英语听力精选进阶版 14513（在线收听）

BBC Learning English

Video Words in the News

27 August 2014

Dirt fighter

Transcript:

Cape, tights – this is a superhero in action.

Meet Mr Full Moon, always ready to keep the streets of Tokyo clean.

His weapons are the broom and the dustpan. The lonely dirt fighter is becoming a celebrity in the area.

Like many superheroes, Mr Full Moon keeps his true identity a secret and lets his smartphone do the talking. He wants others to follow his example.

This area is clean now. Mission accomplished. Time to sweep off.

Vocabulary:

broom

brush attached to a long handle, used for sweeping dirt from floors

dustpan

flat shovel-shaped container that rubbish from the floor is swept into

celebrity

well-known person

do the talking

explain his actions

sweep off

disappear quickly

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.

broom / dustpan / celebrity / do the talking / sweep off

1. Grace Darling was aged 22 when she rowed out in a storm with her father to help survivors of the SS Forfarshire, wrecked off the Farne Islands. Her role in the rescue, on 7 September 1838, was picked up by the press, and she became a national __________.

2. "When I moved back here, my youngest daughter was only four. Now she is eight years old," says Gulhumor, 33, as she binds dry twigs to make a __________ for sweeping the courtyard of her parents' house.

3. So that's why we both found ourselves on TV, sitting opposite two interpreters, signing instead of speaking, letting our hands instead of our voice boxes __________. We believe sign language is a more reliable way of getting our message out to an audience of millions on a topic so sensitive and freighted with meaning, that any misunderstanding would have been disastrous, especially with live subtitles.

4. Food left in a fridge used by patients was found to be so mouldy it was unrecognisable and a __________ and brush was needed to clean dirt from a window ledge in an operating theatre.

5. Having just __________ the densely-packed Arena Stage at V Festival 2014, Metro found Ella Eyre in a surprisingly energetic mood.

Answers:

1. Grace Darling was aged 22 when she rowed out in a storm with her father to help survivors of the SS Forfarshire, wrecked off the Farne Islands. Her role in the rescue, on 7 September 1838, was picked up by the press, and she became a national celebrity.

2. "When I moved back here, my youngest daughter was only four. Now she is eight years old," says Gulhumor, 33, as she binds dry twigs to make a broom for sweeping the courtyard of her parents' house.

3. So that's why we both found ourselves on TV, sitting opposite two interpreters, signing instead of speaking, letting our hands instead of our voice boxes do the talking. We believe sign language is a more reliable way of getting our message out to an audience of millions on a topic so sensitive and freighted with meaning, that any misunderstanding would have been disastrous, especially with live subtitles.

4. Food left in a fridge used by patients was found to be so mouldy it was unrecognisable and a dustpan and brush was needed to clean dirt from a window ledge in an operating theatre.

5. Having just swept off the densely-packed Arena Stage at V Festival 2014, Metro found Ella Eyre in a surprisingly energetic mood.

Source: Exclusive: Ella Eyre on songwriting and maturing: ‘I use writing music as a counselling session’ (by London’s Metro online - The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites)