节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-06-22
难易度:High
关键字:folk, country, allusion, sum up, bluegrass, Best America Album
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And thank you for joining us for day two of our lesson, Mumford & Sons.
We've already been learning about this band that has become pretty famous
internationally, Mumford & Sons.
Well, I do wonder about you and your favorite musicians.
What kinds of things do they sing about?
Of course there's the musical aspect to a group - it should be good music.
But what about the lyrics?
What do your musicians or your favorite artists sing about?
Carolyn?
Well, a lot of the music I listen to and a lot of what I hear played on the
radio even, it's all about relationships and love.
And the groups that I listen to specifically sing about our relationship with
God and how much He loves us.
OK. So that's what your favorite groups sing about.
I would kind of have to agree.
A lot of my favorite groups or musicians have words or lyrics that are kind of
thought-provoking and challenging to me,
and make me want to become a better person.
So it's not shallow lyrics.
And I think that Mumford & Sons also have some lyrics that are pretty deep as
well.
Let's get to know a little bit more about them today.
Open up your magazine.
We'll get started with the first reading of the day.
(Music).
Mumford & Sons.
Roots Across Borders.
These London locals clearly have major followings in their home country and in
the U.S., but what is it that appeals to both?
The reason might well be that their style takes its cues more from American
flavors than British.
Folk and bluegrass tour companions and recording in Nashville, Tennessee,
America's country capital,
may have won them their Best Americana Album Grammy nomination this year.
At the same time, you can find allusions to Shakespeare,
The Odyssey and the Bible in their music - there truly is something for
everyone.
They are quite popular in more countries than one.
And the beginning of this section is titled Roots Across Borders.
Now yesterday we talked about how British Prime Minister David Cameron invited
this band to play at the White House.
So two different countries; and those countries have a history together.
And they are popular in both countries.
Well, how does this article begin today?
OK. Well, these London locals clearly have major followings in their home
country and in the U.S., but what is it that appeals to both?
OK. So here we have this idea of being rooted internationally.
Roots across borders - London, or England, and the U.S.
That's right.
And we see that the reason might well be that their style takes its cues more
from American flavors than British.
And I see a lot of really great words here.
I love the phrasing of this sentence.
And let's take a look first at the phrase: might well be.
If something might well be, then it's a good possibility.
It's possible that this is why.
Right. So it's only a possibility.
If our author knew for sure, then he would write the reason "is" that their
style takes its cues.
But "might well be," it's only a possibility.
You could use this phrase in another way.
Uh, I might well be late tonight.
I might well be getting home late because I might well be having to stay at work
late.
That might be a possibility.
That's right.
Well, moving on in this sentence, I love that the author says their style takes
its cues more from American flavors than British.
So to take a cue, what does that mean, Gabe?
Well, that means that they're influenced more by American flavors or musical
styles than British styles.
So they're influenced.
They're taking their cue.
It's like someone is telling them what to do next.
And this turns out to be the American music styles, or "flavors" as we see here
in this sentence.
Our author is using the word "flavor," but he's talking about musical style.
That's right.
And in the next sentence, we see just what kind of styles they're talking about.
Folk and bluegrass tour companions and recording in Nashville, Tennessee,
America's country capital,
may have won them their Best Americana Album Grammy nomination this year.
Now that sentence is very, very long.
So we want to go back to the very beginning of it and look at that word "folk"
from our Word Bank.
Now what does it mean if something is folk, Gabe?
Well, folk music is music that is traditional from a certain area or culture.
And it's not commercial or pop music.
It's also not classical music from centuries ago.
Folk music has more of the traditional feel to it from a certain area.
That's right.
And here we're talking mostly about folk music from the South of the U.S., from
the Southern United States.
And they also mentioned bluegrass, which is another folk style found in the
Southern United States.
And it's usually played on guitars and banjos or even homemade instruments.
It's a very fun style of music.
Well, continuing in that sentence, they've had a tour companions from these two
styles of music.
And they did some recording in Nashville, Tennessee, which is America's country
capital.
Now here the word "country" is from the Word Bank as well.
But it does not mean a place.
Nope.
What does this word mean, Gabe?
Well, country music; we're talking about country music here.
So America's country capital, that really means America's country music capital.
Do you like listening to country music?
Do you ever listen to country music, Carolyn?
Uh, sometimes.
I am from West Virginia, so it's very popular there.
But I don't listen to very much country, though my sister enjoys it.
Well, these things, working with these people and touring and recording in
Tennessee,
may have won them their Best Americana Album Grammy nomination this year.
All right.
And the Best Americana Album.
As we can see, this group of British musicians have a nomination for the Best
Americana Album.
That's kind of traditional American music feel, Americana.
And that's very interesting and great on their part.
They're doing great.
Roots across borders, of course.
That's right.
So even though they are not Americans, they were still nominated for having
great musical style that is home in America.
So, continuing in our next sentence:
At the same time, you can find allusions to Shakespeare,
The Odyssey and the Bible in their music - there truly is something for
everyone.
Well, let's take a look at one of those words from our Word Bank: allusion.
An allusion is a reference to something else outside of what you're talking
about.
So many musicians like to do this.
They will allude to something.
And Shakespeare, The Odyssey and the Bible are big pieces of literature that
people might choose to allude to in their music.
And I like that you use the verb form of this word, allude, A-L-L-U-D-E, to
allude to something or to have an allusion.
And it sounds like this band is very intelligent if they are taking some of
their material from Shakespeare, The Oddyssey and even the Bible.
That's right.
Well, I think that Ken and Steve have a little more they want to share with us
about this in the Information Cloud.
And then we'll go and visit Michelle.
So what are some things in the Bible that people often allude to, Ken?
Well, there's the Garden of Eden, which God created for Adam and Eve.
So if a person finds delight, happiness or bliss in a certain place, he might
call it the Garden of Eden.
Can you think of another example?
How about a giant warrior named Goliath?
The Bible records him as being around three meters tall.
In modern usage, Goliath is used as an allusion to very powerful people or
things like a company.
For example, you might hear about a neighborhood grocery store that can't
compete against the supermarket Goliath.
Here is one more: The Good Samaritan.
In the New Testament, there's a story of a man who is attacked by thieves and
left at the side of the road.
A passing Samaritan helps him by caring for him and taking him to an inn.
A good Samaritan now refers to anyone who freely helps others in their time of
need.
And finally, Armageddon, which you might recall is the name of a popular movie.
In the Bible, Armageddon is the site of an epic battle in the end time.
Now Armageddon refers to huge catastrophes, any great loss of life in battle, or
the use of weapons of mass destruction.
Just as the movie tried to depict.