节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-09-27
难易度:Medium
关键字:extinct, stripe, muscular, prey, eyesight, decline
Welcome back, everybody.
Well, 2022 is the next year of the Tiger.
But will there be any tigers around to celebrate?
These next ten years will be crucial for the tigers' survival.
If nothing is done to help them, they'll be gone.
However, if we act now, we could help them to potentially double in number.
And that would be a great way to celebrate, right?
OK, back to the lesson, The Future of Tigers, on line 3.
(Music).
The Future of Tigers.
Tigers are powerful, muscular - weighing up to 363 kilograms - and incredibly
fast.
They can run at speeds up to 56 kilometers per hour.
This speed and strength gives them an advantage over their prey, allowing them
to kill much larger animals for food.
Tigers have excellent eyesight and hunt in the dark.
They hunt alone and travel over a wide area in search of food.
Yet in spite of these qualities, nothing has been able to prevent the rapid
decline of this beautiful beast.
Today we're talking about the fascinating creature - the tiger.
We've learned that they are the largest of the big cats.
They are two meters in length in their body and another meter in their tail.
So they're huge.
But more than that, we're learning now that tigers are powerful.
Yes, they are very strong.
And the word "powerful" here means to have a lot of power, to be strong.
They are also muscular.
Now to be "muscular" means you have very well-developed muscles.
Now most men like to be very muscular.
They like to look very strong, and they have very strong muscles.
Now Ryan, are you a muscular kind of guy?
Uh, not really. I wish I was.
Well, tigers are definitely a muscular animal.
They're very athletic, and they are still huge, though.
Yeah. They can weigh up to 363 kilograms.
That's heavy!
And they can still move incredibly fast.
So they're large, they're long, they're powerful, they're muscular, they're
heavy, and they're... extremely fast.
These are incredible animals.
They are fast. They can run at speeds up to 56 kilometers per hour.
Wow! They're 363 kilograms and can still run 56 kilometers per hour!
With this speed and strength, they have an extreme advantage over their prey.
That's right.
And that's what makes them so dangerous.
Friends, the word "prey" is talking about the animals that other animals eat.
That's right. That... they are his prey.
So if a tiger is hunting and eating an animal, they are its prey.
Another word for "prey" could be a "victim." But please look at the spelling of
this word.
It is P-R-E-Y. That is the victim.
And then to P-R-A-Y is completely different.
Yes, it is.
Now this speed and strength allows them to kill much larger animals for food.
That's right.
So they are huge and fast.
And they can kill very easily.
OK. They sound scary to me.
Now tigers also have excellent eyesight.
And that allows them to hunt in the dark.
Now a lot of times we think that, well, maybe it's dark, it's going to be safe
to be out.
But tigers, like most cats, have very good eyesight even in the dark.
OK. Now "eyesight" here is talking about your ability to see or how well you can
see.
Now if you wear glasses, you don't have very good eyesight.
I wear contacts.
My eyesight is not very good.
But Ryan, your eyesight is great.
Yeah. I actually have pretty good eyes.
So that means I have good eyesight.
So are you like a tiger?
Can you see in the dark?
Not as well as a tiger, unfortunately.
And luckily, I don't hunt like a tiger does.
But their eyesight allows them to find other animals at night.
And they hunt alone and travel over a wide area in search of food.
We think about lions, which is the other big cat.
They hunt in a group.
Tigers are actually hunting alone.
That allows them to spread out in search of prey over large distances.
OK. Now "in spite of these qualities..." and here we use this phrase "in spite
of" something, what are we talking about?
That means even though they have these amazing qualities - the qualities being
the different abilities,
their strength, their size, their speed, their eyes - nothing has been able to
prevent the rapid decline of these... of this beautiful beast.
OK. So we've been talking this whole time, friends, about how amazing the tiger
really is,
how beautiful they are and how strong and powerful they are.
But nothing has been able to stop their decline.
That's right.
It has been a rapid decline.
Now "decline" means to gradually become less or worse or lower.
And so here it probably means lower, as in the lower number of animals.
They're... they're fewer and fewer and fewer.
But in our definition we say "gradual." So how does "rapid" define decline?
Well, here it is actually increasing.
And so you can use this word "decline" to talk about animals dying off.
And it's happening really quickly with these tigers.
That's right.
And we call them a beautiful beast.
And a beast is, once again, a large animal that is usually very strong and
powerful.
OK, friends, we're going to talk more about what we can do to save the tiger
tomorrow.
Right now, though, let's watch the skit.
Today we're talking about... tigers.
Yeah. Tigers are terrific!
Yeah. Tigers are the biggest of all the cats.
Even bigger than lions?
Yes, bigger than lions.
And today we have some fascinating facts about tigers.
Fascinating facts?
Like what?
Well, every tiger has its own pattern of stripes.
Oh. So no two tigers have exactly the same stripes.
That's right.
The stripes help tigers hide in the tall grass.
Well, the stripes hide the tigers very well.
How do you know?
I've never seen a tiger in the all grass. Have you?
No. All right.
Well, do you know how many stripes tigers have?
Uh, no. I've never counted their stripes.
Well, somebody has.
Tigers have over 100 stripes.
Oh. That's a lot.
What else do you know about tigers?
Well, tigers can leap over 33 feet.
Oh? Whose feet?
I don't want a tiger jumping over my feet.
No! A distance of 33 feet.
That's about ten meters.
Wow. That is a long leap.
And tigers can run about 55 kilometers per hour.
I don't want a tiger chasing me.
You know any other facts?
Yeah! Tigers enjoy the water.
They are strong swimmers.
Wow! So tigers can jump and run and swim.
They can play baseball too.
Baseball?
I don't think so.
Sure they can.
Haven't you heard of the Detroit Tigers?
Very funny.
Yeah, that's a baseball team, the Tigers.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And I guess that's it for today.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Bye-bye.
Friends, the world's wild tiger population is at its lowest point ever.
But tigers can recover and quickly.
If we humans take action now, we can eventually get tigers off the endangered
species list.
To do that, though, three threats must be eliminated: the threat of tiger
hunters, the threat to the animals that tigers like to eat,
and the threat to the places where tigers hunt and mate.
Tomorrow we'll look at each of these three things in more detail.
So until then, I hope you have a great day.
Bye-bye.