节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-08-19
难易度:Medium
关键字:foundation, infant, time-consuming, lonesome, poacher
We've just read the first part of our lesson on How to Raise an Elephant,
talking about the Jumbo Foundation which helps large orphaned animals.
And we've also been discussing how much responsibility and time it takes to care
for a baby elephant, or an elephant calf.
And we learned that Jenny Webb took on this big responsibility.
Let's learn some more about her experience in the next part of our reading.
(Music).
How to Raise an Elephant.
She took in Moses when he was a week old after his mother was killed, probably
by poachers.
No one else would take him in as elephants are very expensive and time-consuming
to care for.
But Jenny was willing and said,
"Humans caused this problem, so humans must fix the problem." She spent as much
time as she could caring for Moses.
She also hired two employees to be with him during the day so he wouldn't be
lonesome.
She works as the Director of the Malawi Division of Food Products.
(Music).
All right. So we can see here Jenny Webb has a full-time job as well.
And she, of course, has a heart for these elephants... or for Moses, and so she
is taking care of him.
So we see here at the beginning of this section:
She took in Moses when he was a week old after his mother was killed, probably
by poachers.
Well, let's take a look at something at the beginning of this sentence here.
She took in Moses.
This is a good phrase to know.
When you take in something, what does that mean, Carolyn?
Well, it means that you provide shelter for it.
So you "take something in" means you're going to protect it and take care of it.
All right. So you're taking it in.
I can use this phrase in another way.
For instance, one of my cats was found at Costco.
And so we named the cat Costco because my friends took in this cat.
And now we take care of this cat.
So you can take in different animals.
Um, and they took in Moses when he was a week old after his mother was killed,
probably by poachers.
A poacher is... well, if you are poaching, that is illegally killing or
capturing or hunting animals.
That's right.
So this is a person that does that.
And this is very sad because it actually takes an elephant 22 months before it
is born.
So it's not nine months like a person but 22 months, almost two years, before
the baby elephant will be born.
All right.
So Moses was... was born.
He was a week old.
They think the mother was killed by poachers.
No one else would take him in as elephants are very expensive and time-consuming
to care for.
All right. It's... it's true.
It's a big elephant.
It would be time-consuming to care for Moses.
Let's look at that word from our Word Bank: time-consuming.
All right.
If something is time-consuming, what does that mean?
Well, it takes a lot of time.
It means that you're going to be spending lots of time with that thing.
And you definitely have to spend a lot of time with a baby elephant if they need
to be cared for 24 hours a day.
All right.
Other things could be time-consuming as well.
Maybe you have a time-consuming project to do for school.
Now just because it's time-consuming doesn't always mean it's difficult.
It could be an easy task, but it just takes a long time to do or a lot of time.
Right now it's time for us to go visit Steve and Ken in the Info Cloud.
They're going to be talking about uh, white elephants.
White elephants are very rare animals.
In many cultures in Southeast Asia, they're a sign of justice, power, wealth and
peace.
Years ago, kings from this part of the world would sometimes give white
elephants as gifts to government officials - not to officials they liked, but
officials they didn't like.
Right.
The elephants were extremely expensive to keep.
Any unlucky official who received one couldn't refuse it, nor could he get rid
of it later.
That would be insulting to the king.
And because the elephant was sacred, he couldn't put it to work to make money.
So the official was stuck.
Unless he was super wealthy, that white elephant would quickly cause him
financial ruin.
Today we use "white elephant" as an idiom to describe a costly project, plan or
business venture that is without any use or value.
And since we're on the topic, let's mention the popular holiday party game
called the white elephant gift exchange.
It's more for entertainment than anything else.
This game is based around giving gifts whose maintenance and cost exceed their
usefulness.
Check the Internet for rules on how to play.
It can be a lot of fun.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys, for that very interesting information on the different kinds of
white elephants.
Now we were talking about things being time-consuming, about taking care of baby
elephants being very time-consuming.
But Jenny was willing and said: Humans caused this problem, so humans must fix
the problem.
And I agree with Jenny here.
I think this is a great thing that we can learn from.
Humans caused a problem, so humans should fix the problem, even though Jenny
didn't poach any elephants.
She didn't kill any elephants.
It was another human being that did.
And so she's kind of taking responsibility for other human beings.
But this is a very good thing that we can learn from as well.
We're continuing to learn about Jenny Webb.
She spent as much time as she could caring for Moses, probably many hours a day.
Probably. And she also hired two employees to be with him during the day so that
he wouldn't feel... so he wouldn't be lonesome.
Now that is a great key word from our Word Bank - the word "lonesome." And this
is a little bit different from lonely.
When you are lonesome, then you know that you are alone, and you really wish
someone would be there with you.
You want company.
And if you're lonely, maybe you are just sad that you're alone.
OK. So they're a little bit different, these words.
This word "lonesome" makes me think of a country song: I'm so lonesome I could
cry.
Sometimes you feel that way.
You want company.
And you feel like you could cry if you're not around people soon. OK?
So Moses could sometimes be lonesome.
He wants company around.
And so Jenny Webb, we found out more about her, she works as the Director of the
Malawi... Division of Food Products.
All right. So she has a full-time job.
She's a very busy person.
Yes, she is.
It sounds like she has a full-time job, and she's trying to take care of a baby
elephant, which is already very time-consuming.
So she decided to hire a couple of extra people to help her.
I think that was a really good idea.
I do, too.
And I think we can learn something from her here as well because if you're so
busy but you need to get something done,
maybe what you need to do is hire someone else to do the job.
Well, right now it's time for us to watch a nice video about this.
And then we'll visit Michelle in the Language Lab.
You love elephants.
We know because everybody loves elephants.
Even cats love elephants.
So, you want to help elephants.
Good news! It's easy.
Here are some things you don't have to do.
(Music).
Unfortunately, Moses died in Jenny's arms shortly after this was filmed.
The Jumbo Foundation are building a barn at this moment for future orphans.
Moses will show you how you can help.
Firstly, click "Like" below and share this film.
Then "Like" Jumbo Foundation on Facebook for stories about Moses and updates on
the barn.
(Music).
OK.
(Chinese).
And I guess we'd better go back to our teachers now.
Well, today we've been learning about the elephant Moses and how Jenny Webb has
been raising this elephant.
And she spends a lot of time helping Moses.
She also hired some people to come and help him as well.
But I wonder about your life, maybe what is something that is time-consuming for
you.
Carolyn, is there anything in your life that is really time-consuming?
Well, work is fairly time-consuming.
I spend a lot of time working, doing research and writing and preparing.
But it's a lot of fun, too, so I don't really mind.
You know, me, neither.
I don't mind it either.
We do spend a lot of time preparing our lessons and writing features and doing
other things here at Studio Classroom.
It is time-consuming.
Whatever is time-consuming for you, I hope that you also can enjoy it as well.
Thank you for joining us today.
We hope you enjoyed the lesson.
And we have another enjoyable lesson all about how to raise elephants, Jenny
Webb, Moses and this great foundation tomorrow.
So come back then.