英语听力精选进阶版 14169（在线收听）

BBC Learning English 

Words in the News  

30 January 2013 

Greeks cut forests to stay warm 

Transcript: 

Greece’s Mount Olympus is experiencing a rise in unauthorised logging. 

It’s estimated over 100,000 trees have been felled illegally. 

With fuel prices soaring and temperatures dropping, many people are turning to wood to heat their homes. 

Wood markets are thriving but not all  sources of wood are legitimate.  

Racketeers are among those who have been caught taking trees from the home of Greece’s ancient gods. 

Vocabulary: 

logging 

the cutting down of trees for wood, usually on a large scale for commercial 

purposes  

felled 

cut down 

soaring 

rising  quickly 

thriving   

doing very well, being successful 

racketeers 

people who make money from illegal  activities 

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. 

logging / felled / soaring / thriving / racketeers 

1.  The classical  Indian  dance of Kathak originated in Northern India but its popularity is ____________ in and around London with hundreds of young British Asians. 

2.  He also claims  to have brought 232 criminals  to justice - including arms dealers and immigration ____________  - by conning them with his disguise. 

3.  Many bears suffer from the effects of the ____________ industry and the spread of the human population. 

4.  Steve Bransgrove was woken up by the "sound of an engine revving and a loud bang" and found the 12m (40ft) pine in his garden had been ____________. 

5.  Car sales are ____________, carmakers  are hiring thousands of workers, and memories  of the recent bankruptcies of two of Detroit's "big three" companies already  seem like  distant memories. 

Answers: 

1.  The classical  Indian  dance of Kathak originated in Northern India but its popularity is thriving in and around London with hundreds of young British Asians. 

2.  He also claims  to have brought 232 criminals  to justice - including arms dealers and immigration racketeers - by conning them with his disguise. 

3.  Many bears suffer from the effects of the logging industry and the spread of the human population. 

4.  Steve Bransgrove was woken up by the "sound of an engine revving and a loud bang" and found the 12m (40ft) pine in his garden had been felled. 

5.  Car sales are soaring, carmakers are hiring thousands of workers, and memories of the recent bankruptcies of two of Detroit's "big three" companies already  seem like  distant memories.