节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-02-05
难易度:Medium
关键字:peer, zookeeper, glimpse, enclose, nocturnal, elusive
What's new at the zoo?
Well, of course, if you want to peer at different animals from around the world,
you can go and visit a zoo.
And we are learning about one specific zoo, the Singapore Zoo.
We've already talked a little bit about being able to spend time eating
breakfast close to a family of orangutans while the zookeeper tells you about
these animals.
We're going to continue learning with our second reading right now.
(Music).
What's New at the Zoo?
Or join the Wild Discoverer tour for an in-depth look at some of the animal
residents.
Learn how the zoo cares for its insects or reptiles, or watch the feeding of the
baboons.
Night Safari.
Next door lies Night Safari, which offers a glimpse of what nocturnal animals do
during their "day." Take the tram to East Lodge.
Then walk the Leopard Trail to see a collection of animals from the giant flying
squirrel to the Asian otter.
You can also gaze at the amazing leopards and elusive clouded leopard through
the windows of their enclosed habitat.
We're talking about that Singapore Zoo first.
We have our first sentence here:
Join the Wild Discoverer tour for an in-depth look at some of the animal
residents.
An in-depth look at something.
Nathanael, what's an in-depth look?
Well, an in-depth look is a deep look or a detailed look at something.
So we're going to look in-depth at the Singapore Zoo in this article.
All right.
And we see at the end of that sentence: the animal residents.
Uh, Carolyn, I usually think of residents as people.
I mean, I'm a resident here in this city.
What other ways can you talk about a resident?
Well, here we see it as an animal resident, which just means something that
lives in a particular place.
So here the animals are residents at the Singapore Zoo.
That's right.
They're residents at this zoo.
Of course, you can talk about yourself as being a resident.
What country are you a resident in?
Where do you reside?
That means where do you live.
Where are you a resident?
Well, we continue.
Learn how the zoo cares for its insects or reptiles, or watch the feeding of the
baboons.
Well, this sounds really interesting.
Uh, which one of these things would you rather do, Nathanael?
Learn how the zoo cares for its insects or watch feeding of baboons?
Well, the feeding sounds very interesting.
I think I would be going to see that.
You'd be going to see the feeding of the baboons.
What about you, Carolyn?
Does this thing about reptiles interest you?
Actually, it does.
I'm very interested in reptiles and learning more about lizards and snakes and
maybe larger reptiles like crocodiles.
All right.
Well, this all sounds pretty interesting to me.
There're so many different things you can do at a zoo.
But have you ever wondered how to refer to these animals, these groups of
animals?
We talked about orangutans before, a family of orangutans.
And now we're watching the feeding of the baboons.
Let's go and join Steve and Ken in the Information Cloud to learn a little bit
more about how to talk about these animals.
Since we're talking about a zoo today, let's talk about different words that
describe groups of animals.
OK. One that comes to mind is herd.
We can call a group of cows a herd of cows.
Yes, you can say a herd of cattle, elephants, giraffes, horses and pigs.
Here's another one: pack.
You can talk about a pack of dogs or a pack of wolves or even a pack of rats.
Can you think of another one?
Sure. A group of fish that swim together is a school of fish.
Good.
And here's another common one: flock.
And we usually use it with birds and sheep.
And people! Have you ever seen a flock of tourists?
Yes, I have.
And I usually flee when I see a flock of tourists.
Now Ken, all the ones we've mentioned so far are pretty common.
Why don't we talk about some that are less widely known.
OK. I know for a group of lions, we can use the word: pride.
Yes. A pride of lions is a group of lions.
Maybe it's because lions are very proud.
How about this one - a congress of baboons.
Are you talking about the government?
Well, some people might like to use "baboons" to describe people working in the
U.S. Congress, but no.
We only use "congress" with baboons.
(Chinese).
Thank you, Steve and Ken.
They are quite a congress of gentlemen... I mean, a nice couple of gentlemen.
We're continuing now with the Night Safari.
We find: Next door lies Night Safari, which offers a glimpse of what nocturnal
animals do during their "day." Well, let's talk about that word here.
It is the key word "glimpse." A glimpse of something is a sight of something.
Maybe it's not a long sight.
Maybe you can only watch something for a short amount of time.
You catch a glimpse of something.
How else might you use this word, Carolyn?
Well, a lot of times my friend will ask me: Oh, have you seen this movie?
And I'll say: Oh, well, I've only caught a glimpse of it while it was on TV.
I haven't seen the whole thing.
All right, just a glimpse of that movie.
I know that feeling.
