新西兰英语 595 Cardboard Cathedral for Christchurch

 　　A cardboard cathedral will be built near the centre of Christchurch city by the end of this year.

　　First listen to March 2nd 2012 to hear about the Christchurch cathedral in the Square.

　　Most of the Anglican churches were very badly damaged during the earthquakes. St John’s church, which was in Latimer Square, has already been demolished¹. The new cardboard cathedral will be built here. It is near the centre of the city and opposite the place where the CTV building used to be. More than 100 people died in the CTV building. The Bishop² said that was one reason for choosing this site for the new cathedral. It will be a reminder³ of new life. Listen to March 14th 2011 to hear about the collapse⁴ of the CTV building.

　　The cardboard cathedral was the idea of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban who has donated his time and his expertise⁵. It will be made of recycled cardboard tubes but will have wooden beams and steel inside to make it strong against earthquakes and wind.

　　It will seat 700 people and have good acoustics⁶ so it can be used for concerts as well as for church services. It should be strong enough to last for at least 20 years and maybe even 50 years.

　　It will cost $5.3m. $4m will come from insurance and the rest from fund-raising. Building will start very soon.

　　Click here to see a picture of what the cathedral will look like.

　　Vocabulary

　　site – place, land

　　donated – given

　　expertise – knowledge and skill

　　tube – wide pipe, hollow cylinder

　　beam – long piece of timber for support

　　acoustics – good sound

　　fund-raising – asking people for money

1 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

2 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

3 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

6 acoustics   

n.声学，(复)音响效果，音响装置

参考例句：

• The acoustics of the new concert hall are excellent.这座新音乐厅的音响效果极好。
• The auditorium has comfortable seating and modern acoustics.礼堂里有舒适的座椅和现代化的音响设备。