节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-03-17
难易度:Low
关键字:chirp, bloom, bulb, cucumber, megastore, fertilizer, green thumb
Hello, everyone. My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
Welcome to Studio Classroom.
Thank you for joining us today as we begin our lesson Spring Is in the Air.
This is part of a our LIFE IN AMERICA series,
so let's find out what Pauline has to share with us this month about her
family's life in the United States.
Open up your magazines and let's begin.
(Music).
Spring Is in the Air.
Leaving the cold winter behind.
Birds chirping, gentle breezes blowing and flowers blooming - all are signs of
springtime.
Nature is waking up and welcoming a new circle of life for the year.
Some early flowers are showing their beauty to the world.
The beautiful season of spring brings hope, joy and life.
Supermarkets and megastores sell all kinds of seeds, plants and bulbs as well as
tools and fertilizer.
Gardening is very popular here.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
Thank you so much, Michelle.
Carolyn, spring is in the air.
Can you smell it?
Well, not quite yet, Gabe.
But I think starting our lesson by looking at the title would be great:
Spring Is in the Air. It's an interesting phrase, so what does it mean, Gabe?
Well, if something is in the air, that means that it is all around you, and it
can be felt or noticed.
Air is all round us; so if spring is in the air, that means that spring is all
around us.
Yes. While spring is probably the word I hear used most with this phrase, you
could use different words in place of spring.
You could say any of the four seasons, which shows that one season is changing
into the next.
So at the end of spring, you could say that summer is in the air.
Or at the end of summer, fall is in the air.
But you could also use other words instead of the four seasons.
You could say that joy was in the air.
Everyone was very happy.
Well, I do love when joy is in the air.
And joy tends to be in the air when winter changes into springtime.
Carolyn, that's a great word from our lesson as well.
Let's look at "springtime." Why don't we simply say spring?
Why do we add the word "time" on the end of this word?
Well, the word "springtime" is used to refer directly to the season of spring,
that time period.
It helps to emphasize the specific time period of spring.
So in our sentence in the lesson, we talk about things that are specifically
found during the season of spring.
And they are things that probably weren't seen during the cold winter months or
during wintertime.
So if you want to focus on the time that occurs between the beginning and end of
a season, you can add the word "time" to that word.
Right. So you can have springtime, summertime and wintertime.
But fall is a bit different.
We don't really say autumntime or falltime, but we can say harvest time.
The season we know as fall used to be called harvest because that's when people
gathered in the crops at the end of summer.
So summertime changes to harvest time, and harvest time changes to wintertime.
Now while springtime, summertime and wintertime are all written as one word,
harvest time is two words.
Right.
Well, in today's lesson we are talking about springtime.
And Liz wants to tell us more about something in this first sentence.
So let's join her now.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym, friends.
My name is Liz.
And I hope you're all doing well today.
Now in our lesson today we see this sentence:
Birds chirping, gentle breezes blowing and flowers blooming - all are signs of
springtime.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
It just means that birds chirping, gentle breezes blowing and flowers blooming
are all signs of springtime.
These three things tell us that springtime is here.
However, notice how the writer just simply lists the characteristics,
adds an em dash, and then introduces what these three characteristics or
descriptions describe.
Basically here's the sentence pattern: [Noun 1], [noun 2] and [noun 3] - all are
signs of something.
It's not too hard, and here are some examples:
Headache, sore throat, sneezing - all are signs of the common cold.
Or: Daydreaming, loss of appetite, smiling constantly - all are signs of being
in love.
So give this sentence pattern a try.
Think of three things that are commonly found in a situation, and practice using
the sentence pattern.
If you have a copy of this month's magazine, be sure to check out today's
Grammar Tip section for more example sentences.
That's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming and nature is waking up.
Wait! Does that mean nature was sleeping?
Well, yes and no.
During the cold months... during the cold winter months, it can look like nature
is sleeping.
There are fewer animals, trees don't have any leaves, and there are no flowers
blooming.
But all of those things reappear during spring.
Hmm, so you could say that nature sleeps during the winter and wakes back up
during the spring.
Our author also writes that nature is welcoming a new circle of life.
Let's take a look at that phrase.
Well, the circle of life refers to the natural process of life and death.
Things in nature live, create new life and die.
And the cycle continues from one generation to the next.
But this phrase was really made popular by an animated movie, actually.
Yes. The Circle of Life is also the name of a song from The Lion King.
Well, when spring arrives, we do think about new life: flowers coming up from
the cold ground; baby birds hatching and chirping in their nests.
Well, this certainly is a season of hope, joy and life, just as our lesson says.
Some people find that joy in gardening.
Gardening is very popular in the United States, but there is something else that
is very popular this time of year.
Do you know what that is, Carolyn?
Yes, spring-cleaning.
Many families take time each spring to remove old things from their homes and
clean things that might not get enough attention during the rest of the year,
like moving all of the furniture outside to clean the spaces behind and
underneath them.
So people try to clean their houses as much as possible once winter is over.
This tradition began a long time ago when houses were heated with coal in the
winter and people used candles for light.
Black dust from the coal and smoke from the candles and coal would make the
house very dirty during the cold winter months.
So the first warm day of spring, people would take everything out of the house.
And then they would clean the inside of the house from top to bottom, trying to
remove all of that dust, dirt and smoke.
Now they cleaned... they also cleaned everything outside and took everything
outside so that the whole house would be clean for the new year.
Hmm, new year.
This sounds like what some people do to clean their houses for the new year,
though I don't usually see people carrying their furniture outside to let it sit
in the sun.
No, I guess they don't really have space to do that.
But even though we don't use coal or candles in our homes all winter, it's still
important to make time at least once a year to clean our houses.
Well, something else that people enjoy doing once a year, especially in spring,
is gardening.
And this is a great month for gardening depending on where you live.
Um, what do you mean, Carolyn? It's spring!
Everyone can go out and start their gardens.
Well, not quite.
If you live in a warmer area, then yes, March is the perfect time to start your
garden.
But if you live a little further north, you may want to wait.
Why would you want to wait?
If you wait to plant, then you will have to wait to enjoy your flowers and
vegetables.
Well, that might be true.
But if you plant too early, frost could kill your young plants.
Hmm, good point.
OK. Let's look at that word: frost.
When the temperature goes below freezing and the layer of water that collects on
plants freezes, you get frost.
And it makes the plants look like they have a thin layer of white ice on them.
And while it may look cool at first, frost can damage or even kill plants that
aren't strong enough for the cold temperatures.
So that's why it's important not to plant things too early.
So what can people do if they want to start their garden in March but there's
still a chance that they will get frost?
Well, many people start by planting their gardens inside.
You can buy small plants... pots and plant your seeds inside those pots, then
move them outside.
Well, we will continue learning more from our lesson right afterthis.