节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-12-20
难易度:Medium
关键字:polish, tension, denote, retort, assure, friction, erode, clone
Hi, friends.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us.
My name is Steve.
We're often told to increase our chances for success in life, we should make a
good first impression and put our best foot forward.
That's not a bad idea.
But how do we do it?
Well, it's easy, actually.
We do it with manners.
Developing good manners can, and will, influence just about every part of your
life.
They'll influence your grades in school.
They'll get you closer to that promotion at work.
And they'll positively affect your relationship with other people.
OK. Let's jump into our lesson and learn more about these things called
"manners" on page 37.
Polishing Your Manners Can Improve Relationships.
It never hurts to be polite at home and in public.
Did you know that most tension in any relationship is caused by someone using a
negative tone of voice?
And in most instances, a tense conversation can cause friction with your in-laws
or coworkers indefinitely.
Good manners work magic in a different way.
Behaving nicely includes speaking thoughtfully and using a pleasing voice tone
that denotes respect.
Married people, especially, know how hurtful behavior erodes a relationship.
For example, can you identify with the following conversation?
"Honey, I need you to pick up the kids from school today," says Mom.
Hi, friends.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
And today we're talking about MANNERS.
Now probably something you don't like talking about, but let me promise you,
it's important.
That's right, friends.
We want to learn how to polish our manners because that can improve
relationships.
Well, "polishing" is the first word of our title.
That's actually our first vocabulary word.
Now to polish something, usually you think of cleaning something.
Maybe you polish a window so it's really clean, and you can see through it.
But here we're talking about polishing something you do, and that means you're
making it better.
Maybe making it cleaner or better, to improve or to perfect it.
Really, publishing is more than improving.
It's more about perfecting them.
Yeah, exactly, making it as good as it possibly can be.
And friends, this is extremely important for your relationships, as I'm sure
many of you, and me included, know.
OK. Well, if you can polish your manners, you can then improve your...
relationships.
Do you think this is true?
Oh, absolutely! It never hurts to be polite at home or in public.
OK. This phrase, never hurts to... Now sometimes you might... you might feel
like it hurts to be nice even when you don't want to be.
But this means being... it doesn't ruin anything.
It's better for everyone if you are polite.
So take time to be polite.
Ryan, are you a polite and well-mannered person?
Well, I'd like to think so, not all the time, obviously.
But friends, if you have any trouble with, in any of your relationships if
there's anyone you think you don't like or doesn't like you,
then maybe you should be the one to take the first step and polish your manners
first.
I know I've had to do this.
I know. I hate that part.
It's... it's really difficult, especially being nice to someone you just don't
want to be around.
Yeah. Did you know that most tension in any relationship is actually caused by
someone using a negative tone of voice?
No, but I think it makes sense to me.
Now "tension" in a relationship - tension is a feeling of anger or frustration
or fear between two groups of people that used to trust each other.
So maybe if you are really good friends from... you have a really good friend
from school, and there's tension in your relationship.
That means you're angry at them for something even though you've been friends
for a while.
So you don't like tension in any relationship.
Yeah. And that can be caused, many times, by a negative tone of voice - so the
way that you're speaking sounds negative or bad.
Now tone of voice refers to not what you're saying but how you're saying it.
Exactly.
Now in most cases, friends, a... a intense conversation can cause friction with
in-laws or coworkers indefinitely.
Now "friction" refers to two different things being rubbed together.
So in this situation, since it's friction in a relationship, it's talking about
a disagreement or unfriendliness between two groups of people.
So... I think quite often people think you do have friction with in-laws because
you're from two different places.
Yeah. So you might not be getting along very well, and that can cause trouble
indefinitely.
Now the word indefinitely means it will continue until something else changes.
But good manners work magic in a completely different way.
Now that's our Grammar on the Go sentence, so let's visit Liz.
(Music).
Hi there, friends.
Welcome to Grammar on the Go.
My name is Liz.
We're talking about MANNERS in today's article.
And the writer says:
Good manners work magic in a different way.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence for today.
And our focus is on the phrase, to work magic.
Please do not confuse this with "to do magic." That's what magicians do, like:
Magicians do magic tricks.
But in the case of today's sentence, to work magic means to make a situation
improve.
So today's sentence just means that good manners can make a bad situation turn
into a good one.
And because the change from bad to good is so amazing, it's like magic!
OK. Let's have a look at some example sentences.
Let's say you know a certain housekeeper who is really good at cleaning.
So you can say:
The housekeeper is so good at cleaning things up; she can work magic on any
messy room.
Or, maybe an advertisement for a stain remover might say:
This stain remover works magic; it can remove all kinds of stain!
If you have a copy of this month's magazine with you, be sure to check out
today's Grammar Tip section for more example sentences.
That's all the time we have for today.
Thanks again for joining me here.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go signing off.
Bye-bye.
So good manners really are important in your relationships.
Behaving nicely can include things such as speaking thoughtfully and using a
pleasing voice tone that denotes respect.
That's right.
Now we keep talking about tone of voice.
And this is something that's really important.
We try to have a nice, friendly and respectful tone of voice to denote respect.
Now to "denote" something means to represent something.
So probably introducing yourself saying "Hi. My name is Kaylah" is a nice
respectful and kind way.
But if I said "Hi. I'm Kaylah," that's not a very nice tone of voice.
Exactly. That represents kind of a bad attitude and no respect.
Now married people, friends, if you are married, you know how hurtful behavior
erodes a relationship.
Now to "erode" means to slowly destroy or to reduce.
Often we use this to describe maybe a hill.
If it rains too much, it will erode.
It washes away, gets destroyed.
Here your relationship can be destroyed by being hurtful to one another.
For example, friends, after the break we'll finish a conversation here that you
might be able to identify with.
It starts: "Honey, I need you to pick up the kids from school today," says Mom.
OK. We're going to find out what Dad says right after we visit the Chat Room.
OK, OK, I was just asking.
Calm down.
I didn't think I was being unreasonable.
Why are you getting so upset?
Fine. Bye.
Hey, Bryan. What's wrong?
You sounded so upset.
I just asked a friend if I could borrow his lawn mower this weekend because mine
broke, but he wouldn't even consider it.
Well, he must have a reason for not lending it to you.
Maybe he needs it this weekend.
I know. I'm not upset that he said no.
It was his tone of voice that bothered me.
His tone of voice?
What's that?
Tone of voice means the way a person says something, how loud their voices and
what it sounds like.
For example, my friend could have said: No. Sorry. I need my lawn mower that
day.
But instead he said: No! I can't do it!
OK. I hear the difference.
The way someone says the words can make it sound like they're either happy or
angry.
Exactly.
Your tone of voice communicates what you're feeling, which has a big effect on
how people understand you.
And if it shows that you're being sarcastic, it can completely change the
meaning of a sentence.
Oh, yeah.
Sarcasm is when you say the opposite of what you mean, right?
Yes. And people usually use a certain tone of voice to signal that they're being
sarcastic.
For example, if someone says: Oh, that was smart.
They actually mean it was dumb.
OK. That could be confusing.
Hey, by the way, is there another word for tone of voice?
Not really.
We do sometimes shorten the phrase to just "tone." For example, I might say a
mother used a gentle tone when she spoke to her kids.
I see.
Do I ever use the wrong tone when I'm speaking English?
Not that I've noticed, Ken.
You're usually very polite.
Good.