节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-07-17
难易度:Low
关键字:system, delicacy, dip, wafer, peninsula, dike
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And thank you for joining us for the third day of our lesson Enjoy the
Netherlands.
And there certainly is a lot to enjoy in the Netherlands, and there are many
ways to enjoy the Netherlands.
Something that we discussed on the first day of this lesson was how you could
take a bicycle and pedal through the streets of Amsterdam or actually many
cities.
Or you can watch others bicycle and carry many items.
Something else that you might think of when you think of the Netherlands are
windmills and wooden shoes.
And of course you might see blue-and-white ceramics and other things like that.
Well, Carolyn, what is something else we learned about the Netherlands?
Well, yesterday we learned a little bit about culture and history in the
Netherlands, so.
We talked about beautiful paintings that you can see at museums or art
galleries.
And we also talked a little bit about people who are still sporting the Dutch
costume, and they are wearing wooden shoes.
So when you think of wooden shoes..., it is true, you can find them in the
Netherlands, and there are people still wearing them.
That's right.
Well, today we're going to be talking about something a little bit different.
Let's get started with our first section called Low Land.
Enjoy the Netherlands.
Low land.
Marken used to be an island but is now a peninsula.
For 2,000 years, the Dutch have been taking back land from the sea.
Using a system of dikes and pumps, they have actually made the country bigger.
In Marken, stand on top of a dike to see how much lower the land is than the
sea.
All right.
We've been talking about low land here.
Let's go to the beginning.
Marken used to be an island but is now a peninsula.
So what is an island and what is a peninsula?
What's the difference here, Carolyn?
Well, an island is a piece of land that is completely surrounded by water.
But a peninsula is a piece of land that is only surrounded by water on three
sides, not all four.
So part of this island is now connected to the land.
OK. So that is the difference, OK?
I think of Florida, the state of Florida, when I think of a peninsula.
A lot of it is surrounded by water, but of course it's connected to the
mainland.
And this place Marken used to be an island surrounded by water.
But we found out something here.
Carolyn, what does the next sentence say?
Well, for 2,000 years, the Dutch have been taking back land from the sea.
So they've been using something to get land back out of the sea and try to make
the country bigger.
That's right.
What did they use?
Well, using a system of dikes and pumps, they have actually made the country
bigger, which is quite remarkable, quite incredible.
Let's take a look at that key word.
It is "system." A system is a method of doing something.
So how else could you use that word "system"?
Where could you use that word?
Well, a system here is something that works together, a system of dikes and
pumps.
So they have to connect and work together.
And I think of a computer system.
Maybe you have lots of wires, lots of things are connected together so that you
can do things easier.
And those connections allow you to do many, many things.
So if you have an advanced computer system, maybe you are connected to the
Internet, you're connected to Wi-Fi.
You don't have cords.
You have a very new system.
That's right.
So that's one kind of system.
I think of systems within our human bodies like the nervous system, the
respiratory system, these things that work together for a purpose.
And of course, sometimes if you work in an office, it can seem or act like a
system.
There is a system within your company.
That's right.
Well, this system of dikes and pumps have been used to make the country bigger.
So they've removed water and put it outside of these walls, outside of the dikes
so that the country has become larger.
That's right.
And of course, a dike is something that is used to prevent floods.
And they have developed a way of using these things that is very effective, and
that makes this country bigger.
We continue learning about Marken.
In Marken, stand on top of a dike to see how much lower the land is than the
sea.
Well, it's quite interesting.
This is one of very few places in the world where the land is lower than the sea
level.
Yes. It would be very difficult in most places for the land to be below sea
level since the water would come in.
But they have this great system here that prevents it from happening.
And you can see that the land is lower than the sea.
Well, right now it's time for us to learn something with Michelle in the
Language Lab.