胡桃鉗The Nutcracker
老少咸宜的聖誕傳統芭蕾舞劇One of the world’s most popular ballets
克拉拉和王子在滿天繁星下穿越一座森林;行進間，雪花在他們四周飛舞伴行。
糖梅仙子現身歡迎他們。
王子告訴仙子他們與老鼠大車的戰事；大家紛紛感謝克拉拉救了王子的性命。
每個人都坐下來欣賞娛樂節目；包括西班牙、阿拉伯、中國和俄羅斯的舞蹈表演應有盡有。
一名老婦人還和她的孩子隨著小丑一起跳舞。
最後，克拉拉從夢中醒來，發現自己躺在聖誕樹旁，抱著心愛的胡桃鉗。
柴可夫斯基熱愛芭蕾舞劇，並且已經先完成了《天鹅湖》和《睡美人》這兩齣；這兩齣芭蕾舞劇也都深受觀眾喜愛。
然而，在一八九二年的《胡桃鉗》首演時，評論家和觀眾卻都不喜歡這的劇。
但是，柴可夫斯基魔幻般的音樂和美妙舞蹈仍在之後的幾年間流行了起來。
現在，《胡桃鉗》這齣芭蕾舞劇已經是世界上最常表演的芭蕾舞劇之一。
Clara and the prince travel through a forest under a sky filled with stars. Snowflakes dance around them as they travel. The Sugar Plum Fairy appears and welcomes them. The Prince tells her about their battle with the army of mice. Clara is thanked for saving the Prince's life. Everyone settles down to watch some entertainment. Dances from Spain, Arabia, China and Russia are performed. An old woman also dances with all of her children along with some clowns.
Clara eventually awakens from her dreams and finds herself by the Christmas tree holding her precious Nutcracker.
Tchaikovsky loved ballet and had already written two of them: The Swan Lake and
Sleeping Beauty. Audiences loved both. But when The Nutcracker opened in 1892 neither the critics nor the audience liked it. But Tchaikovsky's magical music and the wonderful dances caught on in later years. Now this ballet is one of the most performed around the world.
Grow on you
At the beginning you didn’t like it, but over time, you accepted it and maybe even started to enjoy it.
Fungus or hair, a mole or something like that
Ew! Gross!
settle down to 平靜下來
Colton always settles down to do his homework first thing after getting home from school.
If I read to my kids at bedtime, they settle down quickly and soon fall asleep.
settle down to 安頓下來做某件事
Dylan finally settled down and got married when he was in his 40s. 安頓下來並且結婚
entertainment 娛樂表演
The clown's performance was pure entertainment for the kids.
What kind of entertainment will there be at the party this weekend?
Our favorite restaurant serves great food and even has entertainment on the weekends. 餘興表演
Snowflakes dance, fall, float, etc.
Snowflake （personality）
Recently, the word "snowflake" hasn't had the best of
meanings if you call someone a "snowflake."
Exactly.
We use this to talk about a personality that is kind of sensitive, maybe a little too sensitive, you might call them a snowflake.
I also read another definition for a snowflake regarding someone's personality.
And that is someone who has an inflated sense of their own uniqueness.
And so someone might think: Oh, I'm very unique. I'm very special.
We might say, "Uh, she's acting like a snowflake."
Wow.
Well, don't call anyone a snowflake, friends.
It's not very nice.
Pick/ choose your battles
it implies that there are different struggles in life, different times that we could have an opportunity to argue with someone about something.
But should we take every opportunity to express our disagreement with somebody and to have a little fight right there?
Well, no.
We need to pick and choose when is the best time, when is the best moment to have those.
And we sometimes have to pick and choose what problems we're going to address and what things we're just going to let slide or overlook.
I think this is really important in relationships.
If you want to be a friend to somebody, then you have to accept them for who they are.
But sometimes it's important to show them places they could improve in their life.
But you should still pick your battles and only focus on the most important things.
And I think about working relationships in particular. Because there are things you have to do together at work if you're trying to accomplish something for your project.
Some things maybe you disagree with, but it's okay, we can go that way as well.
But other things are a little more important to talk more about, and so you need to pick your battles.
Choose the best things or the most appropriate things to talk about more in depth to come to an agreement.
So that's a great phrase for you to know: pick your battle, choose your battles.
fairy tale
fairy-tale ending 童話故事般的結局
fairy-tale wedding
fairy-tale honeymoon
end of the fairy tale回到現實
magical 神奇的；魔術的
The children spent a magical evening at the circus. 神奇的夜晚
The neighborhood kids think Mr. Jones has magical powers because he can do magic tricks. 變魔術
Burning some candles in a dark room gives the place a magical feeling. 點蠟燭 神秘的氛圍
catch on 變得流行
Songs often catch on after being played on the radio several times a day.
catch on 理解；了解
Jay finally caught on to the math problem after Ralph explained how he had figured it out.
Catch on 抓住；勾住
Sheila's jacket tore because it got caught on a tree branch when she was playing in the forest.
Black Swan （movie）
Neither… nor
Grow on you逐漸為（某人）所喜愛；使（某人）越來越喜歡
I wasn't sure about this album when I bought it, but it's really grown on me.
我買這張專輯的時候心裡也不肯定，但是漸漸地我越聽越喜歡了。
staple n.[C]主要產品[P1]；主要商品；日常必需品[P1]
Cotton is the staple of the area. 棉花是這個地區的主要農作物。
This store sells flour, salt, sugar and other staples. 該店出售麵粉、鹽、糖和其他日常必需品。
Sweet potato was the staple of their diet. 過去甘薯是他們的主食。
