英语听力精选进阶版 13840（在线收听）

BBC Learning English 

Words in the News  

4 April 2012 

Standing tall 

Transcript: 

A bird's eye view of London. 

The final piece of steel in a building nicknamed the Shard has been put in place. 

When completed, it will be the European Union's tallest skyscraper. 

But the work isn't for the faint-hearted. The structure reaches 310 metres.  

With 87 storeys, the building will house residences, offices, a hotel and viewing 

gallery.  

Vocabulary: 

a bird's eye view  

a view from a high place from which you can see a vast area 

nicknamed  

a name used informally instead of a real name 

faint-hearted  

timid, not confident 

storeys  

floors 

(to) house (verb)  

to accommodate 

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. 

a bird's eye view / nicknamed / faint-hearted / storeys / (to) house 

(verb) 

1. Tickling a gorilla is not for the ______________. But keeper Phil Ridges is not 

worried at getting into the enclosure with Emmie at Port Lympne Wild Animal 

Park in Kent. 

2. Spain's relatively new army museum is ________ in the spectacular Alcazar in 

Toledo. Once a fortress, it was largely destroyed in a famous siege during the 

Spanish Civil War, before being rebuilt by Franco.    

3. A ewe thought to have been a contender for the title of world's oldest sheep 

has died after falling off a cliff. An ear tag on the blackface ewe, _________ 

Methuselina, showed that it was 25 years and 11 months old. 

4. Visitors will be guided through nine exhibitions, spread over four _______, 

charting the history of the Titanic from its construction in the nearby Harland & 

Wolff shipyard to its final resting place at the bottom of the Atlantic. 

5. A large platform has been carved out of the side of the hill above the mine 

that will offer ____________ of the rescue operations. 

Answers: 

1. Tickling a gorilla is not for the faint-hearted. But keeper Phil Ridges is not 

worried at getting into the enclosure with Emmie at Port Lympne Wild Animal 

Park in Kent. 

Source:  Scientists tickle animals to find laughter clues 

2. Spain's relatively new army museum is housed in the spectacular Alcazar in 

Toledo. Once a fortress, it was largely destroyed in a famous siege during the 

Spanish Civil War, before being rebuilt by Franco.   

Source:  The Spanish link in cracking the Enigma code 

3. A ewe thought to have been a contender for the title of world's oldest sheep 

has died after falling off a cliff. An ear tag on the blackface ewe, nicknamed 

Methuselina, showed that it was 25 years and 11 months old. 

Source:  'Oldest sheep' in the world dies on Lewis in Western Isles                      

4. Visitors will be guided through nine exhibitions, spread over four storeys, 

charting the history of the Titanic from its construction in the nearby Harland & 

Wolff shipyard to its final resting place at the bottom of the Atlantic. 

Source:  New Titanic Belfast complex opens 

5. A large platform has been carved out of the side of the hill above the mine 

that will offer a bird's eye view of the rescue operations. 

Source:  World media gear up for Chilean mine rescue