【英语趣味课堂】芬兰-Finland

 Todd: OK, Keith, I was surprised to hear that you actually lived in Finland.

 

Keith: Yeah, I lived in a small farm town there. There's a little place called Kalhaba. About 8,000 people live there. Yeah, it was a nice time. I was teaching¹ kindergarten² to little Finnish children and sometimes I was teaching adults too. Once a week.

 

Todd: OK. What was the best thing about Finland?

 

Keith: Wow. I'd say the summers were the best thing because summer's there, well, there's no night really, depending on where you are in the country. 24 hours of daylight³ if you were in lapland. It was outstanding⁴.

 

学习内容：

 

Learn Vocabulary⁵ from the lesson

farm town

 

I lived in a small farm town.

 

A 'farm town' is a small town in the country where most of the people live and work on farms.  Notice the following:

 

She grew up in a farm town, but she changed a lot when she moved to the city.

They live in a farm town a few hours from the city.

kindergarten

 

I was teaching kindergarten.

 

'Kindergarten' is school for young children, 5 to 6 years old.  In some schools kindergarten is only half of the day, morning or afternoon.  Notice the following:

 

When she was in kindergarten her class had a pet bird.

They learned⁶ to write letters in kindergarten.

depend

 

Depending on where you are in the country.

 

In the example, 'depending on' shows us that there is a connection⁷ between where you are and what your experience will be.  This means⁸ that if you are in one part of the country you will have one experience, but your experience will be different if you are in another part of the country.  If one thing is true than something else will be true.  Notice the following:

 

If it rains we will have the party inside.  It all depends on the weather.

Depending on how you feel tomorrow, maybe we can go to the fair.

daylight

 

24 hours of daylight in Lapland.

 

The hours that the sun is shining each day are the hours of 'daylight.'  Notice the following:

 

In the summer there are more hours of daylight.

There was not enough daylight to read my book.

outstanding

 

Summers in Finland were outstanding.

 

If something is 'outstanding' it is incredible⁹, amazing, or in this example, really beautiful.  Notice the following:

 

She has always been an outstanding student.

The dinner they made was outstanding.

 

1 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

2 kindergarten   

n.幼儿园 adj.幼儿园的；启蒙阶段的

参考例句：

• What did you do at kindergarten today?你今天在幼儿园做了什么？
• Who was your best friend in kindergarten?在幼儿园谁是你最好的朋友？

3 daylight   

n.日光，白昼；黎明

参考例句：

• It is easier to read by daylight than by lamplight.在日光下读书比在灯光下读书舒适。
• To get there on time we must leave before daylight.为了准时到那里，我们必须在黎明之前离开。

4 outstanding   

adj.突出的，显著的，未支付的

参考例句：

• The girl who won the scholarship was quite outstanding.得奖学金的女孩是相当杰出的。
• She is an outstanding scientist.她是位杰出的科学家。

5 vocabulary   

n.词汇，词汇量；词汇表

参考例句：

• How can I widen my vocabulary?怎样扩大自己的词汇量？
• You can find all the new words in the vocabulary of the text.你能在课文的词汇表中找到所有的生词。

6 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

7 connection   

n.联接，连结，联系；亲戚关系

参考例句：

• How long will the connection of the telephone take?接通电话需要多长时间呢？
• She is a connection of mine.她是我的一个亲戚。

8 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

9 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。