【英语趣味课堂】去哥斯达黎加的游客-Tourists Who Go to Costa Rica

Rachel: So, Steven, you're from Costa Rica, and I've heard it's an amazingly beautiful country, and I've seen some of pictures you've shown us in class. Do you get a lot of tourists going?

 

Steven: In Costa Rica we are considered one of the most important places where there's mostly rainforest. We are composed of 4% of the world's natural forest. But this is increasing due to the fact that Brazil's cutting down the trees.

 

Rachel: So, do most tourists go to Costa Rica for eco-tourism or are there any other reasons?

 

Steven: Most of the people that go to Costa Rica is not only due to the environment, like going to see the trees, volcanoes¹, animals, but they also come to Costa Rica because they want get plastic surgeries² because in Costa Rica it's really cheap. Also they travel to Costa Rica in order to retire because Costa Rica is also considered one of the world's cheapest living costs in the world.

 

Rachel: Wow, I didn't know so many people went there for medical tourism. So that's really interesting. What kind of countries do they come from?

 

Steven: Well, when I was on the plane going to Japan I found it was packed of people with bandages and they all were going to the United States and this just surprised me that people we coming and having surgery³ and leaving the country.

 

Rachel: Yeah, that's amazing. And you said as well you have people coming to retire. Is that changing the demographics of the country?

 

Steven: Actually, when people are coming into Costa Rica, it's really good due to ... they bring money into the country, but one thing that is really bad is that they are cutting trees in order to live next to the forest. They're killing⁴ off animals in order to live next to the beaches, and this is one of the big problems that Costa Rica is facing.

 

Rachel: So how are the authorities⁵ or people in Costa Rica trying to protect those areas of natural beauty?

 

Steven: Currently⁶ Costa Rica is trying to .... like the government is trying to protect these places however there's places where the government cannot interfere⁷ so organizations and schools are collecting money in order to buy these properties and let them unused, uninhabited. For example in the case in my school, I donated 500 Koolon which is around one dollar and we collected for several years and finally we bought a chunk⁸ of land and currently no one is living there, and the forest and the animals living there are untouched.

 

Rachel: That's so cool. So you own some of the rain forest.

 

Steven: Yeah, pretty much I do.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

plastic surgery

 

The tourists want to get plastic surgery done cheaply.

 

Plastic surgery is a kind of medical treatment to improve your appearance. Notice the following.

 

My sister hates her nose. She wants to have plastic surgery, but mom said no way!

Plastic surgery is very common among Hollywood movie stars.

in order to

 

They travel to Costa Rica in order to retire.

 

The phrase ‘in order to’ explains why we do something. Notice the examples.

 

I visit elllo almost everyday in order to improve my English.

In order to enter a top university, you have to study hard and get good grades.

packed

 

It was packed with people.

 

Here, ‘packed’ means very crowded. Think of it as many, many people together in one place. Here are two sample sentences using ‘packed’.

 

The bus was so packed I couldn’t hop⁹ on.

Dad said The Rolling Stones concert was packed with people of all ages.

killing off

 

They are killing off the animals.

 

To kill something off means to slowly destroy it. Notice the following.

 

Deforestation is killing off the local wildlife.

Nature lovers¹⁰ say the oil spill is killing off the once beautiful beaches.

untouched

 

The trees and animals are untouched there.

 

Here, ‘untouched’ means little or no contact with people or development. Note the sample sentences.

The once untouched beaches are now packed with hotels and tourists.

Nowadays, few places in the world are untouched by development.

1 volcanoes   

n.火山( volcano的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Volcanoes and geysers erupt. 火山和间歇喷泉均能喷发。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has been able to tell us more about active volcanoes than any man alive. 他现在比任何人都能更多地向我们讲述有关活火山的情况。 来自《用法词典》

2 surgeries   

n.外科手术( surgery的名词复数 )；外科诊所；门诊时间；（议员的）接待时间

参考例句：

• Doctor's don't want their surgeries full of people seeking medical solutions to their relationship problems.\" 医生们不希望诊室里挤满了为了夫妻关系问题来寻求医疗解决的人。” 来自时文部分
• Result: 9 patients with affective disorder presented after cardiac surgeries with CPB. 结果：仅体外循环组9人出现术后轻度情感障碍。 来自互联网

3 surgery   

n.外科，外科手术；手术室

参考例句：

• What time does surgery finish?门诊什么时间结束？
• Your condition is serious and requires surgery.你的情况很严重，需要动外科手术。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 authorities   

n.当局，权力，权威；权威( authority的名词复数 )；权力；学术权威；[复数]当权者

参考例句：

• They interceded with the authorities on behalf of the detainees. 他们为被拘留者向当局求情。
• At his instigation we conceal the fact from the authorities. 我们受他的怂恿向当局隐瞒了事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

7 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

8 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

9 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

10 lovers   

爱好者( lover的名词复数 )； 情人； 情夫； 情侣

参考例句：

• They were off-screen lovers. 他们是真实生活中的情侣。
• Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet 罗密欧和朱丽叶这一对莎士比亚笔下命运多舛的恋人