节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-05-23
难易度:Low
关键字:jewelry, protein, spin, bedtime, fashion designer, fiber, liter
Welcome back, friends.
If you've studied with us for the last year or two, you'll remember an article
about making clothes from bamboo, plastic bottles and used coffee grounds.
So it shouldn't surprise us to learn about wearing milk.
How much milk does it take to make a dress?
Let's pick up the reading on line 12 and find out.
Would You Wear That?
She then heated it and spun it into yarn.
It takes about six liters of milk to produce one dress.
According to Domaske, the fabric feels like silk, doesn't smell and can be
washed.
Next on the menu...
Would you prefer bedtime slippers made of bread?
Twin brothers and designers R&E Praspaliauskas have created a unique slipper
made completely of bread.
The slippers can be ordered in white, gold, and black.
They also have styles for both adults and kids.
And yes, the bread slippers can be eaten if you get hungry for a late-night
snack.
We are looking at how milk fabric is made.
How do you take protein fibers and create cloth out of it?
Well, we were looking at Anke Domaske and her new process that does not use
chemicals.
Right. In her QMilch fabric, she takes the protein out of dry milk first.
Now we see what she does next.
She then heats it and spins it; or we see in past tebse here - she heated it and
spun it into yarn.
That's right.
Now we do need to look at this word "spun" as the past tense of the verb "spin."
So she was spinning; she has spun it.
So that's kind of a weird English conjugation there.
A little bit here.
But the word "spin" we normally think of is moving in a circle.
Now it has a little bit to do with this.
But when you spin something into yarn, or spin it into thread, that means you
take fibers - remember what those are?
All those long, thin strands - and you kind of actually spin them to make
thread.
It's a little bit thicker.
That's right.
They wind them together.
You put them all together to make it strong; and that makes yarn.
And yarn is a kind of thread.
It's... it's a little bit thicker.
And it's what you use to make different cloth.
OK. So now we're seeing a little bit about how she actually is creating a
thread, or yarn.
And you need yarn in order to make clothes, so.
I'm curious here: It takes a lot of milk, I would think, to make these milk
clothes.
Yeah. You would think that to make a whole outfit, you would need a lot of milk.
But it takes about six liters of milk to produce one dress, which is a lot less
than I would have thought.
Actually, yeah.
A "liter," we know, is a measurement of liquid.
And it's smaller than a gallon.
In the United States, mostly, we use gallons to measure liquid.
And here we're seeing a liter.
It's a bit smaller than that.
That's right.
If you want to get an idea of how much two liters of soda is one of those big
bottles of soda that you would get at the grocery store.
So you would need three of those because she uses six liters.
OK, so just six liters of milk.
That's very much.
And it makes a dress, a whole dress.
That's pretty good.
That's right.
Well, according to Domaske, the fabric feels like silk, it doesn't smell, and it
can be washed.
Oh, good.
It doesn't smell.
I kind of worried about that.
And this is awesome that it feels like silk.
We've talked about that a little bit earlier.
That's a very soft fabric, feels very nice.
That's right.
It's... it moves really well.
It has a lot of... it's very soft.
It feels great on your skin.
And you can wash it!
So don't worry about turning your dress into milk.
She has made it so that you can.
Well, let's see what is next on the menu.
I like that it says "Next on the menu" because what is coming up next is also a
food item.
Now we've talked about wearing milk, but what about bread?
Would you prefer bedtime slippers made of bread?
OK. That's weird.
Well, "bedtime," first of all, is the time when you go to sleep, the time that
you go to bed.
And a lot of people wear slippers.
That's right.
Now slippers are what you do wear when you're headed to bed.
They're the soft shoes that you wear around your house, not out in public.
Yeah.
So would you like to wear slippers made of bread?
No. But maybe you might.
And we see here that twin brothers and designers R&E Praspaliauskas have created
a unique slipper made completely of bread.
Now this sounds very strange to me to be walking around with bread on my feet
before bedtime.
Yeah. This sounds very weird to me.
I like to eat bread, I don't like to wear it.
But I don't know, maybe they're comfortable.
This is a very unique idea.
That's right.
Well, I'd like to learn a little bit more about this.
