英语听力精选进阶版 13842（在线收听）

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 investors . 

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 tatty 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 precarious, _______ 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 ______, 

blurry 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 alleviated. 

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 motorway 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