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BBC Learning English 

Words in the News  

13  February  2013 

Ugly masks 

Transcript: 

They may not be the most  aesthetically pleasing group of people you've ever met, but these revellers  at the Lucerne Carnival in Switzerland hope their ugly masks will scare off  the evil spirits of winter and  pave the way for  spring. 

The festiv al also features lanterns, costumes and music, and is part of a tradition which can be  traced back to the 15th Century. 

Vocabulary: 

aesthetically pleasing 

beautiful to look at 

revellers  

people who party in a noisy way 

scare off  

to make someone or somethin g worried about something so they decide not to 

do it 

pave the way for  

make it possible for ( something to happen )  

traced back to 

identified  as having started in  

Exercise: 

Use one of the words or phrases below to complete e ach of these sentences from news report s.   

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

aesthetically pleasing/  revellers /  scare off /  pave the way/    

traced back to 

1.  Fire purified things. The popularity of setting off fireworks at new year can be ______ __ that idea of fire purifying. 

2.  Creatures that achieve world fame for being under threat - the panda, the mountain gorilla, the tiger - tend to  be conventionally _________, even cute.  

3.  As Rio de Janeiro's carnival gets under way, its oldest street parade has drawn an estimated 1.5m ________. 

4.  Puffing Billy was one of the first steam locomotives to transport coal from Wylam Colliery to Lemington Staithes on the River Tyne. 

Developed by Newburn-born engineer William Hedley in 1813, it _______ for the development of the rail industry. 

5.  Eugene Cousins, a manager at Chimp Eden, said that he fired warning shots to ________ the animals but then one o f the chimps attacked his vehicle, smashing the bonnet and windshield.  

Answers: 

1.  Fire purified things. The popularity of setting off fireworks at new year can be traced back to  that idea of fire purifying.    

2.  Creatures that achieve world fame for being under threat - the panda, the mountain gorilla, the tiger - tend to be conventionally aesthetically pleasing, even cute. 

3.  As Rio de Janeiro's carnival gets under way, its oldest street parade has drawn an estimated 1.5m  revellers . 

4.  Puffing Billy was one of the first steam locomotives to transport coal from Wylam Colliery to Lemington Staithes on the River Tyne. 

Developed by Newburn-born engineer William Hedley in 1813, it  paved the way for the development of the rail industry. 

5.  Eugene Cousins, a manager at Chimp Eden, said that he fired warning shots to scare off  the animals but then one of the chimps attacked his vehicle, smashing the bonnet and windshield.