So let's visit the Information Station.
Bill, I think I like the idea of bedtime slippers made of bread.
I might dream of food that way.
Bryan, we have a letter here from Nancy in Nantou, and she writes:
Wow! Some of these food items as clothes are really interesting.
What other strange items can be worn?
That's a great question, Nancy.
And so to learn more, let's head over to...
Information Station.
Bryan, it is amazing what things can be turned into materials for clothing and
other purposes.
That's right. Did you know that bamboo can be made into clothes?
The fibers from bamboo can be turned into yarn and then made into scarves,
shirts and dresses.
Well, just make sure you don't visit the pandas at the zoo while wearing your
bamboo clothes.
Hey Bill, you know those plastic bottles that are used for soft drinks and
colas?
Oh, like those two-liter bottles for Coca Cola.
That's right.
The plastic from these bottles is melted down and then made into long strings of
plastic fiber.
And then this material can be made into blankets that keep you warm, or be used
as tape.
And speaking of tape, duct tape is mainly used in construction, but it has been
turned into many clothing items as well.
Yes. In America, many high schools have contest to see who can make the best
dress from duct tape.
Hmm, well, I don't know how stylish a duct tape dress would look.
Speaking of stylish, how about a paper dress?
In the 1960s, paper dresses were a brief hit.
That's right, Bill.
Dresses like this one sold for about $5.
But they didn't last very long.
Women could only wear them two or three times.
But they could do their homework on them.
Well, thanks for your question, Nancy in Nantou.
And we'll see all of you next time here at...
Information Station.
All right. These strange slippers can be ordered in white, gold, and black.
Huh. They are made entirely of bread, and are available in gold.
Yeah, different colors. That's very interesting.
Now these also have different styles, both for adults and for kids.
So you could wear them around your house, and your kids could wear them around
as well.
Now I wonder, do you think they leave little pieces of bread around the house?
Little crumbs everywhere you go.
That might be funny.
And I guess depending on the size of foot you have, you need a larger loaf or a
smaller loaf.
Well, I have a question.
Do you think you can eat them?
Well, we see, yeah, the bread slippers can be eaten if you get a little hungry
for a late-night snack.
Well, Ryan, I'm not sure I would eat a piece of bread that I've worn around on
my feet.
But hey, it's an interesting idea.
Would you like to try it? I don't know.
Yeah. That does sound interesting.
Now let's visit the Chat Room.
Oh, by the way, I want to thank you for recommending that plumber.
Oh, you found that guy.
Yep. He came over as soon as I called him and fixed the leak in 10 minutes.
Oh. Well, I'm glad it worked out for you.
Yeah. But there was one thing I wasn't too happy about.
Oh, yeah? What's that?
When he came over, I took out a pair of slippers and placed them at the front
door.
He didn't even bother to take off his boots.
He just marched right into my house.
So did you expect him to take his shoes off?
Sure. Isn't that common courtesy?
Uh, maybe in Taiwan.
But here in the U.S., people are not expected to take off their shoes when
entering someone's home.
Oh, really?
No wonder everybody looked at me strangely when I went to my neighbor's party
the other day.
I was the only one walking around in my socks.
Ha... Ken, if you ever come over to my house, please don't take your shoes off.
I don't want to smell your smelly socks.
OK. I'll be sure to keep them on.
So I should always keep my shoes on when I go into someone's home?
Not necessarily.
I think it's becoming more common now in America for people to wear slippers
indoors to avoid getting the floor dirty.
So the best thing to do is to ask the host whether you should take off your
shoes when you enter his or her home.
OK, will do.
Well, thanks for the culture lesson, Bryan.
You bet, Ken.
(Chinese).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And we're running out of time.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Bye-bye.
The foot fashion fad five years ago was Crocs.
Will bread shoes be the next big thing?
They sure do look comfortable and tasty.
I wonder if the bread slippers come in my size.
I bet they taste great toasted with a little butter and jam. Hmm.
Friends, we'll start the second day of this lesson by stepping away from wearing
food and moving on to wearing food packages.
Join us for more fun fashion, Would You Wear That, tomorrow.
Until then, have a greatday.