【英语趣味课堂】野营-Nature Camp

Todd: So, Steven you've been talking a lot about adventures you can do in your country. Do you have any stories of adventure that's happened to you in your own country of Costa Rica?

 

Steven: Well, when I was in middle school, my school decided¹ to take all the students in my grade to go to this place called Punta Mona where it's just the tip of Costa Rica. It's located northeast of Costa Rica. This place is … that I went is just mainly in the forest. I was living there for one week without electricity , without any technology, and we were using biodegradable products, for example, cactus², washing face products which you don't really find in the markets, and also we were eating nothing out of meat. We were only eating leaves. We were eating plants. We were eating vegetables that was in the ground, just walking through and we just found them. This is really wonderful. We were also kayaking which is wonderful for me. Canoping. We were growing some plants for later. And of course we were living with the bugs³. It was horrible that we were getting bitten all the time, but we found, like for example, some herbal which we just applied⁴ and the insects would just disappear from thin air. You would never see them again if you use this herbal, and this just educates people how the environment is so important. You don't need drugs from the pharmaceuticals⁶ to just survive. You can use plants. You can use the trees and all these leaves which you can use.

 

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

the tip of

 

It is in the tip of Costa Rica.

 

The tip of something is the point at the end of something. Notice the following:

 

Ships at sea can only see the tip of an iceberg⁷.

We write with the tip of a pen.

biodegradable

 

We were using biodegradable products.

 

When something is biodegradable that means it breaks down into the environment without causing harm to the eco-system.

 

They now use biodegradable paper bags instead of paper ones.

This soap is biodegradable.

apply

 

 

After you applied the herbal, the insects would disappear.

 

When you apply something, that means you put it over something, such as skin or a surface.

 

He applied sunscreen to his back so he would not get a burn.

She applied skin lotion⁸ on her hands.

from thin air

 

The insects would disappear from thin air.

 

When something disappears into thin air, it becomes invisible or nonexistent. We sometimes use the phrase to describe how something disappeared for no reason. Notice the following:

 

My stuff was here one minute and then it just disappeared into thin air.

After the explosion, the building vanished into thin air.

pharmaceutical⁵

 

You don't need pharmaceutical drugs.

 

A pharmaceutical drug is medicine or health products that are produced in order to be sold. A pharmaceutical drug is the opposite of a natural drug or medicine, such as herbal medicine. Notice the following:

 

I actually prefer pharmaceutical drugs because they work faster.

Some people think pharmaceutical drugs do more damage than good.

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

3 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

5 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。

6 pharmaceuticals   

n.医药品；药物( pharmaceutical的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the development of new pharmaceuticals 新药的开发
• The companies are pouring trillions of yen into biotechnology research,especially for pharmaceuticals and new seeds. 这些公司将大量资金投入生物工艺学研究，尤其是药品和新种子方面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

8 lotion   

n.洗剂

参考例句：

• The lotion should be applied sparingly to the skin.这种洗液应均匀地涂在皮肤上。
• She lubricates her hands with a lotion.她用一种洗剂来滑润她的手。