A Pole in London

BBC Learning¹ EnglishLondon LifeA Pole in LondonYvonne: You’re listening to “London Life” withbbclearningenglish.com and I’mYvonne Archer². Hello!
　　As we know, people from all over the world live right herein London. But have you ever wondered why they came hereand how? Today, we’ll hear the story of how a Polish ladybecame a Londoner – plus, a little bit of Polish historyalong the way. The lady’s story is told by Kaz Janowski,one of our friends from the BBC Learning English office!
　　But who is the lady and what happened just after she wasborn?
　　INSERTMy mother’s name is Aniela, she was born in 1913, so itwas just before the outbreak of the1st World War, and she came from a part of Poland which wasPoland then but is now a part of the Ukraine.
　　Yvonne: So the lady is Kaz’s mother who was born inPoland. And just after she was born, the first World Warbegan. As Kaz put it, she was born just before ‘theoutbreak of’ the 1st World War’. Now you might also hearthat term ‘the outbreak of something’ used to talk aboutthe start of other negative things or situations, forexample, a disease³ – an ‘outbreak of TB’ – as well asabout wars and conflicts. So do listen out for it…INSERTJust before the outbreak of the 1st World War…Yvonne: Poland has had a difficult history but Anielareally loved the beautiful little village in the mountainswhere she grew up. As Kaz continues this amazing story, tryto find out what else Aniela loved about her village…INSERTOne of the things about it that she particularly rememberedand cherished⁴ was that you had Russians, you hadUkrainians, you had Poles, you had lots of Jews, you hadGermans, you had mountain people, Hungarian type of people,Romanian – it was an amazing mixture, an ethnic⁵ mixture.
　　Yvonne: Throughout her life, Aniela held fond memories ofthe village where she grew up and talked about them. As Kazsaid, she ‘cherished’ the memories of her village becauseit was such ‘an amazing ethnic mixture’. Today, we mightdescribe it as ‘cosmopolitan’, like London, because somany different types of people lived there.
　　INSERTOne of the things about it that she particularly rememberedand cherished was that it was an amazing mixture, an ethnicmixture.
　　Yvonne: Aniela learned⁶ a new skill in her village whichturned out to be more useful than she could ever havethought possible. What was that skill and who did she learnit from?
　　INSERTShe learnt how to do needlepoint from a Ukrainian girl whoshowed her how to do these beautiful designs onheadscarves.
　　Yvonne: A Ukrainian girl taught Aniela how to sew beautifuldesigns onto scarves using different coloured threads – askill called ‘needlepoint’. Then women wore the scarveson their heads.
　　As with many young women, Aniela grew up, met someone, fellin love and got married. But…Czestaw was a soldier andjust weeks after their marriage, the Second World War brokeout. He was sent to Hungary and then to the Middle East andit was almost a decade - 10 years - before the couple saweach other again. Aniela and the rest of her family weredeported – they were forced to leave their country. Butwhere did they go and how did they get there?
　　INSERTThey were put on a train, they were allowed to take one ortwo items and several weeks later, they arrived at astation… In the middle of the steps in Kazakhstan, theywere told to get out and just get on with their lives. Theywere told that if they worked, they would earn a living. Ifthey didn’t work, they would die.
　　Yvonne: The family arrived in Kazakhstan after travellingfor several weeks on a train and had to work to survive.
　　There were farms that they could work on - but Aniela hadher needlepoint to help earn money for the family. She hadno choice but to ‘get on with life’ as instructed – todo the best she could under the circumstances, so she didjust that!
　　Eventually things changed again but Aniela and her husbandwere still separated. Czestaw joined the British army andthe Poles in Kazakhstan were allowed to leave. They went tocountries like India and Iran; Aniela and her mother wentto Uganda!
　　INSERTI mean this was a revelation⁷ to somebody who’d grown up ina Polish village with snow in winter. And there she wassuddenly in the middle of tropical⁸ Africa.
　　Yvonne: Well, after five years, Aniela and her motherfinally left Uganda in East Africa for the UK. Czestaw wasfinally allowed to join his wife, even though they had tolive in a displaced⁹ people’s camp –which is where Kaz wasborn in 1952. Eight years later, the Janowski’s had a realhome in East London. Aniela never left London again.

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 archer   

n.射手，弓箭手

参考例句：

• The archer strung his bow and aimed an arrow at the target.弓箭手拉紧弓弦将箭瞄准靶子。
• The archer's shot was a perfect bull's-eye.射手的那一箭正中靶心。

3 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

4 cherished   

v.珍爱( cherish的过去式和过去分词 )；怀有；爱护；抚育

参考例句：

• Children need to be cherished. 儿童需要无微不至的爱护。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer. 她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

6 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

7 revelation   

n.泄露，揭示，展示，惊人的新发现

参考例句：

• Her true nature was a revelation to me.她的真实性格对我是一个新发现。
• The revelation of the plot of the traitors caused their capture.反叛者阴谋的泄露使他们被捕。

8 tropical   

adj.热带的，热带的，炎热的

参考例句：

• You must grow these tropical flowers in a glasshouse.你必须把这些热带花卉种在温室里。
• This disease is widespread in tropical areas.这种疾病在热带地区蔓延很广。

9 displaced   

移动( displace的过去式和过去分词 )； 替换； 移走； 撤职

参考例句：

• Gradually factory workers have been displaced by machines. 工厂的工人已逐渐被机器取代。
• He was displaced by another young man. 他已被另一个年轻人顶替。