节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-11-12
难易度:Low
关键字:isolated, tribe, researcher, jungle, Amazon Rain Forest, deadly
Hi, friends.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to study English with us.
We appreciate that.
My name is Steve.
Did you know that we are still discovering new people groups in this world that
have no connection to our modern civilization?
These groups have largely remained unknown to us because of where they live.
The Sentinelese people, for example, live on a small island off the coast of
Myanmar.
They're considered the most isolated people group in the world.
If we move over to South America, we find the Yanomami, a people hidden for
centuries by the thick jungles of the Amazon Rain Forest.
Let's open our Studio Classroom magazines now and learn more about the Yanomami
on page 24.
Yanomami of the Amazon Rain Forest.
Can one of the world's last isolated people groups be saved?
Can you imagine living without cars, computers or telephones?
Some people in the rain forests and mountains of Venezuela and Brazil do just
that.
One tribe, the Yanomami, has lived the same way for thousands of years.
They only have numbers for one, two and more than two, and they have never
invented the wheel.
But they have also been called some of the last "free people on Earth.".
Hi, friends. Thank you for joining us.
I'm Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
And today we are looking at our PEOPLE GROUPS article.
Now we always like looking at PEOPLE GROUPS to learn about people all over the
world.
But today we're looking at a very special people group.
Can you imagine living without any modern technology?
That's right.
Friends, we use a lot of tools in our daily life.
And we help... we use those tools to help us get things done, and so it's
difficult for us to imagine what it would be like without those.
Well, the Yanomami people of the Amazon Rain Forest are doing just that.
First, let's look at where they are located in the world to get a better
understanding.
They're in the Amazon Rain Forest.
OK. Now the "Amazon" is an area in South America, near Brazil and several other
countries, and it is a rain forest.
A forest, as we know, is a group of trees.
But Kaylah, how is a rain forest different from most other forests?
Well, a rain forest has a lot of rain.
And therefore, there are so many plants.
It's extremely thick.
Another word you might think of is a "jungle" to describe a rain forest-like
environment.
And as Ryan said, the Amazon is an area through South America that follows the
length of the Amazon River.
Yes. And the Amazon River and the area around it is huge, so it's very easy to
lose something, or in this case, someone, in this forest.
Now you might think, well, it's a forest, you can just go look for them.
But the rain forest is thick, so these people have been living isolated.
Now we're wondering: Can one of the world's last isolated people groups be
saved?
All right.
So that's what we're talking about here, Kaylah, the Yanomami people are an
isolated people group.
And something that is "isolated" is separated from other places or people.
That's right.
If you are isolated from other people, that means you are very far away from,
set away from them.
So you're not near them.
Well, we're asking: Can they be saved?
Now Ryan, are we trying to save them from being isolated or saving them from
modern technology?
Well, I think it's a little bit of both, Kaylah, making sure these people don't
disappear completely.
OK. Well, let's figure out how this works.
Now friends, let's use our imagination.
Can you imagine living without cars, computers or telephones?
I know I couldn't.
We use those every day to get around and to communicate, and with computers to
get things done for us.
But some people in the rain forests and mountains of Venezuela and Brazil, well,
they do just that.
Now Venezuela and Brazil are two countries in South America.
And you can see pictures of South America in your Studio Classroom magazine with
areas highlighted to see where the Amazon is flowing through.
Now we said it's both the jungles and the mountains.
So it's not just flat areas.
This jungle, the rain forest really covers mountains and valleys as well.
So you can get lost very easily.
That's true.
Well, one tribe called the Yanomami has lived the same way for thousands of
years.
OK. So the Yanomami, we say they've lived the same way.
That means their culture has stayed the same.
Now they only have... we're going to look at some of their cultural things,
their language.
They only have numbers for one, two and more than two, and they never even
invented the wheel.
That's right.
Friends, we know if something is invented, that means it was created.
And this tribe never created, or came up with, the wheel.
A "tribe" is a group of people that all live in the same place, have the same
language and the same culture as each other, and some of the same history.
That's right.
All countries have native tribes.
Sometimes we refer to them as natives or the first nations, or aboriginal.
These are all names to describe a tribe-like people group that lived in a place,
had their own culture established before someone else came in and settled.
OK. Now Kaylah, I think this is very interesting the way they count.
It says they only have numbers for one and two, and then they say, ah well, just
more than two.
They don't have three or four or five, any of that.
That's right.
They have a very simple number system because they live a very simple life.
Now all over the world people had invented the wheel, but this people group has
never invented the wheel.
And that actually makes sense if you think about the jungle being so thick, they
probably wouldn't be able to take carts or cars or wagons very far.
Yeah, that's right.
And so here they have to use their hands, they have to get everything done on
their own because they don't have the same tools we have.
And so, they use their hands.
Now it's easy for us to think: Oh, they're so... they're so poor because they
don't understand the things of a society.
But we have called them... some people do call them "the last free people on
Earth" because they have freedom from the modern technology,
the working, the daily life, the rush life.
They have freedom from all of that.
Yes, friends.
And we'll get a closer look at what that freedom actually looks like after we're
done visiting Ken and Bryan in the Chat Room.
I'm sorry, sir, but I disagree.
The book reservation system already works, so there's no use in reinventing the
wheel.
OK, let's talk about this tomorrow.
Goodbye.
Excuse me, Bryan.
I couldn't help overhearing your phone conversation, but what does a wheel have
to do with the book reservation system?
Nothing really.
But "reinventing the wheel" is a common idiom that describes what it's like to
waste your time developing something that already exists, like the wheel.
Have you ever had that experience, Ken?
Let me think... oh, yes.
When I was the president of my school's ping-pong club, I spent a week creating
a list of club rules and goals.
After I printed it out and shared it with the club members, one of them showed
me a copy of the past presidents' membership book.
I didn't know that I was actually reinventing the wheel.
Oh, no. Well, I hope that some of your hard work actually paid off.
Yes, it did.
I learned to make sure I didn't waste time creating things that were already
made.
Well, speaking of wasting time, another "wheel" idiom with a similar meaning is:
spin one's wheels.
Doesn't spinning wheels create movement like in a car?
What's that got to do with wasting time?
You have a good point there, Ken.
Maybe you can think of this idiom more like a car driving on ice.
When you drive on slick ice, your wheels may spin a lot, but you don't actually
go anywhere.
That's true.
I have experienced that while driving in the winter here.
Sure.
Well, spinning your wheels may also involve making decisions.
If you and your friend spend 30 minutes deciding where to eat dinner but still
can't make a choice, then you've been spinning your wheels.
Now that I can relate to.
It often takes me and my wife that long to pick a place.
I've had that experience too.
Well, thanks for these lessons, Bryan.
Instead of just spinning my wheels, I think my English is actually getting
somewhere.