节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-06-06
难易度:Low
关键字:celebration, pottery, reward, elegant, lavender
Welcome back, everybody.
We actually have a small correction to make.
Our lesson's deck says exciting experiences await you on Japan's beautiful
northern island. But technically,
it should say Japan's beautiful "northern islands." You see, Hokkaido includes a
few fun smaller islands up near the border of Russia.
Let's visit them right now on page 19.
(Music).
Hokkaido.
Rishiri-to and Rebun-to.
Leave Hokkaido by ferry or plane to tour these small but beautiful northern
islands.
In the center of Rishiri-to lies Mount Rishiri-zan.
Those who complete the challenging climb to the top will be rewarded with an
impressive view.
From its top, you can see all of Rishiri-to and some nearby islands.
Continue north across a small stretch of water to admire Rebun-to's gentle hills
and fields.
This island's elegant beauty has earned it the name "floating island of
flowers." Enjoy hiking through its colorful fields and along the rugged coast.
(Music).
Well, we had been adventuring on Hokkaido, Japan's northern island seeing what
you can do there.
The scenery, the lavender fields, the festivals and the workshops are all
exciting.
But there's even more to the northern islands of Japan.
That's right.
Hokkaido is a lot of fun, but there are other smaller islands all around it.
And you can travel to these two in particular, Rishiri-to and Rebun-to.
That's right.
You need to leave Hokkaido by ferry or plane to tour these small but beautiful
northern islands.
So a ferry, let's decide what that word is first.
Now here a ferry would be talking about a boat that can take you a short
distance, not very long, but can take a lot of people at one time.
That's right.
So these ferries are usually a slower boat, just to carry people usually a
pretty short distance.
And you can also take a small plane to these islands as well.
That's right. They're small but they're still very beautiful.
All right. So in the center of Rishiri-to lies Mount Rishiri-zan.
I guess that makes sense if you have Rishiri-to to have a mountain called
Rishiri-zan on it.
So you can visit mountains in Hokkaido, but you can also visit special mountains
on other islands.
OK. Kaylah, so why would you go visit this mountain Rishiri-zan?
Well, it's definitely a challenge to take on.
We see in our next sentence that those who complete the challenging climb to the
top of this mountain will be rewarded with a very impressive view.
Now you can imagine that it's on a small island, and if you get to the very
highest point,
I'm assuming you'll see ocean and other beautiful mountains on different
islands.
Oh, it has to be very rewarding.
Yeah, it does sound like it would be rewarding.
And that word "reward" means to get something for doing something right or doing
something well.
And so if you go up here, you would get to see this very impressive view.
Now this reward is just something you get to see.
But often rewards are something you actually get.
If you do very well in a competition, maybe your team wins a competition, you
are rewarded with a medal or a trophy.
Or maybe you get coupons or free food.
So rewards can be both something you get as well as something that just is
enjoyable while you're there.
That's true.
And like you said, if you win a competition, Kaylah, there's another word that
sounds similar called an award.
And that is also something you get for winning a competition.
But you would be rewarded an award.
But in this case, you can be rewarded with anything.
That's right. And here you are rewarded with an impressive view.
"Impressive" meaning very beautiful and probably unusual and very special.
Yeah, it makes you feel impressed.
It makes you think it's amazing.
And so if you go to these mountains to hike them, then you can see this.
Now from the top of the mountain, you can see all of Rishiri-to and some nearby
islands as well.
So from the top of the highest point, I was right, you can see ocean, islands
and the entire island underneath you.
That's right.
So continue north now across a small stretch of water to admire Rebun-to's
gentle hills and fields.
Now there's a lot going on in that sentence, so let's visit Liz with Grammar on
the Go.
Hi, friends.
How are you doing today?
My name is Liz.
And it's time for Grammar on the Go.
Our writer writes:
Continue north across a small stretch of water to admire Rebun-to's gentle hills
and fields.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Notice the phrase, a small stretch.
Normally, when we talk about "stretch," we're talking about the action or
movement of pulling something to make it long, like stretching a rubber band.
The noun form of "stretch" usually means the movement or action of pulling or
making something longer.
