节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-01-10
难易度:Medium
关键字:lose track (of time), turn back the clock, time flies, live on the
borrowed time, not give someone t
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And I'm Nathanael.
And we're on the third day of this story about this professor who created, or
wants to create, a time machine.
Well, we've been talking a lot about time.
You have learned a lot of idioms these last couple of days.
And we have some more idioms in this lesson today.
Now this lesson is very unique, and that most of our idioms today are actually
puns.
Nathanael, can you tell us a little bit more about puns?
Yeah. "Pun" is a kind of expression where you use a word that might have a
double meaning to be funny.
So you might see a couple of examples of this in today's section of the article.
That's right.
There are lots of idioms today.
We hope that you can learn all of them, and maybe even find time to practice
them, put them into your English conversations with people.
Right now it's time for us to get started with our first reading of the
continuation of the story.
(Music).
It's About Time.
Out in his workshop, the professor drew lots of plans for his new time machine.
He soon lost track of time.
He created models and used clocks and timers of every shape and size.
He attempted every method he could think of.
He tried reading books backward as a way to turn back the clock.
He looked at a calendar under a lamp through his telescope - to see light years
into the future.
Well, I hope you laughed a little during that reading because there are a lot of
jokes in this section of the article.
Let's go back to the beginning.
Out in his workshop, the professor drew lots of plans for his new time machine.
We just say quickly that a workshop is a shop where you work.
Of course, it's not necessarily a shop like a store, but a room that you might
have outside of your house,
or a room inside your house where you particularly do work.
A lot of different people might have a workshop.
Also remember that this professor is building a time machine that not only can
go back and forward in time,
but also he's trying to create time with this time machine.
Continuing: He soon lost track of time.
All right. This is the first idiom in our Word Bank today, "lost track of time."
And it's a good one.
Carolyn, what does this idiom mean?
Well, "lose track of time" is very similar to one we talked about yesterday - no
time to lose.
So you want to do something quickly.
But here, lost track of time, if you lose track of something, you forget about
it.
So you're so busy doing something that you forget what time it is.
Actually, I have to use this idiom, or this phrase, often.
I'll say something like "I'm sorry I'm late. I lost track of time." But
actually, I usually think of people doing something fun when they lose track of
time.
Maybe you're so into something, you're enjoying something so much that you lose
track of time.
Nathanael, you have mentioned that you enjoy having sincere conversations with
people.
Do you ever lose track of time?
It's easy to lose track of time when you're having a good conversation.
You just find more points to discuss with a good friend, and the conversation
could go on even for hours.
All right. Let's continue with the article.
He created models and used clocks and timers of every shape and size.
This is actually another idiom that we sometimes use - every shape and size.
Should we always take this literally, Gabe?
No, not literally, not always.
But we can use this phrase "every shape and size" just to talk about there are
many sizes, many shapes, many kinds of something.
So, my aunt... yes, she does, my aunt has many shoes.
She has shoes of every shape and size.
Well, we can use this phrase in other ways.
How else can you use that phrase, Carolyn?
Well, if you go to the zoo, you might see animals that are every shape and size,
lots of different kinds of animals that are big and small.
That's right.
Every shape and size.
How can you use that phrase?
What is every shape and size in your life?
Well, we continue on in the article.
The professor attempted every method he could think of.
And a method is just a way - every way that he could think of.
He tried reading books backward as a way to turn back the clock.
And right here you can see our first joke of the day.
The author is using an idiom, and he's talking about it literally.
The idiom here from the Word Bank is "to turn back the clock." And what does
that mean, Nathanael?
Well, "to turn back the clock" means you want to go back in time.
You'd like to try to do something again.
I'd like to turn back the clock and try again but it's too late, I can't.
Of course, here, they take it literally.
And what does this joke really do, Carolyn?
Well, he's trying to take a clock and maybe take the hands and make them move
the opposite direction,
by reading this book backward hoping that somehow he can reverse time.
But it doesn't really work that way.
Of course it doesn't really work.
Many of us wish we could turn back the clock in our lives and do something
again.
We would do it better.
Maybe something happened in a relationship was ruined.
You wish you could turn back the clock.
Maybe you got a bad grade in your class because you didn't study hard enough.
You wish you could turn back the clock.
That's how you use this phrase.
We continue on.
The professor looked at a calendar under a lamp through his telescope.
Nathanael, why did he do this?
Well, he wanted to see light years into the future.
Or we might read this: He wanted to see light years into the future.
This is another joke because light years is a measure of distance, especially in
space.
It's a very long distance.
But again, we're taking it literally here as a joke.
Can you explain this joke quickly?
Well, he's taking a lamp that he's looking at it through a telescope.
You can use a telescope to look at things very far away.
And so usually you use a telescope to look at the stars, something out in space.
He's looking at a calendar under a lamp through his telescope, hoping that he
can somehow see light years into the future.
The joke is with the years and the calendar.
This is a pretty funny article.
He wants to see light years into the future.
Well, we're going to enjoy some time with Steve and Ken right now.
They have something for us in the Information Cloud.
Hello, guys!
Hey, guys.
Hello, teachers.
Hello, teachers.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel in a time machine, and
where would you go if you could travel in a time machine?
You know, I would go to the 1950s because that was a time of prosperity and
growth in America, and it had lots of interesting fashions and music.
What about you, Steve?
I would visit the distant future, like the year 2525, and check out all the new
inventions that men created.
Steve, what about this time machine?
When did people begin having this idea of time travel?
Good question.
The English science fiction writer H.G. Wells wrote a story called The Time
Machine in 1895.
It became so popular that it was later adapted into two movies of the same name
as well as two TV series.
It also inspired a large number of comic books about time travel.
So the term "time machine" was created by H.G. Wells?
That's right.
Time machine is a vehicle that allows operators to travel through time.
Do you remember the movie Back to the Future?
I sure do.
The time machine in that movie was a DeLorean.
That's right.
DeLorean was the name of an actual sports car designed by John DeLorean, an
American engineer.
The car was introduced in the early 1980s.
You know, come to think of it, I would go back to the 1980s if I had a time
machine.
I'd like to see if I can drive a DeLorean.
That would be sweet.
(Chinese).
Thank you, gentlemen.
Well, we have learned a couple of idioms having to do with "time" so far today.
We've talked about "losing track of time." You don't want to lose track of time.
If you have something important to do, go do it.
Try not to lose track of time.
Also, turn back the clock.
You wish you could turn back the clock and do something again.
But I think we've been doing pretty good today on time.
Right now it's time for us to continue learning something with Michelle in the
Language Lab.
Hello, Michelle.
Hi, Michelle.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.