节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-01-19
难易度:Low
关键字:commercial, journey, champion, devotion, figure skating, triple jump
(Music).
Friends, welcome back.
Today we are talking about Yuna Kim, South Korea's "Queen of Figure Skating."
Now before the break,
we talked about what she does now that she's in commercials and in magazines and
takes the time to still be practicing her figure skating.
But she's a national hero.
The whole country does love her.
Though that does not happen just in the beginning.
She was not born a hero.
So we're talking about her journey.
Right before the break, we learned that she started figure skating at the age of
six.
So join us on page 36 to learn about her journey.
(Music).
Yuna Kim - South Korea's "Queen of Figure Skating".
He believed she had the ability to become a world champion figure skater!
Kim's family gave their full support, especially her mother.
Ms. Park arranged her schedule and the family's budget to allow Kim to pursue
her dream.
She even drove Kim to practice six times a week.
That devotion paid off when Kim turned 10.
She landed her first successful triple jump, a jump some older skaters aren't
able to perform.
Two years later in Slovenia, Kim won her first international competition.
(Music).
Yuna Kim has an incredible journey to her figure skating.
Her family has always been very supportive.
And when she started skating at 6, her coach saw that she had something special.
Yeah, he recognized that she was special.
And if you recognize something, it means you can see it, you can understand it.
So he saw that she had some special talent.
He believed she had the ability to become a world champion figure skater!
And this would probably end up... I mean, it did end up becoming true!
She became a world champion.
A "champion" is someone who beats all the others in a competition.
She is the best.
That's right. That can be a person or a machine or an animal.
Here we're talking about Yuna Kim and her incredible talent that makes her a
champion.
Right. But she's not just a champion, Kaylah, she's a world champion.
Can you explain what that means?
That means she is the best in the world.
We talked about that yesterday.
And today we see again that she has won international competitions, not just
South Korea but all around the world.
OK. Now after Kim's coach saw that she had talent to become a world champion,
her family gave... gave their full support to her, especially her mother.
So she's always had her family on her side cheering for her, supporting her,
helping her as she goes after this champion-skating career.
Yeah, so they've given their full support; they support her.
They want her to be successful, especially her mother, which is great.
Yes. Ms. Park arranged her schedule and the family's budget to allow Kim to
pursue her dream.
That is a sacrifice.
Yeah. Well, not just their time but also their money.
A "budget" is referring to the amount of money that people need to use or to
spend.
And so her mother... or, I'm sorry, Ms. Park made sure that they had the time
and the money for her to pursue her dream.
That is a good mother, the work she did, supporting her daughter.
That was... that's wonderful to see where it took Yuna Kim in her life.
You know, this... her mother even drove Kim to practice six times a week.
Wow! Now that is impressive.
That is a lot of time for someone to spend for someone to pursue their dream.
That means to actually go out and do what it is you want to do.
Now that is true devotion, Kaylah.
That's right.
"Devotion" is loyalty, love and care for somebody.
Now I definitely think this shows devotion.
She's loyal to her daughter, taking her all the time, and shows her love through
the commitment to Yuna Kim's skating.
Exactly. And it paid off when Kim turns 10 years old.
Now let's go visit Liz with Grammar on the Go.
And then we'll continue talking about Yuna Kim.
Hi, friends.
Greetings from South Korea.
My name is Liz, and it's time for Grammar on the Go.
We read in today's article:
That devotion paid off when Kim turned 10.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Notice the idiom: paid off.
It actually has several different meanings; but in the case of today's sentence,
it means to bring a rewarding or profitable result.
In other words, something may not have been easy to do, but in the end, there
were good results that made the whole thing worth doing.
Let's take a look at some example sentences:
After three months of job-hunting, Kendra's persistence finally paid off when
her portfolio caught the attention of a modeling firm.
Or: After spending a whole semester working together on the school project, the
team's hard work paid off when they got first place in the student exhibit.
Now, what if something did not bring about a good result?
Then we can just add "not" in front of the idiom.
For example: Ted spent a year taking French lessons, but it did not pay off.
He still doesn't know how to speak French.
Or: Meredith sent her dog to an expensive behavior school, but it did not pay
off and the dog continued to misbehave.
If you look at today's Grammar Tip section, you'll find more example sentences
there.
That's all the time we have for now.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go, signing off, in South Korea.
Bye-bye.
Let's find out how this devotion did pay off.
That's right.
We see that she landed her first successful triple jump, a jump some older
skaters aren't able to perform.
Now a triple jump, we need to know what this is just to understand how
impressive it is.
A "triple jump" in figure skating is when you take off from the ice, you jump
off of the ice and you spin three times in the air and land on your feet.
Now there's a lot of technique that goes into this.
But that's the most important part is you need to know she spins three times.
And it is one of the most difficult moves to do in figure skating.
And she did it at the age of 10.
We even see that it's more difficult for older skaters to perform.
That's right. She's very talented.
Two years later - so she would be 12 - in Slovenia, Kim won her first
international competition.
And it's easy to see why.
If she is already able to do one of the most complicated moves in figure skating
at the age of 10, that... when she went to this competition, well, of course she
would win.
Well, she was 12, and that was her first international competition.
I've never won an international competition, and she was so young.
She truly is impressive.
Yes. Well, join us tomorrow as we continue learning about how impressive Yuna
Kim really is.
Before we go for today, let's visit the Chat Room.
(Background Noise).
Hi, Bryan.
Hi, Ken.
I must have fallen asleep while I was reading.
Yeah, I think so.
Are you all right?
Yeah. I just didn't sleep well last night.
You were asleep for a while.
Hey, were you dreaming?
Uh, no. But that reminds me of a question I had.
I was reading an article about a figure skater.
And it said she dreamed of winning an Olympic gold medal.
Is that a different use of the word "dream"?
Yes, it is.
You can use the word "dream" to talk about something you hope to achieve in the
future, especially if it seems unlikely at first.
So in that case, can "dream" be either a verb or a noun?
Yes. You can say she dreamed of winning a gold medal, or her dream was to win a
gold medal.
I see.
So is a dream the same as a goal?
They're similar, except that dream is always long-term, but a goal can be
short-term or long-term.
So for a student, doing well on the next day's test would be a goal, but getting
into Harvard would be a dream?
That's part of it.
When someone has a goal, they usually take specific steps to achieve it.
So if the student is taking actions that help him get into Harvard, we might
call that a "goal" too.
OK. That makes sense.
You know, another word with the similar meaning is "vision." A vision is like a
dream.
In that it has to be long-term, but it also has to be specific.
You know, the company I work for had a vision statement that describes its
purpose.
Yes. Businesses and organizations tend to talk about their visions a lot.
Well, thanks for your help.
You're definitely helping me reach my goal of becoming fluent in English.
My pleasure.
(Chinese).
(Chinese).
And time really flies.
Don't forget to come back tomorrow.
I'll see you then.
Bye-bye.
OK. Thank you, Michelle.
So what does a world-famous ice skater eat?
Well, if you're Yuna Kim, your diet has been scientifically designed. Really!
Kim takes in exactly 1,200 calories a day - not too much to get fat, but just
enough to maintain top physical strength.
Kim's diet is so strict that even the amount of water she drinks is regulated.
For breakfast, Kim has rice congee and soup.
Lunch and dinner?
Red fruits, protein-rich vegetables like beans and fish, which I'm told, is
better than red meat for maintaining muscular endurance.
OK, everyone. I hope the rest of your Thursday is fantastic.
Bye-bye.