节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-03-04
难易度:Low
关键字:ferry, scout, spice, tourism, pick out, exotic, vine
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And I'm Nathanael.
And you are joining us for a trip to Zanzibar.
Well, we're not really going to Zanzibar, but we're going to learn all about
Zanzibar through the experience of Ian Ludwig.
He got a chance to travel to Zanzibar.
And it just makes me wonder where in Africa have you been.
We'll find out that Zanzibar is a part of Africa.
Nathanael, have you ever traveled to Africa, or are you interested in going?
I would like to go, but I haven't even been close to Africa.
I would like to see the country Botswana.
I know a few people who live there in the past.
And it sounds like there are a lot of interesting stories that have happened
there.
Botswana. What about you, Carolyn?
Where would you like to travel in Africa?
Well, one of my professors in college was from Ghana.
And he would often talk about growing up there and what it was like to live in
his hometown.
And I would really like to visit Ghana and see it for myself.
All right. So we have Botswana, Ghana.
I personally would love to visit Egypt.
I know many people go there.
Lots of tourists like to travel to Egypt, but I would still like to see those
pyramids for myself.
Well, we have lots to learn these next couple of days all about Zanzibar.
Let's get started with the first reading for today.
(Music).
Zanzibar.
Adventures in Africa.
Off the coast of Tanzania lies the exotic island of Zanzibar.
This amazing place is home to beautiful old houses, leafy forests and white
sandy beaches.
Some friends and I had the adventure of a lifetime there last year.
We took a two-hour ferry ride from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to Stone Town.
After scouting around for a hotel, we chose a simple one with clean rooms and a
rooftop restaurant.
Then we hired a guide and headed to Zanzibar's famous spice farms.
Cloves, peppers, cinnamon and ginger are just a few of the spices that grow
there.
It sounds like Ian and his friends are having quite an adventure.
And we see in our first sentence here, they tell us a little bit about Tanzania.
Off the coast of Tanzania lies the exotic island of Zanzibar.
And if something is exotic, it is unusual or different.
So this island is very different from what they have seen before.
Now Nathanael, how does it continue?
The next sentence says:
This amazing place is home to beautiful old houses, leafy forests and white
sandy beaches.
It sounds like a very lovely place to visit.
It does sound like a lovely place to visit.
And we've a great phrase in that sentence: home to.
If something is home to something, what does that mean, Gabe?
Well, that means if you go to this place, you can find these different things
there.
It's home to those things.
So Zanzibar is home to beautiful old houses, leafy forests and white sandy
beaches.
I live in Taipei.
I might say that Taipei is home to friendly people, night markets and, of
course, Taipei 101.
These things are found in Taipei.
How could you use that phrase, Nathanael?
Well, I think another thing that you could say is China is home to the world's
largest national population, home to the largest population.
That's right.
And you could also say that your hometown is home to many different things.
What is unique about your hometown?
What is it home to other than yourself?
Well, we continue on in our article and see that some friends and I had the
adventure of a lifetime there last year.
So they had the adventure of a lifetime.
This is another phrase that we want to look at here: of a lifetime.
If something is of a lifetime, then it is very special, maybe once in a
lifetime, a very unique adventure or experience.
Gabe, how might you use this phrase?
Well, I also think about different experiences.
Maybe if there's something that you will only experience once or not very often,
you could say "of a lifetime." I had a vacation of a lifetime last year when I
visited that country.
It was the time of my life.
I had a vacation of a lifetime.
What about you, Nathanael?
How could you use that phrase?
Well, I think some people are also looking for the love of a lifetime or maybe
the experience, the mystery of a lifetime.
There's a big question that they haven't figured out the answer to, the mystery
of a lifetime.
That's right.
You also might have the opportunity of a lifetime.
So take this chance.
Try something new.
It could change your life.
Well, continuing on to the next paragraph:
We took a two-hour ferry ride from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to Stone Town.
So they took a ferry ride from Dar es Salaam to Stone Town.
So these are two different cities, and they had to ride on a ferry.
And "ferry" is one of our Word Bank words today.
Let's take a look at that.
What does "ferry" mean, Gabe?
Well, it's a kind of boat.
It's a boat or ship that travels from one place to another.
It's for the purpose of transporting people or things from one place to another.
And when I think of ferries, I don't think of ships that travel for an extremely
long time.
Maybe if you're on a cruise, that might travel for days or weeks.
But a ferry really just goes from one place to another, usually I think, in a
relatively short amount of time.
Right. Well, we see that this one was two hours.
So that's kind of a long ferry ride.
Nathanael, have you ever ridden on a ferry?
I have ridden on several different ferries, but most of them, kind of like Gabe
said, really only lasted for a few minutes.
Right, yes. I've been on a ferry.
I went from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon.
And it's a very, very short ferry ride, maybe ten minutes.
So quite close.
Well, we see: After scouting around for a hotel, we chose a simple one with
clean rooms and a rooftop restaurant.
Well, it certainly sounds like a very interesting hotel.
And to find it, they had to scout around.
And "scout" is another one of our words today from our Word Bank.
Nathanael, what can you tell us about this word "scout"?
Well, if you are scouting, I think you're kind of exploring.
You're looking around a new area, usually looking for a specific kind of
information.
You might be scouting to map an area.
That's one possibility.
That's true.
Gabe, how else might you use this word?
Well, I think about scouting out an area.
You can scout around for something.
You can also scout out.
You can see what is available.
And I'm surprised, I don't know all the details, but it sounds like they didn't
do their homework beforehand.
They didn't settle on a hotel before.
They waited until they got to Zanzibar, and then they scouted around for a
hotel.
That is definitely an adventurous way to do something.
That's right, because they might not have been able to find one.
So you have to be careful if you wait until you get to a destination and try to
scout for a hotel.
They might all be full.
Well, we have a video that we can enjoy right now and show us a little bit about
Zanzibar.
(Music).
That was a great little video.
And in our article we see they say:
Then we hired a guide and headed to Zanzibar's famous spice farms.
So something Zanzibar is very well known for is their spice farm.
Uh, Nathanael, can you tell us a little bit about this Word Bank word "spice"?
Yes. We need to talk about this word "spice" because it is in our Word Bank
today.
It's a key word.
The spice is a kind of ingredient that you'll put in food.
And it's usually in a powder form and gives your food extra flavor.
You can also use the word "spice" as a verb.
Spice your food.
"Put spice on your food" is what it means.
That's right.
It adds a lot of flavor.
Do you ever spice your food, Gabe?
Oh, I certainly do.
I think it's good to add extra flavors to your food... sometimes.
Sometimes it is good enough as it is, but it is nice to also spice up my food.
Well, we find out about some spices here.
Cloves, peppers, cinnamon and ginger are just a few of the spices that grow
there on Zanzibar's spice farms.
We have more to learn about later.
But for now, let's go and enjoy some time with Michelle in the Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.