英语听力精选进阶版 13852

BBC Learning English 

Words in the News   

16th May 2012 

Cat café 

Transcript: 

Dogs are  forbidden  here.   

But feline¹ visitors are more than welcome in  this new coffee house in Vienna.   

Café Neko is home to five cats which customers can cuddle  whilst enjoying a hot 

drink. 

Cat cafés are a popular phenomenon in Japan, but this is a first for Austria.   

Officials were initially² worried it would be unhygienic, but the establishment is 

already proving popular. 

Vocabulary: 

forbidden 

not allowed  

feline 

cat 

cuddle 

hug affectionately 

phenomenon 

something extraordinary 

unhygienic 

unsanitary 

Watch this video online:  Cat café     

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. 

forbidden / feline / cuddle / phenomenon / unhygienic   

1.   Workers at the centre have produced a video called '12 cats of Christmas' to 

highlight some of their ___________ charges. 

2.   They are as dangerous as any other bear, they will grab at you and have 

enormous teeth and powerful forearms so I am not going to ___________ them. 

3. Activists³ say the jails are ___________, filthy⁴ and sometimes violent. 

4. The ________________, known as a perigee⁵ full moon, means the Moon 

appears up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than when it is furthest from the 

planet.  

5.   The stray dog population rocketed when former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu 

forced people to move into large complexes where pets were 

__________________. 

Answers: 

1. Workers at the centre have produced a video called '12 cats of Christmas' to 

highlight some of their  feline charges. 

2.    They are as dangerous as any other bear - they will grab at you and have 

enormous teeth and powerful forearms so I am not going to  cuddle them.  

3. Activists say the jails are  unhygienic, filthy and sometimes violent. 

4. The  phenomenon, known as a perigee full moon, means the Moon appears 

up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than when it is furthest from the planet. 

5. The stray dog population rocketed when former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu 

forced people to move into large complexes where pets were forbidden . 

1 feline   

adj.猫科的

参考例句：

• As a result,humans have learned to respect feline independence.结果是人们已经学会尊重猫的独立性。
• The awakening was almost feline in its stealthiness.这种醒觉，简直和猫的脚步一样地轻悄。

2 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

3 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

5 perigee   

n.近地点

参考例句：

• The Moon reaches its absolute perigee once a year.月球每年有一次达到它的绝对近地点。
• Once the satellite reaches perigee,it will eject a small probe which enter the planet's atmosphere.当人造卫星达到近地点时，就会发射一根小探针，这根探针将进入行星的大气层。