节目资讯
刊物:空中英語教室
日期:2012-03-03
难易度:High
关键字:cheer somebody up, mischievous, nonetheless, whimsical, governess, braille

(Music).
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve.
Now in this modern age with children growing up on stories about superheroes,
witches, aliens and vampires,
it's a wonder that a simple, old story about a little rabbit named Peter is
still as popular as it is.
Well, perhaps that's due to the charm of Potter's writing as well as the magic
of her illustrations.
Today in our CULTURE feature, we discover that Peter Rabbit wasn't created for a
children's book initially.
Rather, he was conceived in a letter to a child.
Let's find out more as we begin reading on page 14.
(Music).
Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit.
Unlike most authors, Potter did not create her best-known character with the
thought of publishing.
The birth of Peter Rabbit came about when Potter was trying to entertain the
child of an old governess.
It has been said that the boy, Noel Moore, was sick and stuck at home.
To cheer him up, Potter wrote him letters and included her drawings of animals.
One of those letters contained the first drawing of Peter Rabbit.
After seeing how much her letters were enjoyed, Potter decided to make a book
for Peter Rabbit.
Hello, friends.
Thank you for joining us in the studio.
That's right.
Today we're finishing talking about Beatrix Potter and her very, very famous
rabbit, Peter.
Yes. Now we're taking a look at the third day of our CULTURE article.
And now we're going to see how the story of Peter Rabbit was actually born.
Well, unlike most authors, Potter did not create her best-known character with
the thought of publishing him.
Now often when you're writing, you think: Oh. What would people like? What
character would people like to see the most?
Then you create the character for others to enjoy.
That's not really what she did.
Exactly. We saw that this happened quite by accident.
And we see now that she did not have the intention or the thought of publishing.
Now what does that mean if you publish something?
"Publish" means you make it available to the public.
So she would take her drawings and her story and put them together in a book,
and then have lots of copies made.
And then make them available for people to buy.
Yeah. So she could sell her book, which did happen eventually.
But she did not mean for that to happen.
It was an accident.
Now the birth of Peter Rabbit came about when Potter was trying to entertain the
child of an old governess.
Now we say the birth of Peter Rabbit, we don't mean the actual birth of a
rabbit.
We mean the creation of this character.
Right, when it first began.
And she was trying to entertain the child of an old governess.
Now a "governess" is referring to a woman who lives with a family and she is
there to teach the children.
That's right.
Often a governess is a young lady who moves into a home to help educate the
children.
We saw earlier that her brother and her did not attend school, so they would
have a governess to teach them reading and writing and math.
But also, they would study some of the finer arts.
They would study drawing and probably some sort of housekeeping, gardening.
A governess was with you all the time.
Yeah. Now I've never had a governess.
I actually think that's a little bit strange-sounding to me having someone live
with your family to teach you.
But this was common in this time period.
That's right. We see this was an old governess.
Now that does not mean she was an old lady.
That means she was a governess that Beatrix and Bertram had in the past, so
they're still friends and she is writing to the child.
So the governess's child that she later... I'm assuming she later got to marry
and have her own family, and she is... Beatrix is writing to this child.
Right. So Beatrix is trying to entertain the child of her old governess.
And it had been said that that boy - his name was Noel Moore - was sick and
stuck at home.
That's right.
Noel Moore was unfortunately not very healthy, so he did not have the
opportunity to go outside very often.
"He was stuck at home." It means he could not leave home.
So to cheer him up, Potter wrote to him.
Yeah. Now this is really nice because this is in a time when people did not have
Facebook or movies to entertain themselves at home.
So instead, Beatrix Potter tried to cheer him up by writing letters.
Now what does that mean if you are "cheered up"?
That means someone makes you feel happier; so the feeling of becoming happier.
If you're having a bad day and your friend tells you a joke, that will cheer you
up.
Yeah, make you feel better.
And so she wrote him letters and included her drawings of animals in those
letters.
Now Ryan, you're right.
We didn't have Internet back then.
There was no television.
So you have to use your imagination, friends.
You are stuck inside.
You are sick and you cannot go outside.
And someone starts writing you stories about talking animals and sending you
pictures of what it would look like from the outside.
Now that would be such a gift as a child.
Yeah. That would be wonderful, especially like you said, to have those
illustrations of nature and to feel like you're not actually stuck inside.
You get to experience nature and some fun stories.
That's right. It was a fun escape.
Now one of those letters contained the first drawing of Peter Rabbit.
Now Peter Rabbit has become a very famous internationally-known image.
Now if you look in your magazine, you can see pictures of Peter Rabbit.
And he is the one wears a blue jacket.
Exactly. So she already began writing these stories about Peter Rabbit and
including the pictures of him in these letters.
Now after seeing how much her letters were enjoyed, then Potter decided to make
a book for Peter Rabbit.
So she had been writing to poor Noel who was stuck at home and sick, was not
allowed to be outside.
And she saw how much they really cheered him up, how much of a difference it
made for this poor little boy, so she decided:
Well, if he likes it so much, I bet other kids all over would enjoy them too.
Yeah. Now that's an amazing thing to decide considering Noel is just one boy.
But I guess he must have liked them a lot because just the opinion of one boy
caused her to decide to write this book, which now millions of children have
read.
That's right. Now it's very impressive, yes, that she let her opinion base off
of one child.
But we also know she had the desire, the itch to write.
So it makes sense that she would take this as an opportunity to begin writing.
Yeah. It's great that that's what she decided to do for young Noel when he was
sick.
Yeah. It really shows you, Kaylah, that she's actually a really great person.
That's right.
And her drawings were so fun and exciting and something new and interesting that
Noel definitely enjoyed them.
And we will as well.
But before we continue talking about Peter Rabbit and his stories, let's check
in with the Chat Room.
Thank you, John.
Sure.
Out-of-state librarians to visit tomorrow. Hmm.
Did you get some important mail, Bryan?
Well, it's not really mail, Ken. It's a note from my boss.
She says I need to entertain a group of library professionals from out of state
tomorrow.
Wow. It sounds like you have a big job tomorrow.
Oh, giving tours isn't too hard.
No, I mean entertaining all those people.
Do you need help preparing a song or dance?
No, Ken, not that kind of entertaining.
Why don't we go to Doris for an explanation.
OK.
The verb, "to entertain," can have several different meanings.
The most common meaning is to perform for an audience.
But when you entertain guests, you don't really perform for them.
You act as their host, treating them kindly and making sure their needs are met.
OK, I get it.
So instead of singing for those visitors, you will be receiving them as guests.
That's right.
Are there any other kinds of entertaining I should know about?
Well, you might need to entertain a child someday.
That would be similar to entertaining an audience, but the meaning is close to
keeping the child busy.
Do you have any experience entertaining children?
No, Ken. I have never really entertained that thought.
Ha. That's funny.
I think you mean you have never considered that thought, right?
Yes, you got it.
Well, thanks for this entertaining lesson, Bryan.