节目资讯
刊物:空中英語教室
日期:2012-03-22
难易度:High
关键字:wrestling, opponent, lumber, rigorous, face-off, loincloth
(Music).
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us today.
My name is Steve.
Well, the sport of wrestling has been around for thousands of years.
In fact, wrestling was at the very first Olympics in Greece.
Today, there are dozens of variations of this sport - from the traditional to
the glitzy high drama displays you see on TV.
Now the most intriguing version of wrestling to me is the Japanese version
called sumo.
Now to get a better grip on this peculiar sport, let's turn to page 44 and learn
about sumo.
(Music).
A Look at Sumo.
Size matters in Japan's national sport.
When it comes to sumo, bigger is definitely better.
Sumo, a Japanese style of wrestling, is a face-off between two challengers in a
ring measuring about 4.5 meters across.
The goal of the match is for one wrestler to knock the other off his feet or
push him out of the ring.
The bigger the opponent is, the harder he is to defeat.
Sumo wrestling dates back over 1,500 years and has its roots in religious
rituals.
What started as a rough style of fighting with few rules gradually grew into a
sport with rules and regulations.
Throughout the centuries, sumo has been used in royal court ceremonies, in
military training and as a form of entertainment for the masses.
(Music).
Hello, friends.
Thanks for joining us on this very special day.
Before we start teaching this article, I would like to wish Kaylah a happy
birthday.
Well, thank you, Ryan.
Today is my birthday.
And I plan on having a wonderful time.
I'm going to start by having a great time learning about Japanese athletes, the
sumo wrestler.
Yes. This sport is called sumo wrestling.
And it is Japan's national sport.
And size really does matter in this sport.
Yes. When it comes to sumo, bigger is definitely better.
Now often we think of athletes as being very fit and very small, but these are
very strong and very athletic large people.
Yes, they are definitely big.
And "sumo is a Japanese style of wrestling," as we said before.
Now what is wrestling?
Well, "wrestling" is a competition between people and they're... they're trying
to pin the other one or push the other one to the ground.
OK. And they face-off with each other.
There's a face-off between two challengers in a ring measuring about 4.5 meters
across.
That's right. And a "face-off" is a competition between two people.
Exactly. So they're in a ring, which is a circular line that is four-and-a-half
meters across.
And the goal of that match is for one wrestler to knock the other off of his
feet or push him out of the ring.
So it's two large men trying to push the other one out of the ring or to the
ground.
Well, the bigger the opponent is, the harder he is to defeat.
That makes sense.
The bigger he is, the harder he's going to be to push to the ground.
Exactly. We're talking about an "opponent" here.
And that is... in a sport, is the person who you are fighting against.
That's right. You are trying to defeat them.
Yes.
You want to push them to the ground.
Yeah. You want to win.
And you can tell in sumo, they really do need to be big.
And you can see how big they get on page 44 of your Studio Classroom magazine.
Well, now we know a little bit of the rules of sumo, where does it come from?
OK. Well, the history of sumo, it dates back over 1,500 years and has its roots
in religious rituals.
Well, "religious" refers to their faith or religion.
And "rituals" are the traditions, the ceremonies, the things we do in our
religion.
So sumo started as a religious thing.
That's right. Yeah, it dates back that far.
That means that is when its history began.
That is when it started.
So it started as a rough style of fighting, but it gradually grew into a sport
with rules and regulations.
That's right. It started with very few rules and has grown.
That means it has become something with bigger and better rules and regulations.
Well, that's our Grammar on the Go sentence, so let's visit Liz.
Hi there, friends.
Greetings from Japan.
My name is Liz, and it's time for Grammar on the Go.
So I'm here in Japan today because we're talking about "sumo" in today's
article.
According to the writer:
What started as a rough style of fighting with few rules gradually grew into a
sport with rules and regulations.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
And it means sumo started out as a rough style of fighting with few rules, and
later became a sport with rules and regulations.
But notice the pattern in the original sentence: what started as... grew into
a...
It's a great pattern to use when you want to tell people how something had a
humble beginning before it became something bigger and/or more complex.
For example, we can use it to talk about successful businesses, like:
What started as a simple little coffee shop in a small neighborhood grew into a
billion-dollar business with twenty shops all across the country.
We can also use the sentence pattern to talk about social movements, like:
What started as a simple discussion in a small college classroom grew into a
national student movement with large conferences in major cities.
Or we can use it to talk about the success of a group of people, like:
What started as a music club for young musicians grew into a successful rock
band with millions of fans worldwide.
Well, that's all the time we have for today.
Thanks again for joining me here, and I hope to see you again real soon.
Until then, this is Liz with Grammar on the Go signing off.
Bye-bye.
All right. So now sumo has rules and regulations.
And of course, rules are what you follow while you're playing.
And regulations are what you use to decide how to set up before you play.
OK. So we have "the rules and regulations have been growing throughout the
centuries." Well, that's not the only thing that's been changing.
Right. Sumo has been used in royal court ceremonies and in military training and
also as a form of entertainment for the masses.
Wow. Sumo has been everywhere.
It started as a religious ceremony, then went to the courts... into the royal
courts, and then as military, and now as entertainment for the masses.
"Masses" are large groups of people.
Right. So it's a large sport for large groups of people.
All right. Now let's take a look at the Chat Room.
So Ken, have you made any plans for the weekend?
Yeah, I'm going to go skating with John.
Oh, cool.
Skating is a lot of fun.
Well, I hope it is.
I've never skated before.
Hey, Bryan, I just got an e-mail from John telling me to meet him at the skating
rink.
I think he made a mistake.
Oh yeah? Where's the mistake?
He wrote skating "rink," R-I-N-K.
Isn't it supposed to be skating "ring," R-I-N-G?
No, Ken.
The area for skating is called a "rink," R-I-N-K.
But its shape is round.
True. Most rinks are round.
But the word "rink" refers to the flat, smooth surface and not the shape of the
rink.
And oddly enough, Ken, not all things that are called "rings" have to be round.
For example, a boxing ring is actually square.
What about wrestling?
What do you call the area for wrestling?
You call that a "ring" as well.
But you play hockey in a rink.
I see. So different sports are played in different places with different names.
That's right.
Most outdoor sports like baseball, soccer, football and field hockey, of course,
are played on a field.
You said most outdoor sports are played on a field, so is there an exception?
Yes. Golf is played on a "course" because you have to go from one hole to the
next according to an assigned route.
That's why it's called a course.
Oh, like an obstacle course.
Yep, you got it.
OK. What about indoor sports?
Well, most indoor sports are played on a court, especially sports that use a net
like tennis, volleyball and basketball.
Hmm, interesting.
Well, thanks for the English lesson.
You bet.
Enjoy your time at the rink.
I'll try.