【英语趣味课堂】马来西亚-Malaysia

 Todd: So, you were saying you went to Laos, you went to Thailand, by any chance did you go to Malaysia?

 

Phil: Yeah, I spent, I spent some time in Malaysia. The first stop, we went there from Singapore, just taking a bus and we ended up in Malacca. Stayed about five days in Malacca. Malacca's nice. There's a lot of history there. We learned a lot about the colinization of Malacca, the Portuguese¹ and then the Dutch, and then the English and then the Japanese, and, yeah, it was a really interesting place. There was old St. Peter's Church. There's several Mosques². It's a good place to spend for a few days. From there we went to Kuala Lumpur. We didn't really spend much time in Kuala Lumpur. We had spent a week in Singapore and were pretty tired of cities. so we only spent I believe two or three days in Kuala Lumpur, just visits from shopping malls, the KLCC, the Petronas Towers, and yeah, that's basically what we did in KL, and then we went to the Cameron Highlands, and if you like hiking, the Cameron Highlands is a great place for you. I don't know, they might have 16, 17 different marked trails. There's a whole lot of unmarked trails. We spent a month there. I think I only went on only six hikes maybe during that month but once again we were being lazy, and yeah, if you're an avid⁴ hiker then you're certainly going to enjoy the Cameron Highlands.

 

Todd: Yeah, actually, I did the hike in the Cameron Highland³ once, and foolishly I started my hike at about 4 o'clock and I thought I could make the loop of the trail at the time, and the sun started to go down, and I was in the jungle, and I was worried about getting back, and I just made it back, but I was pretty scared for awhile.

 

Phil: You were lucky. Some people don't make it back.

 

Todd: Really?

 

Phil: Well, Jim Thompson. Maybe you've heard of him.

 

Todd: Yeah, actually, why don't you tell the people about Jim Thompson?

 

Phil: Jim Thompson was a trader. I think he was maybe based in Hong Kong, but I'm not sure. Maybe it was based in Malaysia. He went hiking. I believe it was 1967, in the Cameron Highlands, and no one has seen him since. He's just vanished from the face of the earth. So, be careful if you go hiking there. Watch your step.

 

学习内容：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

by any chance

 

By any chance did you go to Malaysia?

 

We use the phrase 'by any chance' when we are asking if something is true or possible, but we don't really expect the answer to be yes. Notice the following:

 

You don't, by any chance, have an extra umbrella I could borrow?

Can you take care of my daughter on Friday night, by any chance?

colonize⁵

 

We learned about the colonization⁶ of Malaysia.

 

To 'colonize' a place is to establish a colony or area to live there.  Colonization happened frequently from the 1600s until the 1800s, when countries were exploring new lands and making towns in the new places.  Usually this involved conquering the local people.  Notice the following:

 

Teaching people about religion was part of the colonization process.

They planned to colonize the new territory.

make it back

 

I just made it back.

 

The phrase 'make it back' means to return from another place but the return trip was either long or difficult.  Notice the following:

 

How did you make it back after your car stopped  working.

Sorry.  I'm not going to make it back in time for our meeting.

face of the earth

 

Jim Thompson vanished from the face of the earth.

 

If someone falls off 'the face of the earth' he has disappeared and you don't see or communicate with him anymore.  The face of the earth is literally⁷ the ground we stand on, but we usually use to talk about all the parts of Earth in a general sense.  Notice the following:

 

Where have you been?  I thought you had fallen off the face of the earth.

It feels like all the good people have disappeared from the face of the earth.

watch your step

 

Be careful if you go hiking. Watch your step.

 

Literally, 'watch your step' means be careful where you put your feet, but we use this phrase to tell someone to be careful.  Notice the following:

 

When you start a new job it is always important to watch your step until you figure out the rules.

Watch your step when you work with her.  She has a habit of not telling the truth.

 

 

 

1 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

2 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

3 highland   

n.(pl.)高地，山地

参考例句：

• The highland game is part of Scotland's cultural heritage.苏格兰高地游戏是苏格兰文化遗产的一部分。
• The highland forests where few hunters venture have long been the bear's sanctuary.这片只有少数猎人涉险的高山森林，一直都是黑熊的避难所。

4 avid   

adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的

参考例句：

• He is rich,but he is still avid of more money.他很富有,但他还想贪图更多的钱。
• She was avid for praise from her coach.那女孩渴望得到教练的称赞。

5 colonize   

v.建立殖民地，拓殖；定居，居于

参考例句：

• Around 700 Arabs began to colonize East Africa.公元700年阿拉伯人开始把东非变为殖民地。
• Japan used to colonize many countries in Asia.日本曾经殖民过许多亚洲国家。

6 colonization   

殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖

参考例句：

• Colonization took place during the Habsburg dynasty. 开拓殖民地在哈布斯堡王朝就进行过。
• These countries took part in the colonization of Africa. 这些国家参与非洲殖民地的开发。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。