节目资讯
刊物:空中英語教室
日期:2012-02-17
难易度:Medium
关键字:federation, transportation, bob, fiberglass, sled
Well, most of the world refers to them as bobsleighs, they are actually called
"bobsleds" in America.
In fact, the U.S. was best at bobsledding up until 1950.
Before then, it was all thanks to Bob and Bill Linney who had developed a
two-man sled with a piece of flexible steel down the middle that allowed the
sled to turn very quickly through the course.
Now let's turn to page 36, line 11 and take another look at this exciting sport.
Amazing Races: Bobsleigh, Skeleton and Luge.
Accounts of the activity date back to the 16th century.
Yet bobsleighing as a sport didn't begin until the 19th century when the Swiss
designed a device to steer a sleigh.
These sleighs were called "bobsleighs" because of the way the racers bobbed back
and forth, hoping to increase their speed.
In 1923 the FIBT was formed.
One year later the four-man bobsleigh competition made its appearance at the
1924 Winter Olympics in France.
Today, bobsleighs are made of steel and fiberglass, weigh up to 210 kilograms
and hold two- or four-person teams.
All right, friends, so bobsleighing used to be done for fun and use in
transportation.
Well, accounts of the activity date back to the 16th century.
That's a long time ago, and an interesting sentence.
So let's visit Liz with Grammar on the Go.
Hello, friends.
I hope you're all doing well today.
My name is Liz and it's time for Grammar on the Go.
I'm in Switzerland right now.
And in today's article, we're reading about bobsleighing.
We'll find out more later as to when bobsleighing became a sport.
But we do know so far: Accounts of the activity date back to the 16th century.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
And today we're focusing on the phrase, to date back to.
This phrase just means to begin in a certain time.
So today's sentence just means that the earliest accounts of bobsleighing that
we have were first recorded in the 16th century.
We use "date back to" when we want to talk about when something began or first
started.
And our focus is on the period of time in the past in which this event took
place.
For example, if a local country club was started in 1965, we can say:
This country club dates back to the 60s.
Or if a group of tourists, let's say they are visiting a European castle, and
the castle was built in the 1200s, we can say:
The tourists are visiting a castle that dates back to the 13th century.
If you have a copy of this month's magazine with you, be sure to check out
today's Grammar Tip section for more example sentences.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go, signing off.
Bye-bye.
OK, Kaylah, let's back up a little bit here.
What does it mean if there is an account of something?
That just means there's a record of it happening.
OK. So there have been records of bobsleighing all the way back to the 16th
century.
Now bobsleighing as a sport didn't begin until the 19th century when the Swiss
designed a device to steer a sleigh.
That's right. Now when we "steer" something, that means we are directing it.
Exactly. They put on this device that allowed them to change the direction of
the sleigh so they wouldn't go running into things.
And that is when it became a sport.
OK. So can you... let's define what a sleigh is.
We really haven't talked about that yet.
That's true.
A sleigh is a device that sits on the ice or snow and allows you to move on it,
but it doesn't have wheels.
That's right. It has blades underneath it, long pieces of either wood or
fiberglass,
all different kinds of materials that you can use that are smooth that allow you
to slide across the top of snow or ice.
Exactly, often used in winter.
And bobsleighs are sleighs.
Now these sleighs were called "bobsleighs" because of the way the racers bobbed
back and forth, hoping to increase their speed.
OK. When you "bob," that means you kind of bounce back and forth and from side
to side gently.
And usually it's out of control.
So the best way to think about this is if you are in water and you're swimming,
you are bobbing up and down.
If your feet do not touch the bottom of the pool or the lake or wherever you are
swimming, your body bobs.
You move with the water gently up and down and back and forth.
Right. So when we're talking about these racers in bobsleighs, they are moving
back and forth in the sleigh, similar to the way something might move in water.
Now this was to help them increase their speed?
Mmhm.
Oh. That's interesting.
I did not know that bobbing could actually help you move around.
As you... as you take these sleighs down, they would move back and forth to help
them make the turns and to increase their speed as they move forward.
That's right. So then it became a sport.
And in 1923 the FIBT then was formed.
So this organization, this federation has been... around since 1923.
