节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-01-09
难易度:Medium
关键字:scrape, sole, resemble, a slap in the face, entrepreneur
(Music).
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
Thanks for joining us today.
My name is Steve.
And my name is Kaylah.
You know, friends, we often forget how important the basics in life are.
Kaylah, do you mean the basics like clothing, shelter, food and water?
Yes, I do, Steve.
But today we are talking about one area: clothing.
And specifically, shoes.
OK. So we are going to look at TOMS Shoes, a company working to make a
difference two feet at a time.
So join us for our reading on page 20 for TOMS: One for One.
(Music).
TOMS: One for One.
For every pair of shoes sold, TOMS gives a pair to a child in need.
An unconventional idea.
In 2006, young entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie went to Argentina on vacation.
He went back to America with a business plan that would help thousands of
children.
While on vacation, Mycoskie saw children who couldn't afford even one pair of
shoes.
Their feet suffered cuts and scrapes, and he wanted to help.
He noticed the shoes Argentinean farmers wore, Alpargatas.
Inspired by those simple shoes with rope soles, he had an idea.
Mycoskie wanted to give these children the shoes they needed, but in a way that
was sustainable.
Hello, friends.
My name is Ryan.
And my name is Kaylah.
Today we are looking at TOMS.
Yes. TOMS Shoes is a company that is well-known in America,
and I think becoming better known throughout the world too.
That's right. TOMS is a "one for one" company.
Now today we're going to talk about what that means and exactly what they're
doing.
Yes. Now usually when you say the phrase, Kaylah, something for something,
that means that for one thing that happens, there's another thing that happens.
That's right. And the "one for one" here is for every pair of shoes sold, TOMS
gives a pair to a child in need.
Exactly. So we're going to see how this company began, and what actually it is
that this company does.
That's right.
What does this "one for one" company do and how is it helping the world around
them.
All right. So now we start with "An unconventional idea." Now we've talked about
the word unconventional before,
referring to something being done in a way that is different than it is usually
done.
That's right.
It means it's a new and interesting way of doing something.
In 2006, young entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie went to Argentina on vacation.
Yes. And here he is called an "entrepreneur," which is talking about someone who
starts a new business or has creative ideas,
usually someone who has a lot of money.
That's right. But this entrepreneur when he starts, it's usually because...
really, all entrepreneurs are because they have a new idea that they would like
to try.
So he is an entrepreneur, which means he's probably already started some new
things.
But right now he's just on vacation in Argentina.
Exactly. He's just traveling in Argentina in South America.
And he went back to America after his trip with a business plan that would help
thousands of children.
Which is not usually what happens on vacation.
You don't usually return to your home country with an idea that change the
world.
Yeah, usually you come home with a lot of pictures and maybe a sunburn.
But he came back with a new business plan, and this business plan helps
children.
While on vacation, Mycoskie saw children who couldn't afford even one pair of
shoes.
That's... that means they're incredibly poor.
Exactly. He saw lot of poor children in Argentina.
And now instead of just starting a business to make money, he... he wants to
help these kids who he saw without even just one pair of shoes.
Without shoes, their feet suffered cuts and scrapes, and he wanted to help.
Yes. Of course you'd want to help if you saw kids with cuts and scrapes.
A "scrape" is talking about taking off the top layer of something.
If you are talking about a scrape on a person, it means you got injured.
It usually hurts really bad.
That's right. On a foot, it would be kind of a rub that has taken away part of
the skin.
But scrape does not always refer to skin.
Here it does refer to that.
But it can also refer to maybe if there's paint on a table that you want to take
off,
you can rub it really hard so the top layer of paint would come off.
And that would be scraping it.
Yeah, you could use a tool to take the paint off.
Of course, you don't want to use a tool to scrape someone's foot.
It just happens if you're not wearing shoes.
That right.
Now Ryan, if we imagine what Argentina's like: It has a lot of open trials and a
lot of probably tree roots and rocks.
And that means the kids' feet are in lot of danger.
Yeah. There's a lot of rocks in Argentina.
And so if you're not wearing shoes, you are likely to get cuts and scrapes.
Well, he noticed the shoes Argentinean farmers were wearing.
Yeah. Now Argentinean is referring to people that live in Argentina.
So he saw the shoes they were wearing and decided that he wanted to help.
Now these shoes are called Alpargatas.
Well, inspired by those simple shoes with rope soles, he had an idea.
Yeah. Now the "sole" is the bottom of the shoe.
