环球英语 — 148：Listener Mail 82

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Voice 1

Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight Program. I’m Joshua Leo.

Voice 2

And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 1

Welcome to the Spotlight listener mail program. Today, we will share letters from you about music, art, and birds. So let’s get started!

Voice 2

Our first letter is about the music in one Spotlight program. The e-mail comes from Stefan in Switzerland. He asks,

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“In your broadcast Amnesty International, a woman sings in the second half. What is the name of the song, and the singer? Many thanks for the answer.”

Voice 1

This song is called “Welsh Piano and Female Voices.” Wales is part of the United Kingdom. It is sometimes known as the “Land of Song”. The music from this country has been influenced by the music of Scotland, Ireland and other areas of the United Kingdom.

Voice 2

In our program, listeners heard a woman singing with a piano. The piano is not a usual Welsh instrument. But in this song it follows the Welsh style. Here is a little bit of the song.

Voice 1

Fiona Richie produces a radio program about music from the United Kingdom. She said this about Welsh music:

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“It is part of Welsh culture. There is nothing else that can represent your own history and roots and your future more than your own musical culture”

Voice 2

At Spotlight, we try to use music from many cultures in our programs. Each culture has different traditions of music. And listening to music is one way to learn about a culture. Thank you for writing Stefan.

Voice 1

You know what that sound means. It is time for the Spotlight Language Hodgepodge.

Voice 2

Today we are going to be looking at the origin of a few common English sayings. The first saying is “Put your thinking cap on.”

Voice 1

This saying is about careful thought - it means that you should prepare to think carefully about something. But why would someone treat thinking like an item of clothing? The origins of this saying are unclear. But some people say that it comes from judges in legal courts. Centuries ago, judges would put on a special cap or hat before they sentenced criminals. And since people considered judges to be respected thinkers, they called the hat a “thinking cap”

Voice 2

So put on your thinking cap and see if this rings any bells. As you may have guessed, the next saying is “Does that ring any bells?”

Voice 1

A person would say “does that ring any bells?” if he wanted to know if something sounded familiar, or recognizable to you. This saying comes from a shooting game. Many old celebrations in the United States and Europe included games. One of these games included shooting a gun at a target. If a person hit the center of the target, a bell would sound. When a person says something you know, it is like he is hitting a target in your mind.

Voice 2

Well if that last saying doesn’t ring any bells, maybe it’s time for you to knock off work for the day! The last saying is “knock off work.” If someone says he is going to “knock off work” it means that he is going to leave work for the day.

Voice 1

This saying has an interesting story. Its origins go back to slave galleys in ships. This was before boats had engines. Instead, some boats used slaves. Slaves sat in the bottom of the boat and pulled the oars, or paddles. They pushed the water using these long pieces of wood. To keep the slaves moving together, a man would beat a block of wood like a drum. When it was time to rest, the drummer would hit, or knock the wood in a special way. This was a signal that the slaves could stop working. They could “knock off”.

Voice 2

Well it’s time to knock off for today’s Hodgepodge. Let’s get back to some more e-mail from our listeners.

Voice 1

Our next e-mail comes from Nicolas. He wrote to us about the program Elephant Art. The program told about art made by these large animals. People sell the art that the elephants make. The money from the art goes to help elephants, and their caregivers, all over the world.

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Nicolas said that he enjoyed this program very much. He said,

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“There exist wonderful people that understand the intelligence of the elephant. These people make many things to prevent the bad treatment of elephants. I respect these people. We should be careful of the animals, who have existed for many years.”

Voice 2

Thank you for writing to us Nicolas. We agree that elephants are amazing animals. We hope that many people will continue to work to protect them. We are happy that you like the elephant art also!

Voice 1

We at Spotlight think protecting the environment and animals is a very important thing to do. We share this planet with animals. We must protect them because they cannot always protect themselves.

Voice 2

Andrei, from Belarus, also wrote to us about protecting animals. Andrei told us about IBA’s or Important Bird Areas.

Voice 1

IBA’s are natural areas where birds can build nests and stay for the winter. Andrei tells us that in the past fifty years, bird populations have grown smaller. He says that IBA’s are an important part of helping bird populations to recover.

Voice 2

We agree that this is a very important subject. Humans have a large influence over the natural world. Sometimes the things we do can damage the homes of plants and animals. But we can also create areas to protect the environment.