节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-11-20
难易度:Low
关键字:around the corner, eager, charity, shelter, afterward, Boy Scout, potluck
(Music).
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
We're very glad and thankful that you could join us for today's lesson, which is
called Give Thanks.
Well, it's very important to give thanks no matter where you are and no matter
what is going on in your life,
even if you're in a foreign country just like our author.
Of course she is experiencing Thanksgiving with her family.
In this lesson she's going to be sharing about that.
And it's important to give thanks.
And that's what Thanksgiving is all about.
Many countries celebrate Thanksgiving.
Do you celebrate Thanksgiving?
Carolyn, do you celebrate Thanksgiving?
Well, I do.
And when I was in the U.S., I would celebrate it with my family.
But now that I live in Taiwan, I celebrate it with my friends.
We get together and we make lots of food,
lots of American traditional Thanksgiving food like pumpkin pie and green bean
casseroles and wonderful delicious things, Gabe.
Aw, that sounds delicious.
Well, I want to celebrate with you and your friends if that's what you guys will
be eating.
How do you celebrate Thanksgiving?
Well, maybe you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but you can learn about some
people that are celebrating Thanksgiving.
Let's get started in our lesson - Give Thanks.
(Music).
Give Thanks.
The fourth Thursday in November welcomes the holiday season.
Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
This holiday not only involves football and turkey but also helps us remember to
be thankful.
Traditionally Americans go home for Thanksgiving.
So people start preparing weeks before the holiday.
Excited moms are eager to have their children come home.
Thanksgiving is also a season for giving.
Irene's school has a "Turkey Trot" race every year around Thanksgiving.
You can give small amounts of money for charity to run in the race.
I do enjoy Thanksgiving and all of the events that occur that time of year.
And we begin our article:
The fourth Thursday in November welcomes the holiday season.
And it's true because the fourth Thursday in November is Thanksgiving Day every
year.
Every year, that is a national holiday in the United States.
Thanksgiving might be another day in other countries.
But this idea of celebrating and giving thanks is actually celebrated in many
countries around the world.
OK, so let's get started here. We read:
Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
That's right.
It's coming up very quickly.
That's right.
And that phrase "around the corner" means just that.
It means that it is not far away.
It will happen very soon.
And you can use this when you're talking about time and events, not just
distance and places.
That's right.
So Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
Actually, Christmas is not too far away.
Christmas is just around the corner as well.
That may be what Pauline means when she says the fourth Thursday in November
welcomes the holiday season.
After Thanksgiving up through Christmas, that's considered the holiday season.
It is.
And well, talking about Thanksgiving:
This not only involves football and turkey but also helps us remember to be
thankful.
So if you are in the United States on Thanksgiving Day,
there are some very exciting football games that occur, and a lot of people eat
turkey.
That's right.
So that's what many people think about when they think of Thanksgiving because
the Super Bowl football games are actually happening around Thanksgiving.
People get really excited about that.
And of course they also think about turkey because that's what a lot of people
eat at Thanksgiving.
But it's also important to remember to be thankful.
That's right.
And we read:
Traditionally Americans go home for Thanksgiving.
So if you're a student, then you would go back home.
Or maybe you move far away for a job, you would return to your hometown and
spend the holiday with your family.
OK, so that's kind of what home means here.
Maybe home has a different meaning.
People... Americans go home for Thanksgiving.
Well, where is home to you? OK.
Well, we continue here.
So people start preparing weeks before the holiday.
All right.
That means they're getting ready for Thanksgiving far in advance, many weeks
before the actual day comes.
That's right.
And that phrase right there, "weeks before," I think Liz has something she would
like to share with us about that in the Grammar Gym.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym, friends.
My name is Liz.
In today's article the writer mentions "So people start preparing weeks before
the holiday." That's today's Grammar Tip sentence.
And for today, we're looking at the phrase "weeks before." It is short for
several weeks before.
So today's sentence just means people start preparing several weeks before the
holiday.
So friends, when you have something happening several weeks before a certain
day, then you can consider using this phrase.
For example:
Zack finished his report weeks before the due date.
Now we can also switch weeks to days, or hours, or minutes.
For example:
Sharon's suitcase was already packed days before her Christmas break.
Or: Janice's friends came to see her hours before her surgery.
Or: Minutes before her train arrived, Martha realized she had lost her ticket.
If you turn to today's Grammar Tip section, you'll find more example sentences
there.
And that's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
OK, so people start preparing for Thanksgiving weeks before.
Now we read:
Excited moms are eager to have their children come home.
All right.
Let's take a look at that word from our Word Bank: eager.
I am eager to talk about this word.
I'm eager to hear Carolyn use this word.
How can you use this word?
Well, if you are eager, that means that you are very excited, you can't wait for
something.
Perhaps you like to celebrate Christmas, and you are very eager for Christmas to
arrive.
You can't wait to go to church and spend that time with your family and give
each other gifts and open presents.
It's very exciting, and you are eager for it.
Well, I think many people are also eager around their birthdays.
They're eager to do something with their friends and maybe receive gifts then.
What are you eager to do?
This is a little similar to the word anxious.
You might be anxious about something.
But usually anxious has a negative meaning where eager is positive.
That's right, so.
Are you eager about Thanksgiving?
Do you get to go on vacation?
Many people in the United States have a Thanksgiving break that they are eager
for.
They can't wait.
And we continue reading:
Thanksgiving is also a season for giving.
Well, it is called Thanksgiving.
That's right.
So the idea is that you should be giving thanks and maybe even giving other
things as well, giving good things to people who are in need.
Well, we read about Pauline's daughter here.
Irene's school has a "Turkey Trot" race every year around Thanksgiving.
OK, this Turkey Trot.
I was looking this up; I wasn't sure what it was.
Actually it could be a dance.
There's a special dance called the Turkey Trot.
But that's not what it means here.
It means a special kind of race that people run to raise money for something.
That's right.
And you can give small amounts of money for charity to run in the race.
So if you want to be in the race, you should donate some money for a charity.
That's right.
And you know what?
Another good reason to run this race, the Turkey Trot:
People do this before the big Thanksgiving meal, hoping that maybe they will
burn off some calories before they enjoy a big meal.
Well, let's take a look at our word from the Word Bank.
It is charity.
And if you do something for charity, you volunteer, you give money to somebody
or an organization that needs it.
That's right.
So this is a good cause that you want to support.
And they're going to help other people who are in need.
So giving money to a charity is a great thing to do.
Well, right now it is time to give our time to Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.