英语听力精选进阶版 13727

Berlin nightclubs

Summary

6 April 2012

Public funds are to be used to protect Berlin's nightclubs. Some of the venues¹ are being threatened with closure as property prices rise and developers move in.

Reporter

Steve Evans

Report

Ever since the 20s, Berlin's been famous for its nightclubs - louche and throbbing² with music. Today, there's a bigger draw in that they bring money into the city in the form of budget airline revellers who sometimes land, go clubbing until dawn and then head for the airport again.

But some have already closed and more - about 15 on one estimate - are under threat. They were set up in disused buildings like power stations and warehouses³ in the poorer areas of East Berlin, but now find developers knocking on the doors.

The clubs are big music venues so more closures would remove a vibrant⁴ part of Berlin's music scene. Accordingly, the city government has set up a 'Music Board' with a budget of more than a million dollars.

There is a debate within the Berlin government over whether the money should be used to support music very specifically or the club scene in general.

But there is a wider issue: should vibrant, grungy nightclubs be supported by state money - is that not the antithesis⁵ of what these alternative establishments are about?

As one club manager put it: "We're an oasis⁶ of fringe culture in Berlin, living with the faint hope that we will survive.

"But," she said, "We don't want to be an island in the middle of a gentrified town".

1 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

2 throbbing   

a. 跳动的,悸动的

参考例句：

• My heart is throbbing and I'm shaking. 我的心在猛烈跳动，身子在不住颤抖。
• There was a throbbing in her temples. 她的太阳穴直跳。

3 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

4 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

5 antithesis   

n.对立；相对

参考例句：

• The style of his speech was in complete antithesis to mine.他和我的讲话方式完全相反。
• His creation was an antithesis to academic dogmatism of the time.他的创作与当时学院派的教条相对立。

6 oasis   

n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方

参考例句：

• They stopped for the night at an oasis.他们在沙漠中的绿洲停下来过夜。
• The town was an oasis of prosperity in a desert of poverty.该镇是贫穷荒漠中的一块繁荣的“绿洲”。