节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-01-15
难易度:Medium
关键字:apparently, in common, embarrassment, pirate, helium, random, comfort zone

In today's lesson called Anything but Normal, we've been learning more about the
Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen.
And there are some truly crazy tasks you must do if you want to participate in
this scavenger hunt.
Yes, there are.
In 2011, participants had to make a Christmas tree float using helium balloons.
So today we're going to try to do something similar and make this little rubber
duck float.
Oh.
It's kind of like the Rubber Duck from our first lesson this month.
He's going to float, not on water, but on air.
Uh-huh.
Here we go.
All right. Let's see.
Here you go, rubber duckie.
Come on! Fly, fly up.
Float, float away, float away...
Gabe, I think we might need to add some more helium balloons before the duck
will float away like the Christmas trees.
Well, he's trying, he's... You're doing a very good job.
Right now it's time for us to go to our second reading for today.
And then we'll visit Michelle in the Language Lab.
There, see!
Uh... and down it goes.
(Music).
Anything but Normal!
Risking embarrassment.
Sooner or later, team members need to risk looking silly.
Last year's list required participants to appear in public dressed as robots and
pirates.
Some participants say there's a benefit to all of this joking around.
As one participant wrote on Facebook, "I was pushed out of my comfort zone, and
I learned a lot about myself and my community.".
OK.
(Chinese).
Now I'll give the time back to our teachers.
Thank you, Michelle.
Well, this last section is entitled Risking embarrassment.
How far would you go for the sake of your team?
What is the most embarrassing thing that you would do?
Would you risk embarrassment for a scavenger hunt?
Well, I guess it really depends on what the task is.
You know, this makes me think of embarrassing moments.
Everyone has some embarrassing moments in life.
And it can be fun to share those with people and with your friends, especially.
Perhaps you didn't do anything embarrassing, but something happened to you that
made you embarrassed.
Gabe, have you ever had any embarrassing moments?
Uh... yeah.
Um, I'm just trying to think which one is OK to share on TV.
Perhaps the most embarrassing thing that happened to me was when my friend
pulled my shorts down in public.
Yeah, he accidentally grabbed more than just my shorts.
Oh, that's very embarrassing.
I was standing on top of a picnic table. It was quite...
Now, OK. Well, please tell me that this happened a long time ago.
Oh, I'm glad it did.
I was 12.
But I'll never forget that most embarrassing moment.
Is that embarrassing enough?
Uh, yes. I don't think the tasks for the scavenger hunt are that embarrassing,
but they might cause a little embarrassment.
You might have to do things that you wouldn't normally do in public.
That's right.
The lesson says, "Sooner or later, team members need to risk looking silly." And
"sooner or later" is a great phrase.
That means at some point in the future.
It could be soon or it could be later in the future.
For example, sooner or later, I will finish my homework.
Or sooner or later, the police will catch the robber.
Hmm. Sooner or later, I plan to travel to South America.
It will happen sooner or later.
Sooner or later, we need to study for the test.
We should do it sooner rather than later.
And of course for GISHWHES, sooner or later, members need to look... risk
looking silly.
Now I think Liz has something she wants to share about this sentence in the
Grammar Gym.
Let's go there now.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym, friends.
My name is Liz. And thanks for joining me here.
In today's lesson we read:
Sooner or later, team members need to risk looking silly.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Notice the phrase at the end of the sentence: to risk looking silly.
The verb "risk" means to make oneself be in a situation where there's a chance
that something bad might happen.
And in the case of today's sentence, to risk looking silly means it's possible
that they will look silly.
In other words, sooner or later, there's a chance that team members may look
silly.
So when you want to describe how someone might have the chance of losing
something or hurting something,
you can consider this phrase: to risk + [verb-ing].
For example, let's say Polly knew that if she got a second job, there's a chance
that she may not be able to spend time with her family.
So we can say: Polly knew that if she took a second job, she would risk not
having time with her family.
