【英语趣味课堂】可供选择的运动-Alternative Exercise

Todd: Hey Julia.

Julia: Hey Todd, how are you doing?

 

Todd: Good, good. Now Julia, you are really fit and also you are a yoga instructor¹ and a runner so you are the perfect person to talk about extreme exercise.

 

Julia: Extreme. I wouldn't say I'm an extremist, but go on.

 

Todd: OK. So first of all I thought I would ask about this yoga that you do in like really hot rooms or something like that.

 

Julia: Yeah, the bikram yoga it's called.

 

Todd: Yeah.

 

Julia: Yeah, actually I've never tried it myself. I know it's kind of a growing craze, maybe Madonna made it really popular. As far as I know you do it in a sauna but it can't possibly be a sauna.

 

Todd: Not a real sauna, right?

 

Julia: I don't know what the temperature is but I think the philosophy behind it is to try to recreate the same climate as you'd find in India where yoga originates.

 

Todd: Right, so you want it to be really hot.

 

Julia: And humid, yeah.

 

Todd: Wow.

 

Julia: And also people who like to get the kind of the stretch value but also like to sweat at the same time. If you want a sweat yoga then it's a crank up the temperature is going to help you.

 

Todd: Wow, that's intense.

 

Julia: It is.

 

Todd: What about, have you heard about cross fit?

 

Julia: Cross fit? No.

 

Todd: Yeah. Cross fit's the big rage in America.

 

Julia: Cross fit, no I haven't heard of that.

 

Todd: Cross fit is like people do all of these really old-school exercises, like push ups or pull ups. They do like jumping jacks², they do really weird³ things like dead lifts, stuff like that but they do it one after the other in really short time intervals⁴ and like the work out only takes twelve minutes.

 

Julia: Wow.

 

Todd: But if you do it right, I think some people actually get so fatigued⁵ they throw up so like you really push your body to the limit.

 

Julia: That is extreme, yes.

 

Todd: It is extreme, although I'm probably saying it wrong.

 

Julia: Good for weight loss.

 

Todd: Yeah, so it's actually a big craze where people do more natural body movements and you never do the same thing twice. You're not supposed to get into a routine. You always do things different.

 

Julia: You do it like spontaneously or you set yourself a program?

 

Todd: There's a whole website, you go to the cross fit website and they explain it all but it looks pretty cool. It's like not your typical gym type workout.

 

Julia: Cross fit sounds like something you do on a BMX or something.

 

Todd: Right, right, exactly.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

originate

 

You try to recreate the same climate as you'd find in India where yoga originates.

 

The place where something 'originates' is where it was first created or invented. Notice the following:

 

Do you know where bread originates?

Some of the earliest forms of writing originated in Mexico.

the big rage

 

Cross fit's the big rage in America.

 

Here, 'big rage' is similar 'popular trend' or 'fad⁶.' It's something that many people have recently become interested in. Notice the following:

 

The singer Adele has become the big rage in the past year.

These shoes are the big rage right now.

old-school

 

People do all of these really old-school exercises, like push ups or pull ups.

 

Used like this, 'old-school' refers to traditional methods of doing something that may seem outdated⁷ now. Notice the following:

 

She wears a lot of old-school sweaters.

He listens to a lot of old-school music.

jumping jacks

 

They do like jumping jacks.

 

'Jumping jacks' are a form of exercise where you start standing⁸ up with your hands by your side and then you jump and open both your arms and your legs, then you jump again to return to a starting position. Notice the following:

 

Jumping jacks are sometimes difficult for children to learn.

We usually do some jumping jacks at the beginning of class to get warmed up.

a big craze

 

It's actually a big craze where people do more natural body movements.

 

'A big craze' means the same thing as 'a big rage.' It is something that many people become interested in at the same time. Notice the following:

 

Fancy electronics are a big craze for people her age.

That diet was a big craze around the year 2000.

1 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

2 jacks   

n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃

参考例句：

• Hydraulic jacks under the machine produce the movement. 是机器下面的液压千斤顶造成的移动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The front end is equipped with hydraulic jacks used for grade adjustment. 前瑞安装有液压千斤顶用来调整坡度。 来自辞典例句

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。

5 fatigued   

adj. 疲乏的

参考例句：

• The exercises fatigued her. 操练使她感到很疲乏。
• The President smiled, with fatigued tolerance for a minor person's naivety. 总统笑了笑，疲惫地表现出对一个下级人员的天真想法的宽容。

6 fad   

n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好

参考例句：

• His interest in photography is only a passing fad.他对摄影的兴趣只是一时的爱好罢了。
• A hot business opportunity is based on a long-term trend not a short-lived fad.一个热门的商机指的是长期的趋势而非一时的流行。

7 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。