Alexis Kekeh

BBC Learning¹ English

People and Places

Alexis Kekeh

Alexis: My name is Alexis. I’m from Togo.

William: … and I’m William Kremer. Welcome to

People and Places!

One of my favourite things about living in London is the

incredible² mix of people that you find here. Go for a short

walk in almost any part of this city, and you’re more than

likely to pass people from every continent in the world.

Some of them will be tourists enjoying a holiday in

Britain, some will be students and others will be people

who have come to this country to live and to work.

Today we’re going to hear from someone who has decided³ to

settle in London. His name is Alexis… but where’s he from

and what does he do?

Alexis: My name is Alexis. I’m from Togo. Er, at the

moment I’m living in

London…er… I’ve got a small clinic. I’m a

physiotherapist.

William: Alexis is from Togo – that’s a country in

West Africa, next to Ghana. He is a physiotherapist. A

physiotherapist is someone who helps people who have

suffered muscle injury. After you’ve been in hospital,

your doctor might send you to a physiotherapist to help you

build up your strength.

Alexis was nineteen years old when he left Togo. At the

time, he had two great loves in his life. What were they?

 
Alexis: I was nineteen. I was… I had just finished my

degree in French business law… I was a footballer and I

was er… involved in politics.

William: Alexis said that he’d been a footballer

and that he’d been involved in politics.

Alexis played football for his university and for a semi-

professional team. He was so promising⁴ a player that he was

offered a place in the national under-16 squad⁵ to go to the

World Cup. Amazingly, he turned this offer down and he

decided not to become a professional footballer. Why?

Alexis: Sometimes you have to make your choice and my dad

made my choice for me.

So basically⁶, he said, you know, ‘You concentrate on your

studies first and football will come later. My son is going

to uni – and that’s the end of the matter.’ So. I didn’

t go.

William: If someone concentrates on something, he

puts all his energy towards it. Alexis didn’t continue his

football career because his father made him concentrate on

his studies. Alexis said, ‘Sometimes you have to make your

choice and my dad made my choice for me.’

So is Alexis now angry that his dad made him concentrate on

his studies and stopped him from playing football?

Alexis: Oh, I think he probably made the right choice for

me… because, erm, when I came to England I tried to play

professionally, damaged my knee in the process and so ended

up not going anywhere in football – so I have to fall back

on my education. And I think erm… he probably was wiser

than me.

William: Well, Alexis said that his dad probably

made the right choice for him. When he came to England

later on he damaged his knee and so had to fall back on his

education. In this context⁷, ‘to fall back on something’

means to make use of
 
something when your original plans don’t work out. Alexis

’s father knew that if Alexis got a good education, he

would always have that to fall back on if he needed.

Sadly, Alexis’s other interest, politics, soon got him

into trouble. At the start of

1991, President Gnassingbe Eyadema had been in power for 24

years and there was no political opposition⁸. The

universities were centres of pro-democracy campaigning, and

Alexis and his friends used to organise⁹ demonstrations¹⁰ and

distribute leaflets¹¹ calling for a revolution. But instead

of change taking place, the President strengthened his

position, and Alexis and many of his friends left the

country. How did Alexis feel when he arrived in the UK?

Alexis: When I came to London from the bus stop I realised

that maybe this is the place for me cos I didn’t have any

English at all at the time… you know I only have a piece

of paper with the address where I was going and I had this

lady who actually took my hand, show me to the bus and say

‘Make sure that he gets off at this station’… and I

think after that it marked me, deeply. As an immi…

immigrant¹², you want to feel welcome. And I think she made

me welcome.

William: Alexis felt immediately that London might

be the place for him. He described how a lady took him by

the hand, showed him to his bus and told the driver to make

sure he got off at his station. ‘I think she made me

welcome’, he said.

Don’t forget that if you would like to download the script¹³

from this programme, you can do so on the People and Places

website on BBC Learning English dot com. Goodbye!

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 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

5 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

6 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。

7 context   

n.背景，环境，上下文，语境

参考例句：

• You can always tell the meaning of a word from its context.你常可以从上下文中猜出词义来。
• This sentence does not seem to connect with the context.这个句子似乎与上下文脱节。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 organise   

vt.组织，安排，筹办

参考例句：

• He has the ability to organise.他很有组织才能。
• It's my job to organise all the ceremonial events.由我来组织所有的仪式。

10 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

11 leaflets   

n.传单，散页印刷品( leaflet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Leaflets have been delivered to every household. 传单已发送到每家每户。
• They stood there, giving out the leaflets to the passers-by. 他们站在那里，向过路人散发传单。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 immigrant   

adj.(从国外)移来的，移民的；n.移民，侨民

参考例句：

• Life in the USA was very hard for almost every new immigrant.美国的生活几乎对每一个新移民都很艰难。
• I'd like to obtain some information about applying for an immigrant visa.我想取一些申请移民签证的资料。

13 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。