【英语趣味课堂】夏威夷-Hawaii

Mari: Hi, I’m Mari. I’m here with Ron. Ron is from Hawaii. So Ron, what is so special about Hawaii?

Ron: Well, Hawaii is my home, but to people not from Hawaii, I think Hawaii is famous for its nice weather, its warm all year ‘round, also it’s known¹ for its beaches. The beaches are very nice. And it’s also known for its warm hospitality². The people are also very nice.

 

Mari: So can you tell me more about the weather? It’s always sunny? It never rains?

 

Ron: It does rain, but often it rains and it's sunny at the same time, so we have a lot of rainbows. Hawaii is also famous for rainbows.

 

Mari: That’s nice. Can you tell me more about the beach?

 

Ron: We have beaches on all shores of the island -- all our islands. There’s many beaches to choose from. And often, some beaches have big waves, some beaches have small waves, and you can choose which beach to go to depending on whether you want to surf in big waves or you want to swim where there’s no waves.

 

Mari: Can you tell me maybe about the nature in Hawaii?

 

Ron: We have forests, so there’s lots of animals, like birds, and small animals like wallabies: we have Hawaiian wallabies and they live in the forest.

 

Mari: What’s a wallaby?

 

Ron: Wallabies, they’re those little mammals³ from Australia and they were introduced in Hawaii and now they’re wild in Hawaii. They’ve become their own species⁴.

 

Mari: What do they look like?

 

Ron: They look like little kangaroos I think.

 

Mari: Interesting. Any other interesting animals in Hawaii?

 

Ron: We have a lot of pigs, wild pigs. We like to go hunting for them and we like to eat them.

 

Mari: Are there any animals that live in the sea?

 

Ron: We have nice coral⁵ reefs⁶, so there’s lots of beautiful fish in our coral reefs and many people like to go snorkeling to look at our reefs. We also have turtles and seals in Hawaii.

 

Mari: Are there any whales?

 

Ron: We do have whales during the months of March till February I believe. They come from Alaska and they come to Hawaii during those months and then they return to Alaska.

 

Mari: Wow, there are a lot of animals that live in Hawaii. Sounds like a great place to visit.

 

重点词汇：

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

warm hospitality

 

Hawaii is also known for its warm hospitality.

 

Hospitality is being friendly to visitors by doing things like entertaining them and giving them food. In this case, “warm” does not refer to temperature, but to friendly people and atmosphere. If someone is very caring and nice, they are called “warm”. Look at the examples below:

 

They showed us such great hospitality. They gave us a tour of the entire city.

The hospitality at that hotel was terrible -- they were rude and unhelpful.

introduced

 

Wallabies were introduced from Australia and now they are wild in Hawaii.

 

To bring a plant or animal to a new place and give it a chance to reproduce⁷ and establish itself in the new environment. Notice the two examples below:

 

Cane⁸ toads⁹ were introduced to Australia from Hawaii and now they are everywhere.

The plants that were introduced did not survive the cold winter.

snorkeling

 

Many people like to go snorkeling to look at our reefs.

 

Snorkeling is swimming with a mask and breathing through a short, curved¹⁰ tube¹¹. Snorkelers also usually use flippers on their feet to help them swim easier. See the following examples:

 

We spent 3 days snorkeling when we were on vacation in Hawaii.

I like snorkeling better than scuba¹² diving because I don’t like diving so deep.

till

 

We have whales from March till February.

 

Till is simply a short way to say “until”. In written form usually the full word "until" is used and “till” is mostly used in spoken language. It is sometimes also spelled ‘til. See the examples below

 

I didn’t learn to swim ‘til I was an adult.

I won’t be finished till eight o’clock.

sounds like

 

Sounds like a great place to visit. 

“Sounds like...” means¹³ “from what you are saying...” In other words, “it seems like...”. Study the examples below:

 

After reading the review in the newspaper, it sounds like that movie is really good.

It sounds like you need to take a break.

1 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

2 hospitality   

n.好客，殷勤；adj.（气候等）宜人，适宜

参考例句：

• He welcomed you to enjoy his hospitality.他欢迎你去做客。
• Thank you for your kind hospitality.谢谢你的盛情款待。

3 mammals   

n.哺乳动物( mammal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Whales belong among the mammals. 鲸鱼属于哺乳动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most mammals live on land. 大多数哺乳动物生活在陆地上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

5 coral   

n.珊瑚；adj.珊瑚色的，珊瑚红的

参考例句：

• Kate is wearing a coral necklace.凯特戴着一条珊瑚项链。
• The ship was wrecked on a coral reef.这条船在珊瑚暗礁上撞毁了。

6 reefs   

礁体

参考例句：

• The motorboat cut across swift currents and skirted dangerous reefs. 汽艇穿过激流，绕过险滩。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Fish are abundant about the reefs. 暗礁附近鱼很多。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 reproduce   

v.生育，繁殖，复制，重做

参考例句：

• The machine can reproduce a key in two minutes.这机器能在两分钟内复制一把钥匙。
• The picture will reproduce well.这照片会印得很清楚。

8 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

9 toads   

n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆( toad的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All toads blink when they swallow. 所有的癞蛤蟆吞食东西时都会眨眼皮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Toads have shorter legs and are generally more clumsy than frogs. 蟾蜍比青蛙脚短，一般说来没有青蛙灵活。 来自辞典例句

10 curved   

a.弯曲的

参考例句：

• His lips curved in a barely perceptible smile. 他的嘴角弯了弯，露出一丝几乎察觉不到的笑容。
• The missile curved gracefully towards its target. 导弹呈优美的曲线状飞向目标。

11 tube   

n.（英）地铁；管，软管，隧道；vt.把…装管，使通过管子

参考例句：

• You may get to the railway station by tube.你可以乘地铁到火车站。
• Take care not to break the test tube!当心别把试管打碎了！

12 scuba   

n.水中呼吸器

参考例句：

• I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。

13 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。