节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-09-09
难易度:High
关键字:delectable, proclamation, to one's heart's content, folklore, valor,
Middle Ages
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
Our lesson is about September.
Of course every month we talk about what is special about that month.
So do you have anything special planned for this month?
What will you do this September?
Carolyn, is there anything special that you have planned?
Well, I'll probably spend a couple of weekends going hiking.
I enjoy spending time outdoors.
And you know, if the weather is nice, I think that would be a great thing to do
- plan a couple of hiking trips.
I also plan to wish both of my sisters a happy birthday because both of them are
born in September.
Well, happy birthday, Carolyn's sisters.
You know, my dad's birthday is also this month.
It's in three days!
I'll be celebrating with him.
So what about you?
What do you have planned for this September?
Well, it's time for us to get started learning some interesting things about
September.
Let's do that now.
(Music).
September.
"By all these lovely tokens September days are here With summer's best of
weather And autumn's best of cheer." Helen Hunt Jackson.
What does September mean to you?
For students, it means the start of school.
For others, it means fall is in the air, if not immediately, then soon.
September 19 this year will be a time to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival.
People will celebrate with delectable moon cakes - both traditional and unusual!
September 8 was the official day to celebrate grandparents this year.
In 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation, urging "each
citizen ... to reflect on the influence his grandparents have had in shaping his
own destiny." (Music).
Well, you know September 8 was yesterday.
So if you haven't called your grandparents yet, you can do that now.
It's good to celebrate their life as well.
Let's go back to the beginning of our lesson here.
We see this kind of poem.
Here it says: By all these lovely tokens September days are here.
With summer's best of weather And autumn's best of cheer.
Carolyn, what are the tokens we're talking about here?
Well, this is an interesting word - tokens.
And those are just things that maybe symbolize something else that stand for it.
And if we have "summer's best of weather," so it's not too hot.
It's kind of cool, but it's comfortable.
It's not raining too much.
Maybe there's a breeze.
And "autumn's best of cheer" - so the leaves are changing colors.
It's beautiful outside.
It's very cheerful.
So these are the tokens that we have in September.
All right.
And of course this was by someone named Helen Hunt Jackson.
Well, what does September mean to you?
That's the first question here.
For students, it means the start of school.
Yes. If you're a student, raise your hand.
That means you are starting to go to school again this year.
That's right.
And most schools do start either the end of August or the beginning of
September.
But for others, it means fall is in the air.
You can smell it.
You can feel it.
It's the change of the season, and if not immediately, then soon.
OK. So maybe the weather won't start changing yet.
But if it doesn't happen now, it will happen soon.
"If not immediately, then soon." That's a great phrase or sentence pattern to
know.
Well, September 19 this year will be a time to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival.
Yes, it is coming up, the Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival.
And that's something that I enjoy celebrating every year.
Do you celebrate this, Carolyn?
Well, since coming to Taiwan, I have celebrated it each year.
And it's a very interesting festival, and it's very different from what people
do in the U.S.
It's not something that really people think about.
It's an Asian holiday.
That's right.
But of course, you can do many things at this time.
Well, we continue here.
People will celebrate with delectable moon cakes - both traditional and unusual!
So that's just one of the things that people do during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Let's take a look at that word from our Word Bank - delectable.
If something is delectable, Carolyn, what does that mean?
It means that it is very, extremely delicious.
Oh, it is so tasty.
It's wonderful to eat.
It's delectable.
Maybe someone makes you a wonderful dinner, and you could say: Oh, that dinner
was delicious.
But if you really, really enjoyed it, you could say it was delectable.
And maybe there was one thing that you really liked out of the whole meal.
You could say that was definitely delectable.
That's right.
Actually, this makes me think of Jo - our co-worker here at Studio Classroom who
writes many of our TRAVEL articles.
She's not only good at writing, she's also good at baking and cooking.
And the things she makes are delectable.
I love the cookies that they make.
She makes delectable cookies.
Well, these moon cakes are delectable.
And you can eat them during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Continuing:
September 8 was the official day to celebrate grandparents this year.
So as Gabe mentioned, if you have not called your grandparents, you can call
them up, say hello to them, thank them.
And what do we read in the next sentence, Gabe?
All right.
In 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation,
urging "each citizen ... to reflect on the influence his grandparents have had
in shaping his own destiny." OK.
So President Jimmy Carter said this.
And of course, it was a proclamation.
Let's look at that word from our Word Bank - a proclamation.
That's an official public announcement of some kind.
That's right.
So he made this public announcement, this proclamation that people should honor
their grandparents.
They should thank them and think about the way that their lives have changed
because of their grandparents.
All right.
So that was that kind of proclamation.
But of course, if you proclaim something or if you make an official announcement
of some kind, that can also be a kind of proclamation.
Well, we see another word here in the sentence: urge.
He urged each citizen to do something.
That means he really, really encouraged them to show love to their grandparents,
to reflect on the influence that their grandparents had on their lives.
And we have another great word "shape" that we can talk about.
It says that we need to think about the influence grandparents have had in
shaping his own destiny.
And if you shape something, that means that you influence.
There's some sort of impact that you have on it.
Maybe it was one way before, and then you shape it to be something different.
And the people that we meet can definitely shape our lives.
I think so, too.
You might talk about someone shaping your understanding of something.
For instance, my favorite drummer, Vinnie Colaiuta, he shapes how I learn how to
play the drums.
He shapes what I want to do when I'm trying to play the drums.
Or you could talk about someone who shapes your life.
Jesus Christ shapes my life, the way that I think about life and the way that I
view other people.
So you can use this word "shape" in many ways.
That's right, you can.
And right now it is time for us to continue learning with Michelle in the
Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.