节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-06-07
难易度:Low
关键字:forbid, species, variety, float, juggler, mime, raft
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to study English with us.
We appreciate that.
For the past two days, we've been wandering around Japan's beautiful northern
island Hokkaido.
We know that Hokkaido is a great place to visit in the wintertime with its
skiing and other forms of wintry fun.
And the springtime draws a lot of tourists because of its world-famous cherry
blossoms.
But, what happens after the snow melts and the blossoms fade?
Plenty.
So let's visit the city of Asahikawa and enjoy the annual street performance
festival on page 19.
(Music).
Hokkaido.
Asahikawa Street Performance Festival.
In 1966, the city of Asahikawa on Hokkaido set apart one street as a shopping
area where vehicles where forbidden.
To celebrate, local people hold a festival of street performances each year.
Jugglers, mimes and more fill the street, creating an artistic event you won't
want to miss.
Before leaving Asahikawa, visit the Asahiyama Zoo, Japan's number-one zoo.
It has about 50 different species of animals.
(Music).
Hello, everyone.
Thank you for joining us.
My name is Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
And we're finishing up our TRAVEL article in the northern islands of Japan.
That's right.
We're talking about Hokkaido here.
And yesterday we actually left the main island of Hokkaido to go visit a couple
of smaller islands nearby,
where you can find adventures, hiking as well as the beauty of gentle hills.
That's right.
We visited two different islands.
And now we're going back to Hokkaido for a special street performance festival.
OK. This is the Asahikawa Street Performance Festival.
Now a street performance, we should know what that is.
That is when you are entertaining someone standing on the street.
Usually in big cities, you can walk around and see maybe someone playing an
instrument,
or dancing or juggling or doing magic tricks.
Those are street performers - any kind of entertainment that draws a crowd.
Right. It's performance in a street, pretty simple. OK.
So, but this year it's a street performance festival.
So let's start off now learning a little bit about the history.
In 1966, the city of Asahikawa on Hokkaido set apart one street as a shopping
area where vehicles were forbidden.
So this happened in the 60s, but we know it's pretty common now in different
cities around the world.
Yeah. There are a lot of cities that have streets that are designed for people
to go walk and shop.
And cars on those streets are usually forbidden.
That's right.
Now the only people allowed to drive a vehicle on that would be emergency
vehicles like police or ambulances,
somebody who needs to help.
Other than that, it's for walking, not driving.
Right. But most vehicles here are forbidden.
And that word "forbidden" means that something is not allowed.
That's right.
So these streets are wide, and there's lots of room for people to walk around
and enjoy visiting stores.
And they don't have to worry about getting hit by a car because they are
forbidden.
Exactly. And these places are very popular for people to come and walk and shop.
Now to celebrate, local people hold a festival of street performances each year.
So they celebrate that this was a place that they could do and enjoy this kind
of entertainment.
OK. So each year, they have this festival now where performers come and they
perform in the street.
That's right.
Now jugglers, mimes and more fill the streets, creating an artistic event that
you just won't want to miss.
So let's decide what are these different kinds of performances like.
OK. Well, the first one we talked about is "jugglers." Now if you juggle, the
verb,
that means that you usually have three balls or three things in your hand, and
you throw them up in the air,
and try to keep them all in the air for as long as you can.
That's right.
And being a street performer, Ryan, they wouldn't just use three.
They would use large numbers and crazy objects, and definitely be entertaining.
So jugglers will be there as well as mimes.
Now a "mime" is a silent performer.
They tell a story with their body but don't say anything.
Usually we think of a mime as having a painted face and a set expression that
doesn't change.
Right. They... they use their body to express and to act without using any
words.
And you'll usually see them moving their hands and moving their body in very
interesting ways.
That's right.
They create the space and the things without props.
They're very talented, and it's usually very comical.
It's very funny to watch, especially a street mime.
They like to make fun of people as they walk by too.
They're very entertaining.
OK. Now in this article, they're saying that they're filling the streets.
There are a lot of them here.
It's a very artistic event.
And you won't want to miss it.
But we have some more information about that. Don't we, Kaylah?
That's right.
So let's visit the Information Station.
Bryan, Hokkaido sure sounds like a great place to visit in the summer.
It really is, Bill.
But there are also some interesting facts about Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido
prefecture and Hokkaido's largest city.
And to learn more about Sapporo, we need to head over to...
Information Station.
Bill, baseball is popular in Japan.
And summer is the perfect time to see Sapporo's favorite team in the Japanese
baseball league, the Nippon Ham Fighters.
What a strange name, the Ham Fighters.
No. These guys don't fight with hams.
They are owned by a large food processing company in Japan.
And their name, "the Ham Fighters," helps promote the company's products.
But Sapporo has some other sports history too.
Yes, Bryan.
The 1972 Winter Olympics were held in Sapporo.
These were the first winter Olympics held outside of North America and Europe.
And the first ever held in Asia.
Japan also hosted the second Asian Winter Olympics in Nagano in 1998.
Now how do we get to Sapporo?
Well, we could take a flight from Tokyo, which takes about three and a half
hours.
But for a real adventure, how about a train ride to Sapporo?
Yes. The train from Tokyo to Sapporo travels through the Seikan Tunnel, which is
the longest tunnel in the world.
And this is no ordinary tunnel, Bill.
The Seikan Tunnel is over 50 kilometers long, and most of it is deep in the
rock's seabed under the ocean.
This puts the train 800 feet below sea level.
It took five years to build.
And it uses regular trains for now.
But the bullet trains will use the tunnel in 2015.
So you should be patient on this train ride because a trip from Tokyo to Sapporo
takes ten and a half hours.
Well, the trip back from Sapporo is OK because passengers can snack on the
famous white chocolate biscuits called shiroi koibito,
which are only sold in Hokkaido.
Hmm, sounds tasty, Bill.
Well, that's it from Sapporo.
We'll see you all next time here at...
Information Station.
OK. Well, before leaving Asahikawa, you can visit the Asahiyama Zoo, Japan's
number-one zoo.
That's right.
So it's... the zoo usually we think... think the number-one zoo, the most famous
zoo in Japan would be on the main island.
But it's not. It's on Hokkaido.
Now it has 50 different species of animals that you can see.
That's right.
And a "species" is a group of plants or animals that are similar to each other.
Or they're not quite the same, but they're close.
So there are 50 different kinds of animals to see at the zoo.
And you can see a couple of those animals in the picture of zoo on page 19 in
your Studio Classroom magazine.
OK. Well, join us after this video for some more outdoor adventures.