节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-04-10
难易度:High
关键字:pave the way, chemist, deadly, quest, pasteurization, liquefy
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And thank you for joining us for today's lesson all about Food Inventions.
Well, we're going to be learning about some different things that were invented
throughout history that help you in the kitchen when you are making food.
Well, what kinds of things do you use from your kitchen?
What kitchen utensils or tools do you use the most?
Maybe you'll learn about some of those things in today's lesson.
Carolyn, what do you use in your kitchen?
Well, I use a knife every day, it seems like, because I'm always needing to cut
something.
I eat a lot of vegetables, so a knife and cutting board are very important to
me.
All right, a knife and a cutting board.
I just use the basics.
I think I use forks, knives, spoons, cups, bowls, plates.
I don't really use anything fancy too often.
But there are some fancier kitchen tools we're going to be looking at in today's
lesson and tomorrow's as well.
So let's get started with the first reading of the day.
Food Inventions.
The stories behind the kitchen inventions we couldn't do without.
What was involved in preparing your dinner last night?
You probably have never stopped to think about it, but many processes and
devices were involved before the food and drink appeared on your table.
As a matter of fact, food preparation innovations throughout history have paved
the way for safer, easier-to-make meals.
A focus on safety.
Pasteurization.
One of the most important food discoveries occurred in the 1860s when French
chemist Louis Pasteur found that by heating liquids, harmful bacteria could be
destroyed.
Before then, deadly bacteria in food and drink led to disease and death.
Today food is much safer thanks to the process of pasteurization, named for this
scientist.
(Music).
Those are some very important inventions for our kitchen and the things that we
eat.
At the beginning of our article we see: The stories behind the... the kitchen
inventions we couldn't do without.
Now that's a very good phrase: if you can't do without something.
We're going to talk about that for a little bit.
These are the stories about kitchen inventions that we just can't do without.
What does it mean if you can't do without something, Gabe?
That means it is necessary.
You really need it.
And so there are some things that we use in our kitchens or food inventions that
we think are really necessary today, we can't do without them.
How else might you use that phrase?
Well, I could say:
Thank you for your help.
I could not do without your help at the party last night.
I couldn't do without you.
That's right.
You could also say in society today, we couldn't do without electricity.
We are very dependent on electricity nowadays.
Well, continuing in our article we see: What was involved in preparing your
dinner last night? Do you know?
This is an interesting question.
That's right.
What was involved?
Maybe you don't even think about it.
You just use what's right there.
Use the tools that you have.
And you don't think about what was involved in making some of those tools.
So what was involved, or what was included in making your dinner last night?
And the next sentence says:
You probably have never stopped to think about it, but many processes and
devices were involved before the food and drink appeared on your table.
It takes a lot of work when you're trying to prepare a meal, and there are many
different things that go into it.
Well, how does the article continue, Gabe?
Well, we see: As a matter of fact, food preparation innovations throughout
history have paved the way for safer, easier-to-make meals.
And this sentence begins with the phrase "as a matter of fact." It's a phrase
you might hear often in English.
If you want to tell someone the truth about something, maybe people aren't sure,
you can say "as a matter of fact," and then you can say the truth.
So how else can we learn from this sentence, Carolyn?
Well, we do have another really good phrase.
And this one is from our Word Bank: pave the way.
We see: paved the way for safer, easier-to-make meals.
Yeah.
You can "pave the way for something," it means that you make it possible for
something to happen in the future.
How else can we use this, Gabe?
Well, many people believe that if you want something to happen in life, that God
maybe paves the way for that to happen.
So something might not happen unless God actually does something.
He paves the way for it to happen.
That's right.
And there are many things that pave the way in your kitchen for new inventions
to be invented.
Well, the first one we see here is pasteurization.
Pasteurization is a very big word and a very interesting word.
It comes from a man's name.
Now what exactly is pasteurization, Gabe?
Well, pasteurization, the first thing I think about is maybe liquid-like milk.
Milk is made healthy through pasteurization.
And we're going to learn more about this in this paragraph.
One of the most important food discoveries occurred in the 1860s when French
chemist Louis Pasteur found that by heating liquids, harmful bacteria could be
destroyed.
So again, it's destroying bacteria in liquids.
That's right.
And we see that Mr. Pasteur, Louis Pasteur, French name, was a chemist.
And a chemist is someone who studies chemistry, a kind of scientist that looks
at things on very basic levels.
And he found something.
He made a very interesting discovery that if you heat liquids, you can destroy
bacteria.
All right.
Well, a chemist might deal with chemicals, C-H-E-M-I-C-A-L.
And chemicals can be dangerous, some of them.
And of course, many liquids also have chemicals.
When I think of a chemist, I think of someone dressed in white lab coat,
maybe wearing some kind of goggles to protect their eyes, and things are
exploding.
That's what I think about when I think of a chemist.
I'm not sure what Louis Pasteur experienced, but he did help us with
pasteurization.
That's right.
And we see that before this discovery, before then, deadly bacteria in food and
drink led to diseases and deaths.
So it was very serious at the time that there could be deadly bacteria in your
food or drink.
But fortunately, Louis Pasteur made a new way to clean the food, to kill the
bacteria.
And we see this word "deadly." The bacterial was deadly.
What does this mean, Gabe?
Well, something is deadly, that means it might cause death.
So you might think of a snake.
A snake bite could be deadly if there is venom in the snake bite.
Uh, maybe you think of weapons, too.
Weapons like guns and knives can be deadly weapons.
So of course, you want to try to prevent anything deadly from happening.
That's right.
And continuing in the article we see: Today food is much safer thanks to the
process of pasteurization, named for this scientist.
So it's a really great invention.
And we're very thankful that he discovered this way to kill bacteria.
Well, now it's time to go see Steve and Ken in the Information Cloud.
Then we'll join Michelle in the Language Lab.
Thank you for joining us, everyone.
We enjoy your company.
And thanks to modern technology, we can meet on the air.
Friends, did you notice what Ken just said?
He wasn't thanking modern technology.
He said thanks "to" modern technology.
Let's take a look at this phrase: thanks to.
The phrase "thanks to" is the same as "because of." So thanks to technology is
just another way to say because of technology.
We can also use "thanks to" for something with a negative turn out.
For example, I might say: Thanks to the rain, the picnic was canceled.
I'm not happy about the rain.
I'm just saying because of the rain, the picnic was called off.
Sometimes we use this phrase with a sarcastic tone.
Steve, thanks to you, I had an upset stomach after I drank the coffee you bought
me.
Oops.
Now the opposite of thanks to you is "no thanks to you," which means you gave me
no help, though, as my friend, I had a right to expect some help from you.
So for example, I could say I finally mastered Chinese, no thanks to you.
Meaning I didn't help you learn Chinese when I could have.
Or even that you might have tried to prevent me from mastering it.
Uh, you know I'm always willing to help you with Chinese, right?
Of course, Ken.
That was just an example sentence.
(Chinese).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).