节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-06-11
难易度:Medium
关键字:host, ruin, dispose of, relaxation, repellant, unbreakable
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And you're joining us for day two of our lesson Picnic Time.
We've learned a little bit about picnics throughout history.
And of course, we're going to learn a little bit more about what can make your
picnic an enjoyable experience today.
Well, when was the last time you went on a picnic?
And if you go on a picnic in the future, what kinds of food will you bring?
Carolyn, what kind of food would you take on a picnic?
Well, I do like going on picnics, and I usually have a fairly healthy picnic.
I like to bring a lot of fruit and vegetables, sandwiches and usually things
that are fairly easy to eat with your hands.
That's right. I agree, things that are easy to eat with your hands.
Also, you want to think about where you're going as well.
If you go to the beach, you might get sand in your food.
You want to eat things or bring things that might prevent that from happening,
things that can be eaten quickly without getting too much sand inside.
Well, of course you might bring many different kinds of things on a picnic.
What about you?
What kind of food are you going to take on your next picnic?
Let's... let's take a look at the first reading of today's lesson Picnic Time.
We have some tips for a successful picnic.
Picnic Time!
While picnics are an enjoyable family or couple's activity, they can also be a
great group event.
Many companies, churches and clubs host picnics for their employees and members,
featuring food, games and fun.
Tips for a successful picnic:
Take a blanket - A handy blanket allows you to spread out your meal on the
ground.
Take bug spray - Mosquitoes can ruin your outdoor fun, so be prepared with
mosquito repellant.
Ants are never welcome, so don't lay your blanket near an ant hill.
(Music).
All right.
We've got some great tips so far.
And let's take a look at the very beginning of our lesson.
While picnics are an enjoyable family or couple's activity, they can also be a
great group event.
That's true.
You could go with just one or two other people, your family, or even a huge
group can have a picnic together.
That's right.
And we see that many companies, churches and clubs host picnics for their
employees and nembers, featuring food, games and fun.
So many different organizations, your company, your church, or maybe some clubs
that you belong to might host a picnic.
And that word "host" is from our Word Bank today.
Gabe, what does it mean to host something?
Well, if you host something, that means you're in charge of holding the event.
Or maybe it's at your house or your place, you host something.
So if you are part of an organization or maybe your company is going to host
something, that means you are going somewhere you can take part in that thing.
Now this word can also be a noun.
If you are a host, that means you are in charge of holding the event at your
place or somewhere else.
Yes.
So the host hosts the event, the noun and the verb.
Well, we see there are many different types of ways you can host a picnic.
And maybe a company hosts it for their employees, and it features food, games
and fun.
Well, the next section we see Tips for a successful picnic.
So these are important things to keep in mind when you are organizing a picnic.
Gabe, what is our first tip?
Tip number one.
Take a blanket.
Yes. A handy blanket allows you to spread out your meal on the ground.
I think this is a good idea.
Whether you're going to a park or you're going to the beach, it's nice to have a
blanket or at least a big sheet to spread out on the ground, and you can sit on
that.
That's right.
And we see that here the blanket is described as being handy, a handy blanket.
And I think that Liz has something she wants to tell us about that word in the
Grammar Gym.
Hello, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
In our article today, the writer gives several tips on how to have a good
picnic.
We read: A handy blanket allows you to spread out your meal on the ground.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Our focus is on the word "handy." It's a common expression we use to describe
how something is very easy to use or is very useful.
In the case of today's sentence, the writer is explaining that by having a
blanket laid out, things would be so much easier to organize.
So it's a good thing to have a blanket.
It's a handy thing to have on a picnic.
What else can we describe as being handy?
Certain kitchen appliances can be described as handy because they can make
whatever you're doing become so much easier, like:
This food processor is very handy and can help you save a lot of time in the
kitchen.
Or if you have a certain tool that's convenient to carry around with you, then
you can describe it as being handy, like:
An army knife is a handy tool to have when you are in the mountains.
So think of something that's handy, and talk about it with a friend.
And if you check out today's Grammar Tip section, you'll find more example
sentences there.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
Well, we continue with another tip here.
Take bug spray.
This can be very important, especially depending on where you live, there could
be a lot of bugs.
That is right.
And we see that mosquitoes can ruin your outdoor fun, so be prepared with
mosquito repellant.
Yes. And mosquitoes are very annoying.
They bite you, and then it starts itching.
And they can really ruin your fun, or ruin your picnic.
And that word "ruin" is from the Word Bank.
And it means to just rack something or destroy it, to spoil your fun.
And sometimes I use this word when I'm thinking about clothes like clothes were
ruined.
Oh, no. I got tomato sauce on my white shirt.
It ruined my white shirt.
Or sometimes you want to be careful how you wash your clothes.
You don't want to put some clothes in the dryer, for instance.
That might ruin those clothes.
That's right.
Well, don't let mosquitoes ruin your picnic.
Make sure that you take along mosquito repellant.
Repellant will keep the mosquitoes away.
It will repel them.
That's right.
That's a good point, actually.
This noun, repellant, is something... It's called bug spray or repellant.
And it repels things.
If you repel something, that means you separate yourself from it.
You drive it away from you somehow.
So this is called mosquito repellant.
That's right.
And another insect that you want to keep away - ants.
Ants are never welcome, so don't lay your blanket near an ant hill.
So when you are going on your picnic and you have your blanket, make sure you
pick a spot that is away from any ant hills because ants could also ruin your
picnic.
That's true.
So there are many different kinds of ants, right?
Of course you might see little black ants coming out of an ant hill trying to
eat your food.
And of course something that you really want to stay away from is red ants -
sometimes called fire ants.
My mom stood on an ant hill once.
She didn't realize it until there were many fire ants crawling up her leg and
biting her leg.
So make sure you look around for these ant hills before you put your handy
blanket down.
That is right.
And we want to make sure that your picnic is very enjoyable, that you do not
have to worry about insects ruining your time.
But right now we want to enjoy some time with Michelle in the Language Lab.