英语听力精选进阶版 13842

BBC Learning English 

Words in the News   

11 April 2012 

An end to traffic jams? 

Transcript: 

Is it a car? Is it a pl ane? No, it's a gyrocopter! 

This Dutch vehicle can be driven on land or flown in the air. All it needs is a strip of 

tarmac. 

If the idea  catches on, it could put an end to traffic jams. Motorists would just  unfold 

the wings and off they go.   

Several test flights have been conducted and the company is looking for investors¹ . 

Vocabulary: 

tarmac  

black material used to coat roads 

catches on 

becomes popular and fashionable 

unfold  

spread till they reach their full size 

conducted  

performed 

investors  

people who give money to a project expecting a profit 

Exercise: 

Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from 

BBC news reports.   

Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence 

correctly. 

tarmac / catches on / unfold / conducted / investors 

1. "When a local gentleman pulled out a tatty² bit of paper from the pocket of his 

wax jacket, I was rather surprised he thought it was something special. When I 

__________ the paper, I realised that the signatures were written in black ink on 

the back of the gentleman's birth certificate." 

2. As Spain and Italy's finances have looked more precarious³, _______ have 

been worried about whether the eurozone's firewall could cope with more 

bailouts. 

3. There is very little to like about mo torway journeys. Endless black ______, 

blurry⁴ white lines and fuzzy green trees. 

4. Outside America the trend was beginning to ________ too. Many of the GIs 

stationed in Europe and Japan during the war were working-class boys from the 

Western states. While off duty they wore their jeans proudly as a symbol of 

home. 

5. The tests were _______ at the request of the European Union to see whether 

travel disruption could be alleviated⁵. 

Answers: 

1. "When a local gentleman pulled out a tatty bit of paper from the pocket of his 

wax jacket, I was rather surprised he thought it was something special. When I 

unfolded  the paper, I realised that the signatures were written in black ink on 

the back of the gentleman's birth certificate."  

Source:  Beatles signatures up for auction 

2. As Spain and Italy's finances have looked more precarious, investors have 

been worried about whether the eurozone's firewall could cope with more 

bailouts.    

Source:  Eurozone ministers boost firewall to $1t 

3. There is very little to like about motorway⁶ journeys. Endless black  tarmac , 

blurry white lines and fuzzy green trees. 

Source:  The road sign as design classic                   

4. Outside America the trend was beginning to catch on  too. Many of the GIs 

stationed in Europe and Japan during the war were working-class boys from the 

Western states. While off duty they wore their jeans proudly as a symbol of 

home. 

Source:  How jeans conquered the world  

5. The tests were  conducted  at the request of the European Union to see 

whether travel disruption could be alleviated. 

Source:  Volcanic ash spreads more travel misery across Europe   

1 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

2 tatty   

adj.不整洁的，简陋的

参考例句：

• His friends used to tease him about his tatty clothes.他的朋友过去常常笑话他破旧的衣服。
• There were a lot of guest houses which were very tatty.有许多小旅馆都又脏又乱。

3 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

4 blurry   

adj.模糊的；污脏的，污斑的

参考例句：

• My blurry vision makes it hard to drive. 我的视力有点模糊，使得开起车来相当吃力。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The lines are pretty blurry at this point. 界线在这个时候是很模糊的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 alleviated   

减轻，缓解，缓和( alleviate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It is always completely alleviated by total gastrectomy. 全胃切除永远完全缓解症状。
• Toxicity problem in manufacturing and storage might be alleviated by coating beryllium with aluminum. 但如果用铝包覆铍，则可避免加工过程中及储存期间的中毒问题。

6 motorway   

n.高速公路，快车道

参考例句：

• Our car had a breakdown on the motorway.我们的汽车在高速公路上抛锚了。
• A maniac driver sped 35 miles along the wrong side of a motorway at 110 mph.一个疯狂的司机以每小时110英里的速度在高速公路上逆行飙车35英里。