BBC Learning English Video Words in the News 20 November 2013

Robot bike park

Transcript:
Where do you park your bicycle in a crowded, thronging city like Tokyo? The answer in a subterranean cycle park. A robot gracefully whisks your bike 11 metres underground. It stores hundreds of them and returns each one to its rightful owner in seconds. Just don't forget your ID card.

Vocabulary: thronging crowded, full of people subterranean under the ground whisks takes something somewhere else suddenly and quickly rightful owner person who owns something legally ID card identity card

Watch the video online:

Robot bike park http://bbc.in/1fUFGXR

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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. thronging / subterranean / whisks / rightful owner / ID card

1.

Two sisters in Peru are claiming to be the _________ of the land on which the Unesco World Heritage site Machu Picchu is located.

2.

A big black suburban SUV lurked by the door of number 11 Downing Street as Mitt Romney spoke to the assembled press, ready to _________ him away when he had answered their last question about the Olympics.

3.

The nurses who remained during the SARS outbreak described the hospital as having become like a "desert island" - suddenly isolated and alone in the centre of an otherwise _________ city.

4.

The London Underground is celebrating its 150th anniversary and is the oldest _________ railway in the world.

5.

Janice "Lokelani" Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele's name is so long containing 36 letters and 19 syllables - that it would not fit on the documentation Hawaii government computer systems are to be upgraded by the end of the year, allowing her to have her full name on her driving licence and _________.

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Answers:

1. Two sisters in Peru are claiming to be the rightful owners of the land on which the Unesco World Heritage site Machu Picchu is located. Source: Peruvian sisters claim ownership of Machu Picchu http://bbc.in/1bMpRSm 2. A big black suburban SUV lurked by the door of number 11 Downing Street as Mitt Romney spoke to the assembled press, ready to whisk him away when he had answered their last question about the Olympics. Source: Mitt Romney's Olympic mishap http://bbc.in/1hUkNQQ

3. The nurses who remained during the SARS outbreak described the hospital as having become like a "desert island" - suddenly isolated and alone in the centre of an otherwise thronging city. Source: SARS: The people who risked their lives to stop the virus http://bbc.in/1bAs3c1

4. The London Underground is celebrating its 150th anniversary and is the oldest subterranean railway in the world. Source: Tube 150th anniversary: Your stories http://bbc.in/18kqj9m

5. Janice "Lokelani" Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele's name is so long containing 36 letters and 19 syllables - that it would not fit on the documentation. Hawaii government computer systems are to be upgraded by the end of the year, allowing her to have her full name on her driving licence and ID card.

Source: Long-named US woman celebrates name victory http://bbc.in/19CGhYy

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