节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-04-27
难易度:Low
关键字:route, signal, go to the extra mile, lipstick, solar eclipse
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And thank you for joining us for the second day of our lesson called The
Greatest Races.
We're talking all about marathons.
We learned about the origin of the marathon yesterday.
And we're going to be talking a little bit more about marathons today.
Well, I do wonder: Do you think that running a marathon is a good way to explore
new cities?
Maybe there are some place you've never been to before.
Is running a marathon a good way to explore that place?
Well, I think that if you aren't too worried about how fast you run the race and
you take your time, you can definitely enjoy some of the things around you.
We talked about seeing impressive landmarks in different cities yesterday.
And if you aren't too concerned about placing in the race or running very fast,
you could certainly enjoy those things.
Hmm, so you want to take your time.
Well, maybe then you could walk a marathon instead of run a marathon.
You could take your camera with you and go and see all of these sights.
That's a more relaxing way to get through a marathon.
Well, we are going to learn more about marathons today.
So let's get started with the first reading of the day.
The Greatest Races.
Stepping into history.
At the Great Wall Marathon in Tianjin, China, racers can run along the Great
Wall of China.
The route also takes them through beautiful villages and rice fields.
Running this race can take 50 percent longer than most marathons because of the
wall's steep steps.
Signaled by the sun.
One unusual marathon took place on November 14, 2012, in Port Douglas,
Australia.
That day, there was a total solar eclipse.
The sun's appearance after the eclipse marked the beginning of the race.
(Music).
Well, the heading of this section is called Stepping into history.
Now I don't usually think of history as something that I use my legs to step
into.
But this is a good way to use English, or a good way that you can use English.
Stepping into history.
It's like you're traveling into the past - to step into something.
How else might you use that phrase?
Well, if you step into something, it does mean that you enter it.
So if you step into history, it's like you enter a different time.
You could also step into a book, or step into a movie.
It means that you get a greater understanding of those things.
Carolyn, I really appreciated when you stepped into my life and stepped into the
life here at Studio Classroom.
So you can step into someone's life or enter into a book or a movie like that -
stepping into it.
Well, we're stepping into history.
And our first sentence here is:
At the Great Wall Marathon in Tianjin, China, racers can run along the Great
Wall of China.
That is so cool.
That sounds like a really impressive race, a very interesting race to be able to
run along the Great Wall of China.
It's certainly very different from other marathons.
That's right.
Well, it would be an impressive race with lots of wonderful scenery, I'm sure.
The route also takes them through beautiful villages and rice fields.
All right. Well, let's talk about that word from the Word Bank.
It is "route." A route is the way that you get somewhere.
That's right.
It is where you go and how you get to your destination.
Which route should you take?
What is the best route to get to the end of this race?
And a lot of times when you run a marathon, they will give you a map that tells
you which route you are supposed to go.
All right.
There may be many different routes you could take.
Some people like to take the scenic route.
That's another way of saying it's a route that maybe takes longer, but it has
nice scenery, the scenic route.
Well, we can take a route through beautiful villages and rice fields.
And how do we continue this, Carolyn?
Well, we see that running this race can take 50 percent longer than most
marathons because of the wall's steep steps.
So if you're running up the Great Wall of China and then down the Great Wall of
China, there are many, many stairs.
And it is quite steep.
All right. It's very steep.
If something is steep, it can be kind of difficult to go up.
All right.
Well, we're going to go to the next section here.
It's called Signaled by the sun.
This is an unusual marathon.
But let's take a look at that word "signal." It's from our Word Bank.
And if you signal something, what does that mean?
Well, it means that there is some sort of gesture or a sound that means
something to someone else, so.
One signal might be in traffic.
If you're driving and you see a red light, that is a signal for you to stop.
And a green light is a signal for you to go.
Good. So that's one kind of signal.
Uh, maybe you can use your hands to signal somebody as well.
You can use your hands to say "Go away." Or you can signal to come closer.
There are different kinds of signals.
And as you have noticed, Carolyn and I have been using this word as both a verb
and a noun.
So this section is called Signaled by the sun.
Why?
Well, we see in our article.
One unusual marathon took place on November 14, 2012, in Port Douglas,
Australia.
And the reason this marathon was unusual is because that day there was a total
solar eclipse.
Now if you have a solar eclipse, that's a very special event.
And we want to talk about that word, "solar eclipse." That is something that
happens when the moon comes between the sun and the Earth.
So you can't see the sun.
That's right.
So that's a solar eclipse.
Sometimes this happens only in part.
Maybe only part of the moon will cover some of the sun, so you can still see a
lot of the sun.
But this is a total solar eclipse.
So it's like the moon really pass right in front of the sun.
Quite a special event, a solar eclipse.
Well, I just want to remind you.
They can be exciting to learn about or to read about, a solar eclipse.
But if you have a chance to see a solar eclipse, do not look directly at the
sun.
There are other ways to experience a solar eclipse.
That's right. And well, we see about this marathon and the solar eclipse that
happened on this day,
the sun's appearance after the eclipse marked the beginning of the race.
So when the moon came in front of the sun, that was the eclipse.
And as the moon passed away and you could see the sun again, the race started.
That was the signal to begin the race.
That's right.
That's another way to say it marked the beginning of the race.
It started the race.
So you can use that word "mark." This day marks our anniversary.
Or this day marks the first day that we came to this city.
And just as we see here: The sun's appearance marked the beginning of the race.
Well, it's time for us to learn some more with Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.