节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-10-30
难易度:Medium
关键字:architecture, arguably, commision, armor, ornate, vampire
Hi, friends.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us today.
As always, my name is Steve.
Castles, why are we so fascinated with them?
Well, maybe it's because they have long and deep-rooted associations with fairy
tales and ghost stories.
Or perhaps it's because they fuel our imaginations with dreams of life as a
princess or a knight.
Or maybe it's because castles are historic landmarks, residences and village
defensive structures all rolled into one,
making their design and surrounding landscapes very, very interesting.
Well, whatever it is, castles continue to amaze and inspire.
Let's open our Studio Classroom magazines to page 50 and begin reading about
some very cool castles.
Cool Castles.
These castles from around the world amaze and inspire.
Castles have long been a favorite setting for dramatic stories and events, fact
and fantasy alike.
Their architecture catches your attention, and their history pulls you in.
Their rooms tell tales and offer mystery that will fuel your imagination.
If you get the chance, here are six amazing castles you'll definitely want to
visit.
Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany.
This is arguably the most famous castle in the world and with good reason.
It was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.
(Music).
Hi, everyone.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ryan.
And my name in Kaylah.
And today we are talking about HISTORY.
But friends, we're talking about the history of a really cool kind of building.
That's true, friends.
Many of you have heard of Disney, and you know there is a very famous castle
that Disney is known for.
Well, we're going to talk about some real castles that I think are much cooler
than Disney's.
That's right. Today we're talking about Cool Castles.
Now a castle is a large home that usually someone royal - a king or queen -
would have lived in, or just someone very rich and having a lot of authority.
So a castle is a place that's very large and expensive.
Yeah. Basically it's a very old, large, expensive home for rich people.
Well, these castles that we're going to show you from around the world, they
amaze and inspire.
That's right.
You will be amazed by them.
And we're going to show you how they inspired other things.
And "to inspire" means to help them come up with something new.
All right.
Well, castles have long been a favorite setting for dramatic stories and events.
That's right.
They're both part of fact and fantasy.
So it's... it's cool because dramatic stories are things that have a lot going
on, and there's... they're exciting.
There's a lot of mystery and maybe adventure and possibly love involved.
So they do have a very mystical and fantasy like.
Yeah, they're very... they have a lot of fantasy.
And the word "fantasy" means something that is only imagined in your head.
It's something that you can only dream of and it's not really fact.
That's right. They have been a part of a lot of stories but not just fantasy,
also fact, true stories.
We phrase it here as saying "fact and fantasy alike." Well, that's our Grammar
on the Go tip, so let's go visit Liz.
Hi, friends.
Greetings from Germany.
My name is Liz.
And it's time for Grammar on the Go.
I'm here at the famous castle Neuschwanstein, which we'll be talking more about
later in today's article.
The article begins with this sentence:
Castles have long been a favorite setting for dramatic stories and events, fact
and fantasy alike.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Notice the phrase, have long been.
It's a sure way of saying "have been for a long time." So today's sentence can
be rewritten as:
Castles have been for a long time a favorite setting for dramatic stories and
events, fact and fantasy alike.
"Have long been" is most often found in formal situations.
For example, you might hear it in a speech.
The senior citizens of this neighborhood have long been the moral support of our
community development projects.
Or you can use this phrase to talk about traditions like:
The dragon and phoenix have long been a part of Chinese wedding symbols.
So give this phrase a try.
Think of something that has been a certain way for a long time and try making a
sentence with this phrase.
And if you want to see some more example sentences, then check out today's
Grammar Tip section in your Studio Classroom magazine.
That's it for today.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go, signing off, in Germany.
Bye-bye.
Well, castles have been the settings of many amazing stories.
And that means that's where the stories take place.
And we know this because their architecture catches your attention and their
history pulls you in.
I... I can't explain why this is so fun for me, but I love talking about
castles.
It brings out the little girl in me who likes the fantasy stories because the
architecture really captures you.
Now the architecture... I'm not usually captured by architecture because
"architecture" is the way a building is made,
the design of it, how it's decorated, the way they go about putting it together.
But castles, there's something so fascinating about them because they hold so
much mystery.
You wonder what's behind all of... all the doors that no one opens.
And all of the tall towers.
Friends, take a look at page 50 and look at these castles on these... in this
article.
They are very beautiful.
They have beautiful architecture.
And they definitely capture your attention.
You want to know more about them, and you want to learn about their history.
That's right.
Their rooms tell tales and offer mystery that will fuel your imagination.
Now friends, I have a very vivid imagination.
It is crazy the things that I think of sometimes.
So the idea of a room telling a tale means that it holds a story and you just
want to know what is in there,
what happened, what's the mystery that is going on in this castle.
And friends, that's why I like castles because my imagination goes crazy!
Yeah. Your imagination is the things that you think of that don't exist in the
real world.
And of course, castles offer mystery as well - something that you don't know but
you want to know more about.
So you can imagine why I think this is going to be fun.
OK. Well friends, if you get the chance, here are six amazing castles you will
definitely want to visit.
OK, get your notepad out because here we go!
First, we're headed over to Europe to Germany for a very special castle with a
very strange name.
It's called the Neuschwanstein Castle.
OK. Say that ten times fast, friends.
The Neusch... Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany is arguably the most famous
castle in the world and with good reason.
You can hardly say it once, so you can't even say it ten times.
I don't speak German.
This castle is one of the most famous there are for an arguably... It is really
famous.
When we say "arguably," that means that it is possibly.
But I think it very well could be because, friends, whether you know it or not,
you've seen it.
That's right, friends.
It has a good reason that it is so famous.
And it was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.
This is the real one.
Oh! That's exciting.
Friends, if you've ever gotten to go to California to Disneyland, or Japan, or
to Hong Kong to see these different castles, this might be really exciting.
Also, even if you've never been to see one standing, if you ever watch a Disney
movie,
that castle at the beginning that we see the Disneyland and Tinkerbell flies
over it, that's the castle we're talking about.
Exactly.
Friends, this castle in Germany was the inspiration for the castle that used in
Disney.
It is what inspired them, or caused them, to want to create a similar-looking
castle.
Now friends, it's not the exact same castle.
When we say "inspires," that does not mean it copies.
That means it gives you an idea.
And the Disney animation team saw it, said: That's a great idea, let's make that
the Sleeping Beauty Castle.
And it's now the most arguably, one of the most famous, most popular, well-known
because, well, Disney made it that way.
All right, friends, you can see on page 50.
This is a beautiful castle.
Now we've got plenty more information on this castle and many others right
afterthis.