BBC Learning English
6 Minute English
9 Aug 2012
Rob: Hi and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English, I’m Rob
and with me in the studio today is Chris.
Chris: Hello there. In this programme we take a story from the news and pick
out some interesting vocabulary that you may not have heard before.
Rob: Our story this week comes from Italy, where some
divers2 have made a
very exciting discovery…
Chris: A shipwreck has been uncovered which could reveal a lot about the
history of humans at sea. Can you tell us what a shipwreck is, Rob?
Rob: Sure. It’s a ship which has sunk and now lies on the bottom of the sea. I
bet you can think of a very famous example, Chris…
Chris: Of course, the
Titanic3 must be the world’s most famous shipwreck.
Rob: Well, before we dive into the details of this story, I’ve got a question for
Chris: Ok, let’s hear it then.
Rob: The United Nations has estimated – or taken a guess at – the number of
shipwrecks which lie on the sea bed. How many
wrecked5 ships do you
think there are? Is it:
a) 3000 ships
b) 300,000 ships
c) 3 million ships
Chris: I’ll hazard a guess and say…
Rob: Well we’ll see if you’re right at the end of the programme. Whatever the
number is, we know that there is one extra ship to be counted which has
just been discovered!
Chris: An ancient
vessel6 – or ship – has been discovered in the Mediterranean
Sea near Italy, and it’s quite a special find.
Rob: Yes, quite a lot of ships have sunk over the years. The Titanic, for
example, sank in 1912. This one is quite a lot older than that.
Chris: The newly-discovered shipwreck is thought to be two thousand years old.
Rob: So how was it discovered after so long? Listen to this first part of a report
by BBC correspondent Alan Johnston: what did the Italian fishermen find?
Insert
For years fishermen believed there was something extraordinary lying in the depths off
the town of Varazze. They kept finding
shards7 of
pottery8 in their nets. Eventually, a unit
of police divers launched a search. And they’ve just announced the discovery of a
cargo9 ship, which may date back to the last century before Christ.
Chris: So what did the fishermen find, Rob?
Rob: They kept finding shards – or small pieces – of pottery in their nets. That
gave them a clue that there was something down there at the bottom of
the sea.
Chris: The divers believe that it is a cargo ship – that’s a ship which carries
goods for trade, rather than people.
Rob: And this particular cargo ship could be from the time of ancient Rome. It’s
been very well preserved in mud and stayed intact – or in one piece.
Chris: That means that it could hold a lot of information about how past
civilisations used to trade with one another.
Rob: Listen to the second part of Alan Johnston’s report and see if you can hear
a word which means “completely covered with”:
Insert
The unit’s spokesman says that what makes this find especially interesting is that the
vessel seems to be almost intact. She sank into thick mud, which
engulfed10 and
preserved her. The ship is reckoned to have been sailing a well-travelled route between
Spain and the coast of what is now central Italy. She was loaded with more than two-
hundred clay amphoras that are likely to contain wine, oil and grain.
Chris: That word was “engulfed.” As the ship was engulfed, or covered in mud,
it’s thought that the cargo on board could still be there.
Rob: We heard in the report that the vessel was loaded with two hundred
amphoras, which were large clay jars used to contain wine, oil or grain.
Chris: It would be really exciting to find these things on board the ship. So what
are they planning to do with it?
Rob: They could either study the ship underwater using teams of divers, or they
could bring the entire ship back up to the surface.
Chris: In the final part of the report, listen out for a phrase which means
something is possible to do.
Insert
The divers’ spokesman said that study of the vessel could help add to understanding of
commercial activity at that time and that it might even be possible to bring the entire
ship to the surface. This would, he said, be
technically11 feasible. But it’s now up to the
Italian authorities to decide whether such a complex and hugely expensive operation
should be launched.
Rob: That phrase was “technically feasible.” Although they could bring the ship
to the surface, it’s likely to be very fragile after all these years – or easily
breakable.
Chris: They could also send divers down to
retrieve12 the cargo – or get it back –
but many people think that when a ship sinks, it should be left where it is.
Rob: It’s such an exciting discovery, but we’ll have to wait and see if it reveals
further historical treasures! But we don’t have to wait for the quiz
question. I asked you how many shipwrecks lie on the ocean floor. Was it:
a) 3000
b) 300,000
c) 3 million
Chris: And I said 300,000.
Rob: And you were wrong! The answer is 3 million ships! We’ve just got time to
recap some of the vocabulary we’ve heard in today’s programme.
Chris: The words we heard were:
shipwreck
vessel
shards
intact
amphoras
fragile
retrieve
Rob: That's all we have time for today, but do join us again for more 6 Minute
English from bbclearningenglish.com. Bye!
Chris: Bye!
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