英语听力精选进阶版 14273

BBC Learning English

Video Words in the News 

26 June 2013

Tightrope¹ walker

Transcript²:

450 metres above a gorge³ near the Grand Canyon⁴. 

With no safety harness, American acrobat⁵ Nik Wallenda walks the tightrope.Wind made the cable sway during the 22 nail-biting minutes it took him to cross.

But towards the end he felt confident enough to kneel and blow a kiss to fans waiting on the other side.

Vocabulary:

gorge

a deep, narrow valley

safety harness

a system of belts to hold a person and stop them falling

walks the tightrope

walks along a 'tightrope': a rope or wire fixed⁶ high above the ground. 

(this phrase also appears as the idiom 'to walk a tightrope', which means to deal 

with a difficult situation where a small mistake could have bad results)

nail-biting

tense

blow a kiss

kiss your hand and blow it in the direction of someone

Exercise:

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

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

gorge / safety harness / walks the tightrope / nail-biting / blow a kiss

1.  The _________ was steep and dangerous with a river flowing through it.

2.  One of the athletes who did rise to the occasion was Lachie Stewart. In a _________ race Stewart swept aside the clear favourite, Australian Ron Clarke, to take a stunning⁷ gold in the 10,000 metres.

3.  "I love you Whitney," he said while __________ towards the sky.

4.  Spider-Man double Christopher Tierney, who fell 30 feet on Monday, is due out of hospital this weekend.Despite wearing a ___________, video of the incident showed him falling from a ledge⁸ into a stage pit.

5.  This summer, Wallenda is set to become the first person in more than a century to ___________ over Niagara Falls, after being granted rare permission.

Answers:

1.  The gorge was steep and dangerous with a river flowing through it.

2.  One of the athletes who did rise to the occasion was Lachie Stewart. In a nail-biting race Stewart swept aside the clear favourite, Australian Ron Clarke, to take a stunning gold in the 10,000 metres.

3.  "I love you Whitney," he said while blowing a kiss towards the sky.

4.  Spider-Man double Christopher Tierney, who fell 30 feet on Monday, is due out of hospital this weekend.Despite wearing a safety harness, video of the incident showed him falling from a ledge into a stage pit.

5.  This summer, Wallenda is set to become the first person in more than a century to walk a tightrope over Niagara Falls, after being granted rare permission.

1 tightrope   

n.绷紧的绳索或钢丝

参考例句：

• The audience held their breath as the acrobat walked along the tightrope.杂技演员走钢丝时，观众都屏住了呼吸。
• The tightrope walker kept her balance by holding up an umbrella.走钢丝的演员举着一把伞，保持身体的均衡。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

4 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

5 acrobat   

n.特技演员，杂技演员

参考例句：

• The acrobat balanced a long pole on his left shoulder.杂技演员让一根长杆在他的左肩上保持平衡。
• The acrobat could bend himself into a hoop.这个杂技演员可以把身体蜷曲成圆形。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

8 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。