节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-11-05
难易度:Low
关键字:take something for granted, seasoning, sting, wipe, grease
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us today.
My name is Steve.
Well, what's the first thing you reach for when you come across tasteless food?
Chances are you reach for the salt, right?
For thousands of years, we humans have been using salt to liven up bland food.
But in that same time, we've also collected hundreds, if not thousands, of
practical uses for salt, many of which have no connection to food at all.
All these uses for salt are interesting and some are even surprising.
So let's get surprised as we dig into this month's TIPS feature about salt on
page 18.
Surprising Uses for Salt.
Salt can be used in some interesting ways.
Pass the salt, please.
How many times have you heard that?
Salt is such a common part of our lives that we take it for granted.
But in ancient times, it was hard to get and had great value.
Some people believe it was one of the very first seasonings ever used.
We still use it today to make our food taste better.
But salt has many other uses that you may have never tried before.
Hello. My name is Kaylah.
Thanks for joining us, friends, right here in the studio.
And my name is Ryan.
Friends, we are on our TIPS article.
We've got some tips for you about, well, something that is really common in your
house and you might not have thought to use it this way.
That's right.
You probably use this every day for a lot of years but would be surprised to
know all the uses for salt.
There are some surprising uses, some ways that might cause you to feel surprised
or they're unusual so you might not have expected them.
That's right.
Salt can be used in some interesting ways.
We think of salt as being mainly a food, something we put on our food to make it
taste great, but it has so many other uses.
So let's look at some of those interesting ways.
OK. Now there's a phrase you might hear often when you're eating a meal: Pass
the salt, please.
This is a pretty common phrase because salt is often used, or most often used,
to make food taste more delicious.
And when you eat, usually you can have a salt... shaker of salt, container of
salt, on the table.
You would say, "Pass it," and that means to hand it down to someone else.
So Ryan, here.
Here's the salt. I'm passing it to you.
Thank you. Thank you.
So how many times, friends, have you heard that phrase?
Salt is such a common part of our lives that oftentimes we take it for granted.
That's right.
This is a phrase... we're not actually asking you how often you hear it.
I... I know sometimes I feel like I hear it six times during dinner time.
But no, we don't really want the number.
We're showing you how often you do hear it.
We're emphasizing that because we do tend to take salt for granted.
Yes. If you "take something for granted," friends, that means you do not
completely appreciate it because it's usually pretty easy to get.
Like running water - it's easy for us to think, "Oh, running water's a given."
That's how everything is.
We are taking it for granted because in some places of the world, they don't
have that.
Exactly. And so we oftentimes, with salt, think: Well, we just use it to make
our food taste better, it doesn't really have that many uses.
Well, you'd be surprised that it didn't always use to be that way.
That's right.
In ancient times, it was hard to get and had great value.
We think of it as being a very cheap seasoning, a very cheap part of our meal.
So why would it have great value?
Well, something that has value means that you respect it.
It is very important.
And so the reason for salt is it's actually not as easy to get as, at least at
that time, as it is today especially because these were ancient times.
That's right.
But it has been around since ancient times meaning a very... very, very, very
long time ago.
Now some people believe it was one of the very first seasonings ever used.
You know what, Kaylah, I think this would be true.
Salt, as most of us know, is most common in the ocean.
You get salt from salt water, and you use it to make your food taste better.
Probably, Kaylah, someone discovered that their food tasted better when there's
a little bit of salt, so they thought let's use this as a seasoning.
That's right. Now a "seasoning," as Ryan has been talking about, is something
that makes your food taste better.
Today we're talking about salt.
But other common ones would be pepper or garlic or oregano or parsley, all those
herbs, or even something like vinegar or soy sauce,
these things that we put into our food to make them taste better, though, you
probably wouldn't just eat it by itself.
No. Most seasonings do not taste good by themselves.
Their flavor is usually very strong.
So you put a little in your food, and it improves the flavor - the way it
tastes.
So it was one of the... salt is one of the very first seasonings that we really
ever used.
And we still use it today to make our food taste a lot better.
Yes. But salt is not only used to make food taste better.
Friends, we've got some surprising uses coming up that explaining different ways
you can actually use salt, not just with improving the flavor of food.
Now Ryan, have you been at a dinner table with a child who just puts lots and
lots of salt on their food because they don't like the way it tastes,
so they cover it up, maybe their broccoli or the green vegetables they don't
like?
I was that child.
I used to always do that.
More salt! More salt!
That's right, because we like the taste of salt.
It tastes good.
But it has so much more than that.
We still use it today because it's great for that, but it has many more uses.
That's right.
It has many uses that, friends, maybe you've never tried before or never even
heard before.
We're going to tell you some very surprising and fantastic uses of salt.
And since it's an inexpensive seasoning now, maybe you can try these at home for
your own use and let us know if they work for you.
Well, I'm excited to get started on this.
Yes, so am I.
Friends, we're not able to actually start yet.
We're going to get started after we finish the break, and we're going to tell
you all kinds of amazing and surprising tips.
Hey, Ken.
Are you done with that book there?
I need to start cleaning up before I leave.
Actually, I'm going to check this book out.
Really! Hmm.
American Table Manners.
Are you sure you want to check out this book?
Why would you do that?
Well, I was hoping this book could help me answer a few of my questions about
how to act when eating with Americans.
Oh. Well, you've lived here for quite a while, Ken.
What questions could you possibly have?
Well obviously, I don't have any problems eating informal meals with friends.
But the last time I attended a formal dinner, something embarrassing happened.
Did you spill something?
No. But I didn't know how to ask for the salt, so I tried to reach for it
myself.
Uh oh. That was a mistake.
Hey, let's turn to Studio Classroom Teacher Pam for some tips on this subject.
Americans are used to asking for help at the dinner table, especially when
eating with a large group.
We might ask the other people at the table to pass the napkins, pass the pasta
or pass the salt.
The general sentence pattern is: Can you pass the salt, please?
Yeah, I know that now, but it's too late.
I ended up reaching over another person's arm causing her to spill her drink.
Oh, boy. I hope she didn't get too upset.
Thankfully, the lady was pretty understanding.
She even passed me this salt, too.
Good.
Well, as you learned there, Ken, Americans think it's more polite to respect
each other's personal space, so they ask for help with things they can't reach.
Yes. And my Chinese relatives tend to reach for things themselves rather than
bother other people.
I suppose both ways have the same goal - to be polite.
True.
Well, after this talk, I don't think I need this book on table manners anymore.
Here you go.
Thanks, Ken.