节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-03-01
难易度:Medium
关键字:inventor, gambling, slice, persuade, earl, tart
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I am Carolyn.
And I'm Nathanael.
And who are you?
Today we're talking about a lesson "Whose Name?" Many things in today's world
are named after people.
Well, we're going to be learning about some of these things, but first I'm going
to ask you:
Who are you named after, if anybody, and what does your name mean?
Carolyn, would you like to begin?
Well, sure.
My name is a German name, and it means noble, womanly and something like
spiritual thinking.
And I was named after my grandmother.
Well, I'm sure your grandmother was a womanly, noble, spiritual thinker herself.
Nathanael, what about you?
Who were you named after, or what does your name mean?
Well, I was named after a person in the Bible.
So my name is Hebrew for "gift of God".
All right.
I was also named after someone in the Bible - an angel Gabriel, who told Mary
she would give birth to a son Jesus.
And Gabriel means one who stands in the presence of God.
Or actually, another meaning I read was "God is my hero;" and He is my hero.
Let's get started with today's first reading - Whose Name?
(Music).
Whose Name?
People give their names to all kinds of things.
Some people can never be forgotten.
That's because their names become common words.
As many as 50,000 words in the English language get their meaning from people's
names.
Some are real people; others are characters in books or stories.
Often a new dish is given the name of its inventor.
The sandwich gets its name from the 4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu
(1718-1792).
John Montagu is the first person that we're talking about today in this article
about people that give their names to all kinds of things.
I think you're going to find it interesting.
Carolyn, would you please read the first sentence of this article?
Certainly.
It says: Some people can never be forgotten.
And there are a lot of people that we remember in history.
Gabe, can you think of someone who is never forgotten?
Someone who is never forgotten?
Well, of course, many people have influenced our societies today.
People like politicians and, of course, celebrities that will never be
forgotten.
I think the Beatles are a music group, a band that will never be forgotten.
Nathanael, who's someone else that will never be forgotten?
Well, of course many people in history will never be forgotten.
And I think of Abraham Lincoln, maybe one of the most famous and well-known
presidents of the United States.
I don't think that he will ever be forgotten.
And that's because their names become common words, words that we hear all the
time.
There are lots of examples of this.
And that's what today's article is about - these kinds of examples.
Now how many words like this are there, Gabe?
Well, we read that as many as 50,000 words in the English language get their
meaning from people's names.
That is a lot of words that we're using that really just came from somebody who
may be invented something,
or some things were named after these people, as many as 50,000 words.
That's quite a lot.
And we see in the article that some of these people are real people, but others
are characters in books or stories.
So not all of these words in English are from real people's names.
That's true.
Some of these could come from characters, fictional people that we find in books
or maybe even movies, that make a big impact on culture.
OK, continuing in the article it says:
Often a new dish is given the name of its inventor.
So a kind of food, a new kind of dish could be named after the person that first
made it.
So the person that first made it, we could call that an inventor, right,
Carolyn?
That's right.
And we see that "inventor" is one of our key words for today.
So we'll talk about that a little bit.
And an inventor is someone who invents something.
They make it for the very first time.
Now there are lots and lots of inventors out there.
Gabe, can you give us an example?
Well, one famous inventor that does come to mind is Thomas Edison.
Um, he's known for inventing many things.
And I think someone we learned about last month as well, someone who invented
the paper bag.
Do either of you remember what her name was?
Well, I do think that her name was Margaret E. Knight.
And she made many other things, too.
She was a very impressive inventor.
I think that she made parts of factory machines as well.
What kinds of things might you make if you were an inventor, Carolyn?
Well, you can make all sorts of things.
And I would like to make something that is useful, something that people will
use all the time.
And I think Margaret E. Knight and Thomas Edison both made very useful
inventions.
That's right.
Well, I know a... I have a cousin, actually,
who had the idea of inventing something that would help students not to lose
face in class if ever they wanted to show that they didn't understand something.
He would invent something that you could show the teacher if you didn't
understand but nobody else would know.
He was very sensitive.
So of course, an inventor is someone who invents new things, makes new things
that are usually very useful for people.
But remember, if you want to invent something or you have an idea, remember to
get a patent.
You don't want someone else to steal your idea.
OK. So an inventor could make a new machine or device.
Or maybe they come up with a new process of doing something, a new way of doing
something; or even something like a game might have an inventor.
OK, continuing in the article the next sentence says:
The sandwich gets its name from the 4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, who
lived from 1718 to 1792.
If you see years like that in brackets, that means the lifetime of that person.
OK. So John Montagu made the sandwich.
How would you like to be known for making a sandwich, Carolyn?
Well, lots of people do enjoy eating sandwiches, so that probably be a very good
thing to be named after.
Everyone will certainly remember you.
It's true, so many people do enjoy eating sandwiches.
We find out that John Montagu was an earl.
And this is a member of the nobility, um, someone who maybe would take care of
an area when the king was away.
I'm not exactly sure what John Montagu's responsibilities were, but he had lots
of responsibilities.
And of course, one thing he left us with was sandwiches.
That's right.
And that's probably what he is most well-known for.
OK. It's time to go over to the Language Lab and talk to Michelle.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.