节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-04-09
难易度:Low
关键字:definitely, flock, capture, keepsake, National Cherry Blossom Festival,
commemorate
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 Home Away From Home.
We're learning about Pauline Lin's experiences with her family away from their
comfort zone in Taipei.
And they're living in the United States in Washington D.C.
Well, it's not easy to move for a lot of people.
There are some challenges that come with that.
So what are some challenges that you might face if you move to another country
or to a new place?
Carolyn, can you think of any challenges?
Well, if you move to another country, that means that you might have to adjust
to a different kind of food.
Many countries have their own special kinds of food that are very different.
So it might take some adjusting.
And it also may take some time to make new friends.
That can be a big challenge that you face when you go somewhere new.
That's true.
Well, one challenge that I faced when I went to the United States for college
was that I had to get used to being seen as an American.
People thought I was an American.
They didn't realize that I did not grow up in America.
They expected me to act like an American, but I didn't all the time.
That was a challenge that I faced.
Well, we're going to get started with the first reading of our lesson today.
Home Away From Home.
Living here definitely will give us the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of all
four seasons.
There are colorful flowers in spring and sunshine in summer.
In autumn are red, orange and yellow leaves, and snow falls in winter.
In mid-April, we went to the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
This festival commemorates the gift of 3,020 cherry trees from Tokyo to
Washington D.C. in 1912.
More than one million people attend every year.
Wow! Lots of people go and attend this festival.
Well, let's go to the very first sentence of our article, Pauline writes:
Living here definitely will give us the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of all
four seasons.
Well, that sounds like a great thing to do.
If you're living in Washington D.C., you get the chance to experience the beauty
of every season.
That's right.
And she says that it definitely will give them this opportunity.
And if something is definite, then it is going to happen.
There's nothing that can stop it.
It is for sure.
This word "definitely" we want to look at.
It is definitely a word that you should know.
How can you use this word, Gabe?
Well, I like what you just said: It's definitely something you should know.
Carolyn also used another form of this word, an adjective: It's definite.
D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E.
But let's use it the way that is here in the article - definitely.
My favorite show... or my favorite band is coming to this city.
I am definitely going to see them live in concert.
How might you use that word, Carolyn?
Well, you know, I love this word "definitely." And it's definitely a word that I
like to use often.
So it is definitely useful.
Well, let's continue because we definitely have more to learn here today.
The next sentence says there are colorful flowers in spring and sunshine in
summer.
So Pauline is talking about the beauty of all four seasons.
Here are two seasons so far: colorful flowers in spring and sunshine in summer.
What does she say about the next couple of seasons?
Well, she says in autumn are red, orange and yellow leaves, and snow falls in
winter.
So each season is quite different from the others.
And we see this snow falls in winter.
And I'd like to talk about that phrase there: snow falls versus snowfall.
OK.
If snow falls in winter, that means that the snow is falling.
Here "fall" is a verb, to fall.
But if you have snowfall, that is the amount of snow that you have.
So those two words are a little bit different.
One is a phrase - snow falls; and the other is a compound word - snowfall.
That's right.
So remember the difference.
The first one is a verbal phrase.
And the second one... or a verb phrase; the second one is just a noun, the
snowfall.
So have you ever seen snow?
When it falls, it is definitely beautiful.
Carolyn, how do we continue our lesson?
Well, we have some pictures that we're going to take some time to look at right
now.
(Music).
Those are some nice pictures.
Well, we continue learning from Pauline's experiences.
She says: In mid-April, we went to the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
So in about mid-April of 2012, they went to the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Cherry blossoms are very nice and beautiful flowers.
And what can you tell us about this festival, Carolyn?
Well, Pauline continues to tell us in the article:
This festival commemorates the gift of 3,020 cherry trees from Tokyo to
Washington D.C. in 1912.
So Japan gave a gift of many, many cherry trees - over 3,000 cherry trees - to
the United States.
And they were planted in Washington D.C.
And this would have been 100 years ago from the time that Pauline went in 2012.
The word "commemorate" means to remember something.
So if there is something special that happened in history, today you can
commemorate that event, so.
In our article we're talking about something that happened in 1912.
Well, we can commemorate that today.
That's right.
And there are many other holidays that are used to commemorate things.
We commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas.
Christmas is a holiday that commemorates Jesus' birth.
And many holidays will commemorate some kind of event.
If you think about Thanksgiving, that commemorates when people went to America
and started living there,
and some of the people already there helped them know how to live there.
So Thanksgiving commemorates this.
Well, we have more to learn.
Our last sentence here is: More than one million people attend every year.
So we're talking about the National Cherry Blossom Festival, more than a million
people attend every year.
That means they participate or they go and watch this event every year.
That's right.
Well, it is a very popular event if more than one million people go to view the
cherry blossoms.
Is there something like this where you live?
Do many, many people come from all over to see flowers bloom?
It's a very popular event in many parts of the world.
Well, now it's time to go join Michelle in the Langauge Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.