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
Today we are on our lesson Five Funny Inventions (That We Don't Really Need).
And we've been talking about inventions that are useful like the light bulb or
the car.
And we learned that necessity is the mother of invention.
However, we have started learning a little bit about the noodle fan, a very
interesting and funny invention.
If your noodles are too hot and you don't want to burn your mouth or wait for
them to cool, the noodle fan will solve this problem.
Well, let's learn a little bit more about this silly invention.
Five Funny Inventions (We Don't Really Need).
Just attach the tiny fan to your chopsticks.
It will blow on your noodles while you eat.
The Portable Chin Rest.
People lead busy lives these days, and lots of them don't get enough sleep.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could sleep standing up?
Now you can!
The portable chin rest looks a little like a coat rack.
It has the perfect soft space for your chin.
Take it with you.
On your way to work, rest your head on it, and take a quick nap.
(Music).
Wow, that is uh, quite a silly invention here, the portable chin rest.
Well, let's continue learning more about the noodle fan, another silly invention
here.
We read: Just attach the tiny fan to your chopsticks.
OK. So there's a little fan, and you can just attach it to your chopsticks.
It will blow on your noodles while you eat.
Well, if you don't have a lot of patience, if that is not a virtue you have, and
you don't want to wait for your noodles to cool,
then you can use this little fan and attach it to your chopsticks to blow on
your noodles for you.
Exactly.
You don't have to blow on the noodles, the fan will do that for you.
Now that word "blow" can be used in another way.
You could blow out something.
So if there's a candle and there's a fire, you can blow out the candle... like
the candles on your birthday cake.
You blow the candles out or you blow on your soup to cool it.
That's right.
Well, we do have another very interesting, silly invention - the portable chin
rest.
And portable is a word we want to talk about from our Word Bank.
If something is portable, then it is easy for you to take from one place to
another.
That's right.
So some people have little portable TVs that they like to carry with them.
I've heard of portable air conditioners.
Now there are air conditioners small enough that you can take them with you and
just put them in whatever room you're in.
Of course if your chair is light enough, it could be a portable chair.
You could pick it up and put it somewhere else.
And I think a very great invention that people may not realize just how
wonderful it is because it's so common is the portable computer.
What!?
It's called a laptop.
Yes, it's true, a laptop is a computer you can take with you everywhere.
It's, by definition, a portable computer.
So here we're talking about the portable chin rest.
People lead busy lives these days, and lots of them don't get enough sleep.
It's true.
Well, let's take a look at a phrase in that sentence: to lead busy lives, or to
lead a life of some kind.
Maybe you're very busy, you lead a busy life.
How else can you use this phrase?
Maybe your life is kind of boring.
You might say, "I lead a boring life." Well, how else could you use that phrase?
Well, you could say that I lead a peaceful life.
OK.
There is a lot of peace in my life.
There aren't a lot of conflicts or problems, and it's very peaceful.
Or I lead a happy life.
I don't let problems bother me.
All right.
So you can see you can use this phrase in so many different ways.
What adjective can you use to describe your life?
Well, put it in this phrase.
I lead this kind of life.
So some people lead busy lives, and they don't get enough sleep.
Carolyn, has anyone ever told you you... you look really tired today?
I have heard that before.
People have said that to me, and it doesn't really make me want to talk to them.
Yeah. It's kind of a conversation killer.
Let's take a look at what Steve and Ken have to share about conversation killers
in the Information Cloud.
We're all familiar with which topics to avoid when meeting foreigners for the
first time, right?
How old are you?
How much money do you make?
Are you married?
Not the best questions to start a conversation.
Now besides questions, there are also comments that we might make that, while
said with good intentions, can kill a conversation.
OK. For example, let's pretend you're on the subway and you see someone using a
portable chin rest.
It's pretty obvious that that person is tired, right?
That's right.
So there's really no need to say "You look tired." Now again, we know it's said
out of kindness and concern.
But if the person is tired, they already know it.
What's worse is saying "You look tired!" to someone who is actually feeling
pretty energetic.
Now you might as well say "You look terrible." And no one wants to be told that.
So it's probably best not to say it.
Unless your relationship with the person you're speaking to is pretty close,
you'll want to keep away from comments like:
You look tired.
What are all those red marks on your face?
And you've gained weight!
They're conversation killers.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
So it's important; don't say things that will kill a conversation.
Well, continuing learning about the portable chin rest:
Wouldn't it be nice if you could sleep standing up?
Um, Gabe?
Um... Gabe, did you get a portable chin rest?
Oh... oh! Oh, yeah.
Oh yeah, I... I got my portable chin rest here.
Carolyn, do you like it?
Well, I'm not sure that it's really a portable chin rest... maybe one version of
one.
Yeah! Well, it's very nice.
I was getting a little bit sleepy, and so I decided that I should be able to
rest.
And now I can rest while standing up.
Well, that is what we see in our article.
Do you want to sleep standing up?
Now you can!
Well, this is an interesting invention.
And the portable chin rest looks a little like a coat rack.
And Gabe's looks a little like an easel.
Yes, it does.
But it's just as comfortable.
See, it has the perfect soft space for you chin.
Take it with you!
On your way to work, rest your head on it, and take a quick nap.
Well, that sounds wonderful, Gabe.
You take a nap, and we'll go watch a review skit.
And then we'll learn something with Michelle in the Language Lab.
I am an inventor.
Oh, inventors are always looking for ways to make life easier, right?
Right.
You know what people say...
Necessity is the mother of invention.
And that's why we have light bulbs, cars and computers.
Exactly.
So what useful things did you invent?
Well, one of my most important inventions is the noodle fan.
Uh, what does it do?
How does it work?
Well, sometimes you get a delicious bowl of noodles but they're too hot to eat.
Oh, right.
And you have to wait for them to cool.
Not if you have a noodle fan!
Simply attach the fan to your chopsticks...
And it blows on your noodles while you eat.
That's right.
Cool.
Very cool.
Now look at my next invention.
Oh, is that a... a coat rack?
No. It's a portable chin rest.
Uh... what for?
Well, for busy people that don't get enough sleep.
So... how does it work?
Well, it has a soft space perfect for your chin.
Take it with you and rest your head on it to take a quick nap, uh... like this.
Oh! Is that comfortable?
Not really.
Oh...
(Music).
OK.
(Chinese).
And now let's return to our teachers.
Well, we've learned about some silly inventions today - the noodle fan and the
portable chin rest.
Are there any other silly inventions you can think about?
Well, there are several.
One that I found was cockroach swatting slippers.
The slippers are specially designed to have a little handle that you can pull
out of the back so you can take off your slipper and swat a cockroach with it.
Wow! That's... maybe a little bit useful but definitely kind of silly.
Well, if you're curious about other silly inventions, go to chindogu.com,
C-H-I-N-D-O-G-U.com.
It's a Japanese word that kind of means weird tool.
Thank you for joining us today.
And we have more to learn about silly inventions next time right here at Studio
Classroom.
See you then.