时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:2013年VOA慢速英语(七)月


英语课

 


Fireworks!


 


Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.


I’m Rich Kleinfeldt.


Today we tell about the word fireworks.


The expression “fireworks” gets its meaning from the fireworks that people shoot into the sky when they are celebrating a great event. Rockets explode to fill the dark, night sky with bright reds and blues 1, with yellows and greens and whites.


The expression also means a great show of noisy anger, or something exciting. For example, a defense 2 lawyer in a court trial may become very emotional 3 in arguing with the government lawyer about evidence affecting the accused. The judge finally stops the loud argument and calls the two lawyers forward. He tells them, “I want no more of these fireworks in my courtroom.”


 


Another kind of fireworks can be any event or activity that is especially exciting. One such event is falling in love. If anything can produce fireworks, it is a sweetheart’s kiss or the touch of a lover’s hand. Often movie or television cartoons show fireworks to represent the excitement of a kiss.


People use the expression fireworks throughout the year. But if you live in the United States and want to see real fireworks, the best time of the year is about now. The Fourth of July is Independence Day in the United States. Americans traditionally celebrate their nation’s freedom with giant public parties and fireworks at night.


In Washington, for example, large crowds gather near the Washington Monument to listen to music and watch a huge fireworks show.


In other cities and smaller towns, local people listen to band concerts and watch fireworks explode in a dark sky.


Many other countries around the world also enjoy the tradition of exploding fireworks on special days. In Australia, the city of Sydney begins each new year with a fireworks show at midnight. China is the birthplace of fireworks. Large fireworks shows were held often during earlier times in China. Now, people use small fireworks to help celebrate weddings and birthdays.


?France also has a great fireworks tradition. A large fireworks show always takes place on Bastille Day, which celebrates the beginning of the French Revolution. The French city of Cannes holds an international fireworks competition each year in July and August.


In India, people have been using fireworks for more than 500 years. A great Indian fireworks show takes place during the religious celebration of Diwali, every autumn.


Fireworks shows are popular around the world. But, if I do not end this program right now, there will be fireworks from my producer.


This VOA Special English program “Words and Their Stories” was written by David Jarmul. I’m Rich Kleinfeldt.


 


 



1 blues
n.抑郁,沮丧;布鲁斯音乐
  • She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
  • He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。
2 defense
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
3 emotional
adj.令人动情的;易动感情的;感情(上)的
  • Emotional people don't stop to calculate.感情容易冲动的人做事往往不加考虑。
  • This is an emotional scene in the play.这是剧中动人的一幕。
学英语单词
acceptance supra-protest
advanced software environment
antifading antenna
Arabian Plate
arterio-dialysis
athyroid
attrition test
b. m. thyreohyoidei
balloon filter
benziodoxole
boil-eddy
bushites
cancrinite nordsjoite
ceramic-based
cercospora hyalospora
circumscribing square
clamshell brake
coaxial line oscillator
cockpit atmospheric pressure regulation system
collision stress
commutated doppler
couson
crurotarsans
decutient
delimiting period
dislocation formation
djp
e1
Edward River
erwinia tracheiphila (e.f.smith) holland
extension blocks
Fludara
foramina rotundum
foxtail grass
get around to sth
green revolution?
hackensack
hamonic mixer
hemispherical shell
home shopping
hydroxypetachloride
incrementals
indirectness
joistless
kosar
Kyburg paradox
language ability code
Lanlate
length-to-diameter(ratio)
low pressure flame
low priority traffic
mail virus
medical-student
mesophylic
method of calling
method of orthogonal projection
Meynet's nodes
microengine
mimeography
Mont Cenis, L.du
Neilston
nettle-leaved bellflower
oblique-swimming triplefin
package tours
party election
Pedomicrobium ferrugineum
perispermum
piezoelectric ceramic tuner
planetary monsoon
plastic art
power window
propaquizafop
qutab
radial route
RDPS
realismo
replugged
rondeaux
sales executive
script language
shore sth under the carpet
skift
source level interactive debugger
specialized foreign-trade corporation
spheric conductor
subqualities
sulfocarbamide
sweet flavo(u)r
taa-
telecounter
terminal assessment
tie-line interchange
total pressure of fan
tractor drive shaft
tral
trimerthadione
twifold
unaltered rock
uncapitalise
unmaximizes
wheelable
yn