assignment was to make a contract so that
if one person did not fulfill their obligation to the team,
they would be the only one that lost points on the project.
That's good. That's very clever.
It is a good way to make sure everyone is doing their jobs.
I have been involved in different kinds of teamwork in the past.
And I think it is wonderful to have that kind of experience - to work together.
Everyone is working together with one goal, just like O-Kai.
Let's continue learning about them today.
(Music).
O-Kai.
Looking up.
There's no doubt that things have been going well for O-Kai.
Some of their favorite foreign professional arrangers were happy to arrange
songs for their album after the group approached them.
O-Kai A Cappella was named one of the top 10 Taiwanese albums of 2012 because it
brought something new to the table.
Now their hard work and creativity has been rewarded with three Golden Melody
Awards, Taiwan's highest honor for music.
Rather than dwell on their own achievements, though, O-Kai thank God for His
guidance and give honor to Him.
They have been a very successful group.
And as we see at the beginning of this section, things are looking up.
Looking up.
That means that things are looking good.
They are positive.
And it looks like the future is bright.
And I think it's true.
O-Kai's future is bright.
OK, things are looking up.
We read here: There's no doubt that things have been going well for O-Kai.
There's no doubt about something.
That means even if you have a little question in your mind: How is O-Kai doing?
Are they really doing OK?
Well, there's no doubt things are going great for them.
That's right. And we continue reading:
Some of their favorite foreign professional arrangers were happy to arrange
songs for their album after the group approached them.
And that's amazing.
These are big-name, professional arrangers that just agreed to arrange songs for
their album because they asked them to.
And they were happy to do this.
Let's take a look at that word from our Word Bank: professional.
Are you a professional in some way?
Or did you just begin to learn how to do something?
If you're a professional, chances are you're making money doing that thing.
Well, maybe you want to be a professional singer.
Maybe you want to be a professional a cappella singer like O-Kai's members.
But you could also be a professional at anything, really.
Whatever you do for work, you can make that your profession, your job, and
become a skilled professional.
And so just like these professional arrangers, you can do something at that
level and even make money doing something that you really enjoy and love.
OK. Well, we continue here.
O-Kai A Cappella was named one of the top 10 Taiwanese albums of 2012 because it
brought something new to the table.
All right. So already they're named one of the top 10 a cappella groups or top
10 groups.
They brought something new to the table.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that there was really nothing like it before.
It was a very new sound and a new approach to Taiwanese aboriginal music.
So their album O-Kai A Cappella got named one of the top 10 Taiwanese albums of
2012.
OK. So when can you bring something new to the table?
What does that mean?
Do you ever bring new ideas to the table?
Maybe you have a project, you're working together with other people, and you
bring your ideas to the table.
That means you... you mention your ideas to discuss so everybody knows what
you're thinking.
Great. Well, we continue learning about O-Kai.
Now their hard work and creativity has been rewarded with three Golden Melody
Awards, Taiwan's highest honor for music.
So not only... was their album named one of the top 10 albums in Taiwan but
they've also received three Golden Melody Awards.
And so their creativity and hard work has paid off.
Creativity is straight from our Word Bank.
Are you a creative person?
Well, I think we all have creativity in different ways.
That's right.
So if you have creativity, that means that you are able to use your imagination
to come up with something new.
What do you do with your creativity?
Do you write music?
Do you paint pictures?
Do you come up with stories or new ideas?
How do you use your creativity?
All right. Well, let's continue here.
We read about O-Kai:
Rather than dwell on their achievements, though, O-Kai thank God for His
guidance and give honor to Him.
All right, so they're not just thinking about all the great things that they
have done.
They're not just dwelling on their achievements.
But that's a phrase from our Word Bank.
When you dwell on something, that means you think about it a lot.
You can dwell on the past or the future.
How else could you use this phrase?
Well, it's important not to dwell on failures.
You should continue looking forward, looking up and focus on the positive or
dwell on the positive things in your life.
I think that's a great reminder.
Don't dwell on the negative things happening in your life.
Dwell on the positive things.
And I think that we all have many blessings in our lives that we can dwell on.
OK. So here we're talking about how O-Kai doesn't just dwell on their past
achievements.
That means they're not just really happy and boasting about everything they've
done in the past.
No. They continue to look forward with grateful hearts.
Yes. And so they give thanks to God and honor Him.
So that is a wonderful way for them to show their achievements that these aren't
things that they have done themselves,
but something that they have done because of God's blessings on them.
Well, O-Kai is a good example of a group of people who don't just rest in what
they are doing.
They're not just happy and content with their past achievements.
They may be... reinventing themselves.
And I think that Steve and Ken are going to talk a little bit about this idea in
the Information Cloud.
And then we'll join Michelle in the Language Lab.
In ancient Greece, before the days of Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals,
there were laurel wreaths.
That's right.
Symbols of great honor and status, laurel wreaths were awarded to successful
athletes in recognition of a well-earned victory.
It is this custom that is at the root of the idiom: resting on one's laurels.
And it means that a person is so content with his past successes and
achievements that he doesn't feel the need to improve anymore.
People who rest on their laurels are so satisfied with what they've
accomplished, they decide to just rest and live off their reputation.
Knowing this, we can understand how resting on one's laurels became associated
with laziness.
Today, this idiom goes beyond the world of sports and can be applied to talented
but a little lazy people in any field, including business, politics, academics
and the arts.
Sometimes in the entertainment business, we hear of people who refuse to rest on
their laurels.
Rather, they are more concerned with reinventing themselves, which means they
are striving to improve, always learning, always changing.
So how about you, friends?
Are you resting on your laurels or are you reinventing yourself?
(Chinese).
Hi, everyone.
(Chinese).