节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-11-23
难易度:High
关键字:proceeds, underlying, hygiene, at random, draw
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
We're continuing to learn about Charity Engine,
an organization that helps lots of charities around the world with the power
from your computer and computers just like yours.
So, have you heard of Charity Engine before?
Do you know there's a way that you can help out?
There is!
You can download an app that will enable Charity Engine to use your computer's
extra power to support charities like this.
Now have you downloaded this app?
Would you be interested in helping out in this way?
Carolyn?
Well, I do like the idea.
I think it's quite interesting, very fascinating that my computer that's on a
lot of the time whether I'm using it or not,
maybe I'll just be listening to music on my computer, it could be running this
app in the background,
helping to solve these research puzzles and generating money for charity.
That's right. And of course it seems like just a really easy thing to do.
All you need to do is download the app, get it running, and you don't even have
to really think about it much.
And maybe a lot of people will be helped if you do this.
OK, let's continue learning about Charity Engine in today's lesson.
Charity Engine.
The charities.
Charity Engine gives 50 percent of the proceeds from renting out computing power
to various charities.
Each organization it supports has a good reputation for working in an area of
vital importance.
Most of them seek to address the underlying causes of poverty while bringing
short-term relief.
These include Oxfam, a network of organizations in 94 countries.
Another is CARE International, one of the three largest international aid
agencies, which works in 87 countries.
Charity Engine also supports Doctors Without Borders, which supplies medical
care,
and WaterAid, which provides safe water and promotes hygiene in developing
countries.
OK, let's go back to the top of our lesson here today.
This part is labeled "The charities." All right.
Charity Engine, of course, supports many different charities.
We read here:
Charity Engine gives 50 percent of the proceeds from renting out computer power
to various charities.
"Various" meaning lots of different charities and lots of different kinds of
charities.
That's right.
And they rent out this computer power.
And... they use the word "proceed." So they rent out or they give 50 percent of
the proceeds from this rented power.
Now proceed is a word from the Word Bank.
And proceed is the money that a company or a person makes after having some sort
of special event.
Yeah, like a fund raiser of some kind.
Maybe you have a party... Uh, my uncle, his name is Major.
He would always have Major Ragers.
They were these parties.
And people would have to pay to come into the party, but the money would go to
missionaries around the world.
So that money is called the proceeds.
The money that was raised, it would go to these different people in different
parts of the world.
A good question you could ask about a fund raiser is, where are the proceeds
going?
What will happen to my money?
That's right.
So a lot of times there will be a race.
And you have to pay an entry fee to get into the race.
Many times the proceeds from the race will be donated to a local charity or some
sort of organization that will be helping people in some way.
That's right.
Well, of course Charity Engine is all about doing this.
Each organization it supports has a good reputation for working in an area of
vital importance.
An area of vital importance, what does that mean?
Well, if something is a vital importance, that means it's not just a little bit
important, no. It's really important what these companies are doing.
That's right.
So this is crucial that they are able to help these people.
And a lot of times you might hear this phase:
This issue is a vital importance or this matter is a vital importance.
That means it can't wait; it has to be taken care of now, and it's one of the
biggest problems we are facing.
That's right.
What else is a vital importance?
Your life is a vital importance.
Truth is a vital importance.
It's important to learn the truth about life.
And of course here there are many companies with great reputations that are
working in areas of vital importance.
That's right.
And we learn what they are doing.
Most of them seek to address the underlying causes of poverty while bringing
short-term relief.
So they are trying to stop poverty and bring some relief to people who are
suffering.
But they use a word here from our Word Bank, the word underlying, the underlying
cause of poverty.
What does it mean, Gabe, if something is underlying?
Well, that means maybe it's not obvious. OK.
So there are many causes to poverty.
Maybe you lost your job, and so now you're in poverty.
You don't have much money.
But maybe there's another reason that's not so obvious.
That is the underlying reason.
Why did you lose your job?
What happened?
OK, there are underlying reasons to poverty and why there's so much poverty in
the world.
How else could you use that word underlying?
Well, you might say the underlying cause for her illness was lack of sunlight.
She needed to spend more time outside.
OK. Or maybe you're angry about something, and the underlying cause is your
jealousy.
There is underlying jealousy there, which makes you kind of mean towards other
people.
So think about the underlying cause for stuff.
Sometimes it's not as obvious as it seems.
Well, now we're going to learn about some of these charities.
And they include... or these include Oxfam, a network of organizations in 94
countries.
So Oxfam is a very big organization or group of organizations.
And they're located all over the world.
That's right.
And Oxfam said they have respect for human rights, and they believe that respect
for human rights will help lift people out of poverty.
So Oxfam is wonderful.
Another is CARE International, one of the three largest international aid
agencies, which works in 87 countries.
So again, another very big organization.
That's right.
And Charity Engine also supports Doctors Without Borders, which... which
supplies medical care,
and WaterAid, which provides safe water and promotes hygiene in developing
countries.
Now Doctors Without Borders is a very great organization.
And my cousin's husband actually served with Doctors Without Borders because
he's a doctor.
No way! Well... what was his experience like?
Did he help people with their hygiene?
Well, he did help people to improve their health.
And I'm not sure, I'll have to ask for more stories from him.
All right. Well, for now we need to take a look at that word from our Word Bank.
It is hygiene.
And this is the science of how to have better health in life, or it's the habit
and behavior of keeping yourself clean and healthy.
That's right.
So hygiene is very important.
Basic things like washing your hands, brushing your teeth, even just taking a
bath, very simple things all include... are included in hygiene.
Well, right now it is time for us to continue learning with Michelle in the
Language Lab.