节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-10-16
难易度:Low
关键字:major, reserve, tulip, jewel, Silk Road, mammal, yurt
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
It's the third day of our lesson about Kazakhstan - The Land of Wonders.
And if you've joined us over the last couple of days, then you'll know that it
certainly is a land of wonders.
It may seem out of the way for a lot of tourists.
And it is kind of out of the way, but you will be rewarded with awesome natural
beauty, magnificent things that you can do in Kazakhstan.
One of those things, of course, is to visit that Holy Ascension Church, the...
one of the largest wooden churches in the world.
And of course you could try out the Green Bazaar and maybe try some kazy, some
special horse-meat sausage there.
What else could you do in Kazakhstan?
Well, if you leave the city of Almaty, you could go to the raptor sanctuary, the
Sunkar Raptor Sanctuary, and enjoy watching the falconry show.
So you can learn more about this traditional hunting style in Kazakhstan and
watch these magnificent birds swoop down out of the sky.
You could also go horseback riding because Kazakhstan is believed to be one of
the first places where people rode on horses.
It's pretty amazing.
That's right.
And of course, there is more to Kazakhstan.
So let's get started with today's lesson.
(Music).
Kazakhstan - The Land of Wonders.
The famous Silk Road passes through Kazakhstan.
You can travel parts of it through ancient cities and towns.
See what's left of the ancient cities of Otrar and Taraz.
Centuries ago they were major trade centers between Europe and China.
In southern Kazakhstan, see the beautiful scenery, animals and birds in the
Aksu-Zhabagly Nature Reserve.
Created in 1926, it's the oldest nature reserve in Central Asia.
There you'll find 239 species of birds.
More than 50 species of mammals, including the snow leopard, also live in the
reserve.
(Music).
Well, I think that this may be my favorite place so far because there are so
many animals.
Well, but first we... before we talk about the animals, let's go back to the
beginning of today's lesson.
The famous Silk Road passes through Kazakhstan.
And many of you have probably heard of the Silk Road, this very famous trade
route going through Asia.
That's right, between China and the Mediterranean Sea, a very long trade route.
Now this passes through Kazakhstan.
So you can travel parts of it through ancient cities and towns.
All right, these ancient cities and towns.
If a city or town is ancient, then maybe it's not very... well, it doesn't look
modern, and maybe there's not much left to these cities or towns.
That's right.
And in the next sentence, we do read:
See what's left of the ancient cities of Otrar and Taraz.
So there isn't much left of them, but you can see the remains of these ancient
cities.
That's right.
See what's left of these cities.
I like that phrase: what's left of something.
So there used to be a lot, and there's a little bit left that you can still see.
You could use this phrase in another way.
You could say uh... well, um, this is your dessert, or what's left of it.
I ate most of it.
This is what's left of your dessert.
Yes.
Well, that's uh... not very much there, Gabe.
Well, you might also say, "What's left to learn in class?" What hasn't we
finished learning about yet?
What's left in this lesson?
Well, there's still a lot left in our lesson on Kazakhstan, so let's continue
reading.
Centuries ago (talking about these cities,) they were major trade centers
between Europe and China.
So they were very important cities along the Silk Road.
That's right.
They were major trade centers.
Let's talk about that word from our Word Bank.
It is "major." If it's major, it's big or important.
It's the opposite of minor, M-I-N-O-R.
That's small.
But if a major city is there, that means it's very important or very big.
How else could you use that word "major"?
Well, I can think of many major cities around the world.
Beijing is a major city.
Hong Kong, New York, those are all major cities, very important, large cities
with lots of people.
That's right.
London, Tokyo... all these major cities.
Well, let's look at something else from this sentence here: centuries ago.
Centuries ago, a time ago.
So a century is 100 years.
"Centuries ago" is more than 200 years. OK.
So you could replace this word with other words.
You could say "years ago." Years ago I visited Beijing.
How else could you use the word "ago"?
Well, you could say "months ago." Months ago I went to the U.S.
Mmhm.
And I did! I went traveling.
That's right.
Months ago, years ago I did this.
Oh, I did that only days ago.
OK. So you can use the word "ago" with time like this.
OK, let's continue learning about Kazakhstan here.
In southern Kazakhstan, see the beautiful scenery, animals and birds in the
Aksu-Zhabagly Nature Reserve.
Very interesting name, that.
But that is a nature reserve.
It is.
And "reserve" is a word from our Word Bank, so let's look at that.
Now when you're talking about a reserve, here specifically a nature reserve is a
place where animals and plants are protected by law.
That's right.
So people are not allowed to pick the flowers.
They're not allowed to hunt the animals or take them home.
Everything is protected there so that the animals and the plant life is free to
grow and live there without humans disturbing them.
OK. So humans, it's true, sometimes humans will come and destroy wildlife.
And so this is a nature reserve.
Some national parks in many countries are considered nature reserves as well.
You're not supposed to hunt in nature reserves or in national parks.
Well, we're learning about this nature reserve, the Aksu-Zhabagly.
Now this was created in 1926 and is the oldest nature reserve in Central Asia.
That's good.
That is very good.
That's very impressive that it's been around for such a long time.
And there you'll find 239 species of birds.
Oh, I love birds.
Well, I know you do, Carolyn.
You love all sorts of animals.
It seems like this place would be the perfect place for you to travel in
Kazakhstan.
I... I really think so because in the next sentence we find out that more than
50 species of mammals, including the snow leopard, also live in the reserve.
And snow leopards are beautiful, big cats.
Yes, that's true. They are very beautiful cats.
And I would love to see a snow leopard up close.
I know they're kind of dangerous, but I just want to see one in the wild.
That would be very beautiful.
It would be wonderful to see all of these wonderful animals.
I think uh, yes, I will have to go to this nature reserve.
Well, before you do that, let's enjoy some time with Michelle in the Language
Lab.
And then you can go.