节目资讯

刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-04-24
难易度:Medium
关键字:numerous, inland, moutainous, volcano, black morph manta ray, terrain,
thatch
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And as you can see, Linda is back here with us.
And I'm glad about that because Carolyn and I have had a lot of fun learning
about your experiences beyond Bali.
But you actually got to experience this.
Right. My husband and I went there last fall at the end of September for about
ten days.
And we went at the end of the dry season, so it was quite brown and
barren-looking.
All right.
So it's pretty brown, not much greenery.
Um, would you recommend visiting any one island if you really want to see those
Komodo dragons?
Well, I would say you need to go... the tour actually includes both Rinca and
Komodo Island.
It's part of Komodo National Park.
You are guaranteed to see uh, dragons, Komodo dragons no matter which island you
go to.
But Rinca has more Komodo dragons.
It's a smaller island, so it's easier to find them in the wild.
Komodo Island actually is quite large.
So then is there a place that you might be able to see these dragons more often?
Where do Komodo dragons like to hang out?
Well, they hang out underneath the kitchen.
Um, they have a... this is a national park.
They have park rangers that live there.
They have um, different buildings, and so they hang out under the kitchen.
But if you go out on a track, then you also can see them in the wild if you're
lucky.
Oh. Well, I know that Komodo dragons were not the only thing you got to see on
this trip.
And I think today's article continues more about what you did during the rest of
your vacation.
That's right.
All right.
Well, it's time for us to get started with the first part of our reading today.
Beyond Bali, part two.
Beyond Bali.
About mid-morning, we headed back to Flores, stopping to snorkel along the way.
Komodo National Park is home to many world-class dive sites, so these waters are
excellent for diving and snorkeling.
As we sailed, we passed a giant sea turtle as well as numerous giant black morph
manta rays.
After spending the night in Labuan Bajo, the gateaway to western Flores, we
began our journey inland.
We drove up and down through the mountainous terrain, snaking our way to Cancar.
Here we gazed down at the spectacular spiderweb rice fields of the Manggarai
people.
(Music).
Well, it seems like Linda has gotten to see a lot of different kinds of wildlife
here so far.
At the beginning we find:
About mid-morning, we headed back to Flores, stopping to snorkel along the way.
Linda, do you go snorkeling often?
No, not very often.
But when you're in a place like this... Komodo National Park is actually... has
world-class dive sites and snorkeling sites.
So there are several places they stop for you to snorkel.
All right.
Well, if you have never been snorkeling, basically you're on the surface of the
water, and of course, you have something to help you breathe.
And you can see all the sea creatures beneath when you are snorkeling.
So a little different from scuba diving where you go way down into the ocean.
So this is about mid-morning.
Carolyn, what's mid-morning?
What time is that about?
Well, mid-morning would be before noon but after you wake up.
So probably around 10 o'clock?
Right.
Actually, when you go on to the island, they take you early in the morning
because it's easier to see the dragons.
When it gets hot, they tend to hide more or go out further away.
So about 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock, yeah.
OK. Well, we continue.
Komodo National Park is home to many world-class dive sites - just as Linda was
saying.
So these waters are excellent for diving and snorkeling.
Well, I want to take a look at those words: world-class.
Linda, could you tell us a little bit about what this means?
What is world-class?
Well, if something is world-class, it means it's very top-level.
So you can have a world-class resort.
You can have a world-class restaurant.
It means that around the world, it is at the top.
All right.
So maybe if you're researching for what to do, these might pop up first.
World-class, that doesn't sound cheap to me, though.
Is that kind of more expensive?
Well, here it just means that the diving and the snorkeling is so good that it
ranked at the top, where people want to go around the world.
So for this one, for diving and snorkeling, here it doesn't have anything to do
with price.
OK.
So how does the lesson continue, Carolyn?
Well, we see: As we sailed, we passed a giant sea turtle as well as numerous
giant black morph manta rays.
So you got to see a lot of different kinds of animals on this trip.
We did.
And actually our guide said that it was very rare to have a giant sea turtle
swim passed your boat because we were out in open water.
It was pretty cool, actually.
And the black morph manta rays, they have a point called manta point.
And if it's a calm day, you can go snorkeling with them.
But actually it was very, very windy and it was too dangerous.
So you could see about, oh, maybe over a dozen of these uh, manta rays floating
on top of the surface, very cool.
Is it actually dangerous to swim with the manta rays?
Well, they wouldn't have it as one of their tops on... one of their stops on
their tour if it were.
OK. But there were numerous black morph manta rays.
So there were many of them, a large number of them that you were able to see.
So that's really great.
That's right.
We see that word "numerous" here.
It's from our Word Bank.
And just like Carolyn said, it means many.
It's another way to say "many." There were numerous manta rays and, of course,
one giant sea turtle as well.
Well, this is really interesting so far.
What... what do we continue with, Carolyn?
We see: After spending the night in Labuan Bajo... I'm not sure how to say them,
Linda.
Yep, Labuan Bajo.
All right.
Well, the gateway to western Flores, we began our journey inland.
So you started to make your way in toward the center of the island?
Right.
Because Labuan Bajo actually is at the western end, so it's a port.
And it's also the major um... It's... you know, it's not a large city, but it's
the major city in western Flores.
So it's where the airport is.
You fly in there from Bali.
And then you start going toward the center of the island.
And so you make your journey inland.
And that's another word from the Word Bank, friends.
When you go inland, you're traveling away from the ocean or away from the water.
It's kind of what it sounds like - in toward the land.
That's inland.
And we continue here.
Linda says: We drove up and down through the mountainous terrain snaking our way
to Cancar.
Well, this already sounds pretty exciting, driving up and down and snaking from
one place to another in this mountainous terrain.
Yeah. What were you doing just now, Linda?
Was it a comfortable feeling there?
Well, if you get... have motion sickness like I do... so when we were on the
boat...
We were on the boat for two days going to... going to Komodo and coming back, I
took motion sickness pills.
And I also took them every day on the trip inland.
Man! Well, if you do get car sick, then maybe it's not comfortable going through
mountainous terrains.
"Mountainous" is also from our Word Bank.
And it's kind of easy to remember.
You see that word "mountain" in there.
That means there are many mountains.
Now there's another word like this to describe hills.
It's "hilly." You wouldn't say "hillous." You would say "hilly" if there are
many hills.
But if there are many mountains, it is mountainous.
Well, Carolyn, how does the article continue?
Well, before we continue, I want to look at that word "snaking." Linda, why did
you choose this word?
Well, I chose that word because it really is a description of how we went.
There are no trains in Flores.
So it's all road that you drive on.
And because it's through the mountain, it looks like a snake going all
throughout the island.
Oh, I see.
So it's very twisty going up these mountains.
Right.
Well, and here we gazed down at the spectacular spiderweb rice fields of the
Manggarai people.
So it sounds like you had a really amazing view once you got to the top of the
mountain.
We did.
Actually, the Manggarai people are the only ones that have spiderweb-shaped rice
fields.
Oh, I see.
So maybe we can take some time now to look at some pictures that you and your
husband took on this trip.
And then we'll see Michelle in the Langauge Lab.