节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-01-09
难易度:Medium
关键字:run out of (time), have no time to lose, time is money, time will tell,
for the time being
Well, this professor has an interesting idea.
He wants to make a time machine.
Now usually in a time machine, you think that you can go back in time to the
past, or maybe forward in time to the future.
But the professor wants to do more than that.
He wants to actually make more time so that we won't run out of time.
Make more time.
Make it last longer.
Well, there's no time to lose.
We need to see what's going to happen with the professor in the next reading.
(Music).
It's About Time.
His wife, Mildred, wasn't so sure about the professor's great idea.
"It'll never work," she doubted.
"You can't make time." The professor disagreed.
"Time is money," he explained.
"If you can make money and save money, why can't you do the same with time?"
Mildred complained,
"The only thing you're doing with time is wasting it.
I still think you're crazy, but only time will tell." She knew that the
professor was determined to try out his idea, so she decided to keep quiet for
the time being.
Well, someone new is introduced to the story - the professor's wife.
And she has a name.
The professor doesn't have a name.
Um, but what is his wife's name, Carolyn?
Well, his wife's name is Mildred.
And his wife Mildred wasn't so sure about the professor's great idea.
So she's really not sure about what he's going to do.
She says: "It'll never work," she doubted.
Oh. And doubt, so she really didn't believe he was going to succeed. Did she,
Nathanael?
No. If you doubt something, you definitely think that may not work.
And I think I might feel the same way as Mildred if my friend was going to try
to make a time machine.
That's right.
I think I would too.
Nobody's ever made a time machine before.
I don't know if it's possible.
We see another phrase here.
She wasn't sure... she wasn't so sure about the professor's idea.
You know if someone's doubting something if they say "I'm not sure." But there
are some other phrases too that can show that you doubt.
What are some other phrases you might use?
I am not certain that there is another way... Oh.
I'm... "I'm not certain." That's another way to say that I doubt it.
Well, let's continue with the article.
Mildred said, "You can't make time." The professor disagreed.
"Time is money," he explained.
"If you can make money, you must be able to make time," right?
Let's talk about this phrase: time is money.
It's in our Word Bank.
Now why would we say that time is money, Gabe?
Well, we know that money is a valuable thing.
Time is also a really valuable thing.
And lots of people like to spend their time making money.
And you can lose money if you're not careful with your time, so I guess time is
money.
How else would you use that phrase?
Well, you could say that time is money.
But a lot of times I really don't agree with this phrase because time is
something that you don't have a lot of.
Time is limitted.
Money... money is something that we can make more of, although it might not be
as valuable then.
Interesting.
So you're saying that time is more valuable than money?
Exactly, because what we do with our time can make a big difference whereas
money, there's always plenty of money.
It's true.
I think that I would agree with you there are many more valuable things in life
than money.
Many people say time is money.
If you like to make money, then time is money.
But of course, time is a lot more than money.
There are more important things to life.
Well, we continue.
He says if you can make money and save money, why can't you do the same with
time?
So he is using this logic, if time is really money, and you can do this with
money, then you can also do the same with time.
But what does Mildred say, Carolyn?
She complains about something.
Yes. Mildred complained: The only thing you're doing with time is wasting it.
I still think you're crazy, but only time will tell.
Oh, and here we see another Word Bank phrase: only time will tell.
So what is Mildred saying about her husband, Gabe?
Well, she's saying that he doesn't have a really good idea.
Again, she doubts.
She's not sure about his idea.
But only time will tell.
We can only tell over time.
So maybe now he's crazy.
But maybe in the future, he will be right.
And he can tell everybody else: Hey, I was right!
But only time will tell.
How else could you use that phrase, Nathanael?
Well, only time will tell if this book will be popular.
Time tells us a lot of things, actually.
Things change over time, sometimes in ways that we don't expect.
Only time can tell.
That's right.
Only time will tell.
Right now there's a new idea or a new book, a new movie, only time will tell if
it will be something great or something terrible.
Well, I also saw a phrase there that I like.
She says: I still think you're crazy.
You could use that phrase: I think you're crazy.
If you think someone has an idea that isn't that great, or someone is doing
something they shouldn't do - I think you're crazy!
But of course, only say it to your friends and only if you really do love them
because I guess these words... I don't know.
Is "crazy" a positive thing, Nathanael?
Well, no. Crazy isn't really a good thing.
You don't want to tell someone that they don't think right, or that they're not
thinking the right way unless you know them pretty well, like you said, Gabe.
Yeah. And this is the professor's wife.
She does love him, good, old Mildred.
She's not just any old wife.
Continuing on.
She knew that the professor was determined to try out his idea, so she decided
to keep quiet for the time being.
We see these words "for the time being" in the Word Bank.
And what do they mean, Carolyn?
Well, "for the time being" just means for now.
For this time right now, she's going to keep quiet.
And "keep quiet" just means that she's not going to complain for the time being,
at this time.
All right, for the time being.
I could say something like: I'll be right back.
Wait here for the time being.
I'll be back soon.
How else could you use that phrase, Nathanael?
Well, I could say I can't stay long, but I can talk for now.
Well, it looks like it is time to visit Steve and Ken in the Info Cloud.
Let's hop over there right now.
Hi, guys.
Hey.
Hi.
OK. Let's talk about what a professor is since the main character in our story
today is a professor.
OK. But isn't a professor simply a teacher at a university?
Well, it really depends where you're talking about.
In the U.S., You can call most of your university teachers "professor." But in
England,
a professor is a university teacher who has attained a chair position or the
highest rank in the faculty.
Good distinction.
Speaking of rank, I know in the U.S., there are different levels of
professorship.
Can you briefly introduce them?
Sure.
In order to become a professor, you need to complete a Ph. D. program and find
work at a university where you'd start out as an assistant professor.
And after six to eight years, you can then apply for a promotion and become an
associate professor.
And after some more years of teaching, doing research and publishing, you can
apply to become a full professor,
which is the highest level of professorship at an American university.
And a full professor gets something called tenure, which is a permanent job
contract.
That's right.
A tenured professor cannot be laid off.
It's like having a guarantee to have a job for the rest of one's life.
But in order to get tenure, one has to put in many years of hard work.
Not an easy road!
(Chinese).
Well, thanks, Ken and Steve.
They always have such good information in the Information Cloud.
Now let's join Michelle in the Language Lab.
OK.
(Chinese).
And that's it for today's Language Lab.
Thanks, Michelle.
Well, this article has gotten us thinking: If we could time travel, what would
be a cool place to visit?
I really think that I might go to 1800s England.
My favorite writer was writing at that time - Charles Dickens.
And I would like to see what his world looked like.
How about you, Carolyn?
Well, you're going back into the past.
And I really think I'd like to time travel to the future because I would love to
see all of the new inventions that we haven't come up with yet.
Well, I think that I would actually travel way into the past.
I like reading some stories in the Bible, and I would like to see what it was
like when the people of Israel were just exiting, or leaving, the land of Egypt.
I think that was a pretty exciting and interesting time, so I think I would
travel all the way back then.
Oh, those all sound like great times to visit.
And now we are just about out of time for today, and so we have to say goodbye
to all of you at home.
But we hope that you will come back and finish the story with us tomorrow.
Goodbye.