节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-01-21
难易度:High
关键字:picturesque, exquisite, imposing, amble, landlocked, Habsburg, Spanish
Riding School
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
I'm Carolyn.
And I'm Nathanael.
And we are going to enjoy learning about Austria in these next couple of
lessons.
Now I just have a quick question for you, Carolyn.
If you could travel anywhere in Europe, where would you go?
Wow! I've never been to Europe, so there are a lot of places I really want to
go.
But I think I want to go to Ireland the most because that's where a lot of my
family is from.
Interesting.
That sounds like a cool place.
I've never been there.
Um, Nathanael, where would you like to visit in Europe?
Actually, if I could choose any place in the whole world to go, I would actually
also go to Ireland.
My family is also from that area.
But if I were to choose some others, I think Italy is another one that I'd
really like to visit.
Gabe, have you been to Europe before?
I have been to Europe, but I've been to Eastern Europe, Romania and Greece.
I have never been to Western Europe.
I would actually like to visit England and France and some other places there.
Anyway, I think our author is going to try to sell us on Austria.
Maybe give us a taste of Austria.
Maybe make us want to travel there for ourselves.
Let's get started with our first reading for today.
(Music).
A taste of Austria.
Austria offers mountain fun for everyone.
Tiny, landlocked Austria may not be big, but packed within its borders lie
wonderful sights and experiences.
Picturesque villages dot the slopes of the famous Alps.
Exquisite palaces, fine castles and fortresses invite visitors to wander through
them and imagine days long past.
Spending time in Vienna, Austria's elegant capital, is a pleasure.
Magnificent Saint Stephen's Cathedral rises up grandly in the heart of the city.
Step through the large doors and admire the beautiful interior.
Then climb the 343 steps of the south tower for a bird's eye view of the city.
A Taste of Austria.
Right in our title we see a phrase that I want to talk about: a taste of
something.
And this is a good phrase to know.
If you want to get a little experience of something, maybe you don't know the
whole thing,
but you are getting just a little experience, that is a taste, a taste of
something.
How else could you use this phrase, Carolyn?
Well, when I feel a little homesick, sometimes I really just need a taste of
home.
So maybe I'll make something that my mom used to make for me.
OK, you can have a taste of home.
Could you use this in another way, Nathanael, a taste of something?
I was thinking that one lesson of Studio Classroom can give you a taste of
English.
Ooh, good.
Yes, of course. Studio Classroom can give you a taste of English.
I think of a taste of heaven.
Maybe something really awesome here that can make you feel great.
It's a taste of heaven.
Well, we're going to get a taste of Austria these next three days.
That's a big taste of Austria.
We find here in the first sentence.
Tiny, landlocked Austria may not be big, but packed within its borders lie
wonderful sights and experiences.
We see that word "landlocked." What does that mean, Carolyn, if some place is
landlocked?
Well, if a place is landlocked, it means that it's not next to any water or an
ocean.
So my home state is landlocked because West Virginia is not on the coast.
No, it's not, nor is Colorado.
That's a landlocked state.
Different places in the world are landlocked.
Of course, if it's close to a lake or an ocean, especially a big lake, then we
would not say those are landlocked.
But what else is landlocked?
Look at your globe and see if you can talk about other landlocked areas.
We're finding out about Austria and we see picturesque villages dot the slopes
of the famous Alps.
Right there is one of our Word Bank words: picturesque.
This means it's worthy of a picture or it just looks like a wonderful picture
could be taken there.
Nathanael, what comes to your mind when you think of a picturesque place?
I think a lot of cards that you might give your friends on their birthday or for
a wedding anniversary.
A lot of them have maybe a picture of the sea or beautiful city landscape.
They're very picturesque-looking.
They're picturesque.
I think of places like Yosemite National Park or the Grand Canyon or Taroko
Gorge.
That's a very picturesque place.
What's your favorite picturesque place, Carolyn?
Well, my favorite picturesque place is actually just a few hours away from
Taipei.
And it's right along the coast, and you look out over the ocean and it's just
beautiful.
It is beautiful.
It is picturesque.
Well, continuing on.
Exquisite palaces, fine castles and fortresses invite visitors to wander through
them and imagine days long past.
We use another key word here.
It's a big word: exquisite.
And this means beautifully made or designed.
What do you think of when you think of something exquisite?
I usually think of something that is very well-crafted.
So maybe a beautiful glass vase that has very exquisite paintings on it.
OK, yeah.
And those are usually pretty expensive too.
What comes to your mind, Nathanael?
Sometimes I think of an exquisite taste.
You get a chance to eat something kind of unusual.
And it's a new flavor, and you think it's really great.
It tastes exquisite.
Exquisite. Well, continuing on.
We're talking about imagining days long past.
We see this phrase here "long past" or "days long past." This just means we're
talking about a time... a long time ago.
Days a long time ago; days long past.
You could also use the word "year." Years long past.
You can talk about things that happened a long time ago.
Well, I think we should continue on.
What is our next paragraph, Nathanael?
Our next paragraph starts by saying: Spending time in Vienna, Austria's elegant
capital, is a pleasure.
That's an interesting word there, elegant, as well.
How would you describe that word, Carolyn?
Well, "elegant" makes me think of something that's very fine, perhaps very
classy.
And usually I think of a woman dressing very elegantly, so she looks very
beautiful.
OK, very beautiful, fine, classy, elegant.
Magnificent Saint Stephen's Cathedral rises up grandly in the heart of the city.
Step through the large doors and admire the beautiful interior, or the inside.
Then climb the 343 steps of the south tower for a bird's eye view of the city.
We see that phrase "bird's eye view." And it's pretty easy to understand.
What does this mean, Carolyn?
Well, it means that you can see as far as a bird can see, so.
You must be up really high if it's 343 stairs.
That's right.
You get a bird's eye view of the city.
Well, right now it's time for us to do something a little different.
We're going to go to the Info Cloud.
Steve and Ken want to share with us about how you can use different words that
mean the same thing, and where you should go to find those words.
Let's go and join Steve and Ken in the Info Cloud.
Hey, guys.
Hey, there.
Hi.
Hey, Ken, I wonder if you noticed, the author of our lesson today just used a
handful of adjectives to describe the sights and experiences of Austria.
I sure did.
These adjectives include some of the Word Bank words.
I saw words like wonderful, exquisite, picturesque, elegant, magnificent and
beautiful.
Right.
Each word is related.
They're synonyms, but they give the reader just a little different feeling about
Austria.
Now I bring this up as a reminder, especially to those of you who are interested
in improving your English writing skills - the importance of using a thesaurus.
Good reminder.
A thesaurus is a collection of words arranged according to meaning.
Yes. A thesaurus can help build your vocabulary.
It can help you say exactly what you want to say, and it can make your writing
more interesting to your readers.
Because when you communicate, you don't want to keep using the same words over
and over.
That's boring.
Yes.
But be careful, friends.
Since no two words have exactly the same meaning, no two words are perfectly
interchangeable.
So what I'm saying is people who use a thesaurus just to make themselves sound
smarter end up sounding not so smart.
So readers will always know when you're not using your own voice.
(Chinese).
Steve and Ken, thank you again.
All right.
Now we're going to run over to the Language Lab.
Let's go to the Language Lab to see what Michelle has for us today.
Hey, Michelle.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.