节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-01-18
难易度:High
关键字:worthwhile, advantageous, document, strategic


























00:00
















00:00





















Hello, everyone, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And I'm Nathanael.
And we are getting started with our lesson called Getting Started.
OK. As you can see here, there is a sentence that says: Things to think about
before starting your own business.
So we will enjoy a conversation between Uncle Bob and Ben in today's lesson.
And they're talking about starting a business.
So my question for you is: What is the first step for starting a business?
Carolyn?
Well, you might want to make sure that you have enough money to start a business
because starting a new business can be very expensive.
All right. What about you, Nathanael?
What's the first step?
Well, I think it's important to know what your community might need or want.
Find that desire that your community has, and then you can start a business to
provide that.
All right. You need the funds, you need to know what the needs are.
And I think you need to have the passion to do something.
You need to be passionate about something.
Well, let's see what our lesson teaches us in our first reading for today.
Getting Started.
Things to think about before starting your own business.
Ben and Sandy Johnson have been talking about starting a business.
But before they take the plunge, Ben decides to talk to his mentor, Uncle Bob.
Hey, Ben, how are things going?
Pretty well, Uncle Bob.
Sandy and I are talking about starting a business.
What do you think?
I think that's great!
Starting a business is one of the most challenging and worthwhile things I've
ever done.
What kind of business are you interested in starting?
Well, I've been thinking about setting up a little company that makes smartphone
apps.
But we're not sure.
I really don't know anything about starting a business.
It sounds like a business plan would be very advantageous for you.
All right.
Well, before the conversation between Uncle Bob and Ben started, we see a little
paragraph, something at the very beginning:
Ben and Sandy Johnson have been talking about starting a business.
So this couple, husband and wife, Ben and Sandy are talking about starting a
business.
But before they take the plunge, Ben decides to talk to his mentor, Uncle Bob.
We see a little phrase there: to take the plunge.
And we could talk about this, but I want to give Steve and Ken a chance to share
about this phrase: take the plunge.
Let's go to the Information Cloud right now.
Hey, guys.
Hey.
Hi, teachers.
Hello, teachers.
To help us understand the idiom "take the plunge" a little better, I want you
all to close your eyes,
extend your arms and picture yourself at the edge of a cliff with the ocean
below you. OK?
Are we going to jump off the cliff and go into the water?
Yes, Ken, but not just yet.
The cliff is pretty high, making the jump a bit risky.
So think long and hard before you make that jump.
Because once I jump, I can't go back?
Exactly.
OK, Ken. You can open your eyes and put your arms down.
So that's taking the plunge.
That's right.
That's one of the main things that characterizes this idiom.
When you take the plunge, you decided to make an important, difficult and often
risky decision.
Like starting a business, getting married or running for political office.
Perfect! Three big decisions that should be carefully thought through and
through.
And as you said, Ken, once you decide to go for it, there's no going back just
like jumping off a cliff into the ocean.
So before taking the plunge into something, it might be a good time to practice
another idiom: look before you leap.
Good idiom. Look before you leap.
That means to think carefully about what you're about to do before you do it.
(Chinese).
Thank you, guys, for taking the plunge and sharing with us about that phrase.
Now getting started with our conversation between Uncle Bob and Ben.
Let's see, Nathanael... you can start this one.
Hey, Ben, how are things going?
Wait, wait.
I love that. "How are things going?" I like your voice too, Nathanael.
"How are things going" is a good phrase to know.
There are many different ways to greet somebody.
What's another way that you could greet somebody, Carolyn?
Uh, you might say: Hey, what have you been up to lately?
All right.
What have you been up to lately?
What's another way you could greet someone, Nathanael?
Sometimes we just say: 'Sup?
"'Sup?" All right. You would read that "apostrohpe S-U-P." And that's short for
"what's up." What's up?
And that makes me think, "what's up" and "how are you" are slightly different,
aren't they?
Do you know the difference between those two things, Nathanael?
Well, if you are asking someone how they are, you want to get a personal answer.
But "What's up?" is like saying: What do you have going on?
What have you been doing lately?
They are kind of different questions.
They're a little bit different.
Your response to someone when they say "what's up?" can be what you have been
doing or what you are doing right now.
Your response to "how are you?" or "how are things going?" can be how you are
doing.
Oh, I'm pretty well.
I'm OK.
Well, let's continue with this conversation.
You were Uncle Bob, so Carolyn then.
All right.
Pretty well, Uncle Bob.
Sandy and I are talking about starting a business.
What do you think?
Well, I think that's great.
Starting a business is one of the most challenging and worthwhile things I've
ever done.
Yes, excellent, good.
It is a worthwhile thing to talk about this word from the Word Bank - It is:
worthwhile.
And if something is worthwhile, that means it's worth doing; it's worth spending
the time to do.
Sometimes you use the word "while" to mean time.
So you can also say it's worth my while to do something.
How else would you use this word, Carolyn?
Well, I would say that it's very worthwhile to exercise because it helps your
body to stay healthy.
So exercising is very worthwhile.
All right. It's worthwhile to exercise.
What's worthwhile for you, Nathanael?
Well, I also think it's worthwhile to do some reading every day, especially if
you can learn something from what you're reading.
It's always good to have a learning attitude.
All right. A learning attitude, do something that is a little bit challenging.
But that will help you grow.
Maybe you spend uh, time on a vacation.
It was a worthwhile trip, a worthwhile time away.
You needed it.
Well, I think we should continue this worthwhile conversation.
Where were we? I think... uh, Uncle Bob.
What kind of business are you interested in starting?
Well, I've been thinking about setting up a little company that makes smartphone
apps.
Ooh, I like that.
Let me interrupt you for a minute.
You said something I think is very nice - a smartphone.
Now this is a compound word.
And what is a smartphone?
Well, you probably know, or maybe even have a smartphone.
It's not just a regular phone.
What is different about a smartphone, Nathanael?
Well, with a smartphone, you can do a lot more things than just call people.
Of course, you can download apps like we see in this sentence.
And they can do all sorts of things.
You can usually get on the Internet with a smartphone.
And there are a lot of other options as well.
That's right.
A smartphone.
OK. Well, let's continue this wonderful conversation.
Right, well.
But we're not sure.
I really don't know anything about starting a business.
It sounds like a business plan would be very advantageous to you.
OK. Stop right there.
I'm going to cut you off because there's an important word we need to talk
about.
It's another Word Bank word.
Yes, it's a long word.
It is: advantageous.
Advantageous. And this just means something that is to your benefit or to your
advantage.
You see that word "advantage" in there - advantageous.
Well, Carolyn, how could you use this word advantageous?
Well, earlier I mentioned that it was worthwhile to exercise.
But exercising can also be very advantageous to your health, which means that it
provides some sort of benefit to your health.
All right, advantageous to your health.
Nathanael, what about you?
How else can you use that word "advantageous"?
Well, I think when you visit a new city, it's always very advantageous to have a
map with you so you don't get lost.
You know where you're going.
A map is an advantage.
It could be an advantage.
It could be advantageous to do some research about a place before you go and
visit that place.
That way you feel like you know it a little better.
Well, it would be very advantageous for us to spend some time with Michelle in
the Language Lab.
She is waiting for us right now.
Hey, Michelle.
Hi, Michelle.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.