英语播客 A Cup of English 2016 Photos by the river.

The Riverfront Park is a great asset(1)that we enjoy in our community. It opened about the same year that I came to live here. It’s focus, as you can tell by the name, is the Columbia river. This wide and deep body of water starts in Canada, at the base of the Rocky Mountains. It travels about 1,200 miles, through to Washington State and Oregon and then it flows into the Pacific Ocean. So, Wenatchee is actually one of the many towns that it flows through. It is very pleasant to walk or bike next to the river, especially during the Autumn. Often in the morning, there is a slight mist rising from the surface of the water before the day heats up. The leaves on the deciduous trees have changed to yellow, orange, red, pink, or brown. You could say that it’s a perfect spot for photography. And that is probably why I received a phone call two weeks ago from the High School Photography teacher, asking if I could accompany a group of students to the Riverfront Park. Their field trip(2) was planned to encourage their photography of textures and colors. There are a few wooden buildings, benches, and winding(3) pathways in the park, as well as all the natural surroundings that you can take pictures of. I was there for the safety of the students, but as they were all mature and well behaved, I didn’t have much to do. I took some photos myself, and also observed what they were doing. Many of them got down on the ground to find the perfect angle of tree roots or a bench. There was also a lot of reflection on the water that was very bright and danced up the tree trunks, so the students took videos and pictures of that. They seemed to know exactly what to do. The teacher really only facilitated by adjusting camera settings every now and then. And I felt a bit like a spare part, but it was such a perfect day that I was glad to be in the park taking photos. This link shows a few more photos I took that day.

1. An ‘asset’ means a positive resource, a benefit, blessing, or beauty.

a. A helpful citizen is an asset to a community.

b. She has a million dollars in assets.

c. His greatest asset was his sharp mind.

2. ‘Field trip’ is another way of saying an outing that is organized by the school.

a. I will volunteer on the school field trip to the chocolate factory.

b. Museums are the perfect place for a field trip.

3. ‘Winding’ and ‘winding’. Ok 2 verbs that are spelled the same but pronounced differently. The most familiar is ‘to wind/ winding’ like the Beatles’ song ‘The Long and Winding Road’. It means to move in a snake-like manner, and also to tighten the main spring of a clock or watch so it functions. A very common British phrasal verb is ‘to wind up’ followed by another verb, meaning ‘to end up’ or ‘to irritate someone’. The meanings are quite different from each other.

The other verb ‘to wind’ simply means to physically cause someone to temporarily stop breathing by either kicking or punching them below the ribs. Let’s see examples of all of these:

a. I forgot to wind my clock, so my alarm didn’t go off in the morning.

b.That path winds through the forest and out to a main road.

c. It is so easy to wind him up; he gets angry so fast that it’s funny!

d. While we were practicing our Karate moves, I accidentally kicked my partner in the stomach and winded him!