节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-01-01
难易度:Medium
关键字:enormous, rascal, spectator, farewell
It is the first day of the New Year.
And we are ringing it in with a super-sized rubber duck.
This enormous, inflatable duck has been seen in cities around the world.
The artist who created the duck had a vision of a giant child throwing his toys
around the world.
And as we read in the article, Hofman is that rascal.
Now it's time to continue learning about this duck and all of the places Hofman
has thrown it.
Open your magazines to continue reading the next part of the article: Warm
welcome in Hong Kong.
Then we'll join Michelle to learn some important words in the Language Lab.
Big Art Makes a Big Impression.
Warm welcome in Hong Kong.
Since 2007, Hofman has "thrown" the Rubber Duck into the harbors of cities such
as Auckland, New Zealand, and Osaka, Japan.
But last May his giant yellow duck received an especially warm welcome in Hong
Kong.
Millions of spectators from across Asia went to Victoria Harbour to see the duck
up close and take pictures.
Hong Kong businesses created duck-inspired products and dishes in honor of their
yellow visitor.
And when Rubber Duck was ready to leave, thousands crowded the docks at Victoria
Harbour to wave a teary-eyed farewell.
(Music).
All right.
(Chinese).
And let's get back to our teachers.
We learn in this section of the reading that Hofman has been "throwing" his
giant Rubber Duck around the world since 2007.
And he doesn't seem to be getting tired of it yet.
Not at all.
The more places the duck seems to go, the more other cities want to welcome the
duck into their own waters.
And I think that is an important point to make.
The article mentions that the duck has been to Auckland, New Zealand, Osaka,
Japan, and Hong Kong.
Something that these cities all have in common is a large body of water.
Because the duck needs to be able to swim.
Actually the duck is built around a special boat, which is able to float around
on the water.
So it looks like the duck is swimming around all of the other boats and ships.
Well, in this section we find out that the duck received an especially warm
welcome in Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong.
And I think that is a really great phrase to know: warm welcome.
If you give someone a warm welcome, that means that you are very happy to greet
them, and you show it.
So what could you do?
You might smile, talk happily and make people feel at home.
Many stores also try to give customers a warm welcome by having friendly workers
greet them when they come into the store.
And other people might give them free samples of food or other products to try.
A very warm welcome.
But how does a duck get a warm welcome?
Well, I'm glad you asked, Carolyn.
Millions of spectators went to Hong Kong to see that duck.
And these weren't just locals.
People came from all over Asia to see the giant Rubber Duck.
Restaurants and shops also promoted the duck by selling special duck-inspired
items.
That's right. They certainly knew how to greet their yellow visitor.
And that is a very creative way to talk about something, to describe it rather
than name it.
The duck is yellow and visiting Hong Kong, so it can be called a yellow visitor.
Hmm. I guess you could also call it a giant yellow visitor or a giant yellow
bath toy.
Think about other ways that you can describe things so that you won't need to
repeat the same words over and over again.
Great advice. Be creative.
And after receiving such a warm welcome, Rubber Duck also received a teary-eyed
farewell when it left Victoria Harbour.
And there's a lot to talk about in that closing sentence, so let's see what
Steve and Ken have to say about the spelling of the word harbor.
And then we'll join Liz in the Grammar Gym to take a look at the word:
teary-eyed.
Let's go!
Happy New Year!
Friends, welcome to another year of the Info Cloud.
Now some of the more observant among you may have noticed an apparent mistake in
our lesson today.
Wait a minute! Did you say a mistake in Studio Classroom magazine on the first
day of the year?
Where?
Ken, I said an apparent mistake.
Our lesson mentions the harbors of cities such as Auckland, New Zealand, and
Osaka, Japan.
Notice how the word "harbors" is spelled.
H-A-R-B-O-R-S.
But further down in the lesson, we see Victoria Harbour.
And this harbour is spelled H-A-R-B-O-U-R.
There's an extra U in there.
Oh, that's no mistake.
