Thursday, October 23, 2014

Ethan Bortnick - Piano Prodigy (1)

This young musician travels the world spreading his message of hope

One day Gene and Hannah Bortnick heard piano music coming from their living room. They thought their 3-year-old son Ethan was listening to a CD. Then they walked into the room. To their amazement, they found him playing music on his toy piano!

Before this, Ethan had begged his parents for piano lessons. But their answer had always been, "Of course not! You’re still in diapers." The 3-year-old didn't let that stop him, though. Instead, he listened to a song once and then played it perfectly, note for note.

After Ethan's parents discovered his remarkable talent, they changed their minds and agreed to lessons. They turned to a family member who taught piano, and she began working with Ethan. It wasn't long, however, before the teacher knew that he was no ordinary student. Ethan was a piano prodigy and needed someone who understood his special gifts and abilities. The family found Dr. Irena Kofman, who immediately recognized his talent and intelligence.

Info Cloud
Teaching Topic: Talent, Gift and Genius (才能與天分)
talent 天份
gift 天份, 才能
- He has a gift for music.
- He has a gift for languages.
knack 技巧
- Steve has a knack for teaching English.
genius 天才
- He has a genius for music.

Grammar Gym
to turn=changing your direction so you are facing a new direction
They turned to a family member who taught piano, ...
to turn to [somebody]= to get help from somebody
- When Bobby was studying overseas and needed advice, he turned to his professor.
- Life was hard for the single mother, but she turned to her neighbor whenever she needed someone to watch her child.

Language Lab
prodigy n.
a young person who has a great natural ability in a subject or skill
- The child prodigy could solve difficult calculus questions when he was only six.
- There have been lots of reports about this Austrian tennis prodigy lately.

amazement n.
[uncountable] a feeling of great surprise [= astonishment]
- We stood at the top of the hill and looked at the view in amazement.
to someone's amazement
- To our amazement, the rookie signed a big client in his first month at work.

recognize v.
to know who someone is or what something is, because you have seen, heard, experienced, or learned about them in the past:
- The fugitive was recognized at a gas station down in Alabama.
- The actor's high school drama teacher recognized his potential as a movie star.

intelligence n.
[uncountable] the ability to learn, understand, and think about things:
- Our CEO is a woman of incredible intelligence.
intelligent adj.
an intelligent person has a high level of mental ability and is good at understanding ideas and thinking clearly:
- Merging with another company is an intelligent way to save our company.


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