英语博客：The Instrument Zoo.

 It's not very often that you get the opportunity to try out many kinds of instruments. Have you ever blown a bassoon? Have you ever strummed an electric guitar, or tried a set of drums? We had the chance to do that on Saturday. The Woodshouse Conservatory² of Music was holding what they called an 'Instrument Zoo' for the public to come and enjoy. When we walked into the entryway, we were greeted by a face painter (for the kids) and we were given a map showing us which instruments were in which rooms. On the main floor, we walked into the room which is normally used as an office. A young man was there with a clarinet. Cool! My sister used to play one when she was little. I love its cool tones. He played a great piece from Pirates of the Caribbean. We are movie soundtrack buffs in our household, and that is a soundtrack that we are very familiar with. He caught our attention immediately. "Do you want a turn?" he asked. Of course I did, but I wanted to let my kids try it first. They all looked shy, and I could tell what they were thinking, "He's just had that in his mouth; do I have to put it in my mouth?" I thought the same, so I asked if he could clean the mouthpiece. He graciously did more than that; he put a new reed in it for me. Anyway, after my obsessive³ compulsive disorder⁴ was satisfied, we all had a go and loved it. Next, we moved onto the bass¹ saxophone. It's huge. Infact, it's about the same size as my daughter, who did her best to blow it, but couldn't. Upstairs to the second floor we went, following the map, hearing all sorts of lovely sounds coming from the rooms, and walking past signs that said, 'Don't feed the animals.' Yes, very funny. In the next room, something very special happened. The oboe teacher, seeing us walk in, played a track from Star Wars. The mouths of all my kids dropped open. This was the 'bomb' as they say here, which is slang for the very best. The boys lined up to have a turn, germs or no germs they didn't care. But believe me, it's hard to blow. That beautiful, haunting sound of the oboe requires a lot of breath! Suddenly, another lady walked in carrying a very long instrument, a bassoon. She gave us a demonstration⁵ of what it can do by playing some Mozart. Again, we all had a go, mixing and spreading germs, which now makes me cringe, but at the time seemed to be irrelevant⁶. We finished off our tour with the electric guitar and the drums. Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones were played by the guitar teachers, and my children just strummed one or two notes to accompany. What a great experience. When would you normally have that kind of an opportunity? Not very often, I think.

 

Grammar notes.

 

Related vocabulary: tone, graciously, to strum, reed.

 

1. His tone of voice was very harsh and threatening.

 

2. I accidentally scratched his car, but he graciously forgave me.

 

3. Don't strum the guitar too loudly; it sounds better when it is quiet.

 

4. Reeds grow near rivers; they are also used for instruments.

 

1 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

2 conservatory   

n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的

参考例句：

• At the conservatory,he learned how to score a musical composition.在音乐学校里，他学会了怎样谱曲。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants.这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

3 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。

4 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

5 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

6 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。