节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-04-06
难易度:High
关键字:regardless of, clamp down on, feat, ultimate, strikeout, playoff
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And you're joining us for the second day of our lesson about Orioles Pitcher
Chen Wei-Yin.
We learned a little bit about this made-in-Taiwan pitcher who is now playing for
America's Major League Baseball.
Well, that makes me wonder: Have you ever wanted to be an athlete, a
professional athlete?
Was that ever one of your dreams?
I know that it was Chen Wei-Yin's dream once upon a time.
And now he is really doing what he wanted to do.
Was that ever your dream? Carolyn?
Well, I didn't really dream of becoming an athlete, but I did always admire
people who were able to play team sports.
I was not very athletic when I was younger, and I felt much more comfortable
playing music instead of being on a sports team.
All right. So music was more of your dream.
Well, I used to play on a basketball team in high school.
I wasn't very good.
And I... I think I dreamed of getting on a better team, but it never really
happened.
So yes, I pursued other things like acting and music as well.
Well, what is your dream?
Do you dream of being an athlete one day like Chen Wei-Yin?
We're going to learn more about his story right now.
Orioles Pitcher Chen Wei-Yin.
Eye on the ball.
Chen's parents weren't always the biggest fans of him throwing baseballs around,
regardless of how big their neighborhood alley was.
One too many broken windows, bruises on grandma and a big brother's black eye
caused Chen's family to clamp down on his ball-throwing activities.
Still, his mother saw some sense in letting him play ball in the club at school.
By the time he was in high school, Chen's dream of joining the major leagues
began to form.
(Music).
Here we see a little bit about Chen's dream of becoming a Major League Baseball
player.
And at the very beginning we see this section is entitled "Eye on the ball." If
you have your eye on the ball, then you are paying attention.
You are watching to what is happening around you.
This is a really fun phrase, Gabe.
How else can we use this?
Well, yeah.
This idiom I think it maybe even came from baseball or a sport that uses balls
because you need to focus on the ball so that you can hit it.
And of course, Chen Wei-Yin kept his eye on the ball.
It's an idiom that means that you are focused even from maybe a young age like
Chen Wei-Yin for a long time.
He had a goal.
He had his eyes on the ball.
Well, our first sentence here is:
Chen's parents weren't always the biggest fans of him throwing baseballs around,
regardless of how big their neighborhood alley was.
So it sounds like his parents didn't always support his love of the game and how
much he wanted to play baseball and throwing the ball in their neighborhood
alley.
Well, we see this phrase "regardless of." And we want to talk about that.
If you were talking about something regardless of something else, it means that
that other thing doesn't matter.
So regardless of how big the alley was, they still didn't really like him
throwing baseballs around.
That's right.
You might use this phrase in another way.
Anyone can come into this restaurant regardless of their age.
Or we're starting right at five o'clock regardless of who's here.
So don't be late.
Now it didn't matter how big the neighborhood alley was, I think maybe some
things were broken.
Well, we're going to learn some more things in the Information Cloud with Steve
and Ken.
If you really admire a pop star, a band, a movie actor or a sports team, you are
a fan.
Remember, everyone, one person is a fan, singular.
If you're talking about more than one admirer, then you say "fans." Hundreds of
fans gathered at the airport to welcome the movie star.
The word "fan" is actually a shortened form of "fanatic." And that's not very
positive, is it?
No, it's not.
A fanatic is someone whose enthusiasm for something is extreme or beyond normal
limits.
A related word is groupie.
This slang term is derived from "group," in reference to a musical group.
A young woman who follows the members of a pop group on tour would be considered
a groupie.
But we can also use "groupie" to refer to someone who is an ardent fan of a
celebrity, especially a pop star.
So a groupie is an extreme fan.
Now people can also be a fan of a sport or a hobby.
Ken, I know you're a fan of jazz music.
I sure am.
And you're a baseball fan, aren't you?
Yes, I am.
I really enjoy watching Major League Baseball.
So you can call me a baseball fan.
(Chinese).
We were talking about how Chen's parents weren't the biggest fans of him
throwing baseballs around.
And we see why in the next sentence.
One too many broken windows, bruises on grandma and a big brother's black eye
caused Chen's family to clamp down on his ball-throwing activities.
So it sounds like he hit a lot of things that he shouldn't have when he was
trying to pitch the ball and practice in the alley or at home.
That's right.
And so this caused his family to clamp down on what he wanted to do.
Let's take a look at those words: clamp down on.
If you're doing something, and someone clamps down on your activity,
that means they give you some more rules so you can't do it as much or as freely
as you used to.
How else might you use that phrase?
Well, if your parents decide that you are playing too many games online and not
spending enough time studying,
they might clamp down on free time so that you spend more time doing what you
should be doing and less time playing games.
That's right.
You might also see this word as a noun, together, a clampdown.
His parents put a clampdown on his ball-throwing activities.
Well, we continue learning about Chen.
Still, his mother saw some sense in letting him play ball in the club at school.
Uh, play ball?
What does this mean, Carolyn?
Well, if she saw some sense in letting him play ball, it means that she saw oh,
well,
maybe it's still OK if he plays baseball at school because they had a club or a
team, a baseball team at the school.
That's right.
And sometimes you might see that phrase "to play ball." Let's play ball.
That's slang or another way of saying let's play baseball.
Well, we continue.
By the time he was in high school, Chen's dream of joining the major leagues
began to form.
So we asked earlier what your dream was.
Did you have a dream to become an athlete?
Well, we talk about dreams forming here.
That's right.
And we see that his dream of joining the major leagues began to form when he was
in high school.
So he didn't just want to play baseball on his regular school team in junior
high school or high school, he wanted to play in the major leagues.
So he wanted to play professionally as a baseball pitcher.
That's right.
That was his dream.
Well, we want to talk more about Chen Wei-Yin later.
But right now we have something to learn with Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.