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Lift - Olympic Gold Medal Figure Skaters Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue

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Lift - Olympic Gold Medal Figure Skaters Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue English, baby! Video Lesson
托举— 冬奥会金牌得主花滑运动员赵宏博和申雪

Date: Feb 22 2010

Themes: Romance, Sports

Grammar: Count and Noncount Nouns

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Figure skating has brought love, fame, and now an Olympic gold medal to China’s Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.

Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo began skating together in 1992 and won many competitions during their long career. In 2007, Zhao Hongbo proposed to Shen Xue at the World Championships. After that, the pair retired from skating to enjoy their new married life. But they found that there was still something missing: an Olympic gold medal.

As they stood on the podium in Vancouver, Shen Xue had a big smile on her face and Zhao Hongbo gave his wife a sweet kiss on her forehead. The pair had finally won the biggest prize in figure skating.

One important element in pairs figure skating is the lift. Find out the different meanings of this word from Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo themselves, who recently talked with Jason.

中国运动员申雪和赵宏博因花样滑冰而相恋,并成为家喻户晓的明星,现在他们终于圆了自己的奥运冠军梦。
申雪和赵宏博于 1992 年开始一起练习花样滑冰,在漫长的运动生涯中赢得了无数的冠军头衔。2007 年,赵宏博在世界锦标赛上向申雪求婚。此后,这对情侣退出花滑比赛开始享受新婚生活。但是,他们发现自己仍然心存遗憾:一枚奥运会金牌。
当他们站在温哥华冬奥会的最高领奖台上时,申雪脸上露出灿烂的笑容,赵宏博则在妻子的额头上深情一吻。这对情侣终于赢得了花滑运动的最高奖项。
在花样滑冰双人滑中,托举是一个重要元素。申雪和赵宏博最近接受了詹森的采访,让我们看看“托举”这个词对二人有何不同含义。

3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Jason

Hongbo

Hongbo

Xue

Xue

Jason:  I’m Jason and this is English, baby! We’re here at the Trout Lake Centre, where the figure skaters practice for the 2010 Olympic Games. We’re about to meet Shen Xue (申雪) and Zhao Hongbo (赵宏博), this year’s gold medalists. Zhao Hongbo (赵宏博) is going to explain what it means to lift, and if we’re lucky, he’ll show us too.

Jason:  Can you tell us what is a lift when you’re skating?

Hongbo:  I know lift, yeah. Our long program used three elements that were lifts.

Jason:  Can you just show us a lift? Alright. A lift! Wow. OK.

Hongbo:  Yeah. Just to lift Xue.

Jason:  Their gold medal program was almost completely flawless, but during one lift it looked like Shen Xue (申雪) was going to fall. She says that lots of practice and experience enabled her to hold on and win the gold.

Jason:  In your gold medal performance, there was one lift that almost didn’t work, but you saved it. How did you do that? How did you save that lift?

Xue:  More practice.

Jason:  More practice.

Xue:  Yeah.

Jason:  Experience.

Jason:  And so, do you guys like to drive yourselves or do you like to catch a lift? To catch a lift means to be driven somewhere.

Hongbo:  Myself. Yeah.

Xue:  Yeah.

Jason:  Outside of an ice skating rink, lift is slang for ride. If you catch a lift somewhere, it means that you got a ride, that someone drove you. In figure skating, a lift is when the male skater picks up the woman and holds her in the air.

Jason:  Thank you so much. Can I get a high-five? English, baby! Alright. Thank you very much.

Jason:  Zhao Hongbo (赵宏博) just lifted Shen Xue (申雪) above his head. She explained that during their gold medal performance, when she almost fell during a lift, she was able to stay on because of experience. She had practiced enough to know what to do and she hung in there and won the gold. They had to catch a lift and take off to their final performance tonight, a demonstration for their fans. This is English, baby!

 

Grammar Point

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Jason meets Olympic gold medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo (赵宏博) at the figure skating practice center in Vancouver. The pair teaches Jason what a lift is in figure skating. It is when the man lifts the woman over his head and holds her in the air. The lift is one of the elements that all the skaters in the competition must perform.

There was a scary moment during Shen Xue (申雪) and Zhao Hongbo’s (赵宏博) routine when it looked like Shen Xue (申雪) might fall out of the lift. But she and Zhao Hongbo (赵宏博) are some of the most experienced skaters around, so they knew how to save the lift.

Outside of figure skating, to catch a lift means to get a ride somewhere. After talking to Jason, Shen Xue (申雪) and Zhao Hongbo (赵宏博) catch a lift to their next performance.

Do you like to watch pairs figure skating? Do you enjoy seeing the lifts, or do you like it better when the skaters do jumps and spins? Do usually catch a lift from someone else, or do you prefer to drive yourself?

 

Comments

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riteshjaiswal

India

nice knowledge

02:21 PM Feb 26 2010 |

just1234smile

China

cool our hero

04:49 AM Feb 26 2010 |

just1234smile

China

cool our hero

04:48 AM Feb 26 2010 |

simhyojin

simhyojin

South Korea

I think a man should have great power to lift woman for a few seconds. Also, woman must keep balance too. Each of both's concentration was so amazing.

Congratulate again for winning a gold medal. :)

02:35 AM Feb 26 2010 |

glaciernew

glaciernew

China

they're great skaters, i like their performance. i'm proud of them.

02:25 AM Feb 26 2010 |

glaciernew

glaciernew

China

they're great skaters, i like their performance. i'm proud of them.

02:22 AM Feb 26 2010 |

Susette

Susette

Poland

They're really amazing! I'm a big fan (and not only ;p) of the skating. ;)) 

09:13 PM Feb 25 2010 |

~MemoTheHun~

Germany

skating is something I never could and lifting is something I always dreamt :D

08:41 PM Feb 25 2010 |

alik_jan

alik_jan

Kazakhstan

I like skating, for myself, for pleasure and for health. But I cannot imagine how can do some hard things which on figure skating. I like to watch figure skating on tv.
I don't catch a lift' I ride myself, and I like it tooSmile

08:11 PM Feb 25 2010 |

jejo

jejo

United States

I'd like to cough a left LOOOOOOOLLaughing

 

actually, I drive myself, but sometime i don't have a car because my car is not wonking

This is the first participation in this Website 

 

05:47 PM Feb 25 2010 |

qq_baby

qq_babySuper Member!

Taiwan

The are so cute together!Kiss

05:29 PM Feb 25 2010 |

jolefrancaisSuper Member!

France

I don't particulary like skating. But i think that should be difficult to do and the performer deserve my respect cause that should have a lot of tough work to succed this figure.

04:55 PM Feb 25 2010 |

luoliwa

China

Congratulations, Shen Xue  and Zhao Hongbo, We are proud of them.

02:53 PM Feb 25 2010 |

Katariinka

Katariinka

Slovakia

So, I really like watching firege skating because Im really impressed how they can do that, and also i like the dresses they wear to the competiotion:D I like when theyre doing lifts, but also spins and jumps because I cant imagine me doing something like that:D And, I almost always catch a lift as Im not 18 and in my cuntry I cant drive a car yet:) 

01:19 PM Feb 25 2010 |

mickee85

mickee85

Philippines

Really? wow! what a fun and interesting life they have. They are both athletic, I think they fell in love because they're always together from training to final competition, and also because they love the same sports.

10:05 AM Feb 25 2010 |

anupPh.D

anupPh.D

India

gd but nt always….....................be right

08:53 AM Feb 25 2010 |

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