节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-06-25
难易度:Medium
关键字:blossom, fertile, manufacture, crush, significance, migration, showcase
Hi, everyone.
Welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Steve.
Thanks for taking time out of your day to study English with us.
Last month's CULTURE article highlighted the hearty goodness of Hakka food.
This month we're going to continue with the Hakka theme and focus on the tung
tree.
For many years, Hakka communities took advantage of everything the tung tree had
to offer.
From the seeds to the wood, the oil and even the blossoms, the tung tree touched
every Hakka life in one way or another.
Let's open our studio Classroom magazines now to page 46 and learn about this
important part of Hakka culture.
(Music).
In Praise of the Tung Blossom.
Celebrating an important part of Hakka culture.
For centuries, frequent migrations, food shortages and conflicts made life
difficult for the Hakka people.
Yet while life was not easy, the tung tree proved to be a hidden blessing to
early Hakka settlers on Taiwan.
The trees grew well in the less-fertile, mountainous areas the Hakka often
called home.
There, the trees played an important economic role in budding Hakka communities.
Tung wood, for instance, was used to manufacture furniture, wooden shoes,
toothpicks and matches.
(Music).
Hello, friends.
Thank you so much for joining us right here in the studio.
My name is Kaylah.
And my name is Ryan.
And we've talked about Hakka culture in the past.
But usually, Kaylah, we're even talking about what they wear or what they eat,
but today this CULTURE article is very different.
That's right.
Today we are talking about Hakka culture, but specifically about a very special
tree.
And that's the tung tree.
We are "In Praise of the Tung Blossom" today.
That's what this article is called.
Now if you are praising something, that means you're giving it a lot of respect,
usually for doing something very well.
And in this case, we're praising the tung blossom.
That's right.
Now the tung tree, we... we know that that is just a tree.
But what is a blossom?
Well, a "blossom" is a very small flower, or perhaps a young flower.
OK. So this is the small flower that grows on the tung tree.
It is very beautiful. It has nice color.
But it also has a very important significance.
That's right.
And people in Hakka culture celebrate this important part of their culture.
That's right.
For centuries, frequent migrations, food shortages and conflicts made life
difficult for the Hakka people.
Now Ryan, in our study of Hakka people we have learned before that they're a
very hard-working people,
and the life has not been very easy for them.
So what are these categories of life?
OK. Well, we've seen, like you said, life wasn't very easy.
That's because the first one we see is there were frequent migrations.
Now if something happens frequently, that means it happens very often.
But what about migrations?
Now a "migration" is when a group of either people or animals travel in a large
number to a new place,
and they're going to live there temporarily.
"Temporarily" means they're staying only for a short time.
So we usually think of a migration as birds migrate south for the winter so they
can stay warm.
But here the Hakka people were forced to frequently migrate.
That's right. They're always moving from place to place.
And that can make life a little bit difficult.
Now they also had food shortages.
Now a shortage means there's not enough of something.
If there's a water shortage, that means there's not enough water for everyone to
have some.
So a food shortage would mean there just wasn't enough food.
So it would be another reason they would need to change from place to place.
Right. And there were also conflicts.
Conflicts mean there is a lot of fighting.
People don't agree, and so they fight.
So all three of these things can make life very difficult, and have made life
difficult for the Hakka people.
Yet while life was not easy, the tung tree proved to be a hidden blessing to
early Hakka settlers.
OK. So we're learning a little bit more about this tung tree and how the blossom
actually helps the Hakka people.
But first, now let's visit Liz with Grammar on the Go and learn a little bit
more about this interesting sentence.
Hello, friends. How are you doing today?
My name is Liz.
And it's time for Grammar on the Go.
Our article today is about the tung tree.
And we read: ... the tung tree proved to be a hidden blessing to early Hakka
settlers on Taiwan.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Notice the phrase, proved to be.
You probably know the word "to prove" to mean to show that something is true,
like:
The man was arrested because he could not prove where he was at the time of the
murder.
But in the case of today's sentence, "prove to be" means to turn out.
In other words, the tung tree has turned out to be a hidden blessing to early
Hakka settlers on Taiwan.
Use this phrase "prove to be" when you want to talk about something or someone
shows a certain quality after a period of time has passed.
For example, let's say Karen's company wasn't sure about whether Karen would be
a good worker or not.
But after a period of time, Karen was able to show them that she has the ability
to do the job. So we can say:
Although the company had their doubts about her abilities at first, Karen proved
to be a valuable worker in the end.
Or suppose you and your family decided to take the coastal highway because it
seems to be a faster route.
Unfortunately, it took much longer to get to your destination. So you can say:
We thought taking the coastal highway would save us time, but that proved to be
a bad idea.
So next time when you want to talk about how someone or something shows a
certain characteristic or quality after a period of time has passed,
give this phrase a try.
That's all the time we have for today.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go signing off.
Bye-bye.
Thank you, Liz.
Well, the tree did prove to be a hidden blessing.
Now we know "prove to be" means.
What does hidden blessing mean?
If something is a hidden blessing, that means it is very good, but maybe people
didn't know it was there before they found it.
And so this tree just looked like a normal tree, but it proved to be a blessing.
That's right.
Now the reason these trees were so important was because as the Hakka settlers
came to Taiwan,
they were forced to move into certain areas where maybe growing plants isn't
very easy.
Right. And this is a blessing for these Hakka settlers moving to Taiwan.
And a settler is, as we've learned before, people that are moving to a new
place.
That's right.
Now they are settling into Taiwan.
Well, the reason they're useful are the trees grow well in less-fertile soil.
So when they live in the mountainous areas - that's where the Hakka often call
home - this tree could grow.
Right. And those mountainous areas are not very fertile.
The word "fertile" means that it's easy for plants and trees to grow.
Right. So this tree can grow even when there's not... it's not very easy.
Well, there, the tree played an important economic role in budding Hakka
communities.
And here "budding" is like a blossom.
It means they are growing, they're starting.
Right. The word "bud" can actually also be used to refer to growing flowers.
And it helps their economic communities there.
That means how they could trade and sell things.
Well, tung wood, for instance, was used to manufacture furniture, wooden shoes,
toothpicks and matches.
That's right. And to "manufacture" means to produce many of these things.
So they had furniture, shoes, toothpicks and matches.
That's right.
So the tree has proven to be very useful.
We're going to learn a couple more of its uses and how we celebrate the tung
tree today after today's skit.
I am writing a poem.
What's your poem about?
It shows my appreciation and praise.
Well, that's sweet.
Is it for your mom?
No.
Is it for your girlfriend?
No.
Is it for me?
Definitely no.
No, no, no.
No. My poem praises the tung blossom.
Tung blossom?
Is that a singer?
No. The tung blossom is an old tree.
You're writing a poem for a tree?
Yes, the tung tree has long been an important part of Hakka life and culture.
Why is that?
Well, they grew well in the less-fertile mountainous Hakka areas.
They were a hidden blessing to early settlers.
A hidden blessing?
Yes. Tung wood was used to manufacture furniture, shoes, toothpicks and matches.
Oh. So the wood is useful.
Yes. And the seeds produced oil for wood and paper umbrellas.
That's useful too.
Do the trees still hold economic value today?
Not as much as before.
But the tung blossom is still celebrated in Hakka literature and art.
So you're writing a poem praising it.
That's right.
Listen to this.
Oh, tung blossom tree.
You are special to me.
Go on.
Well, that's all Ihave so far.