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BBC Learning English

Video Words in the News

5 February 2014

Ship sandwich

Transcript:

Need a bigger boat? Why not just lengthen it?

This cruise ship, the Norwegian Crown, is first tugged into a shipping yard in Hamburg, Germany.

It's then cut in half, and a new 30-metre section is inserted in between.

After this, all it needs is a paint job and a new name, and the vessel is ready for the high seas once again.

Vocabulary:

cruise ship a large ship with many luxurious rooms that people travel on for pleasure

tugged pulled (used about boats)

a paint job a coating of paint that makes something look new again

vessel a large boat or ship

the high seas parts of the sea that are far from land

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.

cruise ship / tugged / a paint job / vessel / the high seas

1. The __________, the largest luxury ship in its time, struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. It went down on 15 April 1912, leaving more than 1,500 people dead.

2. Captain Moretti said it had not been decided whether to try to transfer the passengers to other ships, or leave them on board until it is __________ to shore.

3. "The multiple, consecutive life sentences imposed today send a clear message that piracy, hostage-taking, and murder on __________ will not be tolerated."

4. Mr Dewi Davies, its regional strategy director, said: "An increasing number of the __________ passengers are from Germany and we know that overseas visitors spend a lot more than those from the United Kingdom. On average a German visitor will spend between ￡80 and ￡90 a day on a shore visit whereas the UK visitor might spend between ￡40 to ￡50 a day."

5. Mr Dudin said: "As well as the crew, the boat's going to have a couple of days off over Christmas. Then she's going to be hauled out for __________ underneath and we'll carry out a load of safety checks at the same time as this is her halfway pit stop."

Answers:

1. The vessel, the largest luxury ship in its time, struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. It went down on 15 April 1912, leaving more than 1,500 people dead. Source: Australian billionaire Clive Palmer to build Titanic II

2. Captain Moretti said it had not been decided whether to try to transfer the passengers to other ships, or leave them on board until it is tugged to shore. Source: Cruise ship Costa Allegra adrift off Seychelles

3. "The multiple, consecutive life sentences imposed today send a clear message that piracy, hostage-taking, and murder on the high seas will not be tolerated." Source: Somali pirates jailed in US over American deaths

4. Mr Dewi Davies, its regional strategy director, said: "An increasing number of the cruise ship passengers are from Germany and we know that overseas visitors spend a lot more than those from the United Kingdom. On average a German visitor will spend between ￡80 and ￡90 a day on a shore visit whereas the UK visitor might spend between ￡40 to ￡50 a day."

Source: German speakers wanted to meet Anglesey cruise tourists

5. Mr Dudin said: "As well as the crew, the boat's going to have a couple of days off over Christmas. Then she's going to be hauled out for a paint job underneath and we'll carry out a load of safety checks at the same time as this is her halfway pit stop." Source: Humber yacht arrives in Australia