B

1957 – The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest GLOSSARY

In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama
broadcast a ……segment…… on Swiss farmers anchor noun [C] esp AmE
enjoying a ………………………… spaghetti crop. sb who reads the news on TV and introduces
The audience heard Richard Dimbleby, the show’s news reports
…………………………, discussing the details of BrE newsreader
He was the anchor for the BBC’s nine o’clock
the spaghetti crop. At the same time they could watch
news for over 10 years.
a …………………………… Swiss family pulling breeder noun [C]
pasta off spaghetti trees and placing it into baskets. sb who breeds animals or plants as a job
a dog breeder
The audience learnt that such a bumper year was bumper adj [only before noun]
possible thanks to a very mild winter and because of unusually large
a bumper crop/harvest
“the ………………………… disappearance of the a bumper edition of a magazine
spaghetti …………………………, the tiny creature depredation noun [C, usu plural] formal
whose ………………………… have caused much an act of taking and destroying sth
concern in the past.” In a tone of absolute endeavour noun [C, U] formal
seriousness, the narrator explained that although an attempt to do sth new or difficult
AmE endeavor
spaghetti grows on trees, it always comes in impair verb [T]
………………………… lengths as “the result of to damage sth or make it not as good as it
many years of patient ………………………… by past should be
………………………… who succeeded in producing The illness had impaired his ability to think and
the perfect spaghetti.” He also expressed the worries concentrate.
of a spaghetti farmer: “The last two weeks of March rural adj W2
happening in or relating to the countryside, not
are an anxious time for the spaghetti farmer. There's the city
always the chance of a late frost which, while not a peaceful rural setting / rural bus routes
entirely ruining the crop, generally opposite urban
………………………… the flavour and makes it segment noun [C]
difficult for him to obtain top prices in world a part of sth that is different from or affected
differently from the whole in some way
markets.” The program included a short segment about
pet owners.
Finally, the narrator concluded, "For those who love uniform adj
this dish, there's nothing like real, home-grown being the same in all its parts or among all its
members
spaghetti."
Grade A eggs must be of uniform size.
virtual adj
very nearly a particular thing
Finding a cheap place to rent is a virtual
for from in of on to impossibility in this area.
weevil noun [C]
Huge numbers _of_ viewers were taken _____, and a small insect that feeds on grain, flour etc and
soon after the broadcast the BBC received hundreds spoils it
______ calls _____ their viewers who were eager to
learn how they could grow their own spaghetti trees. be taken in
_____ this question, the BBC diplomatically replied to be completely deceived by sb who lies to you
that they should "place a sprig _____ spaghetti in a Don't be taken in by products claiming to help
you lose weight in a week.
tin _____ tomato sauce and hope _____ the best."
chide verb [chide–chided–chid] [I, T] written
to tell sb that you do not approve of sth they
To be fair _____ the viewers, _____ the 1950s have done or said
spaghetti was very exotic _____ Britain, so for many [chide sb for (doing) sth] She chided him for not
people its origin must have been a mystery. Charles responding to her Christmas cards.
de Jaeger, one _____ the cameramen, later revealed sprig noun [C]
a small stem or part of a branch with leaves or
that the idea _____ this segment occurred _____ him flowers on it
when he remembered his school days. One _____ his [+ of]: a sprig of parsley
teachers often chided him _____ being “so stupid he
would believe spaghetti grew _____ trees.”

Designed by Bartosz Michałowski for Pearson Longman

Adapted from the The Museum of Hoaxes (http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/)
Definitions from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English PHOTOCOPIABLE