节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-11-30
难易度:High
关键字:drawback, certificate, revenue, speculate, Siberia, czar
In our lesson today, Money Down Through the Ages, we're learning a little bit
more about the history of money.
And the first section was called flying money.
Do you have any flying money?
It was called flying money because that's what it did when the wind blew it
away; it looked like it was flying away.
Nobody wants their money to fly away from them.
Well, we have more to learn about the history of money in our next section
called Fur tax.
(Music).
Money Down Through the Ages.
Fur tax.
In 17th-century Russia, hunters and trappers flooded into Siberia in search of
fur, which they hoped would earn them great wealth.
Some say fur accounted for over 10 percent of Russia's revenue at this time.
To take advantage of this trend, Russia's czars set a tax that could only be
paid in fur.
Today money comes mostly in the form of bills or coins.
But as we look toward the future, some speculate that electronic money will come
to replace coins and bills.
Who knows where the future of money is headed?
This section is all about fur.
So as you can see, I have my fur right here.
And Gabe, you have your fur as well, yes?
Yes. It's wonderful.
It looks like leopard print fur.
Um, just so you know, this is not real animal fur.
It just looks like animal fur.
Yes. But it is all about fur.
We are learning about the fur tax.
So we are wearing a little bit of fake fur.
Well, let's continue reading the fur tax.
In 17th-century Russia, hunters and trappers flooded into Siberia in search of
fur, which they hoped would earn them great wealth.
Well, fur can be worth a lot of money.
As you probably know, people will spend a lot of money for the fur of certain
kinds of animals.
They make fur coats and things made out of fur like this.
Um, so we're talking about the 17th-century Russia and how these hunters and
trappers, they went into Siberia.
Now where is Siberia?
That's a big chunk of the earth in North Asia.
Actually, it makes up 77 percent of the Russian territory.
Ah, so they flooded into Siberia.
This is a very interesting word to use.
And Liz has more information for us waiting in the Grammar Gym.
Hi, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
In today's article, the writer mentions:
In 17th-century Russia, hunters and trappers flooded into Siberia in search of
fur.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
And today our focus is on the word flood.
Normally when we're talking about floods or flooding, we're talking about how
there's so much water in an area that normally is dry.
But in today's sentence, the writer is not talking about water.
Instead, she's describing how there were so many hunters and trappers going into
Siberia that it's like rivers of people going into Siberia in search of fur.
So whenever you want to be creative and you want to describe how so many people
or things are going into a certain place and filling up the area, you can
consider using flood.
Like: Before the actress appeared at the hotel, the lobby was already flooded
with reporters.
Or: Mike left his candy jar opened in his drawer, and he found the drawer
flooded with ants the next day.
If you check out today's Grammar Tip section, you'll find more example sentences
there.
That's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time. Bye.
Thank you, Liz.
Now where were we?
Um... right.
Well, we were talking about these hunters and trappers that would flood into
Siberia in hopes that they could get some fur that would earn them great wealth.
Now some say fur accounted for over 10 percent of Russia's revenue at this time.
All right.
If something accounts for something, that means it makes up.
So this money, this fur accounted for over 10 percent of Russia's revenue.
Well, that's very impressive.
And revenue is a word from our Word Bank.
Let's look at that.
Revenue is the amount of money that you take in.
And usually this is in reference to taxes.
That's right, or the government, the money... the income that a government might
make off of its people.
OK. Well, maybe you've heard of the letters IRS.
In the United States, that is the Internal Revenue Service.
And they're in charge of figuring out our taxes.
Well, that's revenue.
And fur accounted for a lot of revenue in Russia.
That's pretty impressive.
That's right.
So to take advantage of this trend, Russia's czars set a tax that could only be
paid in fur.
Well, it's good to take advantage of good things like this.
And there was a trend.
That means a lot of people were doing this.
So they decided to tax people in fur, not money or... or other kinds of coins or
certificates but fur.
They wanted to take advantage of this trend.
Let's look at that phrase.
Now when is it OK to take advantage of something, and what should we take
advantage of, Carolyn?
Well, if you take advantage of something, that means that you make good use of
it.
So you should take advantage of opportunities, good opportunities that come your
way.
Take advantage of good business deals.
But there are things that we don't want to take advantage of, right, Gabe?
It's true.
You want to take advantage of good things in your life, but don't ever talk
about taking advantage of someone, another person.
If you take advantage of another person, that means you're treating them in a
bad way somehow.
You're using them, possibly.
So take advantage of things, but don't take advantage of people.
That's right.
Well, they wanted to take advantage of the trend where hunters and trappers were
flooding into Siberia to get fur, so they set a fur tax.
We continue reading:
Today money comes mostly in the form of bills or coins.
And that's true.
That's usually what I see.
But as we look toward the future, some speculate that electronic money will come
to replace coins and bills.
Interesting.
So some people are looking toward the future and speculating about the future of
money.
What does that word "speculate" mean?
Well, that's a word from our Word Bank.
That means you're not sure about something, but you're still considering it,
you're still thinking about it and the possibilities that could happen.
That's right.
So you can continue to discuss that idea.
You can also speculate on history.
You can look at past events and think: Well, what actually made that event
occur?
You can speculate and discuss it.
Now speculating can be a good thing because it's good to discuss these kinds of
topics.
But is it always good to speculate?
Well, no. It could turn into worry.
For example, if your friend is lost and you don't know what happened to them,
you could start speculating and imagining all these terrible things that
happened to your friend.
Don't do that.
That's a kind of worry, and you shouldn't worry.
That's right, so.
You can speculate on good things.
Perhaps you can speculate as well on the future of money.
What do you think is going to happen?
And we read our last sentence here:
Who knows where the future of money is headed?
Well, that's a good question.
Who knows?
Only one knows - God!
God knows the future of everything.
But of course in the future, we might be using electronic money.
That could be kind of... well, kind of fun for everyone.
Well, let's continue learning with Michelle in the Language Lab.
OK.
(Chinese).
And now let's continue our lesson.
Gabe, I've had a very interesting idea after talking about money the past two
days.
You have, have you?
What is your interesting idea?
Well, you see, there's something called trading up.
And I think I'm going to try to trade up this pushpin for your smartphone.
Good luck, Carolyn!
Trading up, what does that mean?
Well, if you trade up, then it's kind of like doing something bigger and better.
So you take something small to start with.
And then you try to see if you can get someone to trade something with you or
swap it with you for something bigger,
like a guy took a paperclip, and he traded it up all the way to a house.
Well, I heard about that guy.
And that is pretty impressive.
But it's going to take you a long time to trade up to this smartphone.
I'm sorry, I'm only accepting 20 chickens.
Really? Because Gabe, you're... in luck.
I have drawn 20 chickens right here!
Are you serious?
One, two, three, four...
Whoa! Carolyn! Those are beautiful chickens.
Of course I'll make the swap.
Oh! I got 20 beautiful chickens!
Friends, thank you so much for joining us here at Studio Classroom today.
And of course, we'll see you next time right here at Studio Classroom.
See you.
I got my chickens.
I hit jackpot! 20 chickens!