Show 1015 Thursday 2 April
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.
The video I recommend today is called In, On, Under.
You can watch it on this YouTube channel.
We Are Busy Beavers, as it says in their profile, is: a method of learning English through songs and videos. And you can find out more about them on their site.
The songs are really catchy and have useful language in them too. I think listening to catchy, repetitive songs like this is an excellent way to learn because the language really sticks in your head.
Another one of the Busy Beaver songs that I love is called The Clothing Song.
The Acadia Report
Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada
Today I’d like to introduce another video from the Wolfville Farmers’ Market channel on YouTube. It’s a video about an artist, or maybe she’s called a metalsmith.
Anyway in this video she’s making some earrings out of metal and she’s explaining what she’s doing and the tools that she’s using. It’s really interesting to see her work. And this is one example of the kind of arts and crafts you can see at the Wolfville Farmer’s Market.
My favourite tool is this hammer. I love this hammer. It’s got … you know, it’s all funny shaped and … I’ve had it a long time. This hammer is probably, I don’t know, maybe ten or eleven years old. And my other … my most used tool is this saw frame.
This type of earring has all kinds of, ah, hammer marks in it, so what I do is I keep my hammer in one spot and then move the piece. And then I get a little bit of movement in the lines without them being too straight.
And then from there, I’ll take this and … oh, this way … and this one goes …
There’s probably a much faster way of doing it. But doing it hand … There’s a hydraulic press I could use. I could have shapes cut out of steel. And have them hydraulically cut out.
But a good hydraulic press is thousands and thousands of dollars and everything comes out looking exactly the same.
So, then, that’s … Oh that one looks …
Gets a bit tedious sometimes, but it’s also a working meditation. I just get into a … get into a zen and stop when my fingers hurt.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora in Stick News today same-sex marriages will soon be legal in Sweden.
Sweden’s parliament has voted to approve same-sex marriage legislation.
261 members of parliament voted yes, 22 voted no and 16 chose not to vote.
According to Wikipedia, Sweden is the seventh country to open marriage to same sex couples nationwide.
And that was Stick News for Thursday 2nd April.
Kia ora.
TDES Niseko Snow Report
in Hirafu
with Manu Ross
* Manu was a guest on Show 1012
Which mountain do you usually go to in New Zealand?
New Zealand, I go to Mount Ruapehu, in the North Island.
How do the conditions in Niseko compare to New Zealand?
Niseko, you’ve got the snow that would normally fall at about 3000 feet, but because of the Siberian, sort of, warm air coming over, across the water and it just lets it come down and it’s real sort of dry powder, it’s fluffy. When you fall over, it’s like falling over into marshmellows. Mmm, really soft and it’s nice. It’s very nice. New Zealand, a bit more harder, compact, lots of people go there, um, here it’s been quite quiet this season and it was just great for us hill staff.
Word of the Day
Today’s word is hydraulic.
adj. denoting or relating to a liquid moving in a confined space under pressure.
The artist in the video I mentioned today is working with metal with a hammer and she says she could use a machine called a hydraulic press but, she says: a good hydraulic press is thousands and thousands of dollars and everything comes out looking exactly the same.
You may never need to talk about a hydraulic press. But hydro or hydr is a useful prefix to learn.
It means relating to water or a fluid or hydrogen.
For example:
Hydrophobia: fear of water.
Hydrotherapy: the therapeutic use of exercises in a pool.
Hydroponics: the process of growing plants in water or sand, rather than (in) soil.
And hydroslide, you might be able to guess, is a water slide.
That’s a common word in New Zealand – but I’m not sure if it’s used in other countries.
conversations with sarah
#640 No, what does that mean?
Step 1: Repeat Mariko’s lines.
Step 2: Read Mariko’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Sarah Have you heard that expression before?
Mariko A busy beaver?
Sarah Yeah, a busy beaver or as busy as a beaver.
Mariko No. What does it mean?
Sarah It means very busy.
Mariko Where does the expression come from?
Sarah I’m not sure, but I guess it’s because beavers are always busy building dams. There are hundreds of expressions using animals in English.
Mariko What’s another one?
Sarah For example: the bee’s knees, have you heard that one?
Mariko No, what does that mean?
Sarah It means, great or excellent.
Mariko Why are bee’s knees so great?
Sarah I don’t know. Good question. I wonder where that expression came from.
filming notes
The ending shot was filmed on Sunday 29th March in Hirafu, Hokkaido, Japan.
links
today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures
music
show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace
The Acadia Report start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Concerto
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace
qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
qa bgm
artist: Hugo 'Droopy' Contini
album: Strikes Back !
track: On a Slow Boat To China
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
MySpace
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