节目资讯
刊物:空中英語教室
日期:2012-02-29
难易度:High
关键字:characterize, revolt, mythical, resemblance, spectacular
(Music).
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us.
My name is Steve.
And with us is Ryan.
Hey, Ryan.
Hey, Steve.
Are you having a good day?
I'm having a great day!
Great.
We are wrapping up a three-day lesson on the beautiful Wulingyuan Scenic Area in
China's Hunan province.
As we learned yesterday, Wulingyuan is divided into three main areas.
The last two days we explored Zhangjiajie Forest Park and Suoxi Valley.
Today we'll visit the third area, ancient Tianzi Mountain.
Even from a distance, you can tell Tianzi is different.
Then when you get on the mountain itself and see it up close, you think:
Hey, this looks like another world. Or you might say: Am I on another planet?
Well, I don't know who "they" are, but "they" say you haven't been to Wulingyuan
until you visit Tianzi Mountain.
So let's do just that right now over on page 52.
(Music).
Zhangjiajie.
Tianzi Mountain.
With the tallest peak over 1,260 meters high, this mountain area is
characterized by its raw and primitive nature.
Everything from the scenery to the local culture is authentic and untouched.
Tianzi Mountain is named after Xiang Dakun, a man who led a local farmers'
revolt during the Song Dynasty.
He called himself Tianzi,
which means "Son of Heaven." Many visitors agree that a trip to Wulingyuan is
not complete without a hike up Tianzi Mountain.
China's own "Pandora".
Wulingyuan may look a little familiar to some: the strange landscape was an
inspiration for the mythical planet of Pandora in the hit film Avatar.
Whoa!
Wow!
Well, welcome back.
We're still talking about Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, and now we're
looking at Tianzi Mountain.
That's right.
It's so exciting to use binoculars.
They help you see far away.
So when you're traveling to exciting places like this, binoculars can make it
even closer to you.
Yeah. So we've seen two very beautiful areas: Of course, Zhangjiajie Forest
Park, uh, Suoxi Valley.
And now we're looking at Tianzi Mountain.
Tianzi Mountain is the tallest peak.
It's over 1,260 meters high.
This mountain area is characterized by its raw and primitive nature.
Right. Now if something is "characterized" by something, that means that it is
typical of it.
So if this mountain is characterized by its primitive nature, that means that
primitive nature is typical or common at this mountain.
OK. So we know that primitive nature is common there, but what is primitive
nature?
Right. Well, if something is primitive, that means it comes from an early time.
It looks very old.
OK, so this looks like very old natural scenery.
So it's very characteristic of this mountain.
Well, everything from the scenery to the local culture is authentic and
untouched, which makes it have that primitive feel.
Yeah, the scenery to the local culture.
So the way it looks, the way that people behave, it all feels untouched, which
means it feels like it has not been changed over time.
That's why it can be so special.
That's what makes it primitive.
Well, Tianzi Mountain is named after Xiang Dakun, a man who led a local farmers'
revolt during the Song Dynasty.
OK, so that's where this all started.
He led a revolt.
OK. Now first, Kaylah, let's talk about the meaning of this word revolt.
Now "revolt" is when a large group of people come together to go against
authority.
They decide they don't want to follow the rules anymore, and they go against
authority.
Here, it was a group of farmers.
Right. And we see it got its name from Xiang Dakun.
Now that... it isn't the same name as the mountain.
It's called Tianzi Mountain.
So let's see how this revolt in the Song Dynasty actually led to the mountain
getting its name.
Well, the man who led the revolt actually called himself Tianzi, which means Son
of Heaven.
OK. So this nickname, as we've learned before, is what ended up getting the
mountain called Tianzi Mountain.
That's really cool.
That means the mountain is named "the Son of Heaven Mountain." It gives a very
majestic feel to it, right?
Yeah. It sounds very beautiful, very powerful.
Now many visitors agree that a trip to Wulingyuan is not complete without a hike
up Tianzi Mountain.
So you're going to be in this natural area, and we say your trip is not complete
if you don't do this.
That means not complete as you need to do this to make your whole trip worth the
experience of.
Right. It's something you should definitely do.
If you're going to visit that area, make sure you hike up Tianzi Mountain.
They say it is incredibly beautiful and it will be worth your trip.
Now this area just sounds... it's just stunning, really, completely beautiful,
worth the trip to go there,
has three distinct different areas that each offers wonderful things.
But there is something else.
It's very special about this, this park area.
Yeah, now we call it China's own "Pandora." OK. That seems a little strange.
First, what is the word "Pandora" all about?
OK. Well, Pandora, there are a couple of different meanings here.
But because it is in quotation marks, we know that it is a nickname from another
name.
So this is Pandora.
This is referring to the movie Avatar, which the name of the planet, the fake
planet, the alien planet in that movie is Pandora.
Yeah. And we'll see why we call it China's Pandora from the movie Avatar.
Now Wulingyuan may look a little familiar to some.
Hmm. Maybe it looks familiar, maybe you think you've seen it before.
But how does that connect, Ryan?
Well, the strange landscape was an inspiration for the mythical planet of
Pandora in the hit film Avatar.
Oh. So there it is!
Because it was part of the inspiration, it was part of the idea, the images,
the pictures they wanted to put in the Pandora Planet for the movie Avatar, we
can now call it China's Pandora.
Right. An inspiration for something is when you see something and it gives you
an idea to do something else.
So they saw the beauty of this area of the park, and that gave them the idea for
the mythical planet called Pandora in the movie.
That's right.
Now "mythical." We've talked about "myths" before or mythical creatures.
Now "mythical" means it is only existing in the imagination and in stories.
So the Planet Pandora actually does not exist.
And we know that because we know the movie Avatar was not about a true planet.
So it's not real, but it sure was fun to imagine.
Yeah. And it certainly was a hit film.
It was one of the most popular films of our time.
And the word "hit" here simply means it was very popular.
So now you get a chance to actually see this beauty in real life in China.
Now let's go visit the Chat Room.
So have you seen any good movies recently?
Not really.
I haven't had much time or money to go to the movies lately.
That's OK.
A lot of movies aren't really worth it anyway.
That is true.
But I also missed a lot of hit movies.
Hit movies? Did you just use "hit" as an adjective?
Yes, I guess I did.
I know when something is very successful and popular, you can say it's a hit.
But I didn't realize you could use "hit" as an adjective too.
Well, when you use "hit" as an adjective, it means really popular.
So it's similar to the noun.
What about "a big hit movie"?
We often talk about "a big hit," so can you do that with the adjective and say
that you saw a big hit movie?
No, you can't talk about a big hit movie because you can't use an adjective to
modify another adjective.
But good question, though.
Thanks.
So if the adjective "hit" means successful, what does "hit-or-miss" mean?
I heard someone used that phrase this morning but didn't get a chance to ask him
about it.
Well, "hit-or-miss" means that you can't trust something to always be good.
You can think of it as saying that the thing sometimes hits and is good, but it
sometimes misses and is bad.
So "hitting" often relates to succeeding.
Hey, that's also the case in the idiom "hit the nail on the head," right?
Right. When someone hits the nail on the head, it means they say something that
is exactly right.
Well, even though movies tend to be hit-or-miss recently, we should go see once
together just to enjoy ourselves.
Yeah, that's a good idea, Ken.
I'll keep that in mind.