节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-10-04
难易度:High
关键字:artwork, toddler, aptitude, sensation, old master, pound
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
We're going to be learning about someone very young and very talented.
His name is Kieron Williamson, and he is the art world's youngest star.
We're going to learn about this young artist, and he is indeed very skilled at
what he does.
Even at a very young age, his parents could tell he had a special talent.
Well, I wonder about you.
Do you have a special ability or skill in something?
Carolyn?
Well, a lot of people have told me that I am pretty good at learning languages.
I... if I don't practice them, it's harder for me to remember.
But when I'm first learning, I pick them up very quickly, so.
High school I took uh, French and Spanish.
And then I went to Japan and studied Japanese.
And now I'm learning Chinese.
Ah, Carolyn, I'm kind of jealous of people like you who can learn languages so
quickly.
It takes me a long time.
For me, though, maybe a natural ability or talent is stuff that has to do with
rhythm or playing drums.
I can learn pretty quickly.
Well, what about you?
What are you naturally talented in?
We're going to be learning about Kieron Williamson in these couple of days'
lessons.
So let's get started.
(Music).
Kieron Williamson: The Art World's Youngest Star.
This talented young boy is being compared to some of the world's best-known
artists.
Many parents display their children's artwork on the refrigerator.
But Kieron Williamson's paintings have been on display in professional galleries
since he was 6 years old.
Kieron's artwork, though, extends far beyond child-like stick figures or finger
painting.
In fact, the child from Norfolk, England, has been called "the boy who paints
like an old master.".
Discovering his gift.
According to his parents, Kieron was a typical toddler who liked finding bugs
and playing in the mud.
But on a 2008 family vacation to the beach, the 5-year-old was inspired by the
boats and scenery and asked his parents for a sketch pad.
Well, he sounds like a pretty normal little boy, but there is something very
special about Kieron Williamson.
And we see at the beginning of the article:
This talented young boy is being compared to some of the world's best-known
artists.
And he's just a child.
That's right.
So he's very young.
And as we could see in our title, he is the art world's youngest star.
So here we're talking about the art world.
But of course you could talk about other areas of life, too, that require
creativity like the music world or the movie world.
You could talk about the movie world's youngest star, someone very young who is
very talented, like Quvenzhane who you learned about earlier this year.
That's right.
And today we are learning about the art world's youngest star - Kieron
Williamson.
And we see that many parents display their children's artwork on the
refrigerator,
but Kieron Williamson's paintings have been on display in professional galleries
since he was 6 years old.
Now Gabe, did your parents ever put your artwork up on the fringe?
Yes. Yes, Carolyn, they did.
They put mine and of course my brother and my sister's artwork all on the fridge
even though it was, I don't know, kind of childish artwork.
But they thought it was cute.
Did your parents do this, too?
Oh, yes.
And I had a brother and two sisters, and we all had pictures all over the fridge
and all over the kitchen, really.
Right.
I think a lot of parents like to show off what their kids are doing.
It's a good way to encourage their children to keep... keep it up, to keep going
on.
Now we're talking about Kieron Williamson here.
His artwork has been on display in professional galleries since he was 6 years
old.
Let's take a look at our key word: artwork.
Well, what is artwork?
It's art, art that you have worked on, it's your artwork.
That's right.
So this could be anything like drawings, paintings, sculptures, a collage,
something that you put together, some piece of art that people can enjoy looking
at.
That's your artwork.
OK. And you... you might know some people who are very good at art.
You could say I love your artwork.
I love what you do.
Well, here we're talking about Kieron Williamson.
He was only 6 years old, or actually even younger when he first started
painting.
But let's take a look at this.
He was very young.
Sometimes we call people like him child prodigies.
A prodigy is someone who... who has a very good gift, a natural talent at doing
something,
kind of... kind of really amazing, actually, more than most people have.
Now Carolyn, what is a child prodigy?
Well, as you said, a prodigy is someone who is naturally talented at something.
A child prodigy is someone who is also naturally talented or gifted at one
particular thing, but they are able to display that talent at a young age.
So Kieron would be a child prodigy in the art world.
That's right.
In the art world, he is a child prodigy.
