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
acrylic based emulsion
all-intertial guidance
alto-rilievi
analogical control
bar-grinding-attachment
be out of the bounds of possibility
betray'd
bilateral circuit
brain-tree
CAO2
Chloradion
coded passive reflective antenna
commercial paper houses
commy
cumhuriyet
Cunninghame Graham
d'hebron
debouncing circuit
decision situation
defrancesco
dexterious
direct access mode
doffers
dual-duct air conditioning system
economic problems
electrolytic oxide film
emergency electric equipment
entry to motorway
fanno curve
FERC.
fetch sb a wipe
fibrinogen degradation product
first-footer
forcing tree
Galilean invariance
Galium tricornutum
gastrointestinal absorption
glow discharge lubricant
Guayalejo, R.
hairbows
high pressure nozzle spray drier
hold the graduation
indium(iii) sulfate
infundibula tubae uterinae
ingesting
ionosphere wave
kadsura coccinea (lem.) a.c.smith
lanperisone
legal malpractice
lucarnes
lugwork
macroradiography
magnetic drum data processing machine
mainframelike
man-bun
marcantant
mtjs
multi-phase flow
noteword processor
on the way home
one-trick-ponyism
peiminine
penetration rate
phaeno
phenol alkylation with olefin
plat-
Pockels, cell
potassium gallium sulfate
powershifting
pro rata
profit volume
quadric curve
rear-engined car
reserpoids
respecs
Sammamish
scituate
sewer tunnel
sharp-nosed rocket
Ships Call Sign
size interval
sodomy
sound image
space physiological stress
specification test
spy glass
State of the Vatican City
stripe-sheet
strut their stuff
tetraphenylplumbane
the fifth century
time-traveller
top-dress
touch all bases
Transtainers
unitarian hypothesis
v beot drive
velocity compound turbine
wage administration procedure
water funnel
white-billed diver
Y-moth