节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-08-28
难易度:Low
关键字:ideal, normal, imaginative, beast, audition
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And you're joining us for a very special lesson about a young lady named
Quvenzhane Wallis.
Now that is quite an interesting name.
I don't know if you've heard of this young actress before.
Let's say her name together.
Carolyn, you want to help me out?
Absolutely.
Quvenzhane.
That's right.
Quvenzhane Wallis is her name, and she is quite talented.
And we've... we will find out in this lesson about how she started getting
famous as early as the age of five years old when she auditioned for a role.
Now what were you doing when you were five years old?
Do you remember anything special that you did, Carolyn?
Well, I wasn't doing very much when I was five.
I was in kindergarten and probably learning my ABCs and how to write my name.
But I was also in my church choir.
So even though I was just five years old, we had a children's choir.
Nice.
And I really liked singing at church.
That's great.
That's a good thing to do at any age.
I think when I was five years old, I was probably just following my big sister
around because she was my hero.
Well, what were you doing when you were five?
Think about that.
Let's get started with our lesson learning about Quvenzhane Wallis.
Quvenzhane Wallis.
Happy 10th birthday to this rising young star.
Most actors search for years to find the ideal role that will make them famous.
For Quvenzhane Wallis, however, the role found her while she was still in
kindergarten!
Opportunity came knocking.
The young girl, known as Nazie, from Houma, Louisiana, was living the life of a
normal 5-year-old.
Then one day her mother received a call from a friend.
The friend reported that a movie director was auditioning young girls to star in
his movie.
Well, this sounds like a very special story about this young girl.
At the very beginning we see: Happy 10th birthday to this rising young star.
And today is Quvenzhane Wallis' 10th birthday, August 28.
Well, happy birthday, Quvenzhane.
And she, of course, is a rising young star.
Does this remind you of anybody?
Well, of course, last month we learned about Carey Mulligan who is also a rising
celebrity or a rising star.
They're becoming famous.
That's right.
They certainly are.
Now let's get started with our article.
Most actors search for years to find the ideal role that will make them famous.
And it's very true.
Most actors are trying to get into movies and auditioning for parts for many
years before they find that ideal role.
And right there is a word from our Word Bank, the word "ideal." What does it
mean, Gabe?
Well, your ideal is the best possibility for something or maybe the best
situation for you.
So many people talk about uh, finding the ideal job.
They want to find a job that best suits them.
Or of course people talk about finding the ideal husband or the ideal wife,
something that is the best for them.
That's right.
So the best of its kind or the perfect one that really just suits everything you
were looking for.
So they search for many years to find the ideal role that will make them famous.
But that is not what happened in this case.
For Quvenzhane Wallis, however, the role found her while she was still in
kindergarten.
So she didn't look for it, she didn't work hard for it, although it says that
the role found her.
So it wasn't her own effort, but I'm sure that she did have to work very hard
afterward.
It's true, but this all happened while she was just in kindergarten.
Well, her name is a very special name, Quvenzhane Wallis.
And I think Steve and Ken have a little bit to share about this in the
Information Cloud.
Today it's popular for expectant parents in America to sidestep traditional baby
names and choose names that are unique, that are oddly spelled or have a
distinctive sound.
Everyone is doing it, but it seems black American parents are doing it the most.
Consider this statistic:
One year in California, 30 percent of black female newborns were given names
that were unique among all the names of every other female baby born that year.
For black Americans, this naming trend really took off in the 1960s when the
black community discovered a newfound pride in their African heritage.
Many black Americans boldly distanced themselves from the white culture, a
culture they felt to be bland, conformist and oppressive.
Mmhm.
And so, black parents began to shun traditional white names like George and
Carol in favor of names from African languages as well as Muslim and Arabic
culture.
They also began favoring made-up names based on a special meaning or on how
pleasant the name sounded.
Now these naming trends continue today.
The first half of the made-up name Quvenzhane is based on Quvenzhane's parents'
names while the second half comes from the Swahili language.
(Chinese).
Thanks, guys.
It is very interesting to learn about the different naming styles of different
people groups, especially in the United States.
Well, we're still learning about Quvenzhane Wallis.
And in our next section here it says: Opportunity came knocking.
So earlier we talked about how the role found her in kindergarten.
Now how does this section continue, Gabe?
Well, first I wanted to talk about that phrase: the opportunity came knocking.
Carolyn, I thought that only... only humans could do something like knock.
Well, usually, yes, we say that.
But we also talk about doors being opened when there is an opportunity.
So if an opportunity comes knocking, that means maybe you should open the door.
It's just a figurative way to express that idea.
And I like that.
Friends, don't be afraid to use your English like this - to make other things do
things that usually only humans do.
Humans knock, of course.
They knock on doors.
But here you can see that opportunities can come knocking on your door.
Well, we do continue.
The young girl, known as Nazie, from Houma, Louisiana, was living the life of a
normal 5-year-old.
Yes, she was just living the life of this normal 5-year-old girl.
And "normal" is a word from our Word Bank.
If something is normal, then it is usual.
There's not too much that's special about it.
There's nothing strange.
It's just the way that things usually are.
Yeah.
How's your day?
You might say: Well, I'm just having a normal day.
Nothing special is going on.
It's not my birthday.
There's nothing good or bad happening.
It's just a normal day.
That's right.
And so Quvenzhane was just living the life of a normal five-year-old,
so probably playing with her dolls or playing with other toys, enjoying time
with her family and maybe going to kindergarten or going to school.
Then one day her mother received a call from a friend.
Now what kind of call was this, Gabe?
Interesting.
Well, the friend reported that a movie director was auditioning young girls to
star in his movie.
This is a very special call from a friend, indeed.
Maybe this section should be called "Opportunity came calling," right?
Well, instead of knocking, since it didn't actually knock on their door, it
called them on the phone.
So one of her mother's friends knew about this audition for a movie and that
they were looking for young girls.
Hmm, I wonder what Quvenzhane's mother will do in this case because I don't know
if everyone would want their five-year-old girl to be in a movie.
It's true.
But we do see a word there - when you're "auditioning" for something, like this
movie, this director is auditioning these girls.
That means he's letting them try out.
And when you want to be in a show or a movie or a play, you go and audition for
the role.
You try out for that role.
That's right.
Well, right now it is time for us to spend some time with Michelle in the
Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.