节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-08-31
难易度:Medium
关键字:speaker, battery, geek, vibrate, accessory
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And you are joining us for the second day of our lesson about Bluetooth Fashion.
That's right. Technology is getting a new look.
We already talked about some ways it's getting a new trendy look.
It's looking cooler.
Carolyn, what is one thing the Bluetooth is doing to look cool?
Well, yesterday we were talking about Bluetooth clothing.
We learned that a fashion designer Asher Levine has just released a new line of
clothing that uses Bluetooth technology.
There are microchips inside the clothes that connect to your iPhone so that if
you lose your phone... or if you lose the clothes, you can use an app on your
phone to find them.
It's very cool.
And of course, there's also the Ripple, designed by Ilya Fridman.
And this is kind of a little circular device that is actually the same function
as talking to someone on your phone, but it also plays music.
If you don't feel like talking to your friends, you can just play music and
leave that thing that looks like an earring in your ear.
It's pretty cool.
Well, it's now time for us to continue learning about Bluetooth Fashion with
Spray Bluetooth Speakers.
Bluetooth Fashion.
Spray Bluetooth Speaker.
Clothing label Ecko UNLTD is making its technology debut with a Bluetooth
speaker that looks like a can of spray paint.
The Spray Bluetooth speaker also contains a microphone, which you can pair with
your smartphone for hands-free calling.
The speakers have up to 10 hours of battery life.
Twist the top to skip songs or control volume.
Pros?
Its clever design will impress urban artists and geeks alike.
Cons?
Users will look like they are talking and listening to a can of spray paint.
Those are definitely some pros and cons.
OK. We're talking about the Spray Bluetooth Speaker here.
And "speaker" happens to be from our Word Bank.
What is a speaker, Carolyn?
Well, a speaker is a piece of equipment or a device (that we've learned that
word before) that produces sound.
So you might have a speaker on your computer that lets you listen to music.
Or maybe you have a nice speaker system in your car.
You have very good speakers, and you can listen to very high-quality music.
That's right.
The music might be very loud through your speakers or the speakers might be
playing very soft music.
You can say turn the speakers up or turn your speakers down, please.
OK. So Spray Bluetooth Speakers.
Clothing label Ecko UNLTD is making its technology debut with a Bluetooth
speaker that looks like a can of spray paint.
Very cool.
Well, that is certainly a unique way to make your debut.
So this is their first time doing something like this if it's a debut.
And they are actually a clothing label.
So they aren't used to using a lot of technology.
They're used to producing clothes.
That's right.
I used to have a pair of shorts by Ecko UNLTD.
You see those words U-N-L-T-D.
That's just kind of short for unlimited.
Um, and it's making its debut with this Bluetooth speaker.
It looks like a can of spray paint.
And I think that Steve and Ken are in the Information Cloud waiting for us.
They want to share about that word debut.
OK, friends, let's take a look at this word debut, spelled D-E-B-U-T.
Now upon first seeing it, you may think it's pronounced de-but.
But no, it's pronounced debut.
That's right, debut. The T is silent.
That's because this word was originally a French word, meaning to begin.
Now you might be wondering, what about debut's past tense?
Should I say something debued or debuted?
Again, the T is silent, so you should read it as if the T is not there.
The product debuted five years ago.
And by the same reasoning, the progressive form should be pronounced debuing.
And the plural form is debuts.
You pronounce all of them without the T sound.
However, there is a related word that is pronounced with the T sound - debutant.
That's right.
A young woman who is making a formal debut into society is a debutant, not
debuan.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys.
Well, it is good to know how to say different words in English.
Some of them can be very tricky.
Continuing talking about this new speaker:
The Spray Bluetooth speaker also contains a microphone, which you can pair with
your smartphone for hands-free calling.
So it's not just a speaker that produces sound, but it also has a microphone so
that it can take the place of just holding the phone to your head.
You can just leave your phone sitting down and use this speaker instead.
Interesting.
So... so the spray paint can speaker thing is sitting on your desk and you're
talking to this spray paint can.
Well, um, we see a word here in the sentence: You can pair your smartphone with
this thing.
So oftentimes, if your smartphone has Bluetooth, then you pair it with something
else so that you can use that other thing.
That's the word we use.
You pair it when two or more things come together.
That's right.
So you can pair it with your phone so that you can use the Bluetooth instead of
using your phone to make calls or answer calls.
Now the speakers have up to 10 hours of battery life, which is great.
That means that you can use it for a long time.
And we see a word from our Word Bank: battery.
Now a battery is something that holds energy or produces energy so that you can
power something.
I'm sure that there is a battery in your laptop and your cell phone.
And you need to make sure that your battery is charged, otherwise you won't be
able to use any of your electronics.
OK. So those are batteries that you can recharge.
But of course, there are many batteries out there that you can only use once and
then you have to throw those batteries away.
All right. So use batteries for energy for all of your electronic devices.
Of course sometimes you might want to plug it into a wall so you don't use your
battery so much.
But here we see that this thing has up to 10 hours of battery life, which is not
bad.
It isn't bad.
And it's interesting that it says battery "life." A lot of times we say when the
battery can't provide any more power, we say that the battery is dead.
So we use these words to describe batteries, I guess, because they do produce
energy and kind of bring electronics to life.
That's right.
Well, we're talking about these speakers here.
You can twist the top to skip songs or control volume.
That's cool.
So you're listening to music, and then you take your can of spray paint and just
twist the top a little bit to control the volume or skip some songs.
That's right.
Well, we have a question word: "Pros?" So good things with a question mark.
Its clever design will impress urban artists and geeks alike.
So there are some good things about this.
Both groups will be impressed.
Urban artists are people in cities who are into art.
And there are also geeks.
Now let's look at that word from our Word Bank.
Gabe, what is a geek?
Ah, geek.
That's kind of a fun word to say to talk about someone who just loves
technology,
just loves working with technology, learning about new things in technology.
Um, often it... has to do with technology.
And yeah, they just know a lot about technology.
And they would certainly, or many, would certainly be impressed with this
speaker.
That's right.
So a geek is someone who knows a lot of... about technology, is very interested
in it.
But it could also be someone who is very interested in science or some other
subject that is just very intense.
Science, math, computers are all very complicated, so they need to study it.
And that is the pro. Now...
That's right.
How do we continue, Gabe?
Well, we're talking about pros and cons here.
Users will look like they are talking and listening to a can of spray paint.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking earlier.
You're just talking to this can of spray paint.
That... that can be kind of cool, or maybe a little geeky as well.
Well, right now it's time for us to continue learning with Liz in the Grammar
Gym.
And then we'll see Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
We find this in today's FASHION article:
Pros?
Its clever design will impress urban artists and geeks alike.
Cons?
Users will look like they're talking and listening to a can of spray paint.
Our Grammar Tip focus is on the two words: pros and cons.
It comes from the idiom "pros and cons," which means the reasons why something
should and shouldn't be done.
In the case of today's article, the writer takes the idiom apart in order to
first mention the good qualities and then the not-so-good qualities.
You can do the same when you are giving a report on something and you want to
mention the good side and bad side of your subject.
For example:
What are the pros to this new gadget?
It is waterproof and lightweight.
Cons?
It needs to be recharged every four hours.
Or, I don't know whether to buy these shoes or not.
Pros? They're pretty and they fit comfortably.
Cons? They're very expensive.
If you turn to today's Grammar Tip section, you'll find more example sentences
there.
And that's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.