节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-06-01
难易度:Medium
关键字:head off, economics, patriot, appreciation, purity, sweet tooth
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And you are joining us for the first lesson in June.
That's right.
It is summer.
And of course, I know many of you students are maybe getting off of school
pretty soon.
But you can always learn English.
There's always more to learn.
So thank you for joining us today.
Well, what is special about June?
What is special about June to you?
Carolyn, is there anything that is special about June?
Well, I know that I really enjoy the month of June because June 20 is West
Virginia Day.
So it is West Virginia's birthday.
On 1863, the people of West Virginia got together and formed a state government
and became their own independent state.
Interesting.
Well, I never knew that you could celebrate West Virginia Day in June.
You learn something new every day.
Well, if you ask me what is special about June to me, I would say that some of
my friends have birthdays in June.
But of course, there is a lot more that you can learn from the month of June.
And we're going to take a look at some of these things in today's lesson.
So let's get started with the first reading of the day.
June.
"And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days." -
James Russell Lowell.
Temperatures rise, flowers fill gardens, skies are sunny, and people head off to
the beach in the Northern Hemisphere!
Spring ends as summer begins on June 21 with the longest day of the year.
In the Southern Hemisphere, however, winter begins, bringing cold, rainy
weather.
In Iceland, Fishermen's Day celebrations occur the first weekend of June as
fishing is an important aspect of the country's economics.
All fishing boats dock in the harbors so that the fishermen can attend the
carnivals and festivities that are held.
Fishermen's Day in Iceland.
Well, it seems like we're going to be learning about June all round the world in
today's lesson.
But at the very beginning of our lesson, we see a sentence:
And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days.
This was said by James Russell Lowell.
And we want to take a look at a phrase there in that second sentence: Then, if
ever, come perfect days.
You can rephrase this to say:
If perfect days ever come, they come in June.
But let's take a look at those words, "if ever." How can you use those words,
Carolyn?
Well, "if ever" just means that if a time were to be the right time to do
something, then this is the time.
So June is the time for perfect days to happen.
You might also say now, if ever, is the perfect time to apply for grad school.
Oh, I like that.
You could also use the word "any." You could say "if any." For instance, you
want to borrow a pen?
Well, I only have one or two left, if any, I'm not even sure about that.
I only have one or two left, if any.
We see this phrase: if ever.
Well, let's get started.
What does the first sentence of our lesson say?
We see that temperatures rise, flowers fill gardens, skies are sunny, and people
head off to the beach in the Northern Hemisphere.
So June sounds like a really fun month, a very enjoyable month.
And we see a phrase here: head off.
They head off to the beach.
What does that mean, Gabe?
Well, this is from our Word Bank.
And when you head off somewhere, that means you are going somewhere.
You could also say you're making your way somewhere.
You're heading off.
You might also say I'm heading down to the beach.
But make sure that when you say "I'm heading off somewhere," you remember you
are going somewhere.
You could also just say "I'm off." If you're about to leave for some place, you
could say, "I'm off." I'm going.
That's right.
So if you head off, that means you are starting to leave.
You might say that, oh, I am heading off to the museum today.
There are lots of things I want to see there.
There are many things I want to see, so I'm heading off right now.
And as Carolyn said before, June is a fun month.
There are many things you might see - flowers filling gardens, the skies are
sunny, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.
Spring ends as summer begins on June 21 with the longest day of the year.
Well, I think many people recognize June 21 is the longest day of the year.
But Carolyn, what about the Southern Hemisphere?
Well, it's very different.
In the Southern Hemisphere, however, winter begins, bringing cold, rainy
weather.
So the Northern Hemisphere gets to enjoy this wonderful, warm weather and the
beginning of summer.
But the Southern Hemisphere has cold, rainy weather, and it's the beginning of
winter.
That's right.
So my sister in Australia might be experiencing weather that's a little bit
colder.
Well, right now it's time for us to learn something different with Liz in the
Grammar Gym.
Hello, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
In today's article we read, "... winter begins, bringing cold, rainy weather."
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Our focus today is on the sentence pattern.
Notice the pattern: [subject] + [verb 1], (comma) [verb-ing 2].
This is a great sentence pattern to use when you want to talk about the
conditions or results of a situation.
Looking at today's Grammar Tip sentence, you can see there are two parts.
Part 1: Winter begins.
Part 2: Winter brings cold, rainy weather.
Part 1 is the main point of the sentence, winter begins.
But part 2 describes part 1, winter brings cold, rainy weather.
Put the two together, add a comma in between both parts and make sure the verb
in part 2 ends in "-ING" form.
And that's the sentence pattern.
Let's look at some example sentences.
The tired traveler climbed on board the train, dragging his suitcase with him.
Or: The dog chased the thief down the road, barking wildly and waking up the
whole neighborhood.
And that's it for today.
Thanks for joining me here at the Grammar Gym.
This is Liz, and I'll see you next time.
It is good to know that grammer structure when you have a verb and then another
verb right after it with "-ING." Well, continuing in our article, we are
learning about Iceland.
In Iceland, Fishermen's Day celebrations occur the first weekend of June as
fishing is an important aspect of the country's economics.
So here we have a very interesting holiday called Fishermen's Day.
That's right, because fishing is an important part of this country's economy.
Fishing brings in a lot of money.
It's an important aspect of the country's economics.
You can use that phrase in other ways.
You could say new vocabulary is an important aspect of Studio Classroom lessons.
You learn new things every day.
That's right.
And we do see that word there "economics" from our Word Bank.
And you might study economics in school.
So you would study the importance of how money goes from one place to another
and how it relates to you and other people.
It's a very interesting topic.
That's right. And another very similar word is "economy." It's pronounced a
little bit differently, you see.
Economics or economy.
And this is a specific type of economic system, so the economy of a certain
country.
But of course, like Carolyn said, you might be talking about the study of
economics.
Well, let's continue with our lesson.
All fishing boats dock in the harbors so that the fishermen can attend the
carnivals and festivities that are held.
Well, let's see a word there in that sentence, the word "dock." And this is what
boats do when they stop somewhere.
If you're driving a car, you park.
But if you're in a boat, you would dock, D-O-C-K.
You dock somewhere.
That's right.
And we also see a word, "festivities." This is a festival.
And when you celebrate a festival, there are a lot of activities that can also
be called festivities because it's a festival.
Well, we have some more things to learn with Steve and Ken in the Information
Cloud.
And then we'll visit Michelle in the Language Lab.
I think this is a good time to discuss the difference between a harbor and a
port.
Good idea, Steve.
Both ports and harbors serve as stops for ships, and the two terms are often
interchangeable.
But there is an important difference between them - size.
That's right.
Harbors are usually small.
They are mainly rest stops and are meant for smaller boats.
Ports, on the other hand, are areas known for loading ships that carry goods and
passengers.
I usually think of a port as a large commercial enterprise with docks and
warehouses.
You might even see warships docked in a port.
A harbor, on the other hand, can be as small as a tiny cove with several
rowboats in it.
So a port should have a support system for freighter traffic.
That's right.
And here's another difference:
Harbor could also refer to the area of water within a port, the word "port"
doesn't.
But "port" could refer to an entire town or city.
For example, Los Angeles is sometimes referred to as a port city.
A port city is near a sea or river that has a harbor.
So when you're in a port city, you might walk down to the harbor, which is on
the waterfront.
(Chinese).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).