People and Places - Meeting Penguins | Текст песни

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Группа Learning English. Продолжение текста:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/people_and_places/pdfs/people_penguins_071011.pdf

Amber: Hello, I’m Amber and you’re listening to bbclearningenglish.com
In People and Places today, we meet Meredith Hooper who’s been to
Antarctica to get to know these noisy creatures…
Actuality
Well, for those of you who didn’t guess, I can reveal that is the sound of the
Adélie penguin! Meredith Hooper has been following the lives of the Adélie
penguins in Antarctica - she’s written a book called ‘The Ferocious Summer’
in which she describes the events from the end of 2001 to March 2002 (which
is summer time in Antarctica) when severe weather affected the Adélies during
their breeding season.
Adélies and Emperor penguins are the only ice-dependent Polar penguin
species, and scientists believe that the Adélies may be among the indicators of
how our climate is changing. Their numbers are falling and this is linked to the
fact that the sea ice is melting and the penguins need this ice to build their nests
on. As the climate changes, the penguins are losing their habitat, their home
environment.
So what is Antarctica like? Well, it’s an absolutely vast space, sprawled across
the bottom of the world, and it has ice 2 to 4 kilometres thick weighing it down.
But according to Meredith Hooper, it is utterly beautiful. As you listen to her
describing Antarctica, try to catch why she is so ‘amazed and enchanted’ by the
place. If you’re ‘enchanted’ by something, you are charmed and delighted by it.
Meredith Hooper
I’m an Australian and I didn’t grow up with snow and ice, and I am totally amazed and
enchanted by the beauty of ice and it draws me back to Antarctica, to be honest. Ice is there in
all forms and shapes and colours. It’s like an endless sculpture. It’s also very forbidding.
There are a hundred-foot ice cliffs that are breaking into the sea with intense drama and
beauty - deep blues inside the cracks - and you watch them compulsively, wondering when
the next slide will come and then, suddenly, there’s a crack!
Amber: So Meredith says she ‘didn’t grow up with snow and ice’ – she’s an Australian!
That’s partly why she’s so captivated by Antarctica. But most of all, she’s
impressed by the beauty of the ice, which ‘cracks’ or breaks unexpectedly as it
melts and then slides into the sea. Notice she compares the ice with ‘an endless
sculpture’ – it’s like a beautiful three-dimensional work of art that appears to
have no end. But for all its beauty, she says Antarctica is also a ‘very
forbidding’ place – it’s hostile, dangerous and threatening.
Listen again.
Meredith Hooper
I’m an Australian and I didn’t grow up with snow and ice, and I am totally amazed and
enchanted by the beauty of ice and it draws me back to Antarctica, to be honest. Ice is there in
all forms and shapes and colours. It’s like an endless sculpture. It’s also very forbidding.
There are a hundred-foot ice cliffs that are breaking into the sea with intense drama and
beauty - deep blues inside the cracks - and you watch them compulsively, wondering when
the next slide will come and then, suddenly, there’s a crack!
Amber: Next, Meredith talks about the Adélie penguins. She says ‘they’re everybody’s
idea’ of the ‘classic’ Antarctic penguin. ‘Classic’ means of the highest quality
and a perfect example of its kind.
Then Meredith uses several ‘human words’ to describe the penguins – words
we can use to describe people. Try to pick these out.
Meredith Hooper
Ah, I think they’re everybody’s idea of the classic Antarctic penguin. They’re noisy – you
heard the sound. They smell wonderful. They smell of rich living to me! Some people don’t
like it! When you’re with them, you think it’s a wonderful smell!
They’re … I’m going to use human words – they’re considered aggressive.
...

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