节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-08-08
难易度:Medium
关键字:delight, coastline, coarse, bleach, emeral, quartz, Appalachian Mountains
Welcome back, everybody.
The biggest newspaper in America called the beaches of Florida's Emerald Coast
"the best in the country." You mean better than the beaches in California?
Better than the beaches in Hawaii?
That is high praise, indeed.
Now one thing that makes Emerald Coast beaches so great is the special sand.
Let's learn about that now under the heading "The sands of time" on line 15.
(Music).
The Emerald Coast.
The sands of time.
Everyone visiting the region for the first time is amazed by the color and
texture of the sand.
Many beaches have coarse, hot sand, which makes walking on them difficult.
But the famous sand of the northwest Florida beaches is powdery fine and cooler
than most.
The sand started out as quartz from the Appalachian Mountains and traveled down
streams into the Gulf of Mexico.
Over time, the pieces were broken up, bleached and polished, and covered the
trademark beaches of the Emerald Coast.
The Emerald Coast boasts beautiful waters and soft white sands that are now
allow it to be ranked the number one beach in America,
which draws a lot of tourists to visit.
What started out as just a small fishing village area is now known for bringing
in a lot of tourism.
But not to worry, the small-town, sleepy feel is still there.
OK. And now there are luxurious, or very grand and expensive hotels there as
well.
So now we're going to move forward, and we see The sands of time.
Now this is an interesting phrase we use in English to refer to time passing or
to look at past events up to now.
Now why is "the sands of time" a phrase?
Well, in the past, in order to measure time, people use something called an
hourglass.
And that would let the sand fall from the top to the bottom.
So you say "the sands of time," time is passing by.
That's right.
Now everyone visiting the region for the first time is amazed by the color and
texture of the sand.
Now this is what makes it the most popular, these sugar-white sandy beaches.
Now what makes them so special?
Well, it says here the texture of the sand - that's the way it feels - because
many beaches have coarse, hot sand, which makes walking on them difficult.
That's right.
Now the word "coarse" means it is rough.
It is not soft.
And you can imagine if you've been to a sandy area, most sand is a little bit
coarse.
You walk on it, and it kind of scratches away at your feet.
It doesn't really hurt, but it's not very comfortable either.
Right. And so these beaches here at the Emerald Coast are very soft, very
comfortable because they have a fine texture.
And so the famous sand of the northwest Florida beaches is powdery fine, and
it's cooler than most sands.
That's right.
"Powdery" refers to the texture.
If you think of flour, the texture of flour, that is a powder.
It's very soft and very comfortable if you're going to walk on it.
But it also makes the sand cooler because the sun does not heat up and stay in
it.
Because of the color and the texture, the sand actually stays a lot cooler to
walk on.
So you don't burn your feet on the sand.
That's right, friends.
OK. So what makes this sand so fine, and what keeps it so cool?
Well, it's what the sand is made out of.
The sand started out as quartz from the Appalachian Mountains and traveled down
the streams into the Gulf of Mexico.
OK. So "quartz" is a type of rock that is commonly used in electronics.
It's very clear in color.
And so that is what is broken down in order to make the sand.
And it comes down out of the "Appalachian Mountains." Now these are the
mountains that are on the eastern part of the United States.
They're very hill-like.
They're very rolling, extremely beautiful.
But it's a very long mountain range that goes from Florida all way up into
Canada.
That's right, very huge mountain range there.
And so all of the streams, or the small rivers, that travel out of those
mountains go down through Florida into the Gulf of Mexico.
And the Gulf of Mexico is the water that the Emerald Coast is coming off of.
So it is the ocean-type front right there.
OK. Now over time, the little pieces of quartz are then broken up.
They are bleached and polished, and then they covered the trademark beaches of
the Emerald Coast.
So they're broken up.
That's how they get so fine.
It gets taken from large pieces of rock to being flowing down the streams and
into the ocean.
It breaks that stone apart and makes it very soft and powdery.
And then we see the word "bleached" here.
It's actually describing how they turn white.
Yeah. Well, that's what the word "bleach" means.
If something is bleached, that means all of the color is taken out of it.
So then they are very white, and they end up at these trademark beaches.
That's right.
Since the rock starts out kind of clear, it makes sense that in the sun and in
the salty water it becomes bleached,
creating these beautiful white sand, soft sand beaches of the Emerald Coast.
Right. These trademark beaches are the most popular beaches in the area and some
of the best beaches in the world.
Friends, join us tomorrow as we continue talking about the Emerald Coast.
Now let's visit the Chat Room.
Is that a picture of your son?
It sure is. This was taken at a beach in Hawaii when he was little.
Oh, how cute!
Yeah. It was the first time he went to the beach, and he just wouldn't put his
foot down onto the sands.
Onto the sand.
The sand?
Aren't there lots of sands?
No, Ken.
"Sand" is uncountable.
If you're going to count it, you can say: a grain of sand.
Is sand ever countable?
Only when we use it in the phrase, the sands of time.
The sands of time?
What does that mean?
Well, this phrase has a literary meaning.
There is a poem by the famous American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, titled
"A Psalm of Life." It goes:
Lives of great men all remind us.
We can make our lives sublime.
And, departing, leave behind us.
Footprints on the sands of time.
Hmm, very profound.
You may also hear "The sands of time are running out." That means time is
getting short, and you should do what you need to do now.
So if a person doesn't have a long time to live, he should be aware that the
sands of time are running out?
Exactly.
Have you ever seen an hourglass?
An hourglass?
Yes. An hourglass has sand in it to measure time.
It is also called a sand glass.
Oh yeah, of course. My wife uses it sometimes when she cooks.
So if the sands of time are running out, what should we do?
Carpe diem.
Carpe diem?
Are you speaking English?
Actually, it's Latin.
"Carpe diem" is a Latin phrase that means seize the day.
If time is running out, we should grab hold of the present before it's too late.
Good advice.
(Chinese).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And we're running out of time again.
I'll see you soon. Bye-bye.
Thank you, Michelle.
Friends, have you ever seen the movie The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey?
With all the charming tin-roofed buildings painted in pastel colors and the neat
and well-planned community that Truman lived in,
it seemed like a giant Hollywood movie set.
But it wasn't.
It was the Emerald Coast community of Seaside.
Well, it's said that a lot of people go to the Emerald Coast for the beaches,
but they return for the fishing.
We'll talk about that tomorrow.
So until then, have a great day and take care.