节目资讯
刊物:空中英語教室
日期:2012-04-17
难易度:High
关键字:predecessor, fluid, cannon, hood, lever, hull
Hi, everybody. Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve.
Thanks for joining us.
Leonardo da Vinci, you might not recognize the name, but you most certainly
would recognize his artwork like The Last Supper,
and arguably, the most famous painting in the world - the Mona Lisa.
Now if da Vinci devoted his life just to art, he still would have secured a
place in history as a genius.
But he wasn't content to stop there.
Da Vinci's genius and thirst for knowledge spilled over into the world of
engineering and science as well.
Let's learn about that now on page 33.
Leonardo da Vinci.
Much of da Vinci's work in science and engineering bridged the gap between
medieval and modern thinking.
Unlike his predecessors, he sought to answer questions with a combination of
close observation,
repeated testing and detailed illustrations and descriptions.
In fact, da Vinci's observational methods were so successful that his approach
remained the principal method of scientific investigation until the development
of the modern scientific method during the 19th century.
His understanding of the world also opened doors to new careers for him in
engineering and architecture.
Da Vinci made extensive studies of fluids and simple machines like gears and
levers.
Hello, friends.
Thank you so much for joining us here in the studio.
My name is Kaylah.
And my name is Brandon.
And today we are once again talking about Leonardo da Vinci.
We learned a lot about him yesterday about how he affected the world around him.
That's right.
We talked about his effect on painting, how he gave us this dimensional artwork.
But that's not all.
Even though we often think of Leonardo da Vinci as an artist, he was so much
more.
He also played a part in the science and engineering world.
We see today much of da Vinci's work in science and engineering bridged the gap
between medieval and modern thinking.
We have the phrase here, Kaylah, bridge the gap.
"Bridge the gap" is a great phrase to use in conversation as well as in formal
writing.
It means that he connects two pieces.
So if you have a picture in your mind of a canyon, of a space between two
things, you need to build a bridge across it to connect them,
to make the... make it possible to get from one place to another.
And that's what it means to bridge a gap.
It makes it possible to move from one area to another area.
And unlike Leonardo da Vinci's predecessors, he sought to answer questions with
a combination of things.
Let's stop right there and take a look at that word "predecessor." That just
means the people who came before him.
So he was different from those who came before him.
That's right.
He took things and made them different.
We said he bridged the gap between medieval and modern thinking.
We know "medieval" is a time period and the way they were thinking about then.
And then "modern" is more up-to-date.
So his predecessors, Brandon, would then be the medieval thinkers.
And he helped bridge that gap between them and us.
That's right.
And he sought to answer questions with a combination of close observation,
repeated testing and detailed illustrations and descriptions.
And so we look at this: he's uh... looked at the things with close observation.
If you observe something closely, you pay attention to small details.
And he also... and his illustrations.
He was very "detail-oriented," we would say.
He paid attention to small details.
That's right.
He was very focused.
He made sure even the small pieces were not ignored.
But I like his process here, Brandon.
We see he's got close observation, repeated testing, detailed illustrations and
descriptions.
So it kind of breaks down for us his process of thinking.
And we know that it worked, so maybe it could be something we adapt and we use
in our lives.
We are very observant; we see things and we take note of them.
That's right.
And we see that da Vinci's observational methods were very successful.
They were so successful that his approach remained the principal - or the main
method - of scientific investigation until modern times,
until the modern scientific method was developed.
That's right. We say "principal method" here.
That means the number one, or the most often chosen, the first choice.
So his way of doing research was the first choice for people up until modern
scientific method was developed during the 19th century.
So he was the forefront, he was the first one to do that.
That's right. And people followed him for a very, very long time.
And so again, this goes back to how he affected the people around him.
That's right.
So today now we use the scientific method that we created during the 19th
century as opposed to his research method,
but it was what led us into this modern... it bridged the gap between our
research and the old methods of research.
And his understanding of the world also opened doors to new careers.
And so again, we're seeing how he is affecting the people around him.
It opened doors, it made a way for new careers in engineering and architecture.
And that's our Grammar on the Go sentence, so let's visit Liz.
Hi, friends.
Greetings from Italy.
I hope you're doing well today.
My name is Liz, and it's time for Grammar on the Go.
Our HISTORICAL PERSON article today is on Leonardo da Vinci.
And we read:
His understanding of the world also opened doors to new careers for him in
engineering and architecture.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
And today we're looking at the phrase, to open doors to something.
Normally, to open doors would be to open the entrance way so you can either go
in the room or leave a room, like:
He opened the door and walked into the room. But in today's sentence,
"to open doors to something" means to create the chance to participate or to be
a part of something bigger or greater.
In the case of Leonardo da Vinci, his understanding of the world allowed him to
get new careers in engineering and architecture.
Let's look at some other example sentences with this phrase.
Ellen's ability to speak four languages opened doors to many job opportunities
overseas.
Or: Sandy's internship at the company opened doors for her to meet and connect
with other experts in the industry.
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.
Thanks for joining me here.
I'll see you again next time.
Until then, this is Liz with Grammar on the Go, signing off, in Italy.
Bye-bye.
Thank you, Liz.
Well, da Vinci he made extensive studies of fluids.
What is "fluids"?
What does that mean here, Kaylah?
Well, a "fluid" is a substance that flows and is not solid.
So water is a fluid.
Anything that is not solid or a gas is fluid.
Da Vinci also made extensive studies of simple machines like gears and levers.
Now a "lever" has a handle, and it moves around a fixed point.
That's right. And a lever controls the operation of some sort of machine.
Well, why is this important?
How does this affect his research?
We'll find out after the Chat Room.
(Music).
Hey, Bryan.
Did you know that 560 years ago this week, Leonardo da Vinci was born?
No, I didn't know that.
That's what this article says.
Say, Bryan, I think there's a mistake in this article.
Oh yeah? What's the mistake?
Well, it talks about much of the Vinci's work in science and engineering.
So "work" is uncountable.
But earlier in the article, it talks about some of his famous "works," plural.
Isn't "work" uncountable?
Can we say he has a lot of works to do today?
Ah, that's a good question, Ken.
Why don't we go to Studio Classroom Editor-in-Chief Doris for an explanation.
OK.
Most of the time, "work" is an uncountable noun.
So we shouldn't say he has a lot of "works" to do.
It's better to use tasks or chores, both of which are countable nouns.
But when we talk about the "works" of Leonardo da Vinci, we're referrring to the
total output of da Vinci as an artist.
For instance, we can talk about the works of Mozart or Shakespeare.
OK. So "work" be either countable or uncountable.
Yes, that's right.
Can "works," plural, be used in any other way?
Sure.
If something is under development, we can say that it's "in the works." Let's
say I'm in the middle of writing a novel,
then I can say I have a novel in the works.
Meaning you're still working on it.
That's right.
Also, if I order a pizza "with the works," I'm ordering a pizza with everything
on it.
Oh, interesting.
Well, I should let you get back to your work.
Thanks. Enjoy your reading.
I will.