BBC Learning English
Video Words in the News
5 June 2013
Floods in Europe
Transcript:
Floods have been causing havoc in central Europe.
Some areas had two months' rain in two days. Rivers are swollen and
still rising.
In the Czech capital, Prague, streets normally packed with tourists are
filled with soldiers and volunteers.
Several people have been killed and thousands evacuated.
At the zoo, the tigers are being sedated and moved; the monkeys
climbed to safety.
Vocabulary:
havoc
chaos and confusion
swollen
bigger than usual because of a problem
packed
crowded
evacuated
forced to move from a place of danger
sedated
given medicine to go to sleep
Watch the video online: Floods in Europe http://bbc.in/13iJ0X9
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.
havoc / swollen / packed / evacuated / sedated
1. The ward is so __________ with babies and young children that they are
sharing beds. At one stage, up to 70 new patients were arriving at the
hospital every day.
2. The sixth Fast & Furious movie stars Vin Diesel as a gang leader who is
ordered by a US agent - played by Dwayne Johnson - to stop a team of
mercenary drivers causing __________ across 12 countries.
3. John McNair, 77, became trapped after his vehicle was picked up by the
water and carried down a __________ stream in Chew Stoke, Somerset, on
22 November.
4. The Great Western Ambulance Service spokeswoman Mel Glanville said:
"Paramedics and a critical care team attended the scene where the patient,
suffering from head and chest injuries, was __________ before being
transferred to hospital."
5. A fire then broke out in the right engine of the Airbus A319 British Airways
flight to Oslo. The jet landed safely and its 75 passengers and crew were
__________.
Video Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2013
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bbclearningenglish.com
Answers:
1. The ward is so packed with babies and young children that they are sharing
beds. At one stage, up to 70 new patients were arriving at the hospital
every day.
Source: Fighting Pakistan's measles epidemic
http://bbc.in/13iBPxX
2. The sixth Fast & Furious movie stars Vin Diesel as a gang leader who is
ordered by a US agent - played by Dwayne Johnson - to stop a team of
mercenary drivers causing havoc across 12 countries.
Source: Fast & Furious races to top of US box office
http://bbc.in/134c1Eh
3. John McNair, 77, became trapped after his vehicle was picked up by the
water and carried down a swollen stream in Chew Stoke, Somerset, on 22
November.
Source: Chew Stoke flood car death 'was an accident'
http://bbc.in/1b0315Y
4. Great Western Ambulance Service spokeswoman Mel Glanville said:
"Paramedics and a critical care team attended the scene where the patient,
suffering from head and chest injuries, was sedated before being
transferred to hospital."
Source: Boy 'stable' after stairwell fall at a school in Bristol
http://bbc.in/13CFntX
5. A fire then broke out in the right engine of the Airbus A319 British Airways
flight to Oslo. The jet landed safely and its 75 passengers and crew were
evacuated.
Source: Heathrow emergency landing: Engine doors 'left unlatched'
http://bbc.in/11UWquf
Video Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2013
Page 3 of 3
bbclearningenglish.com