Maybe you know someone who has been really good at music or piano since they
were really, really young.
Maybe they also were child prodigies.
Well, right now it's time for us to continue learning with Steve and Ken in the
Information Cloud.
We all know what a gallery is.
It's a place that exhibits works of art.
But let's talk about a different gallery that has nothing to do with art - a
peanut gallery.
In this case, gallery refers to be uppermost section of seating in a theater
balcony where the seats are cheapest.
And who would sit in those seats?
People who can only afford the cheapest seating, of course.
And what do these people purchase when they wanted some snacks?
The cheapest snack, of course.
And that would be...
Peanuts.
Now bear in mind we're not talking about the most cultured or refined folks
here.
So what happens when they see something in the performance they didn't like?
They would throw the peanuts onto the stage.
Right.
Now this was in the old days, of course.
Nowadays, peanut gallery has taken on a new meaning, referring to a social
network audience that passively observes a syndicated web feed or chat room.
Right.
They're not exactly lurkers because you know that they're there, you just don't
hear from them very often.
Kind of like a lot of my "friends" on Facebook.
(Chinese).
Thank you, gentlemen.
Well, let's continue learning here.
Of course we were talking about how many parents like to display their
children's art on their refrigerators.
But Kieron's artwork has been in professional galleries since he was a young
child.
Here we read:
Kieron's artwork, though, extends far beyond child-like stick figures or finger
painting.
Well, in case you're wondering what a stick figure looks like, I have drawn a
picture of two stick figures right here.
This is my artwork.
Carolyn, what do you think?
Oh. Well, that's very nice, Gabe.
I'm sure your parents would love to put it on their refrigerator.
Yeah. Hey, now I drew two guys.
Uh, did they remind you of anybody?
Well, the only two guys I know would be Steve and Ken.
But Gabe, that doesn't really look like them.
Carolyn, that's a great idea.
Steve and Ken, this is for you.
I'm going to give this to Steve.
I'll make a copy for Ken, too.
OK. Well, those are my stick figures.
Um, I hope you enjoy them.
Right now Liz has something she was to share with us in the Grammar Gym.
I should draw one of her, too.
Hello, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
In today's article, the writer mentions Kieron's artwork, though, extends far
beyond child-like stick figures or finger painting.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Our focus today is on the phrase: to extend far beyond.
It basically means "is more than just." So the writer is saying that Kieron's
artwork is more than just child-like stick figures or finger painting.
Use this phrase "to extend far beyond" when you want to talk about the quality
of something being more than what most people would assume.
For example:
Dr. Shea's math class deals with everyday situations and extends far beyond
numbers and basic math problems.
Or: Sarah's responsibilities extend far beyond the usual job requirements of any
worker in an office and she has to travel constantly.
If you'd like to see some more example sentences, they are available in today's
Grammar Tip section in your magazine.
And that's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time. Bye.
Thank you, Liz.
And it sounds like you can look forward to getting a picture from Gabe.
Continuing in our article:
In fact, the child from Norfolk, England, has been called "the boy who paints
like an old master." So even though he is a young boy, he still has the skill of
an old master.
Well, what is an old master here?
This is a saying that refers to a painting or a painter that goes back earlier
than the 1800s.
So an old master is a famous, old painter who's not around anymore.
Well, let's continue learning about Kieron - Discovering his gift.
According to his parents, Kieron was a typical toddler who liked finding bugs
and playing in the mud.
Let's look at this word: toddler.
Carolyn, what is a toddler?
Well, a toddler is a very young child that is just learning how to walk.
So they can't really walk very well.
They kind of toddle.
That's right.
That's a verb.
If you toddle, you're walking but kind of in an awkward way, like a lot of young
kids learning how to walk.
OK. So he was a typical toddler who just liked doing typical toddler things.
But on a 2008 family vacation to the beach, the 5-year-old was inspired by the
boats and scenery and asked his parents for a sketch pad.
What do you do with a sketch pad, Carolyn?
Well, you draw pictures.
And he was inspired by the scenery and wanted this sketch pad so he could draw.
This is very unusual for a 5-year-old.
But he seems like he's a very special child.
Well, before we continue learning about Kieron, we should join Michelle and
learn something with her in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.