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BBC Learning English

Video Words in the News

5 March 2014

Battle of the Oranges

Transcript:

This is no ordinary carnival.

It's an epic food fight, called the Battle of the Oranges.

The event takes place in Ivrea in northern Italy, and is based on a legend from the Middle Ages, when the daughter of a miller rejected the advances of an evil lord.

People take the celebration very seriously indeed. And with several hundred tonnes of oranges thrown in three days, the clean-up operation is a battle in itself.

Vocabulary:

carnival a lively street festival, often involving unusual costumes, dancing, eating and drinking

epic extremely large, long or complex

the Middle Ages a period in European history from around 1000 AD to 1500 AD

advances attempts to start a sexual or romantic relationship with someone

clean-up making a place clean and tidy

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.

carnival / epic / the Middle Ages / advances / clean-up

1. Historic Scotland, which looks after the property, hopes that archaeologists will uncover new clues to castle life in ____________.

2. The city, one of the worst hit by the storm, is undergoing a massive ___________ with aid agencies paying locals a couple of dollars a day to help clear the debris.

3. State Health Minister Shabir Ahmed Khan quit after the senior gynaecologist alleged that he "made sexual ___________" and tried to molest her.

4. The best samba schools of Rio de Janeiro have paraded amid Brazil's ___________ festivities.

Thousands of dancers and musicians showed off their colourful costumes and artistic skills to entertain the crowds that gathered to enjoy the spectacle.

5. A large snake has swallowed a crocodile following an ___________ struggle in northern Australia.

Answers:

1. Historic Scotland, which looks after the property, hopes that archaeologists will uncover new clues to castle life in the Middle Ages.

Source: Conservation work for Barra's Kisimul Castle

2. The city, one of the worst hit by the storm, is undergoing a massive

clean-up with aid agencies paying locals a couple of dollars a day to help clear the debris. Source: Typhoon Haiyan: Thousands join Tacloban clean-up

3. State Health Minister Shabir Ahmed Khan quit after the senior gynaecologist alleged that he "made sexual advances" and tried to molest her. Source: Kashmir minister accused of 'trying to molest' woman quits 

4. The best samba schools of Rio de Janeiro have paraded amid Brazil's carnival festivities.

Thousands of dancers and musicians showed off their colourful costumes and artistic skills to entertain the crowds that gathered to enjoy the spectacle.

Source: Brazilian massive extravaganza at Rio's carnival

5. A large snake has swallowed a crocodile following an epic struggle in northern Australia. Source: Snake eats crocodile in Northern Australia