英语听力精选进阶版 14514（在线收听）

BBC Learning English

Video Words in the News

3 September 2014

Kill your phone

Transcript:

Smartphones are everywhere, but they're easy pickings for criminals.

Here in San Francisco, high-end handsets are specifically targeted in more than half of all robberies.

Now, a new law means that smartphones in California will be required to have a "kill switch" which will make them useless if lost or stolen.

At the touch of a button, all the data on the phone is erased.

It's hoped this will help deter thieves, though some think the law will create other problems.

Vocabulary:

easy pickings

things you get without working hard

high-end

(of technology) more expensive and advanced than other products

robberies

crimes of stealing from people by force

at the touch of a button

very quickly and easily (used to describe things done using computers or technology)

deter

make someone decide not to do something

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.

easy pickings / high-end / robberies / at the touch of a button / deter

1. "Chocolate was so expensive, it was really _________, nobody could afford it, at least in Italy," says Giovanni Ferrero.

2. "Thieves love Christmas. They know that there are plenty of _________ to be had this time of year," said Malcolm Tarling, from the ABI.

3. A flat-screen TV can be transformed into a curved-screen TV _________.

4. Rain failed to _________ people on a 16 mile march in Nottinghamshire to mark the centenary of World War One.

5. She lives with her family in a semi-rural location just outside Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, where violent _________ are a constant source of fear.

Answers:

1. "Chocolate was so expensive, it was really high-end, nobody could afford it, at least in Italy," says Giovanni Ferrero.

2. "Thieves love Christmas. They know that there are plenty of easy pickings to be had this time of year," said Malcolm Tarling, from the ABI.

3. A flat-screen TV can be transformed into a curved-screen TV at the touch of a button.

4. Rain failed to deter people on a 16 mile march in Nottinghamshire to mark the centenary of World War One.

5. She lives with her family in a semi-rural location just outside Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, where violent robberies are a constant source of fear.