BBC Learning English
Video Words in the News
6 November 2013
Pink pipes of Berlin
Transcript:
Snaking through Berlin: over 60km of pink pipes.
The city is built on a swamp, and these carry water away from construction
sites.
The manufacturer says pink and purple are popular with children and older
people who are young at heart.
And with lots more building in the pipeline, these brightly-coloured tubes are
likely to be around for some time.
Vocabulary:
snaking
moving over a long distance with a lot of twists and turns
swamp
an area of wet, soft land
construction sites
areas where buildings are made
young at heart
having a lively and positive attitude to life that is more typical of a younger
person
in the pipeline
being planned
Watch the video online: Pink pipes of Berlin http://bbc.in/1aBPHd1
Video Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2013
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bbclearningenglish.com
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.
snaking / swamp / construction sites / young at heart / in the pipeline
1. The open-air bar down at the bottom of the hotel gardens lies abandoned.
And the Sheherazade Night Club looks even more forlorn, its sound system
ripped out, bare wires __________ across the soiled carpet.
2. He spends an hour or so in his office, in the exclusive Raffles Hotel complex,
but the majority of his day is spent visiting __________ and talking to
architects.
3. Bush elephants are more widespread, mostly south of the Sahara in a range
of habitats including savannah, __________ and deserts.
4. They have dozens of projects __________ - including with shea butter
producers in Uganda, tea growers in Kenya, and Madagascan cocoa farmers.
5. His daughter Angie, describes her father as "__________." She said: "I am
very proud of him for taking on the challenge. He trains in the day and I
train after work."
Video Words in the News ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2013
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bbclearningenglish.com
Answers:
1. The open-air bar down at the bottom of the hotel gardens lies abandoned.
And the Sheherazade Night Club looks even more forlorn, its sound system
ripped out, bare wires snaking across the soiled carpet.
Source: Putting the welcome mat out in Baghdad
http://bbc.in/UfbYm8
2. He spends an hour or so in his office, in the exclusive Raffles Hotel complex,
but the majority of his day is spent visiting construction sites and talking
to architects.
Source: Working Lives Singapore
http://bbc.in/1cG2qcN
3. Bush elephants are more widespread, mostly south of the Sahara in a range
of habitats including savannah, swamps and deserts.
Source: Elephant society 'still disrupted decades after cull'
http://bbc.in/16qHi8T
4. They have dozens of projects in the pipeline - including with shea butter
producers in Uganda, tea growers in Kenya, and Madagascan cocoa farmers.
Source: Brand Maasai: Why nomads might trademark their name
http://bbc.in/1aspFUl
5. His daughter Angie, describes her father as "young at heart." She said: "I
am very proud of him for taking on the challenge. He trains in the day and I
train after work."
Source: Isle of Man Parish Walk's oldest competitor a blind man, 86
http://bbc.in/14oN07H
Video Words in the News ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2013
Page 3 of 3
bbclearningenglish.com