节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-11-16
难易度:Medium
关键字:occasional, lodging, guesthouse, safari, jaguar
(Music).
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve, and I'm happy that you've joined us today.
Well, this month's TRAVEL feature brings us to the heart of South America to a
vast, natural paradise called the Pantanal.
Right now the Pantanal is entering its annual rainy season,
meaning flood waters will soon turn this region an area about the size of
China's Hunan province into one giant lake.
The rains are a part of nature's rhythm, making life possible for the exotic and
abundant life forms that live there.
OK. Let's break down the seasons a little more and see how each one affects the
Pantanal.
We'll kick off today's reading on page 30.
The Pantanal: A Wetland Adventure.
If you're interested in fishing, go in April or May.
The best time for bird watching is from July until September, when the
temperature is cooler, with only occasional rain.
And if your goal is to spot a jaguar, September to October is a good time to
visit.
No matter when you go, plan to stay at least four or five days.
The longer you stay, the better chance you have of seeing some of the Pantanal's
thousands of animal species!
Hi, friends.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
And today we are in day two of our TRAVEL article in the Pantanal of South
America.
Now yesterday we started learning about the different geography of the Pantanal.
First of all, we learned that it is a wetland.
During the wet months, the rivers flood and the waters rise.
But in the dry season, it takes on a savanna, forest and meadow combination to
really bring out the wildlife.
That's right.
This 210,000-square-kilometer area of land might not be as famous as the Amazon
basin, but it's actually a better place to go to find wildlife.
Now we haven't really talked about the kind of wildlife you can find there yet,
but we'll see that in a little bit.
That's right.
We learned that it's a great place to see wildlife because it's not as famous as
the Amazon basin which is just next door.
Now because of its lack of fame, there's more nature and less pollution.
So it's less crowded for you to enjoy your vacations, get out and see animals in
their natural habitat.
But if you're planning to go to the Pantanal, do not go in winter.
It floods and can be very difficult to travel in.
So go in the summer.
And we'll show you some things you can do there during the summer months.
That's right.
We said go from April to October.
It's the best time to travel to get the most out of your journey.
Well, what do you want to do on your trip in the Pantanal?
We're all interested in different things.
So what if you're interested in fishing, Ryan?
Well, then you can go in April or May.
So those are during the summer months, and then you'll be able to go fishing.
What does it mean if you fish?
To fish means you are trying to catch fish.
So it's... it's a fun activity.
I know my dad loves it.
I get a little bored.
Oh, I love fishing.
I think it's awesome.
So I would actually like to do this.
The best time for fishing is then in those two months.
What about a different activity?
Well, first of all, let's emphasize why April and May would be good for fishing.
And that's because it's the beginning of the dry season.
So the waters would probably still be at a nice high level allowing for a lot of
different kinds of fish and different kinds of fishing.
But if you're like me, fishing?
Probably not your favorite activity.
Well, what about other kinds of animals?
All right.
Like I said before, other kinds of animals would include, well, birds.
Some people enjoy bird watching.
And even though that sounds like you just look at birds, it's actually a little
bit more than that.
You can actually go and spot certain kinds of birds if you go bird watching.
And it's a very common activity.
You should go between July and September when the temperature is a little bit
cooler with only occasional rain.
That's right.
The rains only come every once in a while then.
Now I'm not usually one to sit and watch birds, but Ryan, I think in the
Pantanal,
this would be an incredible place to do that because, friends, if you look in
your magazines, you can see the different exotic tropical birds.
These would be beautiful to watch.
They make beautiful music.
It kind of makes me think of that movie "Rio." It must be really beautiful.
Yeah. These birds here are gorgeous.
They're very colorful and they're very unlike, or very different, from the birds
you find near home usually.
And it'll be a lot cooler too.
You don't have to sit in the sun.
And with the only occasional rain, you won't get too wet.
OK, friends.
The word "occasional" means it doesn't happen very regularly.
So you don't know when it will rain.
But when there's occasional rain, that means it doesn't happen as often.
OK.
Though birds are interesting, I think my goal, like maybe yours would be, would
be to spot a jaguar.
Ooh. OK, a "jaguar" is a very cool wild animal.
And in fact, Kaylah, this might be one of my favorite wild animals.
This is a very big cat.
That doesn't sound very interesting until you think about this is one of those
very large cats.
It lives in only South and Central America.
It is kind of a yellowish color with big, black spots on it.
Now you might think: Well, I thought the "Jaguar" was a car.
It is the name of a certain kind of a car, but the name comes from the name of
this cool jungle cat.
They usually have spots on them with little rings around those black spots.
And like Kaylah said, they're more yellow.
They're very cool-looking.
If you want to see one of these, go between September to October.
Now you said they have spots on them, but we said you can spot one of them.
Is that the same "spot"?
That's a good question.
No, it is not.
If you spot something, that means you can see it, usually for a shorter time.
But you know, no matter when you visit, you're going to have fun.
No matter when you go, at least plan to stay at least four or five days because
you want this opportunity to see different things.
Yes. And as we see already, there's fishing, there are a lot of animals such as
birds and jaguars that you can see.
So you should stay for a while.
Don't just go for one or two days.
That's right.
The longer you stay, the better chance you have of seeing some of the Pantanal's
thousands of animal species.
Wow! OK. So we've only talked about three really, Kaylah, but we see there are
thousands of species.
Can you help me describe what a species is?
Well, we know what animals are, and we know we divide those into different
categories like mammals and reptiles, birds, fish.
Now in each of those are species, now that's a different kind.
Those are the different kinds of cats.
For example, not all cats are jaguars.
So there is maybe the... the lion or tiger would also be a large cat.
So those would be different species.
Right, different species of cats, just the same way as there are different
species of birds.
You can see like we saw the pictures of those birds, there are many different
kinds.
And even those certain species, there might be different kinds of animals in
that species.
It's just a group of animals.
Now we said there's thousands of different species of animals.
We haven't even started talking about the plants yet.
The Pantanal is full of exotic and tropical plant life as well.
We're going to look at some of the plants, kind of how to get started on your
adventure.
And friends, if you want a sneak peek at maybe some of the animals you can look
at, make sure you check your Studio Classroom magazines.
And friends, join us after we go and visit the Chat Room.
Hey, Bryan.
Did you know that there's only one specie of polar bear?
Oh, really?
I didn't know that, Ken.
But Ken, I got to correct you.
You should say there's only one species of polar bear.
One species? Really?
Let me take a closer look.
Oh, yeah. You're right, one species.
What do you know?
I thought "species" was plural.
"Species" can be either singular or plural.
So you can talk about one species or 5,000 species.
Oh, so it's like "sheep." It uses the same word for both the singular and plural
forms?
That's right.
"Species" is actually a Latin word that means appearance, type or form.
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification.
So there's no such thing as "specie"?
There is.
Specie is a different word that refers to coin money as opposed to paper money.
Ah, interesting.
So how many species of polar bears are there?
There's only one species of polar bear.
Good job, Ken.