Listening
and vocabulary activity NPR - 2.46min
Stereotyped
sentences, phrases or clichés usually express a popular thought or idea, but
have lost originality or impact after long overuse. They are very common in
humor, comedy and informal speech, but often criticized in intellectual or
academic environments. Examples: “Avoid something like the plague”, “No pain,
no gain”, “Curiosity killed the cat”,and “Time and time again”.
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1.Discuss
the title of the radio segment you are going to listen:
“Pomp
And Circumstance And Tried-But-True Clichés”
What does a)“pomp and circumstance” mean? What about
b)“tried-but-true”?
What do these phrases suggest to you? What do you
think the report is about?
2.Listen
to the radio segment and fill the blank spaces with the phrase missing.
SCOTT SIMON, host:
“It's commencement season. Politicians,
philanthropists, philosophers and movie stars fan out for the next few weeks
to give 1................................................................ Bill
Clinton was at NYU on Wednesday, Stephen Colbert goes to Northwestern in
three weeks, Tom Hanks visits Yale tomorrow. I wonder if Mr. Hanks can resist
saying life is 2................................................................
President Obama gave the commencement speech at Booker T. Washington High
School in Memphis on Monday. Just three years ago, only half of the school's
students graduated. But students and teachers 3..........................................................
This year's graduation rate is over 80 percent. The president of the United
States told the graduating seniors,
4.............................................................. of what you
do. Great speech.
 Last year, Al Gore charmingly confided to students
at the University of Tennessee that he couldn't remember his own 1969
commencement speaker at Harvard. I just remember the weather and 5............................................................... , he told the students to wild applause,
and the parties.
Stewart Udall, the former Secretary of the Interior,
gave Harvard's commencement speech in 1969. You'd think a man who invented
the Internet 6...............................................................
to Google.
Even I get asked to give commencement speeches. It's
a privilege. People call you doctor for the day, and ask you to take a look
at something on their neck. You meet smart professors backstage, and you get
to hear them talk without
7.............................................................. And it's gratifying
to run into a bright, smiling young person on the street or in an airport who
say they remember you as their commencement speaker, and see they're not
being 8............................................................
A few years ago, I opened a commencement speech with
a few jokes about what I thought were plainly graduation cliches: Remember,
education 9............................................................ ; today is the first day
10........................................................... But several
students later shook my hand to tell me how much those opening words had
meant. And I realized: graduations, like weddings, funerals, and World Series
parades, are one of those days that make clichés
ring true.
So, if any graduates are up early, let me
11..................................................... as they step into
these arduous and exciting times. Let life 12.............................................….
You've worked hard and learned a lot. But if you live well, you're going to
know love, loss, confusion and failure - life's
13.................................................... Real life can shatter
certainties like 14......................................................
Keep learning. Be inconsistent. Don't have a rich, full life only to... wind
up at 40 with the same convictions you had when you were 20. Let life in.
And remember, today really is
15........................................................ (Soundbite of
song)
And you're listening to NPR News.”
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3.Vocabulary
A)Phrasal
Verbs: Match the verbs on the left to their definitions on the right. Find the
context in the text in ex.2.
1.fan
out
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a.
Admit, include.
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2.wind
up
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b. Involve oneself in some matter
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3.let in
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c.Spread, move around.
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4.run into
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d. Come or bring to a finish.
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5.step into
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e. Stand, be on your feet
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6.be up
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f. Meet or find by chance
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B)Collocations:
Match the words in both columns to make 4 collocations from the text in ex. 2.
Then, use them to complete the sentences below.
A collocation is an arrangement of words
commonly used together in English, such as “dead serious”, “to feel free”, and” excruciating pain”.
1.wild
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a. words
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2. opening
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b. certainties
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3. to shatter
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c.true
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4.to ring
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d.applause
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a)New scientific discoveries have
...................... a few .......................
b)The famed actor went onstage to get
the award and was met by
..............................................
c)What you are saying
............................................. but I’m not entirely conviced.
d)I need some clever
................................................ for my lecture.
4.Discussion:
Movie Lines
a.In the first part of the radio segment there’s a
reference to Tom Hanks and the phrase “Life
is like a box of chocolates...”. The end of the quote is “... you never know what you're gonna
get.” This is a movie line from Forrest Gump.
What does it mean? When would you use this phrase?
Do you agree with it?
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b.Another well-known and much heard line is “You had me at hello”
Which movie is it from? What can it mean? Guess.
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c.”Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'”
is a line from which Oscar winning film?
What do you understand by this? What are your
thoughts on this saying?
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d. "Hasta
la vista, baby", has been overheard a thousand times. Where is the
line from? When would someone say this?
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e. "You
talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?" Who says this and why? What does it mean?
In what context would you use this line?
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Do
you know other classic and often repeated movie lines?
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