节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-03-29
难易度:Medium
关键字:disguise, surroundings, impart, beneficial, cuttlefish, chameleon
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And I'm Nathanael.
And you're joining us for a lesson about cuttlefish.
Actually, it's called Lessons from the Cuttlefish.
So we're going to be learning about this sea creature, the cuttlefish.
And we can also learn from the cuttlefish.
We'll talk more about that later.
But I do wonder if you have ever encountered any interesting sea creatures.
Nathanael, what's the most interesting sea animal that you've encountered?
Well, a long time ago, I was at the beach in Florida where they have stingrays.
They kind of have a long tail that they can sting you with, and they look like
they have wings.
But they were swimming right around my feet.
It was kind of scary but also kind of fun.
That sounds really interesting.
Carolyn, what about you?
Well, one of my favorite sea creatures is the seadragon.
And it looks a lot like a seahorse, but it is very good at hiding because it has
lots of extra parts on its body that help it to blend in with its surroundings.
Interesting.
Well, the most or the closest I've gotten to a sea creature is actually a sea
turtle when I was scuba diving.
I got close enough to pet it, and it wasn't shy.
It didn't swim away.
But I would like to see a seadragon sometime, Carolyn, because actually this
kind of reminds me of today's creature, the cuttlefish.
One minute you see it, the next minute you don't.
Let's get started with our first reading for the day.
(Music).
Lessons from the Cuttlefish.
Inspirations from the sea for clothes that change colors.
The amazing cuttlefish - now you see it; now you don't!
The ocean's master of disguise is known for its ability to appear and disappear
right before your eyes.
This eight-armed creature can quickly change its color and texture to match its
surroundings.
Cuttlefish go through this process in order to surprise prey, protect themselves
or attract other cuttlefish.
How does it work?
The color change is possible thanks to millions of special cells under the skin.
These color cells contain tiny bag-like structures that hold different colors of
ink, including red, yellow, black, brown and others.
Inspirations from the sea for clothes that change colors.
It is a really interesting idea.
And I think that you're going to find today's article pretty interesting, too.
It's about cuttlefish, but it's also kind of about fashion.
OK. Gabe, can you get us started with the first sentence?
Of course.
The amazing cuttlefish - now you see it; now you don't!
Actually this phrase, or this group of words "Now you see it; now you don't,"
that's kind of a phrase you might hear in a magic show.
Right, Nathanael?
That's right.
A magician might say that he's going to make something disappear, and he says:
Now you see it; now you don't.
And it disappears.
Let's read the next sentence.
The ocean's master of disguise is known for its ability to appear and disappear
right before your eyes, right in front of you.
OK. There is a Word Bank word in this sentence that we want to discuss today.
This word is "disguise." Disguise is usually something that we think of that you
put on to hide yourself or to make yourself blend in.
But the cuttlefish has a natural disguise.
How can we use this word, Carolyn?
Well, if you disguise yourself, then you are trying to hide who you are.
And maybe you would wear a disguise when you are trying to trick your friends.
You don't want them to recognize you.
Maybe you want to play a joke, you can wear a disguise.
And that's great, Carolyn just used this word as a noun and a verb.
You might disguise yourself to look like something else.
Or you wear a disguise.
You could also use this word a phrase - "in disguise." I'm going in disguise.
That means I'm going, maybe wearing a mask or something so that other people
don't recognize me.
That's true.
You could also say "disguised" as an adjective.
It's another way to use this word.
Right before "disguise" in this sentence, we see a small phrase: the master of
disguise.
And we want to talk about this phrase, "the master of..." You can put many
different nouns after this phrase.
And it puts it in a different kind of situation.
What's an example of this, Gabe?
Well, I think about Marcel Marceau, the mime we learned about earlier this
month.
He is the master of mime.
Actually, I can't think of many mimes who are better than he is.
He might be the master of mime.
How else might you use that phrase, Carolyn?
Well, if you want to say someone is really good at something or the best at
something,
you could say that they are the master of it, such as someone who is the master
of music.
They are very talented at music.
That's right.
We might also ask what animal is the master of the sea.
There are many different options.
Maybe it'd be one of the big whales.
That's possible.
OK. Carolyn, would you carry on with our reading?
Of course.
This eight-armed creature can quickly change its color and texture to match its
surroundings.
So it sounds like the cuttlefish is very good at changing to look like what is
around it.
And we see a key word here from our Word Bank: surroundings.
And surroundings are the things that are around you.
How would you use this word, Nathanael?
Well, it's easy to get lost if you don't know your surroundings.
If you're not familiar with what's around you, you might get turned around or
get lost very easily.
Gabe, what do you think?
Actually, maybe if you're trying to help somebody who is lost and you're on the
phone, you could say: Well, tell me about your surroundings.
What is around you?
If you know what's around where they are, then you can help them figure out
where they're going.
Tell me about your surroundings.
And we find out about this creature of the sea that matches its surroundings.
Sometimes when I use this word "match," I think about maybe matching clothes.
They're clothes that look good together, but they're not always the same color.
However, Carolyn, I think that maybe the cuttlefish does actually try to be the
same color as its surroundings, right?
Yes. So when the cuttlefish tries to match its surroundings, it becomes the same
color as the things that are around it.
And we see even the same "texture," so the same type of bumpy or smooth that is
around it.
So it sounds like the cuttlefish is very good at disguising itself.
That's right.
And why do they do this?
It says cuttlefish go through this process in order to surprise prey, protect
themselves or attract other cuttlefish.
See, there are many different reasons why the cuttlefish might want to change
its appearance,
change how it looks to blend in with its surroundings.
How does the next part start, Gabe?
Well, how does it work?
The color change is possible thanks to millions of cells... actually they're
millions of special cells under the skin.
Liz is going to talk to us a little bit more about this sentence here.
Hi, friends.
Thanks for joining me here at the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
Our FASHION article today mentions how engineers have developed a new kind of
fabric that changes colors like what cuttlefish do.
How is this change of color possible?
We read:
The color change is possible thanks to millions of special cells under the skin.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
And our focus is on the phrase: thanks to.
We're not saying that people thank the special cells under the skin of the
cuttlefish. No.
Instead, "thank to" is a formal way of saying "because of," so.
Instead of saying because of the sunny weather, we enjoyed a lovely day outside,
we can say:
Thanks to the sunny weather, we enjoyed a lovely day outside.
Or: The team was able to finish the project quickly because of the new computer
program.
We can say:
The team was able to finish the project quickly thanks to the new computer
program.
If you want more example sentences, then check out today's Grammar Tip section
in your magazine.
And this is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
I'll see you next time.
Goodbye.
Liz, our grammar is improving thanks to you.
Continuing on it says:
These color cells contain tiny bag-like structures that hold different colors of
ink, including red, yellow, black, brown and others.
So they could possibly change into many different colors.
OK. Now we need to go see Michelle in the Language Lab and see what she has to
teach us today.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.