节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-02-11
难易度:High
关键字:ingenuity, revolutionize, persistence, component, textile mill
Well, today we're learning about an individual named Margaret E. Knight who you
may have heard of before.
She was very influential in the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
She worked on some very difficult things especially when it came to factories
and textile mills.
And we're going to learn some more about her.
But for some time she was underestimated.
People did not expect much from her.
But we're going to see that she did some very incredible things in the next
reading.
(Music).
Margaret E. Knight.
Knight lived during a time when factories were springing up all over the United
States and manufacturing was booming.
Her father died when she was 10 years old, so she, like many young women of her
day, began working in a textile mill.
When she was 12, Knight witnessed an accident in which a component of one of the
machines flew off, seriously injuring a worker.
Horrified, she determined to devise a way to prevent such accidents in the
future.
Knight designed a safety feature that would stop the machines if something got
caught in them.
The device soon became common in textile mills and is still used in some
factories to this day.
(Music).
All right.
Right here at the beginning we see:
Knight lived during a time when factories were springing up all over the United
States and manufacturing was booming.
All right. We see a key word there, or it's a word that I want to talk about
anyway.
It's the word "boom." If something booms, usually that makes me think of a loud
noise like thunder or someone's voice.
But Carolyn, it's used differently here in the article.
What does this mean?
Well, here it means something like successful.
So the industries were very successful.
"Manufacturing was booming" means that it was increasing very, very quickly and
probably with great force.
All right, so it was booming.
Well, Nathanael, how else could you use that word "booming"?
How do you use that word in today's English?
You know, I think a common expression that we often say is business is booming.
It just means that your business is doing very well.
You're selling a lot of things.
You have a lot of customers.
Business is booming.
Business is booming.
That is a very common phrase.
Remember that!
Right now it's time for us to learn something special and different with Liz in
the Grammar Gym.
Hi there, friends.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
We made in today's article, "... factories where spring up all over the United
States..." That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Our focus today is on the phrase: spring up.
It means to appear and usually in a very quick way.
So today's sentence just means factories were appearing all over the United
States within a short period of time.
Let's have a look at some more examples.
When the park was open to the public, hotels and motels began to spring up
nearby.
Or: Shops and restaurants were springing up along the beach as the place became
more popular.
So friends, give this phrase a try.
And if you have the copy of this month's magazine with you, be sure to check out
today's Grammar Tip section for more example sentences.
That's all the time we have for today.
This is Liz, saying goodbye, from the Grammar Gym. See you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
As we were saying, businesses were booming... or manufacturing was booming and
factories were springing up all over the United States.
We find out that Knight's father died when she was 10 years old, so she, like
many young women of her day, began working in a textile mill.
And when we see that sentence: someone's day, working in someone's day.
Uh, that just means her time or her era, her generation, the time period that
she was living; her day.
And we see something else here.
She was working in a textile mill.
Nathanael, can you tell us a little bit about this?
Well, think of a textile mill as a factory where maybe something like clothes
are made, not only clothes, maybe towels or blankets or something like that.
Those are all made of different textiles.
Now the first textile mill is... it has its home in Lowell, Massachusetts.
That was the first textile mill in the world.
That was the first textile mill in the world.
So probably many people were working there and many more textile mills sprung
up.
Just like businesses and factories were springing up, textile mills were
springing up as well.
And she was working in a textile mill.
Well, Carolyn, how does our article continue?
It says: When she was 12, Knight witnessed an accident in which a component of
one of the machines flew off, seriously injuring a worker.
So we see here that a component flew off of the machine.
Now "component" is a very good word, a key word here that we can talk about.
What is a component, Gabe?
Well, it's a part. It's just a fancy word for "part." Of course, you can have a
component to a machine.
There are many different components to a machine.
Something that you can use, you combine many things to make something bigger.
So you have a component of something.
So a component fell off of this machine, or flew off of this machine, causing a
worker to become seriously injured.
Wow! That sounds like a really dangerous job to me.
But what else can use components?
Nathanael, how else do you use that word "component"?
Well, a component can basically just mean a piece or a part of anything.
You could even refer to a person as a component of a larger group if you wanted
to.
All right, so a person.
I'm a component of this company.
Well, you could also use it to talk about something that you're learning, like
an idea.
Learning new keywords, vocabulary is a component to learning a new language.
It's just one part of learning a new language.
Of course, you have to learn the grammar, sentence structure, other things like
that.
These are all different components to learning a language.
Well, we continue.
Horrified, she determined to devise a way to prevent such accidents in the
future.
And I see that word there at the beginning: horrified.
You can use different emotions to... to create adjectives like this word:
"Horrified," she did something.
She felt horrible.
Horrified. It was a terrible experience.
It was like horror.
What other words might you be able to use in this way?
You can create an adjective to create emotions.
Well, one that's similar to "horrified" would be terrified.
So you have terror and you are very afraid; so you are terrified.
And maybe you are terrified to work in a textile mill.
I think it sounds like a very dangerous job.
All right, terrified, horrified.
Well, we find out that she determined to devise a way to prevent these things.
And there's a word here in this sentence I want to talk about.
It is the word "devise." You saw another word like it earlier in the lesson:
device.
One is a verb, devise, with an S; the other is a noun, with a C.
Nathanael, how are these words different, devise and device?
Well, you can devise a device.
You might say that it takes a talented mind to devise the features of a factory
machine.
Each of these devices is a new development in the machinery.
All right, so there are the different ways to use these words.
You can devise something.
If you have a talented mind, you devise a plan.
Maybe you come up with a strategy for something.
You can devise many things.
And of course, Knight devised a way to prevent such accidents in the future,
such accidents like this serious injury.
Well, Carolyn, how does this article continue?
Well, we go on to see that Knight designed a safety feature that would stop the
machines if something got caught in them.
And the device soon became common in textile mills and is still used in some
factories to this day.
Well, it's pretty incredible the influence that Margaret Knight had on our
society today, in textile mills, in the industries and lots of factories.
And of course, we see that she created, or designed a safety feature.
A safety feature.
Well, that's just something that maybe a component that she created to help stop
machines when something went wrong.
That's a safety feature.
Many different things might have safety features.
What else might have a safety feature in it, Nathanael?
Actually, one thing that I think about that they don't have too much of in Asia,
but in the United States we have many lawn mowers.
And if you're pushing a lawn mower, you want to get one with a safety feature.
You can have a bad accident with a lawn mower.
But if your lawn mower has a safety feature, it will stop before it hurts or
causes any damage.
All right.
That's a good example.
Of course, there are many other things that might have safety features.
What else has a safety feature, something that you might use today?
Talk about that.
Think about that.
Talk about it in English.
Right now it's time for us to continue learning something with Michelle in the
Language Lab.
OK.
(Chinese).
And let's get back to the teachers.
Well, the three of us were talking about how amazing Margaret Knight actually
is.
When she was 12, she started to do some pretty interesting and impressive
things.
What were you all doing at 12? Carolyn?
Well, when I was 12, I wasn't really working.
I was focusing on school and acting in plays, but I did have one job - I was a
pet sitter.
So when my neighbors went out of town, I would take care of their pets.
All right. You were a pet sitter.
You mentioned acting.
You were in plays.
I was actually doing a little bit of acting in plays too at school.
But I wasn't inventing things or creating new things.
I wasn't ingenious like Margaret E. Knight.
I was just concerned with hanging out with my friends and trying to get my
homework done.
And what were you doing at 12 years old?
Well, we hope that you're interested in Margaret Knight because the next two
days' lessons are also about her.
And we hope that we see you tomorrow at Studio Classroom.Goodbye.