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Midnight in Paris
简体
Midnight in Paris
午夜巴黎

How to use "be able to."

Date: Aug 31 2011

Themes: Travel

Grammar: Be Able To

Intro

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“The grass is always greener” is an expression meaning that we always want what we can’t have. For Gil, the main character in Woody Allen’s new movie, Midnight in Paris, that couldn’t be more true…that is, until the clock strikes midnight.

Gil wishes that he had lived in Paris during the 1920s. He thinks Paris is the most romantic city in the world, and that the 1920s were the most interesting time to be there. He wants to be a writer, and he wishes he could have met famous American writers like Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald when they were all living in Paris during the Jazz Age.

Amy recently saw Midnight in Paris. Hear her and Jason talk about the film, and their favorite eras in history.

“这山望着那山高”是一句谚语,意思是说我们总是希望得到我们无法拥有的东西。对伍迪·艾伦 (Woody Allen) 的新片《午夜巴黎》中的男主人公盖尔 (Gil) 而言更是如此……尤其是当午夜钟声响起的时候。
盖尔希望自己在 20 世纪 20 年代期间居住在巴黎。他认为巴黎是世界上最浪漫的城市,而 20 世纪 20 年代则是巴黎最有趣的时代。他希望成为一名作家,并幻想在爵士乐时代就居住在巴黎,遇见同期居住在此的美国著名作家,如海明威 (Ernest Hemingway) 和菲茨杰拉德 (F. Scott Fitzgerald)。
艾米最近观看了《午夜巴黎》。听她和詹森一起讨论这部电影以及他们最喜欢的历史时期。

Dialog

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

Amy

Amy

Jason

Jason

Amy:  I just saw that new Woody Allen movie, Midnight in Paris.

Jason:  Yeah, I’ve heard good things.

Amy:  Yeah, it was really fun. It was really charming. It was sort of his tribute to Paris, and so there were lots of beautiful shots of the city and everything. But it also had kind of a funny and interesting concept, which is basically there’s this guy who’s just in love with the idea of Paris in the 1920s. And somehow he’s…basically every night at midnight he’s able to go back in time and experience Paris at that time, and he’s also able to hang out with all of his literary heroes, like Hemingway.

Jason:  Right. All the ex-patriots.

Amy:  Yeah, exactly. And so all of those characters are, you know, portrayed in a really funny and charming way.

Jason:  Oh, OK. Yeah, that sounds good.

Amy:  Do you have a favorite historical era?

Jason:  I think I’d go to the 1870s, like the Wild West with Wyatt Earp and all that kind of stuff.

Amy:  OK. I can see that. Would you be an outlaw or would you be a sheriff?

Jason:  You know, in those days the line between them was kind of thin, so it’s about the same. It just depends on who I made friends with first, you know?

 

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Discussion

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Amy enjoyed the new movie Midnight in Paris. She loved the beautiful shots of Paris and the movie’s unique concept.

In the film, the main character is a romantic guy named Gil who wishes he had been alive in the 1920s in Paris. Magically, he is able to travel back in time to that era every night at midnight. He gets to spend time with his favorite ex-patriot writers of the 1920s, such as Ernest Hemingway.

Jason says that he would like to travel back to the 1870s in the Wild West. He would like to hang out with famous sheriff Wyatt Earp and other famous figures of the Wild West.

If you could hang out with any famous figure from history, who would you want to spend time with?

 

Comments

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kikii144

kikii144

Latvia

It would be awesome if I had an opportunity to met someone from the past.  If I had a chance I would like to meet Audrey Hepbern and Coco Chanel.

07:59 AM Aug 31 2011 |

tosick

tosick

Ukraine

i’d like to visit Paris someday…..wonderful city as for me….=)))

05:45 AM Aug 31 2011 |

saeedsirtex

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

being in a paris must be like a dream for most of asian people…but not for me….human when come from a destroyed place to a new place with good scenary and tecnolojy, they must be amazed with it….they want to have that place fore ever till they find better place..in fact all people understand charming and fabuless and want to earn it….but i see a lot of kind attractive place…for me as like as some one who drink a lot of water and somebody wants to give him water…he he he..german tell water waser….


but i am encorage mankind to built beauty and attractive place and apartment and make the environement as beauty as he can….so i like this lesson topic…

12:12 AM Aug 31 2011 |

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