节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-05-09
难易度:High
关键字:disdain, rein, collaborative, valiant, film noir, fifty-fifty
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And thank you for joining us for the second day of our lesson Just a RegularJOE.
We've been learning a little bit about Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a very successful
actor, and where he got his success from.
Why is he successful when it's not an easy road to fame for a lot of
celebrities?
Well, yesterday we discussed maybe it's in the family.
Today we're going to be talking about two things: maybe it's vision, maybe it's
creativity.
But I do wonder about your vision.
Do you have a kind of vision for your life, something that you want to
accomplish?
Carolyn, do you have a kind of vision for your life?
Well, I do have a vision for my life, but it's not really something that I want
to accomplish.
I... I've felt like God is calling me to do very certain things, and so I'm
trying to follow God's vision for my life.
All right.
Well, that... that is a good vision to have - God's vision.
He knows what's best.
Sometimes I don't really know what the vision for my life is.
But I think it has something to do with teaching, acting and playing drums and
speaking Chinese.
These are different things that I'm good at.
So what is the vision for your life?
Or what is your vision?
We're going to be learning a little bit about Joseph Gordon-Levitt's vision in
the first section of our reading for today.
Let's do that now.
(Music).
Just a RegularJOE.
Maybe it's vision.
Disdaining his fame, Gordon-Levitt moved from his home in Los Angeles to
Columbia University in New York City during 3rd Rock's final season.
"It was the smartest thing I ever did.
I got to reinvent myself." Curiously, Michael Gordon started in Hollywood making
film noir,
moved to New York during his troubles in the 50s and returned to direct
comedies.
After quitting school, Gordon-Levitt did not return to comedy, but moved to dark
and mysterious independent films.
Both men learned from their experiences, wanted something new and took up the
reins of their lives to find it.
(Music).
All right.
Well, let's start at the very beginning here.
Maybe it's vision.
Maybe his success is due to his vision.
Our first sentence here is:
Disdaining his fame, Gordon-Levitt moved from his home in Los Angeles to
Columbia University in New York City during 3rd Rock's final season.
So he used to live in Los Angeles, then he moved to New York City.
But at the very beginning of the sentence, we see a key word here: disdain.
Carolyn, can tell us about this word?
Well, if you disdain something, then you think that it is not important.
It doesn't deserve your respect or, really, your time.
So "he disdains his fame" means he doesn't really think it's a very important
thing to be famous.
That's right.
It's not worth considering.
It's not something you need to make a decision about or regarding.
Yesterday you heard the phrase: he had no regard for celebrity.
This sentence really means the same thing.
He disdained his fame, didn't really think about it too much.
Well, he left for New York City during 3rd Rock's final season.
He says: It was the smartest thing I ever did.
Why, Carolyn?
Well, he continues: I got to reinvent myself.
And if you reinvent something, then you take something that's already there and
make it into something new.
So he got to reinvent himself.
Yeah. That's kind of a strange phrase.
But I think what he means by this is that maybe he discovered some new things
about himself, some new talent.
Maybe these things gave him a new vision for his life.
Maybe it's not a bad idea to get away from what you're comfortable with.
Go somewhere new.
You might discover some new things about yourself and maybe even reinvent
yourself.
That's right.
Well, continuing we see some more information about his grandfather.
It says: Curiously, Michael Gordon started in Hollywood making film noir,
moved to New York during his troubles in the 1950s and returned to direct
comedies.
So it sounds like his grandfather was also in Hollywood, and then moved to New
York and started doing something very different.
That's right.
At first he was doing film noir.
"Noir" is French for "black." So some of his movies had kind of a darker side.
It was a kind of style of film directing.
But when he went back into filmmaking, he was doing something different, not
dark, serious movies, but comedies.
That's right.
And we see: After quitting school, Gordon-Levitt did not return to comedy, but
moved to dark and mysterious independent films.
So there's a bit of a contrast between what his grandfather did and what he did
because 3rd Rock was a rather funny show,
and now he has moved on to something much more serious.
That's right.
So he is similar to his grandfather.
They both changed styles, or genres, but they both ended up doing something
different than originally.
Well, we continue.
Both men learned from their experiences, wanted something new and took up the
reins of their lives to find it.
All right.
We're talking about the similarities between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his
grandfather.
And they wanted something new.
They took up the reins of their lives.
What does that mean, Carolyn?
Well, this is an interesting word from our Word Bank, this word "reins." And
when I think of reins, I think of what you use to steer a horse.
If you're riding a horse, you should hold the reins so you can tell it which
direction you want to go, or go faster or slow down.
But here, they're talking about the reins of their lives.
So it sounds like they're trying to take control of the direction their lives
are going to go in.
That's right.
I think that's the idea.
When you use the word "rein" in this way, it's talking about taking control of
something.
You are in control of your life.
You're in control of what you do, where you go.
You can take the reins of your life to try to find out what direction you want
to go, what vision you will have.
Well, I think I know what direction we're going right now.
It's time for us to go and join Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.