英语听力精选进阶版 14296

BBC Learning English

Video Words in the News 

25 September 2013

Lahore Walled City

Transcript¹:

The historic Walled City in Lahore, Pakistan, is a maze² of narrow streets, busy bazaars³ and unplanned tenements⁴.

But now the area is receiving a makeover.

Underground, sewage pipes and electricity cables are being laid; while at street level, wooden doors and terracotta tiles are making a comeback.

The authorities hope all this will make the area more attractive to tourists.

Vocabulary:

maze

an place in which you can easily get lost because there are many similar streets or 

paths

tenements

large buildings divided into apartments, usually in a poor area of the city

a makeover

a set of changes intended to make a person or place more attractive

sewage pipes

tubes through which waste water and human waste is carried away from houses and 

buildings 

terracotta

hard, baked clay; often red/brown in colour

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.

maze / tenements / makeover / sewage pipes / terracotta

1.  The cholera⁵ epidemic⁶ began in Haiti in 2010 near a camp for UN soldiers, where there were leaking ________. Some human waste was also dumped near a river outside the camp.

2.  The entrance to Hillfield Gardens in London Road has had a ________ as part of a Gloucester City Council scheme to renovate⁷ structures in local parks.

3.  Dhakki is a ________ of narrow streets and alleyways, winding⁸ up and around a hill that flanks Peshawar's oldest and most famous street, Qissa Khwani - the street of the storytellers.

4.  It is difficult to visualise, but until the nineteenth century much of the site now occupied by Parliament Square was a labyrinth⁹ of medieval alleys¹⁰ and lanes crammed¹¹ with shops, slums, taverns¹² and _________ that harboured Westminster's notorious thieves and vagabonds.

5.  Thomas Hardy¹³ even referred to Reading as "Aldbrickham", the old brick town, in his novel Jude the Obscure.

Most of the town's Georgian and Victorian buildings are built of locallyproduced brick, tile and ________. 

Answers:

1.  The cholera epidemic began in Haiti in 2010 near a camp for UN soldiers, where there were leaking sewage pipes. Some human waste was also dumped near a river outside the camp.

Source: Haiti cholera victims threaten to sue the UN

2.  The entrance to Hillfield Gardens in London Road has had a makeover as part of a Gloucester City Council scheme to renovate structures in local parks.

Source: Hillfield Gardens gates in Gloucester restored    

3.  Dhakki is a maze of narrow streets and alleyways, winding up and around a hill that flanks Peshawar's oldest and most famous street, Qissa Khwani - the street of the storytellers.

Source: Bollywood's Shah Rukh Khan, Dilip Kumar and the Peshawar club

4.  It is difficult to visualise, but until the nineteenth century much of the site now occupied by Parliament Square was a labyrinth of medieval alleys and lanes crammed with shops, slums, taverns and tenements that harboured Westminster's notorious thieves and vagabonds.

Source: The hidden history of Westminster    

5.  Thomas Hardy even referred to Reading as "Aldbrickham", the old brick town, in his novel Jude the Obscure. 

Most of the town's Georgian and Victorian buildings are built of locally-produced brick, tile and terracotta. 

Source: Reading's chalk mines leave legacy for home owners    

1 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。

2 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

3 bazaars   

（东方国家的）市场( bazaar的名词复数 )； 义卖； 义卖市场； （出售花哨商品等的）小商品市场

参考例句：

• When the sky chooses, glory can rain into the Chandrapore bazaars. 如果天公有意，昌德拉卜的集市也会大放光彩。
• He visited the shops and bazaars. 他视察起各色铺子和市场来。

4 tenements   

n.房屋，住户，租房子( tenement的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Here were crumbling tenements, squalid courtyards and stinking alleys. 随处可见破烂的住房、肮脏的庭院和臭气熏天的小胡同。 来自辞典例句
• The tenements are in a poor section of the city. 共同住宅是在城中较贫苦的区域里。 来自辞典例句

5 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

6 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

7 renovate   

vt.更新，革新，刷新

参考例句：

• The couple spent thousands renovating the house.这对夫妇花了几千元来翻新房子。
• They are going to renovate the old furniture.他们准备将旧家具整修一番。

8 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

9 labyrinth   

n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路

参考例句：

• He wandered through the labyrinth of the alleyways.他在迷宫似的小巷中闲逛。
• The human mind is a labyrinth.人的心灵是一座迷宫。

10 alleys   

胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径

参考例句：

• I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我紧随他穿过一条条迂迴曲折的窄巷。
• The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子们领我穿过迷宫一般的街巷，来到城边。

11 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

12 taverns   

n.小旅馆，客栈，酒馆( tavern的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They ain't only two taverns. We can find out quick." 这儿只有两家客栈，会弄明白的。” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Maybe ALL the Temperance Taverns have got a ha'nted room, hey, Huck?" 也许所有的禁酒客栈都有个闹鬼的房间，喂，哈克，你说是不是？” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

13 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。