节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-11-21
难易度:Medium
关键字:stride, intentional, remedy, insignificant
Welcome back, everybody.
When compared to endangered animals, like the panda bear, the bald eagle and the
tiger,
butterflies don't rank very high on the public's priority list for animals to
save.
Because they're small and pretty, it's easy to underestimate the significant
role they play in the natural world.
Now let's finish up the reading on page 38 and see what ordinary people like you
and I can do to help keep butterflies around long into the future.
(Music).
Endangered Butterflies.
Finding a remedy for the butterfly crisis is not just for environmental groups,
however.
Ordinary citizens can plant butterfly gardens to support and enjoy these gentle
creatures.
A group of female prisoners in Belfair, Washington, is helping to rescue an
endangered species called Taylor's Checkerspot.
They recognize how significant seemingly insignificant features can be.
The world cannot afford to lose any butterflies.
As environmentalist John Muir once commented, "When we try to pick out anything
by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.".
OK. So we're learning now about how some species of butterflies are endangered
and are in danger of dying off completely.
And now though, we're seeing how some... some governments are actually stepping
in and making a difference,
actually helping some species of butterflies make a comeback.
In fact, we saw this certain type of butterfly in California has increased its
population by 8 percent.
That's pretty good.
That's right.
They're working on finding a remedy.
Now finding a remedy for the butterfly crisis is not just for environmental
groups, however.
Now we're going to talk about this sentence.
But first, let's go to Liz with Grammar on the Go.
And we'll be right back.
Hello, friends. How are you today?
My name is Liz.
And it's time for Grammar on the Go.
We're talking about Endangered Butterflies in today's article.
And our writer writes:
Finding a remedy for the butterfly crisis is not just for environmental groups,
however.
In other words, it's not only the environmental groups' job to find a remedy for
the butterfly crisis.
This job of finding a remedy belongs to other people too.
So friends, notice the sentence pattern: something is not just for something.
This is a great pattern to use when you want to tell people that a subject does
not belong only to one person or one group of people.
For example, a lot of people think that doing house chores is the woman's job,
but now things are changing.
So we can say:
Doing house chores is not just for women anymore.
Or playing video games used to be something that only children do, but now
adults are also playing video games.
So we can say:
Playing video games is not just for children.
If you'd like to see some more example sentences, they're available in today's
Grammar Tip section in your Studio Classroom magazine.
That's all the time we have for today.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go signing off.
Bye-bye.
Thank you very much, Liz.
So we see here it's not just environmentalists that are part of this remedy for
butterflies.
But we've used this word a couple times now.
What is a remedy?
Now a "remedy" is a successful way of curing or solving a problem usually having
to do with illness.
Maybe like it's a medicine that helps you take care of something, but definitely
gets rid of a problem or difficulty.
So you could say maybe a remedy for a cold would be to get a lot of sleep, drink
water and eat ginger.
That's right.
So a remedy is kind of like a solution except it is usually a solution for an
illness or something dying off.
That's right.
So here the word remedy is used correctly because we're talking about a dying
off population of butterflies.
So by saving them, we are causing a remedy for the problem.
Absolutely!
And friends, we see that not just environmentalists can help with this remedy.
Ordinary citizens can plant butterfly gardens to support and enjoy these gentle
creatures.
That's right, ordinary citizens; ordinary meaning everyday people,
not just people working for this specific goal in their mind but ordinary, just
every day, every... every person.
Right, plain citizens.
And a citizen is a... typical person, any kind of normal person like you and I.
Now ordinary doesn't mean we're boring.
It just means we're... we're common, and we don't actually work as
environmentalists, but we can still help by planting a butterfly garden.
Friends, that does not mean you plant a butterfly.
OK. That was going to be my next question, right?
A butterfly garden is actually a group of types of plants that butterflies can
get a lot of, well, food or other things they can live in.
And so they're good for butterflies.
That's right.
It's not something you plant a butterfly in, but you plant plants that help
butterflies.
And an extra bonus, you're helping the environment, but hey, you get to enjoy
these gentle creatures.
That's right.
If you have a butterfly garden, then butterflies will come, and you can watch
them and see these beautiful gentle creatures.
Hey, it's better than having mosquitoes.
It's true, yeah.
Definitely don't plant a mosquito farm.
Well, a group of female prisoners in Belfair, Washington, is actually helping to
rescue an endangered species called Taylor's Checkerspot.
So let's first break that apart.
Let's look at these women.
OK. So first, they are female prisoners.
And this is interesting to me.
A prisoner is someone who is, well, stuck or kept in a prison usually because
they committed a crime.
Now when you are in prison, you're put in separate prisons or jails.
There are men and women jails.
So these... this is a women's jail; these are women prisoners.
And they're actually working to help protect this species called Taylor's
Checkerspot.
That's right.
Now they're trying to rescue it.
And so if you rescue something, that means you save it from danger, so.
They see that this certain species of butterfly is in danger, so they're going
to rescue it, make it safe.
So why are they doing this?
Well, they recognize how significant seemingly insignificant creatures can be.
Oh, that's a very intense English sentence.
Let's look at it.
They recognized (they noticed) how significant (important) seemingly (or maybe
you think they are) insignificant creatures can be.
OK. So here they see that "insignificant" creatures.
That means something that is really not that important or usually, in this case,
small or not very valuable.
They are actually significant.
They really are valuable.
They really are important.
That's right.
They have a different appreciation for nature now that they have been in prison
for a while,
so they're working at saving things that maybe we don't recognize as being
important.
They see that.
They notice it.
OK. So Kaylah, now I think it's important to see why they believe this.
Of course, they think that's something that seems or looks in... insignificant
is actually significant, but why?
Well, the world cannot afford to lose any butterflies.
OK. We see here butterflies are actually important.
As environmentalist John Muir once commented:
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything
else in the Universe.
OK. So let's look at that sentence.
To be hitched means to be connected to or linked together to...
So he's saying if you find this one thing, you try to pick it out and say it's
only this one piece, you'll find that it's connected to everything else in the
Universe.
And actually, this theory has a name.
And that's called the butterfly effect.
That's right.
That means that you need something because it's, well, hitched to everything
else.
If something is hitched, it's connected.
So butterflies are necessary because when a butterfly does what it does like a
normal bug, it connects to, or influences everything else around it.
And that's why even these seemingly insignificant pieces of nature are just as
significant as the large pieces.
All right, friends.
Before we start doing everything we can to save butterflies, let's go to visit
Michelle in her Language Tips.
(Chinese).
And I guess that's all the time we have for today.
Goodbye.
Thank you, Michelle. OK.
Because butterflies are sensitive to climate change, they make an excellent
indicator species.
In other words, they can help us humans measure the environment's health.
For example, if the beautiful wings of a butterfly become discolored, then
that's an indication that the air quality is going down.
Governments, environmental groups, and ordinary citizens like you and me must
work together to protect these beautiful endangered insects.
Friends, that does it for us.
Please join us tomorrow when we talk turkey.
Take care.