节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-02-21
难易度:Medium
关键字:witness, neck and neck, install, hook, stock car, checkered flag
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And I'm Nathanael.
And get ready, start your engines because it is time for the Daytona 500.
Yes, this is a very popular sport in America.
It's a big car race.
Now this makes me think about lots of kinds of races.
Well, what other races have you seen?
What kinds of races do you like to watch?
Nathanael, what kinds of races do you like to watch?
Well, of course, there are a lot of different kinds of races, but one that I
like to watch quite a bit is called Wipeout.
It's a show in America.
And it's just kind of a funny obstacle course where people have to do strange
things as quickly as they can.
That sounds fun, an obstacle course.
Carolyn, what kinds of races do you like?
Well, a race that I experienced last year is called velodrome.
And it's a very exciting type of bicycle race where the bicycles they use have
no breaks.
Wow! That actually sounds really dangerous.
I enjoy watching different kinds of races.
I would like to watch a rat race.
Yes, watching little mice race each other, that might be kind of fun.
But right now we're going to talk about something a lot bigger than rat races,
the Daytona 500.
Let's get started.
(Music).
The Daytona 500.
Get ready for one of America's biggest racing events.
On this day in 1948, William France and his friends officially formed NASCAR,
the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.
Over 200,000 fans will gather this coming Sunday in Daytona Beach, Florida, to
watch the 55th Daytona 500, NASCAR's biggest racing event.
Visitors will hear roaring engines, smell smoking tires and witness high-speed
crashes.
Top drivers compete in this 500-mile-long race, reaching speeds of nearly 200
miles per hour.
Get ready for one of America's biggest racing events.
I like the phrase there, "get ready for something." Nathanael and Carolyn, I'm
sure there are lots of things in life to get ready for.
I usually have to get ready for a test.
If I have a test coming up, I have to get ready for that test by studying.
What other things can you get ready for, Carolyn?
Well, I have to get ready for work every day.
So you know, I have to wake up and brush my teeth and get dressed.
And that's getting ready for my day.
Getting ready for your day.
What about you, Nathanael?
What kinds of things do you like to get ready for, to prepare well for?
Well, I always make sure to get ready for my run.
I don't want to go out and run without stretching.
So I'm, of course, wearing the right clothes and having my iPod.
All of those things make for a good run.
That sounds like a good run.
You got to get ready for these things.
And this is our first sentence here:
Get ready for one of America's biggest racing events because it is coming up
very soon.
So get ready.
Are you prepared?
Good.
Of course, I know you're prepared to study with this article today.
You have your magazine open, you are ready and prepared.
On this day in 1948, Williams France and his friends officially formed NASCAR,
the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.
That is a mouthful.
OK. Let's take that one little bit at a time.
National Association.
What is "national," Carolyn?
Well, if something is national, then it is recognized by the nation, the whole
country.
So this was not just a local group.
This was a national country-wide recognized race.
All right, so the National Association or a group of people, the cooperation for
Stock Car Auto Racing.
Nathanael, can you tell me a little bit about stock cars?
Well, a stock car is a car that a company produces, normally.
Now today the cars used in NASCAR are designed for racing.
And this is, of course, auto racing, automobile racing, NASCAR.
NASCAR. So of course, NASCAR, for short.
That's how most people remember it.
And right now we're going to learn a little bit about the history of NASCAR.
Steve and Ken are waiting for us in the Information Cloud.
Stock car racing.
One of America's most popular spectator sports was born in the 1920s, during a
peculiar time in American history known as Prohibition.
So what was prohibited?
Well, during Prohibition, it was prohibited or illegal to make, sell or
transport alcohol.
But with most things illegal, if there's money to be made, there will be people
willing to break the law to make it.
And so people were paid large amounts of money to transport homemade whiskey.
According to one source, one 120 gallon whiskey delivery could make a driver
$200, which was a huge sum of money back then.
Naturally, the law-breaking drivers needed cars that would go faster than the
police cars chasing them.
So they took to delivering their liquor in small, fast cars modified for high
speeds and good handling.
After Prohibition ended in 1933, drivers still wanted to evade the law which
wanted to tax the alcohol.
The fearless drivers loved the thrill of speeding around so much...
... that in the 1940s, they began racing their modified cars against each other
for fun and profit.
And that's how NASCAR was born.
(Chinese).
Steve and Ken, thank you so much.
That is indeed very interesting information about the history of NASCAR.
As you could see, there's these words "stock car" in this title for NASCAR.
Um, Carolyn, can you tell me a little bit about the difference maybe between the
way stock cars were and the way they are now?
Well, when NASCAR originally started, you had to drive a stock car.
If there were any changes made to your vehicle, then you would be disqualified
from the race.
Now today's NASCARs are made specifically for racing.
And they can go pretty fast as we will find out in our article.
That's right. OK.
So now you can use cars that are made for racing, not just any old stock car
that is unchanged.
Well, we continue in our lesson: Over 200,000 fans will gather this coming
Sunday in Daytona Beach.
I like that phrase, "this coming something." Nathanael, what does that mean,
this coming Sunday?
If we say "this coming Sunday," we mean the Sunday that is coming up next.
When we say "this Sunday" in English, we also mean the same thing - the Sunday
that is coming next.
If you say "next Sunday," it might be the Sunday after the one that is coming
next.
All right.
So if it's Saturday, you're talking about this Sunday that is tomorrow.
Or if it's Wednesday, you're talking about this coming Sunday.
It's in the future.
You could say "this last Sunday" for the Sunday in the past, the last Sunday.
Well, continuing with our lesson: The coming Sunday in Daytona Beach, Florida,
people will watch the 55th Daytona 500 NASCAR's biggest racing event.
Carolyn, what do we find out about this?
Well, visitors will hear roaring engines, smell smoking tires and witness
high-speed crashes.
So it sounds like a very exciting race to attend.
It does! And we see this word, it's an exciting word from our Word Bank.
It is: witness.
If you witness something, that means you see it, you experience it.
And usually you could just use the word "see." Oh, I saw an event.
But with the word "witness," it's kind of like it's a rare event.
It's not usual; you can witness something.
What kinds of things might you witness, Nathanael?
Well, I might say that I witnessed to the fact that he crossed the finish line
first.
Uh, "witness" can also be a noun.
I am a witness of this fact.
But you can also say "I can witness to the fact that," as a verb.
That's right.
You can witness to something.
Well, let's continue.
Top drivers compete in this 500-mile-long race, reaching speeds of nearly 200
miles per hour.
That is super fast.
Carolyn, I'm sure you can drive.
Have you ever driven over 200 miles per hour?
I have certainly not be driven over 200 miles per hour.
And right now I think it's time to join Michelle in the Language Lab.