节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-08-20
难易度:Medium
关键字:orphanage, rhino [rhinoceros], shelter, harsh, formula, mattress
In our lesson How to Raise an Elephant, we are learning about Jenny Webb and her
co-workers and the foundation that she started to help large animals survive.
This foundation is called the Jumbo Foundation Elephant Orphanage.
And it's a place where not only elephants can go.
Of course if many orphaned animals are in the wild and they need help, then they
can also go to this orphanage for help.
Their goal is to prepare these animals to be released into the wild someday in
the future.
Let's continue learning about this now.
(Music).
How to Raise an Elephant.
Jenny quickly learned that an elephant baby needs more than just a special
formula every two hours.
Elephant mothers provide not only food but also shelter under their big bellies.
Elephants can get sunburned, and Moses didn't have his mother's large size to
protect him.
He needed sunscreen and creams applied to his skin every day.
A blanket was tied over his back during the day to protect him from the harsh
African sun.
Moses needed company, especially at night, so Jenny would sleep next to him on a
mattress on the floor.
(Music).
Well, this is a very big time-consuming responsibility.
Now going to the beginning of this section:
Jenny quickly learned that an elephant baby needs more than just a special
formula every two hours.
So trying to take care of Moses, this baby elephant, giving him a formula every
two hours was not quite enough.
Now Gabe, what is a formula?
Well, a formula is kind of like a milk mixture or substitute for human infants.
Usually we're talking about a formula that you feed to a small baby.
But of course, you can't just use a simple formula to feed a 100-kilogram
elephant.
That's right.
And we see what else Moses the elephant needed.
Elephant mothers provide not only food but also shelter under their big bellies.
And it's true.
An elephant is very, very large.
So if the small baby elephant goes underneath it, it would be provided with
shelter.
And "shelter" is a word we want to talk about.
It's from our Word Bank.
If you have shelter, that means you have something over your head, something to
protect you from the rain or storms.
Or even if it's really sunny and the sun is beating down, you have shelter.
Shelter is one of our basic needs in life like food and water, we have shelter.
It can also be a verb, to shelter someone.
That's right.
So it's very important for a baby elephant to have its mother there to protect
it from many different things.
Now I think Steve and Ken in the Information Cloud have something that they want
to tell us about: not only... but also.
Twice in today's lesson we see the basic English sentence pattern: not only...
but also.
Widely used in writing and speaking, this pattern is used to present two related
pieces of information.
The first piece of information comes after "not only" while the second piece
comes after "but also".
Right.
And here's the twist:
Both pieces of information are presented as somewhat surprising or unexpected
with the second piece being even more surprising than the first.
From our lesson, we learn about an orphanage for elephants - that's somewhat
surprising, not something you hear about too... too often.
Right.
But the second piece of information - the orphanage taking in other large
animals like hippos and rhinos - is even more surprising.
When using the "not only... but also..." structure, be sure that the two pieces
of information are parallel.
In other words, if the first piece of information is a preposition or phrase,
the second piece should be as well.
Right.
Finally, be aware that in this sentence structure, the "but" is sometimes
omitted, and other times the "also" is omitted, like in today's text.
But that doesn't change the sentence pattern's function.
(Chinese).
Thank you, gentlemen.
Well, let's continue learning about how important shelter is.
Of course a mother elephant is very important providing shelter for the baby
elephants.
"Elephants can get sunburned," as we read here, "and Moses didn't have his
mother's large size to protect him." OK.
So I guess it's not only humans that can get sunburned.
Carolyn, do you think about animals as getting sunburned?
I usually don't think about this.
It's something that is very surprising actually because usually animals have
lots of fur that cover their skin.
But elephants have just a little bit of hair, actually kind of like a human,
just a little thin layer of hair that covers their bodies.
And it doesn't really protect them from the harsh sun, especially the sun in
Africa where it can be very, very intense, and it can really hurt your skin.
It's true.
So maybe even Moses needed to put on some sunblock.
Indeed! As we read on, he needed sunscreen and creams applied to his skin every
day.
So it's kind of like us.
When we go to the beach or somewhere where it's very hot, we have to put on
sunscreen or different kinds of creams.
And Moses is doing the same thing.
He needs these things to protect him.
Well, it is very important to protect your skin.
And it sounds like elephants also need that same protection to make sure that it
stays moisturized,
that it doesn't get too try and that the sun doesn't harm it with all of those
rays.
All right. Well, we continue learning about him.
A blanket was tied over his back during the day to protect him from the harsh
African sun.
OK. So it's not only sunscreen and creams that are protecting him from sunburns,
but he also has a nice little blanket.
Wow, they really are caring for Moses.
They are really trying to take care of this little elephant by putting sunscreen
on him and all these creams and a blanket.
And all of these things help to protect him from the harsh sun.
And "harsh" is one of the words from our Word Bank.
Now if something is harsh, then it is very difficult, it's a challenge.
Maybe it's very uncomfortable as well.
Yes. A harsh something - you could use this word to describe other things as
well.
Maybe there was a harsh punishment.
You did something wrong.
It wasn't just a simple punishment.
It was a harsh punishment.
Or maybe someone said something to you that was really mean, you could say he
had harsh words.
Or of course in a storm, there might be harsh winds outside.
There's a harsh typhoon.
That's right.
Well, continuing on in our article:
Moses needed company.
We talked earlier about how he might be lonesome.
So Moses needed company, especially at night, so Jenny would sleep next to him
on a mattress on the floor.
Wow! Jenny sounds like she really cares about this little elephant.
Oh, I think she certainly does.
She understands that elephants are very emotional creatures.
There are some animals that are emotional, and elephants certainly are
emotional.
They get lonesome.
They need company.
They need someone to be there with them.
And she is right there - has a mattress on the floor, and she sleeps on this
mattress.
What's a mattress, Carolyn?
Well, a mattress is something comfortable that you sleep on, and it goes on your
bed.
So she is sleeping on this mattress on the floor next to this little elephant so
that he won't be lonesome, and he'll be able to sleep at night.
Well, right now it is time for us to learn something with Michelle in the
Language Lab.
OK.
(Chinese).
And now let's see what the other teachers are doing.
Today we've been continuing to learn about Jenny Webb and the Jumbo Foundation,
where she helps to take care of very large animals that have been orphaned.
And I wonder if you think that this is a good idea.
Do you think it is important to save these large animals like elephants?
Gabe, would you want to save an elephant?
Well, yeah, if I had a chance and... and the time, I would like to save an
elephant.
I have taken in kitties before, little puppies and kittens.
And I think if I had a chance to save a large animal, I would.
Of course, I would need some help.
But I think it's great that foundations like Jenny's and other ones like it are
doing just that.
They are helping many wild animals.
They are certainly doing a wonderful job, trying to solve these problems that
humans have caused.
Well, we still have more to learn tomorrow all about How to Raise an Elephant
here on Studio Classroom.
See you then.