节目资讯
刊物:空中英語教室
日期:2012-03-26
难易度:Low
关键字:leap of faith, initially, cast, earnings, audition, celebrity
Welcome back from the break, friends.
Now if you're searching for purpose in life and you sell everything you have to
buy a car,
and then you start living in that car, I would say you're at the end of your
rope.
Sam Worthington was at the end of his rope.
But good thing he hung on because not too soon after, someone grabbed that rope
and started pulling Worthington up.
Let's read more about who that was on line 11.
Sam Worthington.
But the most shocking news was yet to come.
Cameron wanted to cast him in his new movie, Avatar.
Humble beginnings.
Worthington wasn't an international celebrity, but he knew about acting and hard
work.
Born in England, he moved to western Australia when he was young.
At age 17 he was sent by his father to the other side of the country.
He was told he had to work and use those earnings to make his way back home.
OK. So Sam Worthington wanted to start over,
so he sold all of his possessions and moved into his car but then got a phone
call that was the surprise of his life:
James Cameron, the famous Hollywood director, wanted him to audition.
That's a surprise.
But the most shocking news was yet to come.
Now "shocking" means that surprised adventure.
So he thought that this audition was the most interesting and exciting thing,
but he wasn't ready for what came next.
Exactly. We see the most shocking thing was yet to come, Kaylah.
And if something is "yet to come," what does that mean?
That means that it has not happened yet, that it is still going to happen.
So you could say that maybe you're still in school, graduation is yet to come.
You have not graduated yet.
OK. And we see what that shocking or surprising thing is right here.
James Cameron wanted to cast him in his new movie, Avatar.
OK. Avatar - we all know this movie.
It's a very famous movie all over the world.
James Cameron did amazing things with this.
And he hired the main actor that was living in his car.
Right. He casts him.
We see this word "cast." And that means to choose someone for a part in either a
movie or a play, or something where you would perform.
And so here James Cameron casted him in Avatar.
Now we see "cast" here is a verb.
To cast means to put someone into a role.
Now you can also say he is part of the cast.
And when you use it as a noun, that means the group of people that are acting in
something.
So it goes both ways.
He was cast into it; and here we are using it in its verb form.
Exactly. And so he got the part; he was chosen to be in the movie.
So he transitioned, he moved from being poor, having no possessions living in a
car to suddenly having the... best role... or being cast in this movie.
Now I cannot imagine how incredible his audition must have been.
He must have been an incredible audition person.
Uh... he would have stood out really, really well to be casted into this part.
Yeah. Well, I mean... let's take a look first, though, at how he actually moved
from being someone who,
we see here, was humble - he didn't have very much - to becoming someone who is
on this huge movie that we've all seen.
That's right.
So it's fun to see where he ends up.
But it's more interesting to look at the journey he takes to get there.
How did he get to where he is today?
Well, we see he did have humble beginnings.
Yes. And the word "humble" means that you don't have much or don't think much of
yourself.
And his beginnings were small.
Now you said "don't think much of yourself," Ryan.
Does that mean you think poorly of yourself?
No, not necessarily.
It just means that you don't think that you are better than you really are.
OK, so being humble is a good thing.
And his "humble beginnings," when he talked about it being his beginnings,
that means it's probably not the biggest and most exciting, but it's still
probably a good place to start.
OK, so let's see his beginnings here.
Worthington wasn't an international celebrity, but he knew about acting and hard
work.
Now a "celebrity" is someone who is famous.
It's pretty simple: anyone that is famous, somebody we recognize, somebody we
all know.
Yes. So he wasn't an international celebrity.
He wasn't famous around the world, but he did know some about acting and he knew
also about hard work.
That is important.
You're from Los Angeles, Ryan, right?
Yes.
Have you ever seen any celebrities?
Yes, I have, actually. Yeah.
They're not all nice people, but some of them are.
So you have seen famous people before.
Now friends, have you seen any celebrities?
Have you ever met a celebrity?
You should write in and tell us who did you meet.
Yes, exactly.
Now maybe you hadn't heard of Sam Worthington before, but now you're about to
see how he became an international celebrity.
Well, he was born in England.
And then he moved to western Australia when he was very young.
So he is British but grew up in Australia.
Yes. And so now at the age of 17 he was then sent by his father to the other
side of Australia.
Now Kaylah, this is a little bit strange.
His father just sent him to the other side of the country. Why?
Well, he was told that he had to work and use those earnings to make his way
back home.
That... I can't even imagine being 17 and your father sending you to another
side of the country and saying:
You have to figure out how to get home using just your earnings.
This is amazing to me.
His father just sent him to the other side of Australia said: Go make some
money. Get some earnings.
Now the word "earnings" is referring to the money that you get for doing a job.
So he had to work his way back home.
Now Ryan, I think this definitely played into his ability to work through things
that are hard.
This could not have been easy at the age of 17.
Definitely. This would teach him some great life lessons.
Well, join us right now as we watch this skit.
Hello. It's a nice day, isn't it?
Oh, yes. Yes, it is.
It's a great day to be homeless.
What, you're homeless?
Yeah, that's right.
I don't have a home.
I live in my car.
Oh... I hope it's a big car.
Um... so... why are you homeless?
Oh. Well, about a week ago, I was facing a crisis.
Um, what kind of crisis?
Well, I turned 30 years old and I didn't know my purpose in life.
That was your crisis?
Yeah. So I decided to start over.
So what did you do?
Well, I took a leap of faith.
What? A leap of faith?
Yeah. I sold all of my possessions and ended up here on the street.
And did you find your purpose?
Well, not yet.
I'm... I'm an actor waiting for my big break.
You're waiting here for your big break?
Ha... good luck!
Yeah. Oh, hang on.
Excuse me. Let me take this.
Yeah?
Oh! Come in for an audition?
Yes! Oh, I'll be right there.
Who was that?
Oh. It was someone who wants me to audition for a movie.
What movie?
Who's the director?
What's the role?
I don't know anything about it.
Then why did you agree to audition?
Well, why not?
This call might change my life.
Maybe.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And I guess that's it for today.
I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.
OK, friends, this lesson's Talk About It questions at the bottom of page 48 are
designed to help you learn some new and useful sentence patterns.
When you're done practicing them,
take a look at the Grammar Tip which explains yet another handy sentence pattern
that should be part of everyone's oral English tool box.
Remember, to fully take advantage of these tools, you have to open your mouth.
Just a few minutes each day will take your English to a new level.
I promise.
OK, everyone, join us tomorrow for more of Sam Worthington.