节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-04-26
难易度:High
关键…
节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-04-26
难易度:High
关键字:harness, propel, taxing, cushion, skateboard
Hi, friends.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve.
OK, we admit it.
The four sports in this month's SPORTS feature aren't that well-known.
That's true.
You probably won't see them in the sports section of your newspaper or see them
covered on your favorite cable sports channel.
But still, we thought they were weird enough and wild enough to talk about.
And if just one of you decides to go out and try one of these wild sports, then
I say we've done our job.
OK, our next thrill comes via power kiting.
Let's talk about it on page 47.
Unusual Sports.
Power kiting.
Power kiting, another way to harness the power of the wind for sport, proves
that kites are not just for kids.
Power kiting actually includes several sports that involve being propelled along
the ground or lifted into the air by a huge power kite.
One sport involves traveling at up to 125 kilometers per hour in a three-wheeled
kite buggy.
You can also use power kites while surfing, water skiing or riding a large
skateboard called a kite landboard.
Hello, everyone.
My name is Brandon.
And my name is Kaylah.
And today we're continuing talking about Unusual Sports.
Now yesterday we talked about riding in inflatable globes and about land
sailing.
So, two very exciting sports, and we're moving on to the next one.
And that is power kiting.
Now you may be familiar with flying a kite.
A kite has a really thin frame, and has some material on it.
And when you lift it up in the air, the wind catches it and takes it away while
you're holding onto the string.
That's right.
I love flying kites, but this takes flying kites to a new place.
This is power kiting.
It's another way to harness the power of the wind for sport.
We saw this yesterday when we were land sailing.
You harness the power of the wind.
But here we do it with a kite.
That's right.
And we have the word "harness" here.
They're using the power of the wind.
It's a source of energy, so to speak.
Yesterday we saw this as a noun.
A harness is something you're strapped in to make sure you're secure.
But here we use it as a verb, talking about using the wind for power.
That's right.
"You collect the power of the wind" is another way of thinking about it.
You take it and use it for sport.
Now this proves that kites are not just for kids anymore.
Now when you use that "not just for something," that is emphasizing that we
usually think of it this way, but it has another option.
So a kite, flying a kite is really not just for kids.
That's right. It's for everyone.
And we see that power kiting actually includes several sports that involve being
propelled along the ground or lifted into the air by a huge power kite.
Now that's kind of a long sentence there.
Maybe we could take a look at the word propel.
OK. To "propel" means to push or move something somewhere.
So we think about propelling a boat is pushed by the... the motor.
Or propelling your bike, you're peddling.
But here we're propelled by the power of the wind using a kite to harness, to
collect that power.
And one sport involves traveling at up to 125 kilometers per hour in a buggy, in
a three-wheeled kite buggy.
So imagine you're in this buggy, you're in this vehicle, Kaylah, and you're
going at such a high speed.
That's a very, very high speed to be moving.
A buggy is a smaller version of a little car.
It would be powered by the wind, we see.
So this is one way we can do power kiting.
Another one is you can use power kites, which really just refers to the kite
itself, to surf.
Wow. That sounds pretty exciting, using the kite to actually surf.
But it doesn't stop there.
You can also use it for water skiing or riding a large skateboard.
And a "skateboard" is, of course, a board that we usually think of and it has
wheels on it.
You'll see lots of kids out in an open area on skateboards rolling around.
But this is... a special skateboard called a kite landboard.
So all of these sports use the power kite, which is a large kite that you can
see a picture of on page 47 in your Studio Classroom magazine.
You can see a picture they use this kite to move, to propel each of these
things.
One is the small buggy.
One is this landboard skateboard as well as skiing or boarding across the top of
water.
Kaylah, I am truly amazed at all the different ways you can use this power
kiting.
It sounds quite exciting.
And I think many of you, maybe you would be interested in doing that.
That's right.
I've seen power kiting at the beach.
And you can see pictures of a... a crazy athlete doing this in your magazine as
well.
It's an exciting sport to even just watch.
Well, we're going to look at a couple of more sports.
But first, we want to look at these slides and then visit the Chat Room.
(Music).
Hey, Bryan, do you ever watch BBC news?
No, not often. Do you?
Yeah. I watch it several times a week.
I enjoy learning about the differences between British and American English.
Oh really!
That could be helpful, I suppose.
It is helpful.
Last night I listened to an interview on BBC, and the reporter asked a man: Do
you play sport?
Don't Americans say play "sports," plural?
Yes, you're right.
That's a great example of a difference in usage.
In British English, "sport" can refer either to a single activity or to all the
activities that people do to keep in shape.
OK. So when the reporter asked the man if he played sport, he was basically
asking if the man did any kind of sports-related activity.
You're right.
British people use other verbs besides "play" too.
They might say "do" sport, for example.
Do sport?
So that still means all kinds of activities, right?
Yeah. But you shouldn't say you do an individual sport like tennis.
You'd still need to say you play tennis.
So Ken, do you do sport?
Uh... sure. I do exercises every morning after I wake up.
Nice. So now I know what you do for sport.
For sport?
Oh. You mean what I do to stay active?
That's right, according to British usage.
But in American English, the phrase "for sport" would mean something done for
fun.
You know, Bryan, I think we should take a break.
I'm starting to get confused.
I know what you mean.
But you've been a good sport.
Well, I am rather athletic.
Ha... actually, I was saying you've done well with this challenging lesson.
Oh, right. Thanks.