But in the case of today's sentence, "stretch" has a different meaning.
Here it means an area of land or water.
And it's usually a long or skinny area.
So besides a stretch of water, we can have a stretch of highway as in:
All along that stretch of highway, we saw no other cars go by us.
Or a stretch of road as in:
There is a dangerous stretch of road that runs through the mountains.
We can also take "stretch" to describe a group of things lined up or set up in a
row.
For example, if you're driving on a street through a crowded neighborhood, you
will pass by a stretch of houses.
We can even use "stretch" to talk about a period of time as in:
Although the wait was only half an hour, it felt like a long stretch of time.
If you want to see some more example sentences,
they're available in today's Grammar Tip section in your Studio Classroom
magazine.
That's all the time we have for today.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go signing off.
Bye-bye.
Thank you very much, Liz.
So now we have traveled over to Rebun-to where you can find gentle hills and
fields.
Now the word "gentle" there means to be very calm or very soft.
You might think of some person can be gentle.
That means they're kind and calm.
But now we're talking about gentle hills.
That means there's not too many rocks.
In fact, you can see a picture of a gentle hill on Rebun-to on page 19.
That's right.
Now... it's not that the hill itself is very soft and squishy to step on.
Rather, it means it moves very smoothly, doesn't have very steep or sharp edges
on it.
That's why we call it "hill," a rolling, gentle hill.
Now this island's elegant beauty has earned its name "the floating island of
flowers." And Ryan,
in that gentle hills picture, you can see the flowers there as well.
Yeah, that's a lot of elegant beauty.
And the word "elegant," of course, means that something is very attractive or
very graceful, very nice.
That's right.
And these would definitely be elegant and beautiful flowers and fields to visit.
Yeah. It's a very gorgeous, very beautiful place.
And so you can go here for the beauty.
You go here to feel a little bit more relaxed.
There's definitely hiking you can do.
You can enjoy hiking throught its colorful fields and along the rugged coast.
So the hills are gentle, but the coast is rugged.
All right. And the word "rugged" there means the opposite of gentle.
That means that there are a lot of rocks.
It maybe is a little bit difficult to hike.
And so that would be a bit more of an adventure.
That's right, "rugged" meaning it would have those stiff... those steep cliffs
that there are not on the gentle hills.
Exactly. So this sounds like a beautiful and exciting little island that you can
go visit.
Join us tomorrow as we continue talking about this northern area of Japan.
Right now let's go to the Chat Room.
Hey, Bryan.
Oh, hi, Ken.
Wow! Those pictures are beautiful.
Where were they taken?
They were taken in Hokkaido.
My friend Peter went there for vacation.
Wow! I'm really impressed with those sceneries.
Yes, they are beautiful.
But Ken, you can't say sceneries.
I can't?
Why not?
Why don't we go to Doris for an explanation?
"Scenery" is an uncountable noun.
So it can not be plural.
You can say the scenery is really beautiful, or that area has some really
beautiful scenery.
If you want to use a countable noun, you can use the word "view." For example,
the views from the summit are spectacular.
OK. So I can't say what a beautiful scenery; I have to say what a beautiful
view.
Or what beautiful scenery.
I see.
What about a change of scenery, Bryan?
What does that mean?
If you want to move to a different place where the surroundings are different
from the place you're living in,
then you want a change of scenery.
So if I'm tired of living in the city, I can go to the country for a change of
scenery?
Sure. A change of scenery might help you relax and organize your life.
Great. Thanks for the English lesson and the beautiful scenery.
Sure, Ken.
(Chinese).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And that concludes our Language Tips today.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Bye-bye.
Thank you, Michelle.
Friends, please use our Studio Classroom English Corner as a resource to ask
questions about an article.
Your question may be related to grammar, the lesson's content or the Studio
Classroom teacher who was speaking.
Some of you already do this and have even used the forum to raise objections to
something we printed in the magazine or said on the air.
On occasion, we've received a gentle correction too, which we humbly accept as
well.
Again, it's our Studio Classroom English Corner at StudioClassroom.com.
Friends, let's go back to Hokkaido tomorrow.
Until then, have a great day.