节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-11-15
难易度:Medium
关键字:admiration, career, exposure, invasion, knucklehead, set, script
Today we are learning about actress Mae Whitman and how her career as an actress
started.
We learned that her mom was taking an acting test while she was bored as just a
3-year-old.
And that defined and started her career as an actress herself.
We also learned that her father built sets.
So both of her parents were involved in movies and theater.
Well, we have a lot more to learn about this child actor, Mae Whitman.
Let's get reading.
(Music).
Mae Whitman.
In her first film role, she played the daughter of Meg Ryan in When a Man Loves
a Woman.
Calling George Clooney father in One Fine Day and Sandra Bullock mother in Hope
Floats, she won two Young Artist Awards.
Through these family dramas, her true parents supported her but were concerned
when a certain alien invasion movie came knocking.
At first, they were uncomfortable about letting her accept such a role, but they
changed their minds after reading the script.
Not yet 10, Whitman then added the president to her list of "parents" due to her
part in Independence Day.
All right.
Well, let's go back to the top of this section here.
We're learning about this child actor, Mae Whitman.
All right. We read here:
In her first film role, she played the daughter of Meg Ryan in When a Man Loves
a Woman.
And maybe you've seen that film, or maybe you've even heard that song.
When a man loves a woman...
Should I keep singing?
Uh, no, that's OK, Gabe, but thank you for that wonderful introduction to the
song and the movie.
So she got her start in this movie When a Man Loves a Woman, but she didn't stop
there.
Calling George Clooney father in One Fine Day and Sandra Bullock mother in Hope
Floats, she won two Young Artist Awards.
So she wasn't just in these movies, she was a very great child actor and even
won awards.
That's right.
And of course we see at the beginning of this sentence:
She called George Clooney father and she called Sandra Bullock mother.
All right.
So they weren't, of course, her real parents, but this is what the character was
calling these other actors.
OK. Well, through these family dramas, her true parents supported her but were
concerned when a certain alien invasion movie came knocking.
OK. Now we're learning about her true parents or her real parents.
That's right.
And they supported her throughout this child acting career.
It's not always easy to be a child actor, but her parents supported her.
However, they were not so sure about an alien invasion movie.
And we see a word from our Word Bank: invasion.
Now an invasion is when a large number of something, or it could be a group of
people, it could be insects or aliens, come to one area at the same time.
So if you go on a picnic, you need to be careful that your picnic is not invaded
by an invasion of ants.
Oh, that's true.
I hate ant invasions while I'm at a picnic.
They're unwelcome and they make you feel uncomfortable.
That's when you know it's an invasion of something.
Now this reminds me of war times as well.
Maybe a group of people will go and attack and invade another country.
That's another kind of invasion.
Well, right now it's time for us to join Liz in the Grammar Gym.
She's not invading.
She's waiting patiently for us.
(Music).
Hi, friends.
My name is Liz, and thanks for joining me here at the Grammar Gym.
Here's today's Grammar Tip sentence:
Through these family dramas, her true parents supported her but were concerned
when a certain alien invasion movie came knocking.
Our focus today is on the phrase at the end of the sentence: came knocking.
Normally when someone is knocking and it's usually on a door, they're showing
that they're here.
So this phrase "came knocking" is an expression we use to talk about how
something is available.
And in the case of today's sentence, the writer is talking about this alien
invasion movie being available for Mae Whitman to be a part of.
This phrase "came knocking" is usually used to describe opportunities.
For example:
As soon as Mr. Lee was ready to sell his house, offers came knocking.
We can also use this phrase to describe a situation that is near or about to
happen.
Ron smokes all the time and doesn't watch what he eats, so it is no wonder
health problems came knocking.
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.
Bye!
Thank you, Liz.
Well, we were talking about Mae Whitman and this alien invasion movie that came
knocking and how her parents responded to it.
At first, they were uncomfortable about letting her accept such a role, but they
changed their minds after reading the script.
So they weren't so sure about letting their young daughter be in this alien
movie.
But they decided after reading the script that it would be OK.
That's right.
And of course, what is a script?
If you're in theater or maybe you want to be in a film, of course there is a
script.
It's the lines of the movie.
It's the lines you will be saying and other actors will be saying.
And of course, it's all the action involved as well.
OK, so they read the script and they changed their minds.
They weren't uncomfortable anymore.
So we read here:
Not yet 10, Whitman then added the president to her list of "parents" due to her
part in Independence Day.
Carolyn, have you seen that alien invasion movie?
I have. It was very popular when I was younger.
And I find it very interesting that here, as a child actor, she's adding this
list of famous people to her "parents." So she called...
Uh, let's see.
She called George Clooney her father, Sandra Bullock her mother, Meg Ryan her
mother, and then the president was her father.
So she has a lot of big names for her parents.
That's right.
Well, we read here that Whitman added the president to her list of "parents" due
to her part in Independence Day.
I like that phrase: due to something.
That means because of something.
For example, you could say, "My friend failed our class due to his poor study
habits." So he didn't do very well in class.
Oh, that is very unfortunate.
And another common place that we hear this phrase used is the weather.
So you might say:
Due to the rain, our trip has been canceled.
We will not be able to go hiking this weekend.
Due to the ant invasion, we had to finish our picnic early.
Well, due to reasons concerning time, it's time for us to end right now and join
Michelle in the Language Lab.
And of course, we will see you in a few moments.
All right.
(Chinese).
And now let's see what our teachers are up to.
Well, today we've been learning all about Mae Whitman's past, and especially her
experiences as a child actor.
Of course she called a lot of people mom or dad in movies growing up.
Now I don't know if you have ever done any acting.
Maybe you're an actor or an actress.
Maybe you're...
Maybe you're not.
But if you were, what would you like to accomplish?
Maybe what are some of your goals?
Carolyn, how would you answer this question?
Well, I don't really follow actors or actresses very much, but I do think that
they are very influential because the media focus is on them so often.
So I think that I could be a very great role model for women and gives them some
very high standards to live up to.
I think that would be a great thing to try to accomplish as an actress.
For me, I just want to communicate truth in truthful acting.
Whether it's a big role or a small role, I think it's important to go along with
a good script, a good story,
and to communicate some good things to people who will watch these movies or TV
shows.
Well, these are some good things to think about.
And of course, we have more to learn about Mae Whitman in next time's lesson
here at Studio Classroom.
See you.