节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-10-05
难易度:High
关键字:besiege, collector, faze, soar, collectible, Pablo Picasso
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 the art world's youngest star Kieron Williamson.
We learned yesterday about how he got started with his artwork at a very young
age.
And... by the time he was 6 years old, his artwork was already being displayed
in professional galleries.
Some would call him a child prodigy.
Well, do you know of any other child prodigies, kids who were very gifted at
something from a very young age?
Carolyn, can you think of any?
Well, I can think of a boy in Indiana, Akrit Jaswal, who was 7 years old when he
performed his first surgery.
Whoa!
He had an aptitude for medicine and being a surgeon.
Wow! I can't stand the sight of blood.
I can't imagine someone doing a surgery at that young age.
For me, who can I think of?
Well, speaking of art, we're learning about art, Arkiane, she was another artist
who started at a very young age.
She has an incredible aptitude for art.
Well, can you think of anybody who was maybe a child prodigy?
Right now let's continue learning about Kieron Williamson.
(Music).
Kieron Williamson: The Art World's Youngest Star.
Benefiting from his artwork.
From that point on, Kieron was besieged by international requests,
with buyers in France, Japan, Greece and other countries eager to own a genuine
Kieron Williamson painting.
The young artist held another exhibit three months after the first one and sold
16 paintings for over 17,000 pounds,
followed by a third sale, earning 150,000 pounds.
For his fourth exhibit, Kieron took the day off from school but ended up
returning to school early.
His entire collection had sold out in 10 minutes to collectors from around the
world.
Wow! Not bad for a kid.
Well, let's go back to the beginning of this section: Benefiting from his
artwork.
From that point on, Kieron was besieged by international requests,
with buyers in France, Japan, Greece and other countries eager to own a genuine
Kieron Williamson painting.
OK. So from as soon as people found out or discovered Kieron Williamson and what
he could do, he was besieged by people.
Carolyn, what does that word mean?
It's from our Word Bank, the word besiege.
It is from the Word Bank.
And if you are besieged, that means that you are surrounded, overwhelmed even.
And here he is being besieged by requests.
He has so many of them that he can't escape.
You might also say that the movie star was besieged by fans asking for
autographs.
Well, actually that's what happens to me sometimes, Carolyn.
After we teach here at Studio Classroom, I'm often besieged by people who want
my autograph.
Doesn't that happen to you?
Um, I have not noticed that happening, Gabe.
Well, um... continuing on here in our lesson...
People from, you know, France and Japan, Greece and other countries were eager
to own a genuine Kieron Williamson painting.
A genuine... meaning one that he created by himself.
It's not a print or another copy.
It's one that he painted himself.
Let's continue learning something with Steve and Ken in the Information Cloud
about this word eager.
Let's talk about two words today that seem to have the same meaning but are, in
fact, different.
They are eager and anxious.
Although anxious has been used as a synonym for eager since the 18th century, we
should use anxious only when we're worried or feel uneasy about an anticipated
event.
For example, you can be anxious about an upcoming exam.
But you probably shouldn't tell your friends that you're anxious to see them
this weekend.
Instead, you should say you're eager to see your friends this weekend.
That's right.
It's not that it's wrong, but it runs the risk of confusion because anxious is
more related to the word anxiety.
And anxiety is definitely a negative-sounding word.
Exactly.
Anxious and eager, both mean looking forward to something, but they have
different connotations.
Eager suggests enthusiasm about something.
If you are really looking forward to some cool weather, for example, you're
eager for it.
And that has a positive connotation.
Anxious, on the other hand, has a negative connotation.
It implies worry about something.
Right.
So if your daughter, for example, doesn't come home on time, you won't be eager;
you'll feel anxious.
Oh, yes.
Something like that would definitely make me anxious.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
Now I hope that you are eager to continue with our lesson and do not feel
anxious about learning English.
Continuing reading:
The young artist held another exhibit three months after the first one and sold
16 paintings for... for over 17,000 pounds,
followed by a third sale, earning 150,000 pounds.
I think he's ready for college now.
Yeah, I... I think so, too, Carolyn.
Well, of course we will learn later he is still in school, he's not quitting his
education.
So he's still learning while he's finding the time to do all of these paintings,
and go to these galleries and exhibit his artwork and selling so many paintings,
getting a lot of money.
That's right.
He is earning quite a bit from his paintings and selling just a few.
He also seems to be painting very quickly since there was only a month between
his exhibits.
And he sold 14 at the first one and then 16 at the second one.
So he is putting a lot of work and time into these paintings.
That's right.
And that's not it!
We continue here.
For his fourth exhibit, Kieron took the day off from school but ended up
returning to school early.
I love reading about this.
I mean, everyone was so eager to see and buy Kieron's artwork.
His entire collection had sold out in 10 minutes to collectors from around the
world.
That's very amazing, the entire collection, so.
It doesn't say how many pieces, but a collection would be a fairly large number
of paintings.
And it sold out in just 10 minutes.
Everyone was so eager to own their very own genuine Kieron Williamson painting.
That's right.
If something... if something sells out, that means there are no more of them.
Maybe the movie tickets sell out.
You can't buy that showing anymore.
Maybe you want to go to a concert but the tickets have sold out because the
performer is so famous.
Well, of course Kieron Williamson is a young art star, and so his paintings sold
out very quickly.
Collectors from around the world bought them.
Let's take a look at that word from our Word Bank.
Who is a collector, Carolyn?
Well, a collector is a person who collects things.
So they like to get many things that fall into the same type of category.
So you might have a stamp collector or a rock collector.
Many people enjoy collecting different kinds of stones that are very beautiful.
And here we have art collectors, people who collect paintings or photos or
sculptures, different works of art.
That's right.
So what kinds of things do you like to collect?
Well, I know someone who loves to collect.
My uncle collects toys.
He is a toy collector.
He has so many unopened toys in his garage and bedroom and all over the place.
He hopes that some way these toys will be collector's items.
A collector's item is something very valuable to certain collectors.
They hope to have these things.
My uncle hopes to sell these toys one day.
Well, it sounds like Kieron Williamson's paintings have already become very
valuable to these art collectors.
And right now we have a valuable lesson to learn with Michelle in the Language
Lab.