节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-11-28
难易度:Low
关键字:defender, entertain, surf, college, cattle station, soap opera
Hi, everybody. Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
As always, my name is Steve.
Thanks for joining us.
This month we're shining our PROFILE spotlight on Hollywood's latest superstar
Chris Hemsworth.
At age 29, Hemsworth already has a lot of television and movie acting experience
under his belt.
But you'll probably remember him most for his role as defender of humanity,
Thor, the Thunder God.
The success of that movie, Thor, propelled Hemsworth to the world stage.
And now it seems fans just can't get enough of him.
Let's jump into our lesson and learn about the who, the what, the when and the
how of Chris Hemsworth over on page 50.
Chris Hemsworth - Hollywood's Latest Superhero.
This superhero keeps coming back for more.
Last year, a new superhero landed on Earth to live among humans.
When people needed help, Thor became their defender and saved the world.
People loved Thor and the actor who played him - Chris Hemsworth.
Hemsworth was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1983.
His family moved between Melbourne and the Northern Territory.
In the Northern Territory, Hemsworth's parents worked on a cattle station.
The work required the family to live two hours from the nearest big city.
(Music).
Hi, friends.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
And today we are in our PROFILE article looking at a very handsome new
superhero.
Yes, Kaylah, he is very handsome.
His name is Chris Hemsworth.
And what do we know him from?
Thor.
Ah, Thor.
Thor was a movie that came out last year.
And actually... yeah, the last year... last year's movie was Thor, and also more
recently in another movie as well, right?
The Avengers.
That's right.
So he is Hollywood's latest superhero.
And this superhero keeps coming back for more.
That's right.
Let's take a look.
We're going to look at his life, some of his story.
Let's find out how we first met him.
Just last year, a new superhero landed on Earth to live among the humans.
Now Chris Hemsworth is definitely human, but we're talking about his character
Thor.
Now why would we say that he landed on Earth to live with humans?
Isn't he human?
Well, OK.
Yes, Kaylah, as an actor, he is human, but the character Thor is actually
considered a God.
And so his character landed on Earth among humans - us.
That's right.
Thor is from Norse mythology.
Now it is a very fun and interesting character that a comic book writer took and
made into a superhero,
and added him to the whole fleet, all the Avengers that work together.
Now when people needed help, Thor... became their defender and saved the world.
So if you've seen the movie, you know what we're talking about.
Yes. He became the world's defender.
And a "defender" is someone who protects something from danger or harm.
And so he protected the Earth.
That's right.
Now people loved Thor and the actor who played him - That is Chris Hemsworth.
So we're going to look at Chris's story, not Thor's story anymore.
Let's take a look at where Chris Hemsworth comes from.
OK. Well, he was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1983.
1983. Well, he's not that old, is he?
No, he's actually not that old.
He's pretty young.
And he was born in Australia, like a few other actors and actresses that we
learned about recently.
That's right! We seem have a lot of upcoming actors from Australia these days.
This is pretty exciting.
Yeah, it is.
All right. So let's take a look at his life there.
His family moved between Melbourne and the Northern Territory in Australia.
OK. So in the Northern... so we said they moved between them,
that means sometimes they lived in Melbourne, and sometimes they lived in the
Northern Territory.
Now what did they do in the Northern Territory?
OK. There, Hemsworth's parents worked on a cattle station.
All right. So they're not just... he's not even involved in film at all yet,
he's on a cattle station.
Now a "cattle station" is actually an Australian English term.
Now in... in American English we would most like... most commonly call it a
ranch.
But in Australian English, it's called a cattle station.
Cattle refers to any form of cows or horses, large animals that you keep on a
farm usually in large numbers.
So you don't usually just keep one or two cows.
Cattle would refer to a lot of cows.
That's right.
You've got cows and bulls and many of them.
And of course, you use cows to produce milk.
And uh, and you know, then you also have bulls, you have as well in order to
keep the cows growing and everything.
It just takes a lot of work.
And so there in Australia, instead of a ranch or a large farm, it's a cattle
station.
That's right.
And it would be a very large, large area where the cattle are free to roam.
They're raising them.
We all know that Australia is famous for its beef.
So I'm going to say most cattle stations are raising beef cattle.
So this would be the cows we end up eating as delicious steak later.
But somebody does need to take care of them.
And the Northern Territory is a large, wide open area that allows for these
cattle stations and families move to work.
Now why would a family move to work between... a Northern Territory area and a
city?
If there was jobs in those places, why would they move back and forth?
Well, usually you're able to take care of the ranch because there's a lot of
work there.
You spend a lot of time doing that.
And then you can move back to the city, you'd have more opportunities there as
well.
OK. So theirs is actually pretty common.
Some families do this.
They... they go where the work is available, so depending on the season, depends
on where their family would live.
Exactly.
Now it's interesting to find out that Earth defender Thor got his start working
with cows.
Now it takes a lot of work.
The work there would require their family to live two hours from the nearest big
city.
So they're just out in the middle of nowhere.
And that's kind of what this ranch/cattle station lifestyle is like.
You don't live near big places.
Now actually, where I'm from in Colorado, we have a lot of cattle ranches as
well.
I went to college in a very small town that is really... is near where all these
people bring their cattle into.
Cattle stations and ranches, Ryan, are just out in the middle... feels like
you're nowhere.
Well, yeah. So most of them are.
They're away from major cities.
Oftentimes, Kaylah, I think that would be because of the smell.
Oh! I think it's because of the space that they need.
They need space for these... all these cattle to run around and... And I think
it'd be fun as a boy.
I don't know, I'm not a boy, but I assume you would've enjoyed growing up on...
in a large area like this.
Ah. Well, Kaylah, some of my family do own a farm in Texas.
And I will go visit them.
And I have so much fun running around on the farm with hay and chasing the cows,
chasing turkeys.
And it's just a huge open area.
That's because you're from a big city.
That's true. I'm from a big city, so I don't get to do that very often.
Well, Chris Hemsworth's family moved back and forth, so he got different
experiences, which makes him have a much more interesting background.
He has a better idea of life in two different places, which I would assume would
play into a lot of his work later in life.
All right.
So there's not much to do on a farm, and we'll see how that influenced him after
we watch the skit.
I am Thor.
Thor? Wow!
I have landed on Earth to live among humans.
Are you a new superhero?
I am your defender.
I will save the world.
Oh, thank you.
Yes. I am the great and mighty Thor.
OK. So who are you really?
I'm Chris Hemsworth.
I'm an actor.
Oh! And where are you from?
I'm from Australia.
I grew up on a cattle farm.
A cattle farm.
Is that why you are wearing horns?
(Background Noise).
Very funny.
Our family lived two hours from the big city.
Oh. So I guess you watched a lot of TV.
No. We didn't have a TV.
My brothers and I entertained ourselves.
So what did you do?
We built weapons and forts.
Oh, just like Thor.
Yes. Later, we settled on Philip's Island where I enjoyed surfing.
So, Thor, when did you start acting?
Well, after I graduated from college, my older brother was already an actor.
How did you start out?
Well, I began with small roles on Australia TV, and later landed a role on
Australian soap opera.
Oh, yeah, Home and Away.