端午

E04 Dragon Boat Festival By Jacqui Moore Hi everyone, this is Jacqui and welcome to YLYK Oral English. Today’s podcast is focused on useful expressions and phases when describing the origin of a cultural festival. Today we will be looking at these expressions as we talk about the Dragon Boat Festival. The general aim today is not to talk in depth about the Dragon Boat Festival- as much as I would love to, but to instead learn about how to talk about somethings origin, that is, where it began. This is a great skill to have as it helps you to learn about new cultures and also seem interested in their customs. One fabulous thing about cultures with a long history, such as China, is that there are many exciting and interesting festivals to celebrate! Often over time the meaning of these festivals can be forgotten, as people focus instead on the modern-day way of celebrating, rather than the traditional origin. For example, we know that during the Dragon Boat Festival children often wear perfume pouches around their necks, but do we why? We know that the adults often drink a special type of wine but again, do we know why? One thing to be careful not to do when people are asking the origin of a festival is to instead explain the celebratory customs of the day. So let’s now have a look at a few expressions that are useful when asking the origin of something, and also explaining the origin of something. Let’s start with the dialogue. Dialogue 1 A: What is the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival? B: Ha-ha good question, I haven’t the faintest clue! Let’s ask Tom, I’m sure he’ll know. This is a simple, yet effective way to ask how a festival began. “What is the origin” is a simple way to ask how something began, or where it began. In terms of the dialogue, the origin of the festival is being asked, meaning where and when did the Dragon Boat festival begin. It is a really useful expression and it can be used in many different situations. One of the most useful situations is to ask the origin of a word. English is unlike Chinese in that it has “borrowed” many words from many languages, which is one of the reasons some words are so difficult to spell! If you know the origin of the word, it helps hugely in understanding its meaning, its spelling and how to use it properly. If you know the word’s origin is Greek, there are certain spelling rules that come with that, it is the same for German, Latin, French etc. An example of how to use the word “origin” in this context is to simply say “what is the origin of the word”. The next expression is used quite often, “I haven’t the faintest clue”. You might have heard people say, “I have no idea” before? Well this is the same meaning. If you have a clue you might know something about it, if you haven’t the faintest clue, it means you know absolutely nothing about it. You could use this anytime you would normal say “I have no idea”. For example, if I asked what date the Chinese New Year would be next year you could say “Oh I haven’t the faintest clue”. Let’s now look at another dialogue. Dialogue 2. A: Tom, could you please shed some light on how the Dragon Boat festival started? B: Well, there are many schools of thought on this. The most popular though is that it is in commemoration for Qu Yuan. Ok, instead of just asking “what is the Dragon Boat festival”, Tom is asked to “shed some light” on the festival’s origin. To “shed light” on a situation is to clarify, explain or reveal the meaning behind something. It is a brilliant way to ask someone to explain a situation to you. It is a polite, advanced way of saying “explain this”. You can use it in many situations in your daily interactions. For example, if you walked into your office and there was mess everywhere you could say “Paul, could you please shed some light on what has happened here?”. If your child received a really bad grade at school you could say “could you please shed some light on why your grade is so low”. The next expression we will look at is “there are many schools of thought on this”. This is a great expression to show that there is more than one view on an issue. A “school of thought” in this contest is a particular way of thinking. An example of this is “there are several schools of thought about how the universe began”. What this means is that there is more than one theory on how the universe began. Ok, let’s now look at one last dialogue where Tom explains the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. Dialogue 3. A: Who is Qu Yuan? B: He was an exiled, patriotic poet, who drowned himself on the fifth day of the fifth Chinese lunar month when the Chu state fell to the State of Qin. A: Wow I’d never have guessed that! Ok. The first term we will going to talk about is the word “exiled”. Now this isn’t a word we commonly use today but if you are interested in history this is definitely a term you want to know. To be exiled is to be banned from ever-returning to your native country. It was usually used for political or punitive reasons. Punitive means it was intended as a punishment. So, if you were exiled it means you were not allowed to return to your homeland. The next is the term “patriotic”. This is an adjective to describe someone who supports, loves, and is devoted to their country. You would say “I am a patriotic person”. Finally, “I’d never guessed that”. This is a good way to respond when someone explains an answer to a question you have, and the answer surprises you. For example, “I’d never have guessed that you were 50 years old!” or “I’d never have guessed that you had 7 children!”. Ok, let’s summarise the expressions we have spoken about today. The first is “what is the origin”, a way of asking where and how something began. Next, “I haven’t the faintest clue” a great way of saying, “I have no idea!”. We also discussed the expression “shed some light” which means to enlighten, bring clarity or explain a situation. We then discussed the term “school of thought”, which is a great expression when there isn’t necessarily one correct answer as different people have different beliefs. Next we talked about the word “exile” which is when you are forced to leave your motherland and not return. We then spoke about the term “patriotic” which describes someone who loves their country. Finally, the last expression was “I’d never have guessed that!” which is a great response to someone explaining something that you previously had no idea about and that surprised you. I have really enjoyed talking to you today about useful expressions around asking the origin of cultural festivals. I hope that this gives you the ability to ask someone from a different background about their special festivals. Thank you so much for listening and I will see you next time!