【英语趣味课堂】多伦多-Toronto

 Todd: Hey, Marika! What is your home town?

 

Marika: My hometown is Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 

Todd: OK, and how many people live there?

 

Marika: About 4 million people.

 

Todd: Oh really?

 

Marika: Mm-hm. It's the biggest city in Canada.

 

Todd: Really. What is the best thing about it?

 

Marika: The best thing about Toronto is that it's a very multi-cultural city, and there is a really big mix of different people and there is lots of different things going on and lots of different cultural events and different restaurants and it's really interesting to meet all the different people.

 

Todd: What is the worst thing about it?

 

Marika: The worst thing about it is that I grew up there so I don't think it's as exciting as it probably is.

 

Todd: Oh, really.

 

Marika: Like sometimes I just get bored there because I'm used to it. Is that a bad thing?

 

Todd: No

 

Marika: That's weird¹. Let me say that again. What's the worst thing about it, OK, can I say the worst thing about it?

 

Todd: Yeah

 

Marika: One more time?

 

Todd: Sure

 

Marika: The worst thing about Toronto is that it's expanding and a lot of the farmland² that is outside of Toronto is now being developed into condominiums and suburbs³ and it's really good farmland but now it's just being turned into suburbs which is really bad I think. 

 

学习内容：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

multi-cultural

 

Toronto is a very multi-cultural city.

 

A 'multi-cultural city' has people from all different cultural background or ethnicity, basically⁴ people from many different parts of the world.  Notice the following:

 

I am living in a house with people from all over the world.  It's a multi-cultural experience.

Was your high school really multi-cultural?

grow up

 

I grew up in Toronto.

 

The place where you 'grow up' is where you live from when you are a child to an adult, or where you spend most of your childhood.  Notice the following:

 

She grew up in a big city, but now she lives in a small town.

Did you grow up close to here?

bored

 

I just get bored in Toronto because I'm used to it.

 

To be 'bored' is to want to do something and have nothing interesting to do.  You can also feel bored if you are doing something that is not interesting.  Notice the following:

 

There are so many new things to see that you will never feel bored.

He always felt tired and bored in math class.

develop

 

Farmland outside of Toronto is now being developed.

 

To 'develop' an area of land is build house, building, stores, schools, and streets on it.  To make it a place where people can live.  Notice the following:

 

He bought a piece of land to develop into a neighborhood.

They developed this part of the city really fast.  A few years ago there were almost no houses out here.

condominiums

 

Farmland is being developed into condominiums.

 

A 'condominium' is like an apartment house.  It is bigger than an apartment and usually has two or more floors and a separate⁵ entrance, but it is attached⁶ to another condominium.  This word is frequently⁷ shortened⁸ to "condo."  Notice the following:

 

After her husband died she moved into a condominium because she didn't need a lot of space.

They have a vacation condominium on the beach.

1 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

2 farmland   

n.农田，乡间的土地

参考例句：

• They own 200 acres of farmland.他们拥有200英亩的农田。
• If this wet land was drained,it would be good farmland.如果把这块湿地的水排干，这块地就会成为良田。

3 suburbs   

n.郊区，城郊( suburb的名词复数 )；四乡；隧；四郊

参考例句：

• The poor suburbs traditionally formed the bedrock of the party's support. 贫穷的郊区在传统上构成了支持该党的牢固基础。
• The new college will be located in the suburbs. 这所新建的学院将设在郊区。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。

5 separate   

n.分开，抽印本；adj.分开的，各自的，单独的；v.分开，隔开，分居

参考例句：

• Are they joined together or separate?它们是合在一起还是分开的？
• Separate the white clothes from the dark clothes before laundering.洗衣前应当把浅色衣服和深色衣服分开。

6 attached   

附加的

参考例句：

• The lease entitles the holder to use the buildings and any land attached thereto.本租约持有人有权使用此建筑物以及所附属的土地。

7 frequently   

adv.常常，屡次，经常地，频繁地

参考例句：

• Please write to me frequently.请经常给我来信。
• I like that you should call on me frequently.我喜欢你经常来拜访我。

8 shortened   

v.弄短，缩短( shorten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shortened the skirt by an inch. 她把裙子缩短了一英寸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Vacations have lengthened and the work week has shortened. 假期延长，工作周就缩短了。 来自辞典例句