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
-grade
.htaccess file
a neck
active diffusion space
adjoint method
airbed
alloimmunity
alternating polarity
anarcho-collectivism
anchoring cone
aperiodic net reflector
Ban Tha Sadet
bed out young plants
beyond cavil
bobus
bogus
butterworth-heinemann
caronic acid
charge computer
chasse gardee
chew up the scenery
circumoral
closed circuit installation
coal rank semifusinite
colletto
compact fluorescent light
concrete beams
concrete-polymer material
control rod guide bushing
cope plate
corsette
cosmographists
dentin-pulp
desert fever
despatch note
dihydrodeguelin
diphosphotransferases
dual savings plan
early warning from satellite
eat lead
emergency surcharge
ethyl-polyoxynitrosophenol
extrusion graph
first-step-transfer DNA
follows through
gallbladder bile
gas separator
held onto
hematomyelia
hyperthyrosis
impulse conduction
interleukin-4(IL-4)
kilonem
kookie
Kyindwe
mal-observance
mathematical mode
mclaren-ford
mechanical guillotine shears
media effect model
medical transport
microlepia sino-strigosa ching
minimal line-width
minority leaders
multiple adenolipoma
net size forging
non-random assortment
oval-head screw
overdue liabilities
paper chart
phenolated
prosopopey
pseudomurein
ragins
rla
roemerite
sampling voltage
second-order asymmetric transformation
secondary affection
seed-beds
sereuful
single-sided mirror
sinusoidal undulation number
snarl-catcher card
sonic prospecting machines
squashability
standards of feasibility
stood on ceremony
sultone
tender coal board slide
theddies
time selective fading
transverse strain effects
unbalconied
undiluted engine oil
usable sensitivity
Ust'-Karenga
waar
well-educated
working file
world religions
year end