EMBARRASSMENT - the British Council Episodes

Listen to the episode of the Big City Small World and do the exercises you have received.

EMBARRASSMENT EPISODE

BBC VIDEO NEWS

Watch and listen to today's report
HERE ABOUT A CARNIVAL IN SWITZERLAND

LISTEN TO THE REPORT HERE

aesthetically pleasing

beautiful to look at

revellers

people who party in a noisy way

scare off

to make someone or something worried about something so they decide not to do it

pave the way for

make it possible for (something to happen)

traced back to

identified as having started in

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.

aesthetically pleasing/ revellers/ scare off/ pave the way/ traced back to

1.
Fire purified things. The popularity of setting off fireworks at new year can be ________ that idea of fire purifying.

2.
Creatures that achieve world fame for being under threat - the panda, the mountain gorilla, the tiger - tend to be conventionally _________, even cute.

3.
As Rio de Janeiro's carnival gets under way, its oldest street parade has drawn an estimated 1.5m ________.

4.
Puffing Billy was one of the first steam locomotives to transport coal from Wylam Colliery to Lemington Staithes on the River Tyne.

Developed by Newburn-born engineer William Hedley in 1813, it _______ for the development of the rail industry.

5.
Eugene Cousins, a manager at Chimp Eden, said that he fired warning shots to ________ the animals but then one of the chimps attacked his vehicle, smashing the bonnet and windshield.

MORE AGREE & DISAGREE

Agreement

There are many reasons for …

There is no doubt about it that …

I simply must agree with that.

I am of the same opinion.

I am of the same opinion as …

I completely/absolutely agree with …

Qualified Disagreement

It is only partly true that...

I can agree with that only with reservations.

That seems obvious, but …

That is not necessarily so.

It is not as simple as it seems.

Under certain circumstances …

Disagreement

There is more to it than that.

The problem is that …

I (very much) doubt whether …

This is in complete contradiction to …

What is even worse, …

I am of a different opinion because …

I cannot share this / that / the view.

I cannot agree with this idea.

What I object to is …

Unlike … I think …

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PENGUINS AND SEA LION ARE BACK

Listen to the words in the news by BBC and learn how to pronounce following words:


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migration

the movement of certain animals from one place to another - often when the seasons change

rehabilitation

the looking after and caring for someone or something while it returns to good health

tagged

fitted with a device which can be tracked electronically

a current

the movement of water in a particular direction

choppy

with a lot of little waves caused by the wind

AGREE - DISAGREE - DISCUSS

Usefull expressions: 

In my opinion… I totally agree…
I can tell… Speaking of which…
Actually… Really…. That’s not exactly…
I could say I… Obviously, …. I disagree…
As a matter of fact… What’s more….
I can assure you… In the first place…. plus/besides…
In the first place/ in the second place/…. Finally…
I recognize… I have to say… /I must say…
In addition… 
To top it all off…./As if that weren’t enough…