Step by Step 3000 第1册 Unit10:Happy New Year(2)

 　　Part 2. Chinese New Year.

　　A. Keywords. pig, zodiac signs, animal.

　　Vocabulary. zodiac, domesticate¹, insulation², manufacture, insecticide,

　　pharmaceutical³, heart valve, nominate, charity, stage, chauvinist⁴, bacon.

　　A1. The year 2007 is the year of the pig in China.

　　The following passage is going to tell you something interesting about pigs.

　　Listen carefully and deicide whether the following statements are true or false.

　　Circle the correct answer.

　　I'm a pig, my son is a rabbit, I have snakes for daughters, and my wife, believe it or not, is a dragon.

　　Do I live in a zoo? No, of course not.

　　I'm talking about our Chinese zodiac signs, depending on the year of your birth.

　　Each person has an animal for a sign.

　　That's way I'm a pig, and my wife is a dragon.

　　February the 18th is Chinese New Year, and 2007 is the year of the pig.

　　So let's take a closer look at this interesting animal.

　　Pigs were first domesticated⁵ by man about 9,000 years ago, and are still a very common farm animal in many parts of the world.

　　We don't just use pigs for their meat, almost every part of the animal is used.

　　The bones and skill are used for glue and footballs.

　　The hair is used for artists' brushes and insulation.

　　The fat is used in the manufacture of insecticides, floor waxes, rubber and plastics.

　　Amazingly, pigs are a source of nearly 40 pharmaceutical drugs.

　　And their heart valves can be used in surgery to replace human ones.

　　Pigs have also been important in the world of entertainment.

　　In the 1995, the film Babe starred a lovable taking pig as its main character.

　　The firm won an Oscar and was nominated for six more.

　　In England, you can even go to watch pig racing⁶.

　　A farmer, Rob Shepherd, has been raising money for charity by staging pig races on his farm.

　　The events have been very successful.

　　People just don't want to eat pigs, it seems.

　　Pigs also feature in the English language.

　　To say that something is unlikely to happen, you can say "pigs might fly".

　　A man that thinks men are superior to women is a "chauvinist pig".

　　Hungry? Well, then you can "pig out" and eat lots of food.

　　And what about if someone rescues you? Well, you can say that they "saved your bacon".

　　If you, like me, were born in the year of the pig, then you are brave, thoughtful and loyal.

　　The year of the pig is filled with good fortune.

　　Happy Chinese New Year!

　　A2. Answer the following questions about the text. You should write a short answer.

　　A3. Now choose the correct answer, A,B or C.

　　A4. Complete the summary with words from the box.

　　B. Keywords. Kung Hei Fat Choi, Chinatown, Chinese community, Chinese descent, New Year festivity.

　　Vocabulary. spectacular, parade, procession, multiculturalism⁷, immigrant, immigration,

　　flourishing, synonymous, descent, lion-dancing, elephant chess, mayor, outspoken⁸, advocate.

　　B1. Do you know how people in London celebrate Chinese New Year?

　　Listen to the following passage about a London style Chinese New Year.

　　After the passage, you'll hear four statements, decide whether they are true or false. Write "T" or "F" in the brackets.

　　Kung Hei Fat Choi. That's a phrase that's just been heard many times in London's Chinatown over the last few days.

　　Why? Because it's Chinese New Year, and the UK's Chinese community are celebrating the year of the dog.

　　This year the celebrations have been more spectacular than ever, with more than 200,000 people congregating¹⁰ to watch a huge parade of lions, dragons, drums and ribbon and fun dancers.

　　The procession made its way from Chinatown to Trafalgar Square, the very heart of London.

　　London has a proud history of multiculturalism, and the Chinese Community is one of the oldest in the city.

　　Chinese immigrants first came to London in the mid-19th century, consisting mainly of seamen¹¹ involved in the tea trade, via Canton.

　　For that reason, Cantonese is still spoken more widely in the UK than Mandarin¹².

　　A more recent wave of immigration took place in the 1960's when many workers came from Hong Kong to find work in the flourishing restaurant business.

　　One part of the central London neighborhood of Soho becomes synonymous with Chinese restaurants and began to be known as a Chinatown.

　　Today, more than 60,000 people of Chinse descent live in London, which means that there are plenty of people to conduct the New Year festivities.

　　This year's celebrations include more than 100 events, from lion-dancing to elephant chess.

　　Whilst London's museums, art galleries and theaters are running special Chinese-themed seasons.

　　Much of this has been organized through partnership¹³ between Chinese community groups and the mayor of London's office.

　　Indeed London's mayor, Ken⁹ Livingstone, has been an outspoken advocate of strengthening ties between the UK and China.

　　In his Chinese New Year speech, he said "To everyone in China, think of London as your second home. So, whether you're in London, Beijing or Hong Kong, have a happy Chinese New Year."

　　Statements.

　　1. Chinese New Year has been celebrated¹⁴ in the UK with an enormous circus in Trafalgar Square.

　　2. There are more Cantonese speakers in Britain than Mandarin speakers.

　　3. The first Chinese immigrants to the UK were sailors.

　　4. There are a handful of events celebrating the Chinese New Year in London.

　　B2. Listen again, what do the following items refer to?

　　Please give detailed¹⁵ explanations.

1 domesticate   

vt.驯养；使归化，使专注于家务

参考例句：

• Many thousand years ago people learned how to domesticate animals.数千年以前人们就学会了饲养动物。
• If you domesticate this raccoon,it will have trouble living in the wild.如果你驯养这只浣熊，它生活在野外将会有困难。

2 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

3 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

4 chauvinist   

n.沙文主义者

参考例句：

• I don't know how she can live with him;he's such a male chauvinist pig!我真不理解她怎么能与他一起生活，他是个典型的大男子主义者。
• How can you do the Muslim chauvinist thing?你怎么能做穆斯林沙文主义的事情？

5 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

7 multiculturalism   

n.多元文化

参考例句：

• Switzerland is well known for cheese fondue, penguin parades and its multiculturalism. 瑞士一向以芝士火锅，企鹅游行和多元文化等特色闻名于世。
• That may be one reason why multiculturalism came easily to it. 这也是多元文化容易适应发展的原因之一。

8 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

9 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

10 congregating   

（使）集合，聚集( congregate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The spatial distribution patterns of larvae and pupae are congregating distribution. 幼虫和蛹的空间分布均为聚集分布。
• He says victims of violence are congregating there because they feel safer. 他说暴力的受害者聚集在这里因为他们觉得更安全。

11 seamen   

n.海员

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather. 有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• In the storm, many seamen wished they were on shore. 在暴风雨中，许多海员想，要是他们在陆地上就好了。

12 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

13 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

14 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

15 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。