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
OK. Welcome back from the break, everybody.
The Amish lifestyle isn't complicated by what we modern people might find
important or exciting.
Yes, there's something to be said for the plain living of the Amish.
Who knows?
After a visit, you may be tempted to throw away your cell phone.
Let's wrap up our TRAVEL feature with this last reading beginning on line 15.
Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
You can do those and more as well as enjoy a hearty farm breakfast.
Your host can also arrange a meal with an Amish family.
You can taste traditional Amish home cooking and learn about the different
facets of their lives.
Stop in the charming village of Lititz where stone houses line the tree-shaded
streets.
At the Sturgis Pretzel House, the first commercial pretzel bakery in the States,
make - any eat - your own pretzel.
Farms, food and faith - it's all there in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and it's
just plain fun!
OK. We've been asking you if you have ever bottle-fed a calf or collected eggs
from a chicken house.
Now when we say collected eggs from a chicken house right before the break, I
said I have.
Now you may be wondering what does that mean to collect the eggs.
Well, when a chicken lays an egg, you need to go into their little house.
They've got little beds that kind of nest... they all sit in along the walls,
and you need to go in and take the eggs from the chicken.
And it's actually a little... I don't like doing it because the chickens
obviously don't want to give you their eggs.
But we do use the eggs for what comes next.
OK. Well, this all sounds like an adventure.
But I'm sure, like me, most of you probably haven't done this before... unlike
Kaylah, so.
If you haven't, well, now you can in Lancaster County.
You can do that and more as well as enjoy a hearty farm breakfast.
That's right.
Now part of a hearty farm breakfast is, of course, the chicken eggs.
Well, a farm breakfast, let's decide what that is.
A farm breakfast would be things that you have on the farm that you eat for
breakfast.
So that would be eggs; and there's pig, so that probably means bacon or sausage.
And then biscuits are another part of a breakfast.
But what makes it hearty?
Mmm. Well, that all sounds very good.
Well, the word "hearty" is referring to a lot of something, usually a lot of
food.
And so when farmers sit down to have their breakfast, they have a lot of eggs
and bacon and toast, maybe pancakes...
Oh! This all sounds delicious.
Oh. It does sound like a great breakfast.
So if you stay at one of these B and Bs on the farm in Amish country,
you have the opportunity to both be a part of the farm and enjoy a nice hearty
farm breakfast.
Exactly. You can experience what breakfast might be like for these farmers.
Now your host on the farm can also arrange a meal with an Amish family.
Now we did say earlier that these B and Bs are not owned by Amish families.
These are by families who live in the Amish communities in their area but are
not Amish themselves.
So if you're visiting Amish country and would like to try some of their home
cooked meals,
they... your host - the person who is letting you stay with them - can arrange
that.
Yeah, they can arrange it or plan it for you.
So you can actually sit down, enjoy some food with real Amish people and see
what it's like.
Oh, I think it sounds great.
Yeah.
You can taste traditional Amish home cooking and learn about the different
facets of their lives.
So not only do you get to try their food and see how they do that, but they
also... it gives you the opportunity to talk with them.
And instead of just looking at their way of life, really get to know them and
ask them why they do the things they do and what keeps them in this tradition.
Yeah, exactly. And you can taste their traditional food that they make as well
as experience some of the facets of their lives.
And a "facet" is simply a part of a situation or a part of a subject.
OK. So one facet of life is obviously eating and cooking.
But we have seen that the Amish live in farming communities.
So there are lots of different facets that go into farming, and you can discuss
that with them as well.
Yeah. So you can experience a lot of these parts of their lives.
Now you can also stop in the charming village of Lititz where stone houses line
the tree-shaded streets.
Now this sounds absolutely beautiful with stone streets, you know, with these
big trees and beautiful buildings made of stone.
Now here there is a special house.
That's true.
But really fast, Kaylah, what does it mean if the streets are tree-shaded?
Oh, tree-shaded. Well, that means that there are trees growing along the sides
of the street.
And because they're growing and big, they create shade on the street.
They keep it protected from the sun, so it's tree-shaded.
Exactly. Now you were just talking about a certain kind of house here.
And this is called the Sturgis Pretzel House, which is the first commercial
pretzel bakery in the United States.
Now a "pretzel" is a long piece of dough that is usually strung out till it's
long and skinny, and baked.
And it's either served long and straight or you can twist it into cool shapes.
And then you bake them and they're crunchy and they're salty and... or they can
be sweet, but they're delicious.
They're usually really good; yeah, usually really hard and in a twisted shape.
And so you can go to this pretzel bakery where they bake or make these pretzels.
And you can do this for yourself.
You can not only eat it, but you can also create your own pretzels at this fun
little house factory.
Yeah.
Well, there's farms, food and faith.
It's all here in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and it's just plain fun!
This sounds like a wonderful place to go and visit, to see some history and
experience the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Now we've talked a lot about their farming and their food, we didn't talk very
much about their faith.
But something very important about the Amish is the reason these traditions
still exist are because of their faith.
They hold on to their faith very strong, and it's very important to them.
OK. So Kaylah, what is it in their faith that causes them to want to live the
same way for almost 300 years?
Well, what they believe is so important to them.
Their relationship with God is so important to them that they want to preserve
the way they've done it for so many years.
OK. So maybe a lot of us get distracted by Facebook and iPhones, but these
people live life in a different way.
They're much more simple.
That's right.
It's just plain fun.
And that's another play on words here.
It's simple, the word "plain" means simple.
But the phrase "it's just plain fun" means that it's nothing except fun.
And that's exactly what they are.
It's fun to visit the Pennsylvania Dutch in Pennsylvania.
Well, I hope you have the opportunity to travel to the countryside sometime
soon.
Well, since we can't go right now, let's watch a video about them instead.
(Music).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And we have to say goodbye now.
Goodbye and take care.
Thank you so much, Michelle.
The focus of this lesson was on the Amish that live in Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, otherwise known as Dutch Country.
The Amish, also known as the Plain People, have been living there for the past
300 years.
In that time, very little has changed including their clothing and hairstyles.
When you visit Dutch Country, you can get a taste of the Amish lifestyle
first-hand by taking a buggy ride or helping out with the chores on a real Amish
farm.
Pretty cool.
OK, friends, please have a great weekend.
And then we'll see all of you on Monday.