节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-04-03
难易度:Low
关键字:dash, run the risk, self-pity, the Bambino, World Series
Today we are on our second day of our article More Than a Game.
And we are talking about lessons that you can learn from the game of baseball.
Today we've learned that sometimes we need to run the risk of doing something,
of taking a chance.
If we want to improve, it is important to try our best.
And sometimes it works out for the better.
Well, we have a lot more to learn and another great tip coming up in the next
part of our article.
So let's read that now.
More Than a Game.
"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run." - Babe Ruth.
Ruth knew that you often have to fail before you succeed.
The Bambino and batters before and after him have missed more balls than they
have hit.
Take the latest World Series winners, the San Francisco Giants.
They lost over 40 percent of their games during the 2012 season.
They viewed every win or loss as another step forward.
There's no room for self-pity after a loss - only for more effort the next time.
Well, so far I really like these lessons that you can learn from baseball.
At the beginning of this section, there is a quote from Babe Ruth.
He said "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run." And we learn about
what that means in this paragraph.
But Carolyn, what is a strike?
Well, a strike happens when you are up to bat and you miss the ball.
The pitcher throws it, and the ball goes right past you.
You don't hit it with the bat.
All right.
And you are allowed two strikes.
If you have three strikes, then you are out.
But of course, your goal is to get around the bases to home plate.
One way to do that is by hitting a home run.
Carolyn, what's a home run?
Well, a home run is when you hit the ball so hard that it goes very, very far,
and you are able to run to first base, second base, third base and home plate
before you're out.
That's right.
And sometimes that is called a homer.
That's a nickname, H-O-M-E-R.
A homer is a nickname for a home run.
And if you do hit a home run into the stadium or into the stands where people
are, the batter doesn't need to run.
He can just walk around the bases because he hit a home run.
And Babe Ruth was well-known for hitting home runs.
Well, we see here that Ruth knew that you often have to fail before you succeed.
You often have to fail before you can succeed.
How do we continue with this article, Carolyn?
Well, we see the Bambino and batters before and after him have missed more balls
than they have hit.
And you see at the very beginning of the sentence, the Bambino.
You might wonder who that is.
Well, it's just another nickname for Babe Ruth.
He was known as the Bambino.
That's right.
Or sometimes people call him the Great Bambino.
The Bambino.
And he said... well, he and batters before and after him have missed more balls
than they have hit.
That's because it's really not that easy to hit a ball in baseball.
If something is pitched at you very fast, you might miss more than you hit.
Well, we continue.
Take the latest World Series winners, the San Francisco Giants.
Now this is kind of an interesting sentence, an interesting word to start with.
"Take" the World Series winners?
The San Francisco Giants?
You could say "take the San Francisco Giants, for example." Sometimes we say
that.
Take this, for example.
That means you're going to share an example about something.
But there is a phrase there, the World Series.
What is that, Carolyn?
Well, the World Series is the biggest game in baseball.
If you are in the World Series, then you are playing against the top baseball
teams in the United States.
That's right.
And it's pretty exciting to see baseball games, especially the World Series.
You're watching excellent players play America's Favorite Pastime.
Well, we continue learning about the San Francisco Giants.
They lost over 40 percent of their games during the 2012 season.
That's a lot of games to lose.
Well, we're going to continue.
But first, we're going to talk about that word "season." Um, usually I think of
spring, summer, fall and winter.
Don't you, Carolyn?
That is usually what we mean when we say "season." But here we're talking about
a sport season.
So baseball's season is not very long.
It's usually the spring and the summer, and then baseball season is over.
And then it's time for football season.
That's right.
Different sports have different seasons.
Something else that you can remember about baseball is that is split into a
couple of different seasons.
There's the regular season where people are competing against each other.
There are 162 games in the regular season.
And then there's the postseason.
And only a few teams are chosen to play in the postseason before the final game.
So there are a couple of different seasons even in baseball.
Well, how does the lesson continue?
Well, we're still talking about the San Francisco Giants.
And they viewed every win or loss as another step forward.
So we saw that they lost over 40 percent of their games, so almost half they
lost their games.
But they still won the World Series.
So they saw these wins and losses as steps forward.
And we want to talk about the phrase there: to take a step forward.
What does that mean, Gabe?
Well, when you take a step forward, that means you are looking to the future.
You're not thinking about how you fail, you're taking a step forward.
No matter how well or badly you do, you are still thinking about moving forward.
So do you take steps forward?
And how do you do that?
How do you take a step forward, Carolyn?
Well, I try to focus on positive things and move forward.
Focus on what is good and in the future.
All right. And we read on:
There's no room for self-pity after a loss - only for more effort the next time.
So if there isn't room for something, that means don't think about it.
There's no room for self-pity.
Those are some words we do want to think about.
We want to talk about these words, self-pity.
That means you feel bad for yourself about something.
That's right.
And it's not something you want to do.
You want to focus on the positive things ahead of you that are waiting in the
future.
Well, now it's time for us to enjoy a review skit.
And then we will join Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hooray for baseball.
It's a great game.
Hey, it's more than a game.
Baseball is part of America's identity.
Yes. And you can learn some important life lessons from baseball.
That's right.
For example, we can learn how to steal.
Hey, stealing isn't good.
Well, it is in baseball.
If a player dashes to the next base while the pitcher is getting ready to throw
the ball, it's very good.
You're right.
The runner takes an opportunity to get ahead.
Exactly.
But you can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.
Oh. But keeping your foot on first base is good.
It's safe.
You can't get out.
Right. But you can't steal, either.
Oh. So the lesson is sometimes you need to take chances if you want to get
ahead.
That's right.
And here's another lesson from baseball.
Babe Ruth said: Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.
Uh, wait.
If you're the batter and you swing, you miss, that's a strike; and that's not
good.
Yes. But you are closer to your next home run.
Oh, yeah!
And in life, every failure brings you closer to your next success.
Yes. That's another great lesson that we can learn from baseball.
Well, that's wonderful.
I love baseball!
Me too.
(Chinese).
And now back to our lesson.
Well, we've learned some wonderful lessons so far in this lesson about baseball
and that there are many things that you can learn from the game of baseball.
I wonder if uh, maybe you don't like baseball, maybe you like another sport or
you play another sport,
are there any lessons that you've learned from your favorite sport, any life
lessons?
Carolyn, what about you?
Well, other than baseball, I didn't really play a lot of sports, but I was part
of the marching band in high school.
And it's really like a team sport.
And each person has their own responsibility, their own part that they need to
play.
So it helped me to learn that you really can't depend on someone else to do your
job for you.
You are responsible for what needs to get done.
Interesting, because I was going to say a lesson that I learn from Ultimate
Frisbee is that it is a team sport, and you need to learn how to play with other
people.
So I guess it depends on the sport.
And you do need to control your own performance, and also learn how to rely on
others sometimes.
Well, you can learn a lot of different things about life from different sports.
And we have more to learn from baseball, so please come back tomorrow.
We'll see you then right here at Studio Classroom.
Goodbye.
See you.