英语听力精选进阶版 14417（在线收听）

BBC Learning English

Video Words in the News

15 January 2014

Paper helmet

Transcript:

On the streets of London a helmet can save a cyclist's life.

Anirudha Surabhi knows this only too well. He was in a bike crash in 2009.

He had a lucky escape but his polystyrene helmet was destroyed.

Now he's come up with what he says is a safer model, which was inspired by the woodpecker.

His paper helmet is designed in a similar way to the bird's head and beak and offers protection by cushioning the cyclist's head.

Vocabulary:

cyclist person who rides a bicycle

lucky escape fortunate avoidance of a dangerous situation

polystyrene a type of light plastic

come up with invented

cushioning protecting by absorbing shock

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.

cyclist / lucky escape / polystyrene / come up with / cushioning

1. The phenomenon of large, distributed groups __________ better answers than individuals working on the same problem was explored in James Surowiecki's 2004 book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few.

2. A Canadian reportedly had a __________ as a polar bear mauling him was apparently scared off by the light from the man's mobile phone.

3. Often __________ seek out quieter back roads for their journey, avoiding the heavy traffic and its dangers but adding "long-cuts". This, however feels like a direct A to B.

4. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut the key interest rate 0.5 points to 2.5%. The central bank's move is aimed at __________ an economy that was just starting to emerge from recession.

5. Everyone has their favourite over-packaging bugbear be it the infamous shrink-wrapped coconut or bananas packaged singly on _________ trays.

Answers:

1. The phenomenon of large, distributed groups coming up with better answers than individuals working on the same problem was explored in James Surowiecki's 2004 book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few. Source: Tapping into the IT cloud crowd

2. A Canadian reportedly had a lucky escape as a polar bear mauling him was apparently scared off by the light from the man's mobile phone. Source: Canadian's phone 'scares off' polar bear attacker

3. Often cyclists seek out quieter back roads for their journey, avoiding the heavy traffic and its dangers but adding "long-cuts". This, however feels like a direct A to B. Source: How super? What cyclists make of superhighways

4. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut the key interest rate 0.5 points to 2.5%. The central bank's move is aimed at cushioning an economy that was just starting to emerge from recession.

Source: New Zealand slashes interest rate to aid quake recovery

5. Everyone has their favourite over-packaging bugbear be it the infamous shrink-wrapped coconut or bananas packaged singly on polystyrene trays. Source: A month without plastic