Or let's say Luis decided to report his co-worker's dishonest behavior... even
though he knew the other co-workers might call him a snitch.
So we can say:
Luis decided to report his co-worker's dishonest behavior and risk getting
called a snitch.
Well, that's all the time we have for today.
Be sure to check out today's Grammar Tip section for more example sentences.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
So let's keep reading about the kinds of silly things participants have to do
for this scavenger hunt.
Last year's list required participants to appear in public dressed as robots and
pirates. Arr!
Oh, Gabe, why did you do that?
Oh, that's the sound a pirate makes, Carolyn.
Try it.
Arr!
Well, Gabe, I... I think you would have no problem appearing in public as a
pirate.
Well... hey, that's not a bad idea.
And you can be a robot.
Oh. Well, that sounds kind of fun.
Maybe we should get involved with GISHWHES sometime.
Sooner or later, I think we should.
We would be pretty fun participants.
Hey, speaking of getting involved in this event, I think Steve and Ken are
waiting in the Info Cloud to talk about the idea of participating in something.
Let's go there now.
Hello, friends.
When you go to an event such as a conference or seminar, do you participate in
it or do you just attend it?
Well, is there a difference between the two, you may ask?
There is.
In school, for example, when teachers evaluate a student, they distinguish
between attendance and participation.
Attendance is the fact that the student is not missing a class.
And participation is how actively the student takes part in the class
activities.
Right. A student may have perfect attendance but no participation.
He may be in class listening to what's going on but never raises his hand to ask
questions.
So attending something, even though your present is passive, you're physically
there.
To participate, on the other hand, is taking the extra step to get involved.
It's active.
Now the person who participates is called a participant.
Steve, what do you call someone who attends something?
Ah, you might think we call him or her an attendant, but that's not the right
word.
An attendant is someone who provides some kind of service, like a flight
attendant or a gas station attendant.
Someone who attends an event is an attendee.
(Chinese).
Thanks, guys.
Well, it's a good question: What do you do in class?
Do you actively participate or do you just attend and hope to get a good grade?
It's good to participate.
And speaking of participating, we read in our lesson that some participants say
there's a benefit to all of this joking around.
Well, there has to be!
It's fun.
There is a benefit.
And there's a benefit to talking about that word benefit.
A benefit is the good side of something.
One of the benefits of exercise is that it keeps you healthy.
One benefit of... of reviewing what you learn in class each day is that it will
help you remember those things better.
Now sometimes we talk about reaping the benefits of something, like a farmer
sows in his field and reaps a harvest later.
So we can reap the benefits of our good decisions.
Now work hard and reap the benefits later.
Right now, though, it's time for us to watch a video about GISHWHES.
And then we'll join Linda for the Editor's Summary.
There's something very interesting going on across the globe right now.
People break the range.
They could be a part of a worldwide scavenger hunt.
(Background Noise).
Good luck, stay sane until the end of GISHWHES.
It's random things to do.
It's a week of randomness.
We're trying to mobilize a lot of this creative energy and do some good things
for people, so.
I think we're succeeding.
Item number one on the scavenger hunt list, though, is to help set the world
records for random acts of kindness.
That means getting as many people as possible to go online and pledge to commit
at least one random act of kindness before the end of this year.
These are teens from across the world.
They're gathering things...
The list is more than 100 items long.
(Music).
... got to do an international scavenger hunt.
(Music).
(Background Noise).
Trick or treat!
(Music).
A big theme in GISHWHES is kindness.
They have this in common with the charity Random Acts.
And they sometimes work together to do good for different people.
Also, if you want to be involved with GISHWHES, you may need to look kind of
silly in public.
So, don't take yourself too seriously.
Thanks, Linda.
And thank you for joining us for this wonderful lesson about GISHWHES.
We'll see you next time right here on Studio Classroom.
See you then.
So, about that pirate robot...