节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-10-11
难易度:Low
关键字:invention, necessity, light bulb, portable, coat rack
(Music).
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
We're talking about Five Funny Inventions (We Don't Really Need).
All right.
So people are inventing things all the time, making things that are useful.
But sometimes inventions are not that useful.
Well, what are some inventions or some things that we don't really need?
We're going to be talking about those in our lesson.
But I wonder, have you ever bought something that you thought you might use but
you never ended up using?
Carolyn?
Oh... so many things, Gabe.
They look so useful in the store.
And then you take them home and forget that you really wanted to use them.
Like I buy hangers for my closet that... that will help save space, and then I
never use them.
And so they end up taking up more space.
Hmm, for me, actually there are some DVDs that, you know, I see on sale for a
very cheap price.
And so I buy them.
Then I haven't seen them yet, and I've bought them for a couple of years.
I've had them for a couple of years.
So sometimes we do that.
What about you?
Have you ever bought something and not yet used it?
Well, today we're talking about inventions that maybe aren't as useful as we
hope they could be.
Let's get started with our lesson.
Five Funny Inventions (We Don't Really Need).
Not all inventions are very useful.
People say "Necessity is the mother of invention." Humans are always looking for
ways to make life easier for themselves.
Some inventions like light bulbs, cars and computers are terrific.
But many inventions are just, well, silly!
The Noodle Fan.
A bowl of hot noodles is delicious.
But sometimes you're too hungry to wait for them to cool.
So when you eat them, you burn your mouth!
The noodle fan solves that problem.
(Music).
OK. Well, before we continue learning more about the noodle fan, let's go back
to the top of our lesson.
We read a sentence here:
Not all inventions are very useful.
It's true.
But we do have a very useful word there.
It's actually in our title, the key word "invention." An invitation is something
that someone makes, hopefully, to be helpful in the world.
That's right.
And if it's an invention, then it is created for the first time.
It hasn't been made before.
So one recent new invention is the smartphone.
It's very popular now, but it hasn't been around very long.
Well, yes, the smartphone has only been around for about 10 years or so.
And so it's a recent invention.
It's a very useful invention, too.
Well, what if you are someone who makes inventions, who creates things?
What are you called?
An inventor.
I-N-V-E-N-T-O-R.
Are you an inventor?
Do you ever invent things?
Well, many people do.
And in our article, we read people say "Necessity is the mother of invention."
And this is a very common phrase that you will hear.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
And there we have a key word from our Word Bank: necessity.
Now if something is a necessity, then you need it.
It is necessary.
Those are all very similar words.
That's right.
If it's necessary, (that is the adjective form of this word; a necessity, of
course, is a noun) you need it.
What are the necessities in your life?
Well, many people believe that English is a necessity in our world today.
It's becoming more and more of a necessity.
That is true.
Another necessity that has come about recently is the computer.
The computer is now a necessity for many people to do their jobs.
If you don't have a computer at work, it will be very hard for you to do the
things that you need to get done.
That's right.
Many people also think that their smartphones are a necessity.
Before I had a smartphone, I didn't really think I needed it.
But now I use it all the time.
It's becoming a necessity for me.
Well, we see here a phrase: Necessity is the mother of invention.
Actually, this goes all the way back to Plato, a Greek philosopher.
Now he said it's the mother of invention.
So the mother of something, that means it... it was the first; if you don't have
this, you can't have what follows.
That's right.
So if you don't have a necessity or a need, then you won't invent anything to
fulfill or satisfy that need.
And you can use that phrase in other ways.
People have taken that phrase from Plato and changed it.
Many people say that creativity is the mother of art.
If you don't have creativity, then you won't have any art.
That's right.
Creativity is the mother of art.
There's a similar phrase.
People say that patience is the mother of all virtues.
That's used a little bit differently.
When you add the word "all," that means it's the most important of everything
else.
So patience is the mother, or the most important, of all virtues.
But here we see necessity is the mother of invention.
Without necessity, you wouldn't invent something.
And I think that's true.
We read in our article:
Humans are always looking for ways to make life easier for themselves.
Some inventions like light bulbs, cars and computers are terrific.
It's true. Those are all very useful inventions.
And light bulbs are terrific.
Let's take a look at that word from our Word Bank.
A light bulb is... well, it's... it's a light.
It gives you light.
It's something that you can install so that you have light.
You turn on the light and turn it off.
And sometimes you need to change light bulbs.
That's right.
So before the light bulb, people used lamps or candles.
They had to use fire as a source of light.
But now we have light bulbs that we can just simply flip a switch on and off,
and then there is light in the room.
So, so far we're talking about inventions that are very useful.
But we see a sentence here:
But many inventions are just, well, silly!
Our author includes that word "well" before she has "silly" because it's kind of
like she's saying:
I don't really want to be negative here, but "silly" is the only way to describe
these following inventions.
And the first invention is the noodle fan.
A bowl of hot noodles is delicious.
But sometimes you're too hungry to wait for them to cool.
Does this happen to you, Gabe?
Well, uh, not really, Carolyn.
I mean, I'm... I'm usually pretty patient.
Patience is the mother of all virtues.
I enjoy waiting for my noodles to cool so I can eat them.
Oh. Well, that's good.
But if you don't wait, this will happen.
So when you eat them, you burn your mouth.
Oh, that is not good.
But don't worry.
The noodle fan solves that problem.
Interesting.
Well, have you ever burnt your mouth?
Sometimes I burn my tongue if I eat something that is too hot, or I burn my
mouth.
OK. Well, we're going to learn more about this noodle fan.
But first, let's join Michelle in the Language Lab.