Friends, we're actually dealing with a difference between British and American
spelling.
The "-our" sequence in some words often becomes "-or" in American spelling.
So Americans spell harbor H-A-R-B-O-R.
But the British spell it with an extra U.
Since Hong Kong used to be a British colony, Victoria Harbour is spelled with
the extra U in there.
Now this spelling difference comes from the French influence on English.
British English has a tendency to keep the spelling of many words of French
origin.
But Americans try to spell words more closely to the way they sound
phonetically, and they tend to omit some letters.
Words like color, flavor and honor are some other examples.
Another difference is the British "-re" which becomes "-er" in American English,
like in the words theater/theatre and center/centre.
What's another difference, Steve?
Well, Ken, the British -ae, -oe, -oeu sequences become the simpler -e, -o, -eu
sequences in the American versions,
like in the words leukemia/leukaemia, maneuver/manoeuvre, and
medieval/mediaeval.
(Chinese).
Hello, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
In today's article, we see this sentence:
As when Rubber Duck was ready to leave, thousands crowded the docks at Victoria
Harbour to wave a teary-eyed farewell.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Notice the phrase at the end of the sentence: teary-eyed farewell.
Teary-eyed is an adjective phrase known as a compound adjective.
Basically, it is an adjective plus a hyphen ( - ), and then a noun with "-ed" at
the end.
Teary-eyed describes farewell.
What kind of farewell?
It's with people crying - their eyes are with tears; they are teary-eyed.
So it's a teary-eyed farewell.
Oftentimes such compound adjectives are used when we want to use a certain body
part to describe something.
For example, if a man gets his heart broken, we would say he is a broken-hearted
man.
What about a dinosaur with a long neck?
We call it a long-necked dinosaur.
And what do you call a pirate with one leg?
That's right.
A one-legged pirate.
If you'd like to see some more examples, 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.
Thank you, Steve and Ken, for that great information. And thank you, Liz, as
well.
Your grammar tips are always wonderful.
Now with the New Year comes changes.
And we have a very special treat for you on our program.
We will get to enjoy a new feature with our Studio Classroom editor Linda.
And she is going to share her editor's summary with us.
What's a summary?
Well, that's explaining something big in a short amount of time or in a short
way.
And this is a great skill to have.
So pay attention to the words that she uses, some of her questions.
Let's join her now in the Editor's Summary.
Toys, toys, everywhere, especially a big, yellow Rubber Duck.
Hofman has taken his vision of a rascal, himself, throwing toys around the world
and made it happen.
Hong Kong, Japan and New Zealand are just a few of the places that the duck has
landed.
The duck made a huge splash in Hong Kong with spectators from all over Asia
going to view it,
and taking the time to buy dishes and other gifts to take home to remember their
experience.
Were people sad when Rubber Duck left?
Indeed, they were.
Thousands gathered to wave goodbye.
Thanks a lot, Linda.
Well, we've had a great start to the New Year with an article about a very
special piece of public art.
A super-sized Rubber Duck.
The artist Florentijn Hofman had a vision of a giant child throwing his toys
around the world.
And his Rubber Duck has been seen floating around many different cities as we
remember from our summary with Linda.
And do you know anyone who has seen that duck?
Carolyn, do you know anyone who's seen this duck?
Well, yes. Several of my friends posted pictures of it.
Though, to be honest, the first time I saw pictures of the duck in Hong Kong, I
thought it was fake.
What...? You thought it was fake?
Wait, why did you think that?
Well, I couldn't believe that there was such a giant duck that was floating
around Victoria Harbour.
I had been there before, and there was not a duck when I was visiting.
And it didn't look real, so I thought someone had maybe edited a photo and put a
duck in Hong Kong.
Really?
Well, um... you know it's definitely real and gaining in popularity, Carolyn.
I know that now, Gabe.
And we have more to learn about this duck and some of Hofman's other works
tomorrow right here on Studio Classroom.
So we'll see you then.