节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-07-30
难易度:High
关键字:ridge, filter, prey, alongside, bristle, barnacle
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
Thank you for joining us for the second day of our lesson called Whales: The
Giants of the Sea.
Well, we learned about one kind of whale yesterday - the sperm whale.
And we're going to learn about some other whales today.
But I wonder how much you know about whales already.
Carolyn, what can you tell us about whales?
Well, we're going to be talking about the blue whale today.
And one thing that we aren't going to talk about are the blue whale babies.
What?
And blue whale babies are born 8 meters long.
Wow!
Did you know that, Gabe?
I did not know that, Carolyn.
Do you know anything else about whales?
Well, these blue whale babies also weigh three tons.
What?!
And they gain 91 kilograms every day for the first year.
Stop! That's a lot of weight.
It is!
Well, we're going to learn about just how big these blue whales get as adults in
our lesson today.
You know, you know some great things about whales.
All I know is that... half of the brain sleeps at a time for some whales.
They don't really sleep... The whole brain doesn't sleep at a time.
I like Carolyn's fact. It's cooler.
You know what, there are so many things to learn about whales.
Let's get started with today's lesson.
First, we're going to learn about blue whales.
(Music).
Whales: The Giants of the Sea.
Blue whales.
Blue whales are the largest animal in the world, many weighing up to 180,000
kilograms and reaching lengths of over 30 meters.
They are long and slender with a bluish-gray color and a heart that weighs as
much as a small car.
These sea giants are baleen whales, meaning they have a comb-like ridge on the
top and bottom of their mouths where teeth are normally found.
These whales take in water as they swim, and the baleen, equipped with bristles,
filters the water and catches small ocean creatures called krill.
These whales eat around 40 million krill per day, totaling over 3,600 kilograms.
These whales sound like they are very hungry.
And we're talking about blue whales, of course.
We talked a little bit about blue whale babies in the introduction.
And here we have more facts about blue whales.
Gabe, what is this first sentence?
All right.
Blue whales are the largest animal in the world, many weighing up to 180,000
kilograms and reaching lengths of over 30 meters.
OK.
So of course now you know, if you didn't before, this is the largest animal in
the world.
It is a very large animal if it is weighing up to 180,000 kilograms.
This is not 180,000 pounds. 180,000 kilograms! So this is a very, very heavy
animal.
Yeah. It's a good thing they're swimming in the ocean.
They wouldn't be able to move on land, I don't think.
Well, these are very long creatures as well - at least 30 meters, some of them,
or they can reach 30 meters.
They are long and slender with a bluish-gray color and a heart that weighs as
much as a small car.
Well, if a creature has a heart that weighs as much as a small car, I don't
usually think of it as slender.
How can you describe these blue whales as slender, Carolyn?
Well, because they are so long, they don't look like there are very wide.
They look very slender because they are much longer than they are wide.
OK.
So if someone is very tall or something is very long, then you can describe it
as being slender even if it is indeed very big as well.
So their hearts weigh as much as a small car.
That is a big heart.
How do we continue, Carolyn?
We continue with:
These sea giants are baleen whales, meaning they have a comb-like ridge on the
top and bottom of their mouths where teeth are normally found.
So these whales do not have teeth.
They have baleen.
And it is a ridge, a comb-like ridge along the top and bottom of their mouths.
And let's look at that word "ridge." Gabe, what is a ridge?
Well, a ridge is kind of the edge of something.
But I usually think of it as up and down, not like the edge of a cliff but like
the edge of uh, maybe a mountain range, and there is a ridge.
It's the tops of the mountains.
So that is the ridge.
Right.
So a ridge is something that is raised.
Maybe there is a ridge in front of your door.
You want to make sure that you don't trip over the little part that sticks up in
front of your door as you go in and out of your house.
Yeah. Be careful around ridges in doorways.
Well, we're talking about the comb-like ridge at the top and the bottom of these
whales' mouths.
And this is why they're called baleen whales.
So they're not toothed whales like sperm whales are.
Well, how do we continue, Carolyn?
We see these whales take in water as they swim, and the baleen, equipped with
bristles, filters the water and catches small ocean creatures called krill.
Well, there is a lot in that sentence to talk about.
First, let's look at the phrase: take in.
They take in water.
So if you take something in, then you bring it in.
You can take in water here.
But you could also take in information.
If you are learning something new, you can take it in.
Very good.
You're taking it in.
You're consuming it.
You could also maybe take in a breath of fresh air.
If you got out of the city, and you breathe in, you're taking in a breath of
fresh air.
And if you're walking up to the top of that mountain where there's a ridge, you
can look out and take in some beautiful scenery, too.
That's right.
So there are many ways to use this phrase "take in," not just when you take
something into your mouth but you can take something in with your eyes or with
your mind.
And here we have the whales, they take in water as they swim.
And the baleen, these comb-like bristles, they are equipped with bristles, which
is kind of like on a brush.
And this filters the water and catches small ocean creatures called krill.
Now the bristles filter the water.
Let's look at that word from the Word Bank.
Gabe, what does it mean to filter something?
That means you're trying to strain the water, in this case, and try to get some
things out of it.
So it makes me think about coffee, actually.
When you make coffee, you put the coffee grinds inside.
And then you try to filter that out of the water.
So you're not actually drinking the... the coffee beans and the coffee grinds.
You're just drinking the coffee.
So that's how you can use this word - as I just used it as a verb.
But you know what, there could be a coffee filter as well.
That's a noun.
That's right.
So they filter the water by using these bristles because they actually don't
want the water.
They want to catch these small creatures called krill so that they can eat them.
Well, we're going to talk a little bit more about these bristles and these
comb-like ridges on their mouths here in the Information Cloud with Steve and
Ken.
The baleen whales use bristles to filter the water and catch krill.
This process reminds me of the expression: going over something with a
fine-tooth comb.
Well, it's easy to make that association as our lesson mentions a comb-like
ridge in the whale's mouth that works pretty much like a comb.
Right.
But in this case, the comb is not used to comb hair.
Rather it works like a filter, which is interesting because, for centuries,
people used combs for the unglamorous purpose of removing lice eggs from their
hair.
And a fine-tooth comb, or one that has small narrow teeth that are set closely
together is especially effective in this endeavor.
Now the expression "going over things with a fine-tooth comb" was first used in
detective or police work.
Just as a person would use a fine-tooth comb to find and remove the smallest of
filth from one's hair,
investigators would carefully go over the details of a crime scene, looking for
the smallest of clues to solve the case.
Today, the expression can apply to a very detailed approach to anything.
An editor might go over a book or article with a fine-tooth comb, checking for
small mistakes.
If your teacher uses a fine-tooth comb when he or she is examining your work,
you'd better make sure everything is in order before you hand it in.
(Chinese).
Thank you, gentlemen.
Well, we're continuing to learn about blue whales.
These whales eat around 40 million krill per day, totaling over 3,600 kilograms.
That's a lot of krill.
These whales have an enormous appetite.
Of course they need to because they are enormous creatures.
As you'll notice, that word "krill" does not have an S, even as a plural.
Now let's continue learning with Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.