节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-07-20
难易度:High
关键字:bleak, stimulus, prototype, donate, Namib Desert, nanotechnology, green
consumer
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
Thank you for joining us for today's lesson all about Beetle Bottles.
Well, we're going to be learning about a little bug that is found in Africa, and
how it is changing or influencing technology.
And I wonder, how do animals influence technology?
Do you think that animals can influence technology, Carolyn?
Well, I think that a lot of the inventions that we have are inspired by animals.
Maybe you look at armor that soldiers swear.
Well, it kind of reminds me of armor that certain animals have.
Uh, there is an armadillo, and it has plates along its skin that protects it.
And it's very similar to old forms of armor.
Now there was another animal that we talked about before, Gabe.
Do you remember what it was?
That's right, the cuttlefish, nicknamed the chameleon of the sea, that inspires
fashion, the clothes that people wear,
and maybe camouflaging yourself if you are in the military.
And of course something else that was inspired by animals was airplanes - birds
in the sky.
We want to fly just like they do.
And so people figured out how we, as humans, could also fly in airplanes.
Well, of course I think animals can inspire and improve technology in many ways.
Let's take a look at one example in today's lesson - the Beetle Bottle.
(Music).
Beetle Bottles.
One little bug might be the start of a big change.
In a bleak, lonely desert on Africa's southwestern coast, black insects push up
their shells toward the sun.
But these Namib Desert beetles aren't just trying to relax - this action gives
them much needed water in one of Earth's driest areas.
On their raised backs, the beetles collect moisture from the morning fog, which
beads and rolls directly into their mouths.
While these remarkable creatures are built for survival, some young scientists
think that the beetles inspire a solution to human water stress today.
NBD (Namib Beetle Design) Nanotechnologies is the name of this ambitious group,
giving credit where it is due.
(Music).
This does sound like a very interesting little beetle.
So let's go back up to the very top, it says:
One little bug might be the start of a big change.
So just a tiny bug could have a very big impact on a lot of things, it sounds
like.
Gabe, how does the article begin?
Well, the scene is set here.
In a bleak, lonely desert on Africa's southwestern coast, black insects push up
their shells toward the sun.
So you can imagine that here, these little insects, these beetles are pushing up
their shells toward the sun.
Now at the beginning of the sentence, we saw a word from our Word Bank.
It is "bleak." And that's a great way to describe many deserts - bleak.
What does that mean, Carolyn?
Well, if something is bleak, then it's very empty and kind of lonely.
There's really nothing around that you can see.
And a desert landscape is usually pretty bleak.
There aren't very many trees, if any at all.
That's right.
This word "bleak" makes me think of a Christmas carol or a song called In the
Bleak Midwinter.
It's true, sometimes winter can be described as bleak as well.
It provides little encouragement.
It's just cold and dark.
It's bleak.
Well, here we're talking about something cool actually, this Mamib Desert
beetle.
So we continue with the lesson.
But these Namib Desert beetles aren't just trying to relax - this action gives
them much needed water in one of Earth's driest areas.
That's right.
So the beetles are pushing their backs or their shells toward the sun.
And that might seem like a relaxing position.
But that is not what they're doing.
They are trying to give themselves much needed water because they're in a
desert, and it is one of Earth's driest areas.
Now it is very interesting the way that they are able to get water by just
raising up their shells.
How does that happen, Gabe?
Well, as we read here, on their raised backs, the beetles collect moisture from
the morning fog.
OK. So they are getting moisture.
Every morning there is fog. Well, that's good.
And they're collecting the moisture here.
Now it's not like a collection of things that you get; you're trying to collect
things.
This just means that you get it... the beetles have this moisture from the
morning fog.
And it builds up.
That's right.
And the sentence continues.
This morning fog, the moisture they collect from the morning fog, which beads
and rolls directly into their mouths.
So these drops of water turn into small beads.
And the bead is just a very round drop of water, and it rolls right into their
mouth.
That's right.
Now this word "bead" is used as a verb here.
They bead and roll.
But usually I see it as a noun.
You might talk about little beads of sweat that form on your forehead when
you're playing a sport or when you're exercising.
Beads of sweat.
But here, it's a verb as well.
That's right.
Well, in the next sentence we see:
While these remarkable features are built for survival, some young scientists
think that the beetles inspire a solution to human water stress today.
So the beetles aren't doing this because it's something cool to do.
They're doing it because they need to in order to survive because there's not
much water for them to drink.
That's right.
And these remarkable creatures are built for survival.
That means they're made for survivial.
They're made like this just so that they can survive.
It's very important for them.
But of course, they inspire a solution to human water stress today.
What does that mean, Carolyn?
What is the human water stress today?
Well, there are a lot of people in the world, which means that we need a lot of
water to drink because it's important for our own survival to drink water.
And we are putting stress on the amount of water in the world.
There might not be enough fresh water for people to drink to support the
population.
So they're trying to find ways to increase the amount of available water.
That's right.
And maybe we can learn something from these little beetles.
Well, we continue.
NBD (or Namib Beetle Design) Nanotechnologies is the name of this ambitious
group giving credit where it is due.
OK. So these NBD Nanotechnology... (nano is something small), so Nanotechnology
is a name of an ambitious group.
They're very ambitious.
They have a great task ahead of them, something important that they want to
accomplish.
That's right.
And they give credit where it is due.
And that is a really great phrase.
"To give credit where credit is due" means that you don't take all of the credit
for yourself if someone else helped you or gave you the idea.
You say: Oh. Well actually, I was inspired to do this by someone else.
We were inspired to do this by the Namib beetle.
You give credit where something is due, or where credit is due.
And you see at the end of movies, there's the list of credits, the people that
you give credit to for making the movie.
Giving credit where credit is due.
Well, it's time for us to learn something new with Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.