英语听力精选进阶版 14509（在线收听）

BBC Learning English 

Video Words in the News 

23 July 2014 

Many kinds of intelligence 

Transcript: 

We all dread exam results. 

But one English school has decided to soften the blow with a letter. 

Tests don't assess all the things which make people "special and unique", it says. 

A love for music or sports, or just being "kind and thoughtful" is also important, according to the note. 

The letter has gone viral on the internet. 

But the head teacher of Barrowford Primary School has now been accused of plagiarism, after a similar message was discovered on an American blog. 

Vocabulary: 

dread 

to feel very worried about something that might happen 

soften the blow 

to make the bad effects of something seem less serious 

thoughtful 

(here) kind and considerate 

gone viral 

became popular very quickly 

plagiarism 

using another person's work without saying where it came from 

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. 

dread / soften the blow / thoughtful / gone viral / plagiarism 

1. He was a great MP and a kind, _________ and decent man. 

2. The images have now _________ and been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. 

3. I _________ going out to eat now, even though we are really sociable people and we love doing it, it just doesn't seem worth it anymore. 

4. The chancellor is expected to try to _________ of cuts by announcing the go-ahead for major capital schemes which could help create jobs and stimulate the economy. 

5. _________ has become a major issue for universities, with many using software to detect material taken from websites. 

Answers: 

1. He was a great MP and a kind, thoughtful and decent man. 

2. The images have now gone viral and been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. 

3. I dread going out to eat now, even though we are really sociable people and we love doing it, it just doesn't seem worth it anymore. 

4. The chancellor is expected to try to soften the blow of cuts by announcing the go-ahead for major capital schemes which could help create jobs and stimulate the economy. 

5. Plagiarism has become a major issue for universities, with many using software to detect material taken from websites.