节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-09-03
难易度:Low
关键字:scholar, influential, fantasy, publish, Anglo, Saxon, publisher
Today we are continuing to learn more about J.R.R. Tolkien and his life.
We've talked about some of his war experiences when he fought in World War I and
that by 1918, all but one of his friends had died because of the war.
There was a lot of tragedy in his life, but he became a scholar and taught
literature classes at Oxford University and continued to study languages.
We're going to learn more about what he studied in the next part of our reading
today.
(Music).
The Tale of Tolkien.
But Tolkien didn't just study languages; he invented his own!
They added to the rich setting of the fantasy stories he had been writing for
years.
The Hobbit.
One day while grading tests, Tolkien found a blank page.
He wrote the sentence, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." This
began his children's story The Hobbit.
When it was finished, a friend gave it to publisher Stanley Unwin.
Unwin's 10-year-old son, Rayner, loved the book, so Unwin published it in 1937.
(Music).
Very interesting.
So that's kind of how The Hobbit came about.
But let's go back to talk about what other things Tolkien was studying.
We read here that but Tolkien didn't just study languages; he invented his own.
We would actually probably say he didn't just study languages; he invented his
own.
You would emphasize that word "study." OK.
So he invented many of his own languages for his books especially.
That's right.
We continue reading that they added to the rich setting of the fantasy stories
he had been writing for years.
So he studied all of these languages in school, and then he went on to create or
invent his own languages that he put into his stories.
And what kind of stories were these?
Fantasy stories.
From our Word Bank, the word "fantasy," what is a fantasy, Gabe?
Well, if you're talking about a story, a fantasy is a kind of fiction that
involves or include something supernatural,
or things that just don't happen in everyday life - actually, things that are
nearly impossible.
So of course The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are examples of fantasy
stories.
But I can think of some other popular fantasy stories that are movies now, like
Harry Potter.
What about Percy Jackson?
Or maybe the Twilight series, the Hunger Games.
These are all different fantasy stories.
They are fantasy stories because they are not based on real events, and the
things that happen in them are very different from what happens in real life.
So we can call them fantasy stories.
Well, certainly The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are both in that category
of fantasy.
And the next thing on our article today, the next title we have is The Hobbit.
So let's learn about that story.
Gabe, what happened with The Hobbit?
Well, we were talking about how J.R.R. Tolkien started writing The Hobbit here.
One day while grading tests, Tolkien found a blank page.
Actually it wasn't just any old day, it was in the middle of the summer, and he
had to grade a lot of tests.
He got kind of bored with it.
And so he turned one of these pages over, and he... he started writing
something.
And what did he write here, Carolyn?
Well, he wrote this sentence:
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
And if you're familiar with the story of The Hobbit, this is a very familiar
line to you.
This began his children's story The Hobbit.
So if you've read The Hobbit, you might recognize this sentence.
All right. Well, this is considered a children's story according to our author
here today.
But of course people of all ages enjoy reading The Hobbit.
We continue here.
When it was finished, a friend gave it to publisher Stanley Unwin.
All right.
So a friend of Tolkien, he knew the publisher Stanley Unwin.
And a publisher is someone who publishes books or helps to publish books.
You might also talk about a publishing company.
That's right.
So they will produce or print the books for the author or the person who wrote
it.
Now he gave it to his friend who was a publisher, but that doesn't mean that the
book would be printed.
Stanley Unwin, we learn a little bit about him.
Unwin's 10-year-old son, Rayner, loved the book, so Unwin published it in 1937.
That's right.
Well, let's take a look at that word from our Word Bank.
It's the verb: to publish something.
Of course we're talking about Stanley Unwin, he was a publisher.
And when you publish something, that means you put it in print so that the
public can see it.
You publish it for the public.
That's right.
So is there something that you would like to have published?
Are you writing anything, a story, a poem, maybe even a song that you would like
to have published?
You want other people to be able to read it and enjoy it.
That's right.
That's a great question.
Is there anything that you hope to have published one day?
Now Carolyn also mentioned songs.
Well, we talk about publishing companies for books.
But if you have a song, and you want to record it and maybe let the public hear
it, you would take it to a record company or a record label, a recording
company.
OK. So it's a little bit different from a... from a publishing company, but it's
the same idea - taking your idea to the public.
That's right.
And so it was because Rayner, the publisher's son, loved the book, he enjoyed
reading The Hobbit so much that the book became published in 1937.
Well, right now it is time for us to enjoy a great review skit.
And then we'll spend some time with Michelle in the Language Lab and learn
something with her.
(Music).
Hello, professor.
You look busy today.
Yes, I am quite busy.
Teaching literature, doing research and writing papers requires a lot of time.
Yes. And I've heard you study languages, too.
Yes. I love languages.
I not only study them, I even invented one.
What! You invented your own language?
Yes, languages add to the settings of my fantasy stories.
Oh, professor, you are amazing!
And busy!
So what are you working on now?
Right now I'm grading tests.
Oh, that's not very exciting.
Actually, it is.
Look at this.
It looks like a blank piece of paper.
Yes. But it won't be blank for long.
I'm going to write a sentence on it.
What sentence?
Here it is.
Read it for yourself.
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
So? What do you think?
Professor, I think you... you misspelled "rabbit." It's R-A-B-B-I-T.
No... it's not a rabbit, it's a hobbit.
I don't understand.
What's a hobbit?
You'll have to read my new book to find out.
Well, where is your new book?
You're holding it.
Huh? This?
One sentence?
Yes, of course. I still have more to write, though.
(Music).
(Chinese).
And now let's get back to our lesson.
Well, as we continue learning about the background of J.R.R. Tolkien, we found
out how he began the story called The Hobbit.
Of course he was grading tests one day, and he found a blank page and wrote this
sentence:
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
And he didn't just stop there.
He continued to write and write and developed this wonderful fantasy story.
I wonder about you.
Did you ever start something, you were inspired to do something, you had a great
idea but maybe you didn't finish it like Tolkien did?
Carolyn, did this ever happen to you?
Well, you know, I really like to listen to music and just sing.
And sometimes I'll come up with my own songs, but then I don't write them down
and I don't remember them.
Oh, Carolyn, you know, I'm kind of the same way.
I think of songs as well sometimes.
And I... I still have the melodies and the lyrics in my head, I just need to do
something with them.
And I want to encourage you as well to do something with your great ideas.
Don't just let them sit there on a blank piece of paper.
Well, thank you for joining us today.
And we will see you next time right here at Studio Classroom.
See you then.