节目资讯
刊物:空中英語教室
日期:2012-03-17
难易度:Medium
关键字:up close and personal, chore, hearty, facet, pretzel
(Music).
Hello, friends.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us today.
This month's TRAVEL feature brings us to Pennsylvania Dutch Country located in
the northeastern United States.
Dutch Country is definitely worth visiting because of the unique people who live
there.
Yes, we're talking about the Amish.
The Amish are a gentle, non-conforming people who live much like their ancestors
did hundreds of years ago.
What's great about visiting the Amish is that you not only can observe the
simple Amish lifestyle, you can participate in it too.
Let's open our studio classroom magazines now to page 34 and see Amish plain
living up close and personal.
Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
After seeing all those farms, experience one up close and personal.
About three-dozen non-Amish farms in Lancaster County take guests.
Unlike many bed-and-breakfasts (B and Bs), these places welcome families with
children and encourage them to participate in farm chores.
At a farm B and B, you'll learn about stock - and not the kind that gives you
ownership in a company.
Farm stock or animals, require daily care.
Ever bottle-fed a calf or collected eggs in a chicken house?
Hello, friends.
We're back in Amish country.
That's right. We're now back in our TRAVEL article looking at the Pennsylvania
Dutch.
OK. So over the last couple days, we've been taking a look at some of the
places, museums and experiences that you can enjoy here.
Now I think that visiting Amish country is a lot of fun.
I've had the chance to visit before and visit other kinds of "Plain People"
communities.
Another one is the Mennonites.
Now I've had the opportunity to visit them.
And just like the Amish, they're very kind and welcoming people who are great at
handicrafts and cooking.
Yeah. I think this would be great to not only see this place but meet these
people, the people who have been living the same way for almost 300 years.
Now yesterday we were talking about how you can go take a buggy ride and visit a
farm and enjoy some homemade food.
That's right.
You can drive through the countryside in a buggy with a "Plain Person" as your
guide to see where they are farming using just horses and mules.
Now a mule is a kind of donkey.
That's right.
Yeah, it's similar to a horse or a donkey.
Now after you've gone to these farms, you can experience one up close and
person.
That's right.
Now when we say "up close and personal," it means exactly what it sounds like:
You are close to something and personally get to experience it.
When you personally experience it, that means you are doing it.
You're not hearing about it.
You haven't been... your friend didn't do it.
You didn't see it done.
You got to do it.
That's right.
So this is an up close, personal... you're right there with it trying it.
That's right, exactly.
You can also just say you're experiencing it.
But it's more than experiencing it, experiencing closely.
And how can you do that, Kaylah?
Well, you can do that by visiting the Amish farms.
About three-dozen non-Amish farms in Lancaster County take guests.
So most of this county is Amish, but there are three that are not.
That's true. Now... and they take guests.
If a farm or a house takes guests, that means that people can come and stay
there or experience something there.
Now usually we call them a bed-and-breakfast, or a B and B.
Now a bed-and-breakfast is different than a hotel or a hostel.
And you are at someone's home, you're staying in their home.
They're giving you a bed and breakfast, they feed you.
But most bed-and-breakfasts have activities that you can do as well - to
experience the area you're visiting.
It's not like a hotel where there's just people cleaning.
There's actually a community around the B and B.
Exactly. And we actually see that there's some community written in this
article.
These... these places welcome families with children and can encourage them to
participate together.
That's right, participate in farm chores.
So this B and B... these three bed-and-breakfasts not only have you stay with
them,
and they don't just give you hikes to try like trails and things from other
bed-and-breakfasts,
they ask you to participate in the farm chores because it is a working farm.
Exactly, yeah. Now "chores" are referring to parts of work, usually ones that
are more boring and not as much fun.
But they're necessary.
Maybe for example, cleaning the dishes.
That's right.
Now chores are not fun, but you have to do them.
And on a farm, there are lots of chores.
So there's, of course, inside chores, like doing dishes and cleaning and making
your bed, but also outside farm chores.
You need to feed the animals and take care of where they live and take care of
the garden and the fields.
It's a lot to do.
Now that's something most of us probably haven't done.
I haven't fed horses or cows or anything like that.
So maybe you haven't either, you can try doing that here.
That's right.
You could have the opportunity to stay on a farm,
not just walk through and look at them in their stalls and just look at the
animals but actually experience a farm.
And it's worth it.
If you're from the city and have never seen the farm, you need to do this.
OK. So maybe you would want to go to one of these B and Bs.
And there're many things you can experience, but there's also a few things that
you can learn about as well.
That's right.
What makes these B and Bs special is that farmer aspect.
You can be a part of the farm.
There you can learn about stock.
Yeah. Now we're talking about stock here - not the kind of stock that gives you
ownership in a company, though.
That's usually what we think of by using the word stock.
Now this is the original term of stock, meaning animals.
Yeah, farm stock, or like Kaylah said, animals.
And they require daily care.
That's right.
Now animals on a farm that are considered stock would be cows, horses, chickens,
sheep, pigs.
These animals we see on a farm, they are the stock.
And you need to take care of them.
Exactly. Yeah, they require daily care.
That means you need to take care of them every day; you give them food and
water.
That's right.
Now a pig can take care of itself only so much.
They still need to be fed, and they definitely need to be cleaned.
Well, you can do all kinds of cleaning and feeding.
But a special one is feeding a calf with a bottle.
OK. Well, we've learned what a calf is a few months ago.
It's a baby cow.
But you can bottle-feed them?
We see "bottle-fed a calf"?
That's when you bottle-feed something.
That means you are giving them food with a bottle.
And you can see a picture of a child bottle-feeding a calf on page 34 in your
Studio Classroom magazine.
Well, have you ever done this or have you ever collected eggs in a chicken
house?
Yeah. And a chicken house is a small building where chickens lay eggs.
So Kaylah, have you done any of this before?
Well, I've never bottle-fed a calf, I have fed goats.
And yes, I have collected eggs in a chicken house.
And we can talk about that after the break.
Before we go, let's visit the Chat Room.
So what are you planning to do this weekend, Bryan?
Well, right after work, my wife and I are leaving for Vermont.
I have a friend there who owns a B and B, so we'll spend the night there and do
some hiking in the mountains.
Wow. That sounds like a fun trip.
But what's a B and B?
"B and B" stands for bed-and-breakfast.
They're places for people who are traveling can spend the night and then eat
breakfast in the morning.
So is it another word for a hotel?
Well, they are similar, but B and Bs are always privately-owned.
Frequently, the guests stay in extra rooms in the owner's home so there's a more
friendly, personal feel.
OK. Hey, speaking of other words for hotel, is there a difference between a
hotel and an inn?
The difference isn't as clear between a hotel and a bed-and-breakfast.
"Inn" is an older word, and it usually suggests something smaller than a hotel
without offering many of the extra services that hotels provide.
So an inn probably won't have a swimming pool or a gym, right?
Right. But they usually do provide breakfast.
What about a motel?
How is that different from a hotel?
Well, the word "motel" is actually a combination of the words "motor" and
"hotel." A motel is a cheap hotel for drivers, so they're usually not as nice as
hotels.
Well, I'm sure your friend's B and B will be much nicer than a motel.
I hope you have a great trip.
Thanks. Have a good weekend, Ken.