节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-02-17
难易度:Medium
关键字:satellite, ascend, laser, combination, cosmos, solar cell
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
And your appreciation for space technology will increase.
To this day, the only way into outer space is by way of rockets.
But I would like to take a space elevator into space.
Um, an elevator, Gabe?
Yeah.
That sounds like a crazy idea.
But actually, that's exactly what our lesson is about.
Is it possible to make an elevator that will take us from Earth into space?
This is what we will be discussing in today's eye-opening lesson: The Space
Elevator.
So open up your magazine and let's begin.
(Music).
The Space Elevator.
Don't laugh! Someday, space travel could be as easy as pushing a button.
In 1960 Russia and America were engaged in a space race and had already sent
satellites into space using rockets.
But Russian engineer Yuri Artsutanov was thinking of a different way of sending
things and people into space.
That year, he wrote an article titled "To the Cosmos by Electric Train." The
article talked about stretching a cable from Earth to an object in space.
The idea was that cars could ascend the cable much like an elevator.
Once completed, the cable could be part of a space elevator that wouldn't need
any rockets!
(Music).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
Thank you, Michelle.
So our lesson is called The Space Elevator, but is the idea really to make an
elevator go into space?
I think not.
As we read, it will be much like an elevator but not the kind that we normally
think of.
Yes. It will be a little different from the elevators we ride in buildings, but
the concept is the same.
Part of the word "elevator," of course, is the word "elevate," which means to
raise up off the ground.
Well, maybe you saw this title and laughed a little.
You giggled or guffawed at the idea that someone could travel into space by
something like an elevator.
How ridiculous, right?
But our lesson says...
Don't laugh.
Of course we laugh at jokes and funny stories, but this is not a joke.
Don't laugh.
Someday, space travel could be as easy as pushing a button.
And of course that's what we do when we want to ride an elevator.
We push a button, and it takes us to the floor we want to go to.
It's as easy as that.
And I like that phrase: as easy as something.
You could say it's as easy as tying your shoe.
Or maybe you've heard the idiom: easy as pie.
That means it's extremely easy or simple.
You could say something is as simple as 1, 2, 3.
Hey, speaking of easy and simple, maybe you've heard the song by the Jackson 5
called... "ABC," ... easy as 1, 2, 3. Simple as Do, Re, Me.
Right. So if you want to learn English, some of those classic songs could help.
Well, we move on into our lesson today by reading:
In 1960 Russia and America were engaged in a space race and had already sent
satellites into space using rockets.
Right.
And when we call it a space race, we don't mean people are racing their rockets
through space.
The race here is a technological competition to see who can be the first to
improve space technology and space exploration.
Ah, yes. And it's a healthy kind of competition.
We read they were engaged in a space race.
Let's talk about that phrase for a moment.
If you're engaged in something, that means you are involved and you focus a lot
of your attention and energy on that thing.
So both of these countries devoted a lot of time and money into the space race
and improving technology.
Now let's use this phrase in other ways.
You could be engaged in a game.
If I am engaged in a game of chess with someone, it's really hard to talk to me
because I am too focused on the game.
Well, I'll remember not to bother you when you are playing chess.
Right.
Or sometimes we talk about being engaged in conversation with someone,
especially if a conversation is really interesting or important.
We are engaged in a conversation.
Well, we hope you are engaged in today's lesson with us.
And stay engaged as we visit the Information Cloud to see what Steve and Ken
have to share with us about people in space.
Before Russia and the United States started competing for supremacy in space,
these two countries needed a word.
What were they going to call the people they send into space?
Hmm. The Americans, of course, chose astronaut.
Taken from ancient Greek, astro- means star while -naut means sailor.
So an astronaut is literally someone who sails or travels among the stars.
The Russians, on the other hand, chose cosmonaut.
The prefix cosmo-, also Greek, means world or universe.
So a cosmonaut is someone who travels around the universe.
The third country to ever have launched a manned spacecraft is, of course,
China, which chose a word very similar in meaning to cosmonaut, (Chinese).
Right. That's the Chinese term.
But there's another English word for Chinese astronaut.
It's less official but still quite popular, taikonaut.
A hybrid of taikon, which is "space" in Chinese, and the already mentioned Greek
word naut,
taikonaut has not only been embraced by the Chinese-English language press, you
can find it now in many English dictionaries.
OK. So what about those people who today travel into space but are not
astronauts, cosmonauts or taikonauts?
Ah, like space tourists, right?
Well, so far, sadly, we have the very unexciting name: spaceflight participants.
(Chinese).
Thanks, guys.
We were reading about a space race between Russia and America.
And we read here that someone had a different idea.
Russian engineer Yuri Artsutanov was thinking of a different way of sending
things and people into space.
He wrote an article that was published on July 31, 1960, called To the Cosmos by
Electric Train.
Now I've read the short article, and I suggest you find some time to read it as
well.
You can feel the excitement and passion of the author as he writes about this
novel idea.
Of course the cosmos usually means the universe or things outside of this world
in outer space.
This Russian author suggested stretching a cable from Earth to something in
space.
And cars could ascend the cable much like an elevator.
Right. So it wouldn't be an elevator going into space but a car.
Yes! No. No... not the kind of car that you are thinking of, not the kind you
drive on the road through traffic to get to work, not that kind of car.
Sometimes the word "car" simply means something that you travel in.
Yes, so.
For example, if you take the Maokong Gondola in Taipei, you'll be riding in a
car.
It's a gondola car, sometimes called a cable car.
Trains can be split into many cars as well.
I took the HSR the other day and sat in Car 8.
And speaking of elevators, each elevator can be called an elevator car, but we
normally just call it an elevator.
Right. And we have a lot more to learn in our lesson right afterthis.