英语听力精选进阶版 14440（在线收听）

BBC Learning English 

Video Words in the News  

9 April 2014 

Stone from the sky

Transcript:

Skydiving can be dangerous... 

Especially when a big, black rock whizzes past as you fall.

Anders Helstrup filmed what some think is a meteorite during his jump in Norway.

One geologist is convinced that the object is indeed from space.

But searches of the ground have been fruitless so far.

Vocabulary:

skydiving

a sport in which you jump from an aircraft and fall for as long as possible before 

opening a parachute

whizzes

moves very fast

meteorite

piece of rock from space that has fallen to Earth

geologist

scientist who studies rocks

fruitless

unsuccessful

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.

skydiving / whizzes / meteorite / geologist / fruitless

1. Rare, prehistoric rock art which could be more than 4,000 years old has 

been discovered in the Brecon Beacons. The Bronze Age discovery was 

made late last year by national park _________ Alan Bowring.

2. Employees at the online storage firm _________ through corridors on 

skates and office scooters. Some take time off to play pool and video games, 

and a plush music room is ready for a karaoke contest.

3. A _________ team from Garvagh, County Londonderry, have celebrated 

their 30th anniversary by jumping from a hot air balloon.

4. Spanish astronomers spotted a _________ with a mass of about half a 

tonne crashing into the lunar surface last September.

5. However, Mr Burns has admitted that Fuel Entertainment's search may 

prove _________. "We don't know exactly what we'll find, but it's bound to 

be interesting," he said.

Answers:

1. Rare, prehistoric rock art which could be more than 4,000 years old has been 

discovered in the Brecon Beacons. The Bronze Age discovery was made late 

last year by national park geologist Alan Bowring.

Source: Bronze Age rock art uncovered in Brecon Beacons    

2. Employees at the online storage firm whizz through corridors on skates and 

office scooters. Some take time off to play pool and video games, and a plush 

music room is ready for a karaoke contest.

Source: Digital Indians: How Ruchi Sanghvi engineered her rise     

3. A skydiving team from Garvagh, County Londonderry, have celebrated their 

30th anniversary by jumping from a hot air balloon.

Source: Skydive team celebrates anniversary     

4. Spanish astronomers spotted a meteorite with a mass of about half a tonne 

crashing into the lunar surface last September.

Source: 'Biggest observed meteorite impact' hits Moon     

5. However, Mr Burns has admitted that Fuel Entertainment's search may prove 

fruitless. "We don't know exactly what we'll find, but it's bound to be 

interesting," he said.

Source: ET game excavation confirmed by studio