新西兰英语 675 Christchurch – an exciting city

 　　‘Lonely Planet’, a popular tourist guide book, put Christchurch at number six in their list of the top 10 cities in the world for 2013. Number one is San Francisco. No other New Zealand city was on the list.

　　Christchurch has had many big and small earthquakes in the last two years. Most of the central city is still closed while more than 1,000 buildings are demolished². However, this weekend the Re-Start centre celebrated³ one year of successful business. This is the street of 30 shops inside shipping⁴ containers. They are colourful with attractive gardens and seating around them.

　　Cafés, restaurants and pubs have opened in other parts of the city, some in shipping containers and one in an old bus. Large tents in parks are used for music, theatre, comedy shows and other events.

　　Gap Fillers are filling empty spaces where buildings have gone. Gap Fillers is a group of volunteers who think of exciting ways to fill these gaps. Sometimes it is a garden, a stage, some seats or a piano painted in different coloured squares. For a short time, they showed movies outdoors, with cyclists pedalling to make the electricity.

　　While the demolition⁵ of so many buildings is terrible, many exciting things are happening in Christchurch.

　　Vocabulary

　　?demolish¹ (v), demolition (n) – pull down a building

　　?gap – empty space

　　?volunteer – someone who helps without getting paid

　　?pedalling – riding a bike which is not moving, turning the pedals with their feet

1 demolish   

v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等)

参考例句：

• They're going to demolish that old building.他们将拆毁那座旧建筑物。
• He was helping to demolish an underground garage when part of the roof collapsed.他当时正在帮忙拆除一个地下汽车库，屋顶的一部份突然倒塌。

2 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

3 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

4 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

5 demolition   

n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹

参考例句：

• The church has been threatened with demolition for years. 这座教堂多年来一直面临拆毀的威胁。
• The project required the total demolition of the old bridge. 该项目要求将老桥完全拆毁。