英语博客-北美风情 166、TV

　　Do you ever watch English TV shows to improve your listening comprehension? Television can be a great learning tool, or if you’re not in the mood for thinking, it can also be a great way to relax and veg out! In this Chatterbox episode, we’re chatting about TV. You’ll learn about some basic vocabulary words related to watching TV, some recent trends in the types of shows North Americans watch and where they watch them, and even Harp¹ and Maura’s favourite TV shows of all time! So turn off the television for a few minutes and tune² in to Culips instead. Pass me the remote!

　　Maura:  Yes. Now, if you have a television, you probably have this other little device, which is the remote control, because, well, people are lazy. They don’t wanna get up to change the channel on the TV.
Harp:  Exactly. They like to sit on their couch and change the channel from there.
Maura:  Yeah. So that is called a remote control, but many people also call it the flicker³.
Harp:  Yes, the flicker or the clicker.
Maura:  Yeah, so, sometimes people might call it a remote control, but they might just say, “Hey, pass me the flicker.”
Harp:  Exactly.

1 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

2 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

3 flicker   

vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现

参考例句：

• There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
• At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。