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
accompanying vessel
actual situation
acute eustachian salpingitis
aerogastrocolia
antifreezering dope
arizonas
atavaquone
batoned
BBpa-insulin
belendorffite
Bendela
Berna flies
bidding rules
biosearch
bjornstad's syndrome(twisted hair with sensorineural deafness)
boo boo
cationic surface-active agent
chemotron
cicloprofen
clear the decks for
coefficient of molecular viscosity
come to a halt
compimeter
connect box
crystal packaging
cum chuggers
Cunnamulla
custody bill of lading
cystorrhaphy
dawn patrols
dawn-to-dusk
delma
DHPU
dominatour
dynactinomenter
ecoregulation
emerald malachite (dioptase)
estimated time of delivery
famous-region drug
formal group work
full divided scale
Galenomycin
geiger-muller tubes
Gerskov
group count
guy chain
hall-porters
hardware system
heavy-lift vessel
hypoproteinaemias
incidious
inert component
infonavit
instrumented fuel assembly
klonis
largier
lateral supracondylar line
long - distance call
machinery oil
magnetic push-pull amplifier
mairehau
menages a trois
Monday men
multipoint configuration
nearly free electron approximation
nondirectional hydrophone
outgalloped
over-voltage protection
overclassified
overspeculate
palate process
petitionarily
pneumatic lift
pneumoenteritis of calves
pre-incarnation
problem of unemployment
purge one's contempt
reasonable dispatch clause
recompensing
Roegneria alashanica
sales cooler
Salinas, R.
scrap baling
secondary methemoglobinemia
Shahrud Bustam
silent satellite
slide shows
soccer ball
solar velocity
sorbitised
spraying and dusting equipment
Taoursit
theomaniacs
two-stick stownet
ultraviolet surveillance
under-dip
uninsulated overlap
uranist
us consumer price index
value-of-service consideration
vestment
white infarct