【英语听和读】沙咖艺术展

 Amber¹: Hello, I’m Amber and you’re listening to bbclearningenglish.com.

In Entertainment today, we visit the largest art event in the Arab world - the

Sharjah Art Biennial² in the United Arab Emirates. (A biennial is an event that

happens every 2 years.)

Artists from all over the world have come to the Emirates to create new work

especially for this event, and the theme this year is a big, important issue - the

environment. The Sharjah Art Biennial is focussing on how art can create a

better understanding of our relationship with nature and on the challenges the

world is facing due to excessive urban development and pollution. Now the

United Arab Emirates is one of the most rapidly developing man-made

environments on the planet – think of the gleaming rows of newly-built hotels

and skyscrapers⁴ in the city of Dubai, for example. So how does an art event

with an ecological⁵ theme fit in?

BBC reporter Tim Marlow went to investigate. He describes a piece of work

which certainly makes you think about the pollution from car exhausts! As you

listen, try to image what the art work looks like.

Tim Marlow

‘It sounds, I’m sure, as if I’m standing³ in a car park! But, in fact, this is an art work. It’s by

the German-born, London-based artist, Gustav Metzger, and it was a proposal called

‘Stockholm, June 1972’ and it was never realised until now. And it involves 120 cars, each

with their exhaust pipes hosed up into a central construction which is right in front of me -

which is covered in polythene - and all the pollution, all the exhaust fumes⁶ are mingling⁷

inside. I can see a certain amount of condensation⁸, I can see a certain amount of darkness, and

this, I suppose, is the emblematic⁹ piece for the 8th Sharjah Biennial, whose themes, you’ll be

amazed to discover, are ecology and the politics of change.’ 

Entertainment © BBC Learning English 2007

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bbclearningenglish.com

Amber: Can you picture the piece in your mind? There are 120 cars, each with their

exhaust pipes ‘hosed up’, joined together by hoses or pipes, into ‘a central

construction’, and all the pollution, all the exhaust fumes, are ‘mingling’ (or

mixing) as they collect inside.

Tim calls it ‘the emblematic’ piece for the exhibition – it’s symbolic¹⁰, it

suggests the themes of the whole exhibition.

Listen again and try to catch the two compound words Tim uses to describe the

artist who created the piece.

Tim Marlow

‘It sounds, I’m sure, as if I’m standing in a car park! But, in fact, this is an art work. It’s by

the German-born, London-based artist, Gustav Metzger, and it was a proposal called

‘Stockholm, June 1972’ and it was never realised until now. And it involves 120 cars, each

with their exhaust pipes hosed up into a central construction which is right in front of me -

which is covered in polythene - and all the pollution, all the exhaust fumes are mingling

inside. I can see a certain amount of condensation, I can see a certain amount of darkness, and

this, I suppose, is the emblematic piece for the 8th Sharjah Biennial, whose themes, you’ll be

amazed to discover, are ecology and the politics of change.’

Amber: Tim describes Gustav Metzger as a ‘German-born, London-based’ artist.

Next, Tim met the director of the Sharjah Biennial and asked him why he

thinks artists are willing to create work on themes like the environment and

the politics of change.

As you listen, try to catch the adjective we hear to describe the crucially

important ‘issues’ facing societies and ‘the world in general’.

Director of Sharjah Biennial

‘Artists are intellectuals and they have their role in society. Their role is to be at the forefront

of the pressing issues of the societies that they live in, or the world in general. And they have

to kind of participate, or in this situation, initiate¹¹ the discussion.’ 

Entertainment © BBC Learning English 2007

Page 3 of 3

bbclearningenglish.com

Amber: Did you catch it? We heard that the role or work of artists is to be at the

forefront (the very front) of the ‘pressing’ issues of the societies in which they

live. They should ‘initiate’ (begin) discussion.

Now here’s a list of the language we focussed on in the programme today.

 

biennial, the Sharjah Art Biennial

hosed up

mingling

emblematic

German-born

London-based

pressing issues

1 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

2 biennial   

adj.两年一次的

参考例句：

• The workers were strongly against the biennial election.工人们强烈反对两年一次的选举。
• His is a biennial,and one of the most useful pasture plants we have.这是两年生植物，也是我们最有用的牧草之一。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

5 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.

6 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

7 mingling   

adj.混合的

参考例句：

• There was a spring of bitterness mingling with that fountain of sweets. 在这个甜蜜的源泉中间，已经掺和进苦涩的山水了。
• The mingling of inconsequence belongs to us all. 这场矛盾混和物是我们大家所共有的。

8 condensation   

n.压缩，浓缩；凝结的水珠

参考例句：

• A cloud is a condensation of water vapour in the atmosphere.云是由大气中的水蒸气凝结成的。
• He used his sleeve to wipe the condensation off the glass.他用袖子擦掉玻璃上凝结的水珠。

9 emblematic   

adj.象征的，可当标志的；象征性

参考例句：

• The violence is emblematic of what is happening in our inner cities. 这种暴力行为正标示了我们市中心贫民区的状况。
• Whiteness is emblematic of purity. 白色是纯洁的象征。 来自辞典例句

10 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

11 initiate   

vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入

参考例句：

• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。
• They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。