And you have a thick part on the bottom of the shoe that's called the sole.
That's right. And these soles were made of rope.
Well, Mycoskie wanted to give these children the shoes they needed, but in a way
that was sustainable.
Hmm. So he wanted to help give them shoes, but he wanted it to be sustainable,
which means he wanted it to last.
He saw these shoes that the farmers were wearing and wanted to give those to the
children, but didn't want it to be a one-time situation.
He wanted it to last.
So we're going to talk about how he did that.
Exactly. Kaylah, I think this is great.
He wanted to start a business not just to make money like most entrepreneurs,
but he wanted to also help the children.
And we'll see how he actually does that after the break.
Before we go, let's visit the Chat Room, and then watch a video.
I'm really sorry to hear that.
Well, I hope he gets better soon.
OK, Aunt Wilma, I'll remember him in my prayers.
You take care now.
Bye.
Hey, Bryan, I couldn't help overhearing what you were saying on the phone just
now.
Is everything OK?
Not really.
That was my aunt in California.
She just told me that my uncle suffered a heart attack yesterday.
Oh. I'm sorry to hear that.
Well, it wasn't a big surprise.
My uncle has been suffering from heart disease for many years.
Didn't you say he suffered a heart attack?
That's right.
Then why did you say he suffered from heart disease?
Why did you add the preposition "from"?
Good question, Ken.
Why don't we go to Doris and have her explain the difference for us.
OK.
You should use "suffer from" to talk about an illness that goes on for a period
of time.
However, if you talk about something that happens quickly, such as a heart
attack or a concussion, you could use "suffer" without the word "from".
Oh, I get it.
Yes. You see, Ken, continuity is key.
"Suffer" does not involve continuity.
A heart attack happens once.
So one suffers a heart attack.
But the phrase "suffer from" shows continuity.
So my uncle has had heart disease for many years, he has been suffering from
heart disease all these years.
So I should say I'm suffering from a toothache?
That's right, because toothaches continue to hurt for a long time.
Does suffer always refer to physical pain?
Not necessarily.
My favorite basketball team suffered a defeat last week.
And I bet you've been suffering from that.
Oh, yes, because I really care about the team, and I've been feeling bad about
it.
Well, thanks for the English lesson.
And I hope your uncle gets well soon.
Yeah, me too.
(Chinese).
When I went down to Argentina, the idea was to play polo and drink some red
wine.
You know, have some fun, clear my mind.
Where the polo farms on Argentina are also very close in proximity to a lot of
very impoverished villages and areas,
uh, where people are living on, you know, the bare... bare minimum.
And it didn't take long before I became kind of curious as to why these people,
you know,
didn't have the modern or normal conveniences that, you know, we grew up having
in the United States.
And I thought it was so interesting that they were doing a shoe drive.
And I mean that no one had shoes and they were having to go get old shoes and
get people to donate shoes.
And when I heard about this, I said: Well, I want to go see this.
I saw lots of kids that had, you know, shoes that were totally tattered, too
big, too small, no shoes at all walking around.
And when I saw that and I saw that all they were doing was trying to go around
Buenos Aires to collect old, nasty shoes to give them,
I really didn't think that was a good solution.
And that's when I came up with the idea of TOMS.
You know, what if I started a shoe company, and every time I sold a pair of
shoes, I gave a pair away.
And that way, if as long as I continue to keep selling shoes, these kids will
have shoes for the rest of their lives.
And so we called it the Shoes for Tomorrow Project.
I remember I was flying back on the plane from Argentina with that idea and
deciding if I was going to come back and do TOMS.
And it was like such an... there was only one... only one real option for me.
How could I look back and say I've met these kids that didn't have shoes,
and I had an opportunity to help them, and I didn't do it?
And I just started asking lots of questions, went to a lot of people who made
like literally Alpargatas in the garage.
And you know, and started... you know, asking questions.
I remember they all thought I was crazy when A: I told them I was going to sell
the Alpargata in the United States.
They're like: No one is going to buy this.
You have Nike, you have Reebok.
You have all these amazing companies.
Why would you want to buy an Alpargata?
I made 250 pairs because that was how many kids were in the village.
And I put them in three duffle bags and I went back to the United States.
Next thing I know, on the cover of the "Calendar" section is Da Vinci Code and
TOMS Shoes.
Before four o'clock in the afternoon, we had sold 2,200 pairs on our website.
And I only had 120 in my apartment.
Well, I do what I had to do:
I had to go back to Argentina and make someshoes.