节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-09-14
难易度:High
关键字:sprawl, ecology, migration, critter, hectare, carnivorous
Hello, everyone.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to study with us.
We appreciate that.
Now I live in a city.
And as stimulating and convenient as that makes my life here, there are
definitely times I want to get out.
Get away from the noise and dizziness of the city streets and take in some fresh
air.
I want to discover and experience more of the wonderful world around me.
Well, for this, I think we have found the perfect place - the Green World
Ecological Farm in Taiwan's Hsinchu County.
Let's open our magazines and learn more about this unique and fascinating farm
on page 32.
Discover the Wonderful World Around You.
A trip to Green World is fun for the whole family.
Tired of urban sprawl and looking for a chance to get back to nature?
Hsinchu County's Green World Ecological Farm may be just what you've been
looking for.
Built on over 70 hectares, the park's combination of plant and animal ecology
gives the entire family a chance to relax and learn about the natural world.
Swan Lake.
A bird-watcher's paradise, the Swan Lake section of Green World is home to black
and white swans, pelicans, ducks and many other birds.
Each winter, the lake also serves as a temporary home to wild geese at the
southern end of their annual migration from Siberia.
Hello, friends.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
And today we are looking at, well, PLACES.
If you're looking for an interesting place to go, to get away from city life, we
have just the remedy.
That's right.
And like Kaylah said, if you want to get away from the city, escape city life,
we've got a place that's a bit more natural for you.
You can discover the wonderful world around you here.
That's right.
Take a trip to Green World.
It's fun for the entire family.
So we're going to discover what this Green World place is and how it helps us
discover the whole world that's going on around us.
OK. Well friends, are you tired of urban sprawl and looking for a chance to get
back to nature?
Now friends, how many of us live in a large city?
A lot of people do these days.
We live in big, urban areas. And "urban" means it has something to do with the
city.
So there's lots of buildings and traffic and roads, but there's not very many
green grass areas where nature can be growing.
Well, are you tired of this kind of sprawl?
Yes.
And "sprawl" is, when you're talking about a city, is talking about an area that
is covered in buildings that's very large, and it's usually not very clean.
That's right.
Now when a city is sprawling as it grows, we call that the sprawl.
So it's not the very beginning part of the city but what is continuing to reach
out further and further into the land.
So that... Ryan, that's really taking away a lot of countryside, and so that...
What would make us tired of the sprawl is that we're tired of just not being in
nature.
That's right.
In the city's sprawl, there's really no nature to be found.
So friends, you might want to get back to nature, go find nature.
And how can you do that?
Well, Hsinchu... Hsinchu County's Green World Ecological Farm may be just what
you're looking for.
OK. Now especially in Asia, the urban sprawl is pretty common, and so you might
want to find a place where you can escape it, find nature.
And here we see you can go to Hsinchu.
That's right.
Hsinchu is in the northern part of Taiwan, kind of the north middle area.
And it offers this park for you to visit.
It's built on over 70 hectares.
And it's what... OK, 70... 70 hectares? What is that?
OK. That's a great question.
A "hectare" is a measurement of land, very large measurement of land.
And it's 10,000 meters square, which is really big.
So 70... 70 of those, so that's a large area.
Yes, it is. This is very, very big.
And so this area is a preserve.
It's a place not only to preserve nature and maintain nature but you can go
visit here; and they call it Green World.
That's right.
Now the park's combination of plant and animal ecology gives the entire family a
chance to relax and learn about the natural world.
OK. Now the word "ecology" here is talking about the plants and animals and the
way they interact, and the way that nature works.
So this relationship, all of these different plants and animals are living in
this area.
And it creates a lovely environment that the entire family can relax in but also
learn a lot about.
So if you live in the city, it's a great place to go to learn about nature.
And that's what I like most, I think, Kaylah, is this is a chance for you to go
and learn about nature and actually experience it.
Now this park has many different sections, so let's take a look at each section
of the park.
OK. Our first section that we're going to start with is Swan Lake.
Now we know what a lake is.
A swan is a kind of bird that has a very long neck, and they're very beautiful.
They... they fly and they swim very beautifully.
They're recognized as one of those... one of the most beautiful kinds of birds
that there are.
That's true. OK.
So this lake is named after the swan.
And it's no mistake then that this is a bird-watcher's paradise.
And this section of Green World is home to black and white swans.
OK. So a bird watcher is a person who goes out to observe nature,
and they like watching birds and see how many of them they can find, how many
different kinds.
Well, here they'll find both black and white swans, pelicans, ducks and many
other birds.
Now these birds listed are all water birds, so it makes sense for them to be at
a lake.
Exactly. And of course this would be a bird-watcher's paradise.
And we're talking about a place that is the perfect thing for what these people
are looking for, in this case, bird-watching, watching birds.
That's right.
Now each winter, there's another bird that tends to visit.
The lake serves as a temporary home to wild geese, and they are at the southern
end of their annual migration from Siberia.
OK. Now "migration" is talking about when animals move from one place to
another.
And if it's annual, then it happens every year; and most birds have an annual
migration.
That's right.
They fly south for the winter, somewhere where it is warmer.
And here in Taiwan, we are the southern part of the Siberian... wild geese
migration.
OK. So you can go here and get a chance to see these birds.
Friends, there is a lot more to see at this park.
But right now, let's go to the Chat Room.
Where can it be?
Are you looking for something, Bryan?
Yes. Someone reported that a book was missing, so I'm looking for it.
That's strange.
Does the library lose books often?
It does happen every now and then.
Sometimes we find them right away.
But if we don't, they can be really hard to find.
I don't really like having to look for them because most of the time, it ends up
becoming a wild goose chase.
A what? What do geese have to do with anything?
Going on a wild goose chase means chasing or looking for something that you'd
never find.
That's a strange idiom.
Can you give me another example of how to use it?
Sure.
Joe went on a wild goose chase trying to catch the mouse in his basement, but it
got away.
I see.
Hey, speaking of geese, I was wondering about another idiom.
What does it mean when someone says their goose is cooked?
If your goose is cooked, that means that something really bad has happened to
you, or that your plans are ruined.
For example, if someone's boss finds out that they've been stealing from the
company, that person's goose is cooked.
I see.
What about the goose that... lays the golden eggs?
Isn't that another goose idiom?
I think you mean "killing" the goose that lays the golden eggs.
That means to destroy a way of making money.
Hmm, interesting.
Where does it come from?
Well, it's based on a story about a farmer who had a goose that laid one golden
egg each day.
The farmer killed the goose, thinking that he could get all the eggs at once, so
he never got any more.
I see.
So what is this book that you're looking for called?
It's called A Migrating Life by somebody called... uh, Caleb Moses.
Oh. That's the book I've been reading all day.
I'm sorry, Bryan.
I didn't mean to send you on a wild goose chase.
That's OK, Ken.
At least I know where it is.