节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-03-11
难易度:Low
关键字:leash, accuse, condition, profit, account book
Hello, everyone.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And welcome to Studio Classroom.
Today we are continuing our lesson called What a Zoo!
So far in our story, Robin and her little brother Jay have gotten into some
trouble.
Do you remember what they did?
That's right. They opened the bird's cage to play with Gwen the parrot.
But the parrot flew away.
Let's continue to see what happens next.
What a Zoo!
Robin and Jay ran into the park.
They soon found Gwen sitting on the arm of their cousin Arthur.
He'd attached a leash to her leg, so she wouldn't fly away.
Arthur was the family's black sheep.
He used to work at the zoo, but the manager, Mr. Fox, had complained about him.
Mr. Fox had accused Arthur of stealing money.
This was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Arthur was fired.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
Thank you so much, Michelle.
All right.
Well, Robin thought that perhaps she and Jay were on a wild goose chase that it
would be impossible for them to catch Gwen the parrot.
But we read here that they soon found Gwen sitting on the arm of their cousin
Arthur.
Oh. Suddenly a new character is introduced to us.
Arthur was sitting in the park when Gwen flew up to him and sat on his arm.
And Arthur probably recognized the bird from the zoo because he used to work
there.
He knew this was a valuable bird, so he attached a leash to her leg so that she
wouldn't fly away.
Wait a minute.
Where did he get a leash?
Well, I'm not sure, but it's always good to be prepared, and he used to work at
the zoo.
Now there are many different kinds of leashes.
I know people use leashes when they walk their dogs.
Ah, yes. That's probably where we see leashes most often.
But I've seen other animals with leashes, too.
One of the funniest things I've ever seen is someone trying to walk a cat with a
leash.
I guess I just think of cats as being more independent.
Well, I think a lot of birds are independent, too.
But if you have something valuable and you don't want it to take off, maybe you
need a leash.
It's a good thing Arthur had a leash for Gwen, so she didn't fly away.
Wait, Carolyn. She? Isn't a bird an it?
Hmm, people have different opinions about this.
And Steve and Ken have something they would like to share with us about this in
the Information Cloud.
Is an animal a he, a she or an it?
Let's go to the Information Cloud now.
Today let's first review an important part of English grammar:
People are referred to as he or she.
All other objects are referred to as "it" in the singular or "they" in the
plural.
Very basic, right?
So what about animals?
Should we refer to them as he or she?
Well, strictly speaking, when talking about animals in English, we should use
it.
However, when speaking about our pets or domesticated animals, it's common to
use he or she.
You know, my dog loves running.
When I take her to the park, she runs for hours and hours.
That's a good example, Ken.
Now wild animals, on the other hand, usually take "it" when spoken about in a
general way.
That bear looks like it is very strong.
You may hear some animal lovers insist that English speakers call all animals he
or she, but realistically, this is impossible.
Sometimes we just don't know the sex of a cat or dog lying at our feet, let
alone that of a bird in the sky, a rabbit under a tree or a fish in water.
(Chinese).
Thanks, guys.
Actually, you brought up a great reminder.
It's important to remember the words to use for guys and girls.
That's true.
You know, sometimes I hear people use "he" when talking about a girl, and they
use "she" when talking about a guy.
Someone might say something like: Oh, my sister is walking his dog.
But that's wrong.
It should be my sister is walking her dog.
Ah, we know you all know this already.
But we just want to warn you, even if you've studied English for a long time,
this simple mistake in conversation can make you sound like you've just started
learning the language.
That's right.
So remember who you're talking about - Is it a guy or a girl?
Use the appropriate words.
Listen to yourself when you practice.
Well, we think you're doing a great job.
Yes. Now back to the lesson.
We just met a new character in the story: Robin and Jay's cousin Arthur.
And in the next few sentences, we learn a little about him.
But wait. Why do we spend so much time learning about Arthur?
I thought the story was about Robin and Jay.
Ah, yes. What we have here is Arthur's backstory.
And that's a word we want to talk about: backstory.
Many times in a story you will learn about the history of a person or situation
within the bigger story.
If the writer or storyteller tells someone's backstory, that means their
backstory, or background, is important if you want to understand the whole story
you are reading.
Right. And you'll find that many novels include the backstories of the
characters involved.
And in our story today, it's important for us to understand what Arthur has
experienced in the past.
First of all, he was the black sheep of the family.
Now what does this mean?
Well, when those people think of sheep, they think of white sheep.
In fact, only 1 out of every 140 sheep is black.
Wow! OK. So what does this mean as an idiom?
The black sheep of the family is the person in a family who doesn't really fit
in because they're just a little bit different.
But this phrase is usually a little negative.
So if you want to say that someone is unique, don't say they are the black
sheep.
You're right, Carolyn. It can be negative.
However, I know many people who say that they are the black sheep of their
family, but they're also confident people.
They just realized that they were a little different from their siblings growing
up.
Right.
Well, when we read about someone being the black sheep like Arthur, we get the
sense that other people didn't always approve of him.
We read in his backstory that he used to work at the zoo, but the manager Mr.
Fox had complained about him.
Hmm, Mr. Fox sounds like a suspicious guy.
If you call someone a fox, you mean the person is kind of sneaky and clever and
perhaps not really honest.
Of course.
Here if someone... it's just someone's last name, so we don't know if he's like
that for sure.
But as you know, our author chooses names for people that might tell you
something about them.
Well, Mr. Fox accused Arthur of stealing money.
And we read that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Wait a minute. Camel?
He broke a camel's back?
No. This is an expression.
Imagine a camel carrying many heavy things.
If you add one more thing, even something light, like a piece of straw, the
camel's back will break.
So Arthur must have done many bigger things to make Mr. Fox not like him.
And stealing money was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Well, I think we have more to learn about Arthur, and we'll do that afterthis.