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
Well, we've been learning all about whales in our lesson, and especially about
blue whales earlier today.
We learned that these are the largest animals in the world that many weigh up to
180,000 kilograms, and they can reach to a length of over 30 meters.
That is a huge whale.
And of course something else we learn is that they are baleen whales.
So they don't have teeth.
Instead they have that comb-like ridge in the top and bottom of their mouths.
Well, we're going to continue learning about blue whales, and then about gray
whales in the next part of our reading for today.
(Music).
Whales: The Giants of the Sea.
Blue whales once numbered in the hundreds of thousands,
but over hunting has nearly driven them to extinction; today it is believed that
only a few thousand remain.
Gray whales.
Gray whales are another kind of baleen whale.
They typically swim along the ocean bottom, using their mouths to suck up mud
and their baleen to filter their prey.
With heads usually covered in barnacles, gray whales are easy to recognize and
not shy, often swimming alongside boats and watching the people aboard.
Well, it sounds like seeing gray whales would be a very, very fun and exciting
thing to do.
Now continuing at the beginning of this section, we still have a little more
information about blue whales.
We see that blue whales once numbered in the hundreds of thousands,
but over hunting has nearly driven them to extinction; today it is believed that
only a few thousand remain.
This seems a little bit sad, Gabe.
It is really sad, Carolyn.
There aren't that many blue whales left, at least compared to the way that it
once was.
We see that word "once" at the beginning of this sentence: Blue whales once
numbered this amount.
That means once upon a time, or a long time ago, or in the past at one time.
OK. We also see it numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
So when you use the word "in" to talk about a number, you can use it to talk
about a huge number like hundreds of thousands.
Or you could say it numbered in the millions.
There were at least a million.
That's right.
And we see that over hunting has nearly driven them to extinction.
So these are an endangered species, something we've mentioned before, to be on a
threatened or endangered species list.
And it has nearly driven them to extinction.
We want to look at that phrase: to be driven to something.
Gabe, what does it mean if you are driven to something?
Well, that means that something happened in life, and it caused you to be a
certain way.
So something happened in nature, and it caused whales... or blue whales to
almost be extinct.
So how can you use this phrase in another way?
You could say, "You drove me to anger." That means you made me get angry.
Or you could say, "That news drove my friend into depression." It caused him to
get really sad.
Well, but you could also use this in other ways.
Maybe your car is always breaking down, and it drove you to buy a new one.
Not driving a car, but it made you need to buy a new car because it was always
broken.
That's right.
So we see here that something drove whales to near extinction.
Today it is believed that only a few thousand blue whales remain.
I'm sad for these blue whales.
But I am happy to learn about gray whales.
Let's do that now.
Gray whales are another kind of baleen whale.
So again, they don't have teeth.
That's right.
And we find out they typically swim along the ocean bottom using their mouths to
suck up mud and their baleen to filter their prey.
So before when we were learning about blue whales, the blue whales were
filtering water through their baleen to filter the prey.
And here we have "they are sucking up mud." These gray whales suck up mud, and
then use the baleen to filter their prey.
And "prey" is a word from the Word Bank.
Gabe, what is prey?
Ooh, prey... Well, if you're searching for a meal, and you are an animal (of
course searching for a meal), then you might catch your prey.
That is anything that you catch to eat to make you stronger and healthier as an
animal.
That is your prey.
So here we were talking about the blue whales eat a lot of krill.
The krill would be their prey.
And now we're talking about gray whales sucking up mud to filter their prey.
All right. So we're talking about prey here.
Now you notice that this word does not have an S.
Again, krill and prey, they don't have an S in their plural forms. OK.
Now this makes me think of another animal called a praying mantis.
It's a little green insect that preys on other smaller insects.
So the praying mantis, it is looking for other things to eat.
So this word can be a verb as well - to prey.
That's right.
But this is P-R-E-Y, not P-R-A-Y.
Yes.
Those are two different kinds of PREY.
Continuing learning about gray whales:
With heads usually covered in barnacles, gray whales are easy to recognize and
not shy, often swimming alongside boats and watching the people aboard.
And "alongside" is also from our Word Bank.
And it just means to be beside something, to go along the side of it.
That's right.
You could say walk alongside me, or come alongside, learn something with me.
So these gray whales like to swim alongside boats.
They watch the people on board.
I think I like these gray whales.
Well, I also like review skits.
Let's enjoy one right now.
And then we'll see Michelle in the Language Lab.
Ah! Here we are on a whale-watching adventure.
Whales! I'm fascinated by these giant marine animals.
Ah, yes. Their size is enormous, and their ways are mysterious.
Yeah.
I'm looking for sperm whales.
Sperm whales are elusive creatures that live in remote waters.
Oh.
They can reach 18 meters and have the largest brains of any animal.
Is that so?
They can dive more than 3,000 meters and stay underwater for 90 minutes.
Do you think we'll see any sperm whales?
Not likely.
Oh.
Well, OK.
I'll look for blue whales.
Blue whales are the largest mammals in the world.
Really?
They can weigh 180,000 kilos and reach lengths of 30 meters.
That is enormous.
They take in water and catch small ocean creatures called krill.
That is so interesting.
There aren't many blue... whales, not as many as there used to be.
Oh. Well, do you think we'll see any blue whales?
Not likely.
Too bad.
Well, maybe I'll look for gray whales.
Gray whales swim along the ocean bottom.
Their heads are usually covered in barnacles.
Barnacles?
And they're not shy.
They swim alongside boats and watch people.
Wow.
Do you think we'll see any gray whales today?
Not likely.
Too bad.
Ah, keep looking.
I'm sure you will see something.
OK.
OK.
(Chinese).
It's time to go back to our teachers now.
We've learned a lot of interesting facts about whales today.
And I wonder which one you like the most.
Gabe?
Well, I really like the gray whales.
I think it's interesting that they suck up mud, and then filter their prey.
I kind of like the idea of sucking up water to filter prey.
But I like the gray whales because they seem like friendly whales.
They like to swim right alongside the boats, so you can see them up close.
That is a pretty interesting fact about gray whales.
What was your favorite fact today?
Think about it.
Talk about it in English.
And we will see you here again tomorrow on Studio Classroom.
Goodbye.