节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-10-07
难易度:Medium
关键字:pyramid, currently, chairman, journalist, pool cue, Guinness World Record,
Guinness Brewery, game bi
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
We're talking about Reaching for Records.
Well, world records is what our lesson is about.
Many people like to do things to break world records - to be the best at
something or the first at doing something or the greatest at something.
Now if you could break a world record, what would it be?
Carolyn?
Well, that is an interesting question there, Gabe.
I think if I were to try to break a world record, I'm not... I'm not very fast
or really strong, but maybe I could try to text the fastest text message.
OK. That's very interesting, very creative answer there, Carolyn.
For me, I think I would want to be the only Gabriel Harbour in the world to
teach the most English lessons on TV.
Well, I think you are well on your way to breaking that record, Gabe.
Sweet! I certainly hope so, Carolyn.
Well, what about you?
What world record would you like to break if you had the chance?
We're going to get started with our lesson for today Reaching for Records.
Reaching for Records.
What drives people to set and break world records?
At the Pyramids of Giza in 2005, visitors may have seen a strange sight.
A man named Ashrita Furman walked 11.33 kilometers balancing a pool cue on his
finger.
That day he set a world record, which he later broke by walking 14.40 kilometers
with the pool cue.
Furman has set over 450 records in his lifetime according to the Guinness World
Records book.
He currently holds more than 150, including one for holding the most records.
OK, let's go back to the top of our lesson for today.
We see a question here:
What drives people to set and break world records?
OK.
Earlier this month we learned a word "compel," right?
You could also say what compels people to set and break world records?
Well, it is an interesting question.
And we will be discussing it in our article over the next two days.
But first, we're going to learn about a very interesting sight.
At the Pyramids of Giza in 2005, visitors may have seen a strange sight.
Now we have a word there from our Word Bank: pyramid.
And this will help you get an idea of where this is in Egypt.
A pyramid.
What is a pyramid, Gabe?
Well, basically, a pyramid is a kind of shape.
And it has three or four corners or edges on the base.
But then of course it goes to the top to make one point.
That's a pyramid.
Now in Egypt, there are some very famous pyramids.
They were built centuries ago, the pyramids of Egypt.
That's right.
And here he is at the Pyramids of Giza, which are in Egypt.
And we see that a man named Ashrita Furman walked 11.33 kilometers balancing a
pool cue on his finger.
This is quite interesting, OK.
You could probably... you probably saw that picture just now behind Carolyn -
the man Ashrita Furman was balancing this cue tip on his finger.
And right now I'm balancing my notes on my...
Well, it's not a pool cue.
That's right.
So it might be a little bit different.
It's... it's true.
But have you ever tried balancing something on your finger?
A couple of years ago, Billy and Andrea, they were teaching Let's Talk in
English.
Billy was balancing his clipboard on his hand.
And it fell forward and hit Andrea in the mouth.
OK. So be careful if you're trying to balance something on your finger or on
your hand.
Make sure that everyone is safe around you.
That's right.
But as you see in the pictures, he has many people walking around with him,
watching him, recoding this.
And we learned that day he set a world record, which he later broke by walking
14.40 kilometers with the pool cue.
So he broke his own world record.
And that's kind of a long way to walk, balancing a pool cue on your finger.
Wow! Actually, if you saw that picture, you probably noticed his arms, too.
They are very strong.
Well, Furman has set over 450 records in his lifetime according to the Guinness
World Records book.
And that is quite a lot of records.
That is.
You see he has four... over 450 records in his lifetime.
And he does not look like someone who is very old, so.
He seems to really enjoy setting and breaking world records.
And what is uh... one of these records, Gabe?
Well, it's very interesting.
He currently holds more than 150, including one for holding the most records.
OK. So he's broken many records, he's set many records.
And of course, now one of his records is one for holding the most records.
Let's take a look at our Word Bank word here. It is "currently." That means
right now.
Right now he has the record for holding the most records.
That's right.
And he also has 150 records now, currently.
he's had 450 in his lifetime.
He sets records, and then he breaks them and sets a new record.
And so he has set over 450.
But currently, right now, he just holds 150.
That's right.
Now you might see this word "current" in other ways.
You might talk with your friends or classmates about current events.
OK. Those are things that are happening in the world these days, recently, or
even today.
They are current events.
So currently, what is going on?
Well, currently Carolyn and I are talking about the Guinness World Records book.
And Carolyn, what is this book?
Well, it is a book that's filled with all of these records, so.
Who has walked the furthest balancing a pool cue on their finger?
If you want to know the answer to that question, you can find it in the Guinness
World Records book.
Now we've been talking a lot about this word "record," Gabe.
And we've been using all these different verbs - to set a record, to break a
record.
How does this work?
Well, a record, of course, is something that you do.
It goes on record as being the most or the greatest of something.
So of course you see the words "to set a record," OK.
If you set a record, that means you are the one to do that thing.
What if you break a record, Carolyn?
Well, it means that someone did it before, and they set the record, but then you
do it even better, faster, longer than they did.
So you break their record and set a new one.
And of course the last word we see here, the last verb is to hold a record.
That means you set a record, nobody else broke it, so you are holding that
record.
Nobody is better than you.
Well, right now it's time for us to learn something new with Michelle in the
Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.