I didn't see the whole thing, I just caught a glimpse.
Nathanael, how do you use that word?
Well, you can say... caught a glimpse, catch a glimpse, also get or got a
glimpse.
I went to the zoo and wanted to see the bears, but I only got a glimpse.
I only saw them for a very short time.
And I actually... I know how that feels too because I've been to a zoo, it's
actually a wild animal park in San Diego.
And everyone wants to see the lions, but we only got a glimpse of the lions
because, of course, they love to sleep and they were sleeping.
You can barely see them.
I got a little glimpse.
Well, we see another word here.
Carolyn, I would like you to talk about this, the word nocturnal.
Yes. So "nocturnal" means that you are active at night.
And there are a lot of animals that are only active during the nighttime.
So they are considered to be nocturnal, which is why the Night Safari is such a
great idea.
It is a very interesting idea.
This is a great place at the Singapore Zoo.
Well, let's continue learning something now with Liz at the Grammar Gym.
Hello, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
We've been talking about zoos in today's article.
And the writer mentions: ... a glimpse of what nocturnal animals do during their
"day." Notice how the word "day" gets quotation marks around it.
Those marks are there to show that "day" is being used in a special way.
In the case of today's sentence, the writer is having some fun with the word
talking about what a normal day is like for an animal that comes out at night.
So when you're writing and you want to play around with some words, you can add
quotation marks to your words.
For example:
How could Mr. Goodman not be "good" to anybody?
Or: Elaine has so many pairs of shoes; I'm sure she really "needs" another pair.
If you turn to today's Grammar Tip section in your magazine, you'll find more
example sentences there.
And that's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Bye-bye.
Thank you, Liz.
It is good to know how to use those quotation marks in different ways.
Well, let's continue with our article.
You can take the tram to East Lodge.
What is a tram, Nathanael?
A tram is usually some kind of train.
It could be a subway train or it could be above ground also.
All right, so kind of train.
Sometimes they even call just "buses" at zoos a tram, something that takes you
from one place to another.
But usually it is a kind of train on rails.
Well, our article continues.
Then walk the Leopard Trail to see a collection of animals from the giant flying
squirrel to the Asian otter.
Well, let's go back to the beginning of that sentence.
You can walk the Leopard Trail.
That's kind of an interesting usage of that word "walk." I... I would usually
say walk on the Leopard Trail.
But you can also just say "walk the Leopard Trail." That's a special trail at
the Night Safari.
It's just called the Leopard Trail.
We continue that you can see a collection of animals from the giant flying
squirrel to the Asian otter.
Carolyn, do you like either of these animals, the flying squirrel or the otter?
I do! I like both of those animals, especially the flying squirrel because it
has extra pieces of skin on its body that allows it to glide from one tree to
the next.
So it looks like it's flying.
It does.
It's very interesting.
I've been to this part of the Night Safari before.
And it was my favorite part actually because I'm just waiting there looking
around for this flying squirrel.
I don't know where it is.
All of a sudden, this thing goes gliding by me, just like a huge sheet of paper
that lands on a tree.
It was incredible.
It was the flying squirrel.
Well, we continue.
You can also gaze at the amazing leopards and elusive clouded leopard through
the windows of their enclosed habitat.
Well, we see that Word Bank word there.
It is "enclosed." This means that it is closed off to the outside.
How else might you use that word, Nathanael?
Well, sometimes we talk about something being enclosed in a letter.
Maybe some information is enclosed in this letter, and you should not lose it.
All right. It's enclosed.
Usually the idea is that things from the outside should not be able to get in.
And if it's on the inside, you shouldn't let it out either.
Well, let's continue learning with something... uh, in the Language Lab with
Michelle.
(Chinese).
And let's get back to our teachers.
Well, we've had a lot of fun talking about the Singapore Zoo and the Night
Safari today.
I've been to the Night Safari, but I think Carolyn and Nathanael have as well.
Nathanael, what was your favorite part of the Night Safari?
Well, I just thought that it was a very unique atmosphere.
I'd never been to a zoo in the dark at night before, and I thought it was really
interesting to ride the bus through the zoo in that way.
All right. What about you, Carolyn?
Well, I actually... I took the Leopard Trail and I walked through the Night
Safari,
which was a great experience because you were very close to all of these
nocturnal animals that you probably wouldn't see awake during daytime hours at a
regular zoo.
Well, this is zoo, and the Night Safari is pretty cool.
If you have a chance to, it is worth seeking out. We're going to learn about
other zoos tomorrow. But for now it's time for us to saygoodbye. See you later.
Goodbye!