Now one year later the four-man bobsleigh competition made its appearance at the
1924 Winter Olympics in France.
So this Federation was set up first, and then it became an Olympic sport.
Right. Now it's part of the Olympics.
And that happened in France several years ago.
Now today, bobsleighs are made of steel and fiberglass.
Now let's talk about what fiberglass is.
OK. Well, "fiberglass" is kind of a... an interesting material.
It's man-made.
It is created by twisting... by twisting and by tying or spinning together long
pieces of glass and plastic.
Right. It's actually very lightweight.
They use it in boats, and sometimes in cars.
And it's very strong, and so they like to use it now in bobsleighs.
That's right. Because it's lightweight, it moves quickly and smoothly down the
course so you can increase your speed.
Well, fiberglass... these fiberglass bobsleighs can weigh up to 210 kilograms
and hold two- or four-person teams.
Right, which is actually... that sounds really heavy.
There are a lot of parts to a bobsleigh.
And that would make them go very fast, which makes it seem like a very exciting
sport.
Now let's take a look at this video.
The 8th and final stop on the Four-Man World Cup Bobsleigh Tour, they move to
the Olympic track in Igls, Austria.
Currently fifth place, here on their first run, Team Thomas Florschutz of
Germany.
Florschutz is looking to better his start performance at the Vancouver Olympic
Games.
And a good finish will do that here today.
Bottom part of the track. He is the leader.
His fourth sled is yet to go.
This event is also doubling as the European Championship.
Next up, Janis Minins.
All five sleds separated by 1200 milliseconds into the first run.
Extremly tight race.
Minins, over 200s down near the bottom.
But he could not match Florschutz's time.
Fifth best time for the run.
Second best time overall. Minins will drop one spot.
Now, of the variant, Karl Angerer.
For Team Playboy.
Third place here in the first run.
Angerer, plus four and a half for the track.
On the bottom part of the track, Angerer with big speed, trying to overcome
Florschutz's teammate.
And by two hundredths of a second, he can't.
Angerer can finish no worse than 4th.
Now, Andre Lange, the legend of the sport, won his first World Cup event in
December of 1998 in Calgary.
And on this track, Lange in his last World Cup appearance.
Legend, to the finish line with the lead.
Andre Lange, his coaches look on.
What a career for Lange.
(Background Noise).
Now, one sled to go.
Team Ivo Ruegg who went first in the first run. How did he manage?
Close to the best time.
They're in the second run.
An unbelievable start.
Can they match Lange's time?
And they have the lead at the halfway point...
Time falls away.
Can not match Andre's speed... and the finish... It's Andre Lange... winning for
the final time in his career on the World Cup Circuit.
(Background Noise).
Ivo Ruegg finishes second.
Great day! Great weekend for Ivo Ruegg!
There's our final standings.
Look how close everything is.
(Background Noise).
There's the European Championship's Andre Lange captures it for about the 7th
time.
And here's our Joska World Cup final standings.
Steven Holcomb, Team Night Train of the United States.
They win the Four-Man Title.
Five nations.
Five different championships.
Skeleton was Melissa Hollingsworth of Canada, Dukurs.
Sandra Kiriasis for Woman's Bobsleigh.
Ivo Ruegg for Two-Man and Steve Holcomb for Four-Man.
But the story of the day is the legendary Andre Lange, his final World Cup
appearance.
Lange did what he's been doing his whole career.
He won the final time on the World Cup Circuit.
It was a day for a legend.
For FIBT TV, I'm John Morgan.
(Chinese).
And that concludes our Language Tips today.
I'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.
Thank you for your helpful tips, Michelle.
So what our article doesn't tell us is why the Swiss designed the bobsleigh
steering device in the first place.
So here's the rest of the story.
OK. Like most inventions, this steering device was intended to solve a problem.
And that was that bobsleigh racers were colliding or hitting pedestrians on the
village streets.
Now being able to steer the bobsleigh helped racers avoid hitting people.
Protecting the townspeople from the crazy street racing is also what led to the
very first bobsleigh track, a track that after 142 years is still in operation.
OK, friends, please join us tomorrow when we learn what a skeleton is, and it's
not made of bones.
Until then, have a great day.