英語聽力萬花筒22Thelaunch

1、英語聽力萬花筒英語聽力萬花筒22 The launchLast weekend I visited Belfast, the largest city in Northern Ireland.When I was a child, I lived in Belfast for several years, and the reason for my visit was a re-union of the pupils who many years ago - were in the same class at school as I was. They all ooked so old - b

2、ut not me of course.You probably know about the problems in Northern Ireland between the Catholic and Protestant communities, but if you get an opportunity to visit, you should definitely go. It is a very attractive place, and the people are very welcoming. Belfast is an old industrial city, with so

3、me fine buil dings and a beautiful position beside the sea. It has a long history of shipbuil ding. At one time, the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast was the largest shipyard in the world. The most famous Belfast-built ship was Titanic, a huge liner which hit an iceberg and sank during its firs

4、t voyage across the Atlantic in 1912.Today ' s podcast, inspired by the Belfast shipyards, is about the word “l(fā)aunch ” .“ Launch ” means to send something from the land into thesea. The traditional way of buil ding a ship was to build it on dry land close to the sea. When the hull of the ship wa

5、s finished, the ship was“l(fā)aunched that is, the ship slipped or was pulled from the land into the sea for the first time. There is a picture on the website of a ship being launched in Belfast in the early 1950s. It was normal to have a special celebration when a new ship was launched. The owners of t

6、he new ship would invite a Very Important Person to perform the launch ceremony. The Very Important Person would say something like name this ship ' Podcast ' . God bless her and all that sail in her she, would then break a bottle of champagne on the bow (that is, the front) of the ship; and

7、 the ship woul d slide gracefully into the water. The Very Important Person and the owners of the shipyard and of the new ship would then go and have a nice lunch. If the management of the shipyard was feeling kind, there woul d be beer for the shipyard workers too.There are a few things to note in

8、what I have just said. First, in English we have two special ways of talking about things which happened many times in the past, like the launching of a ship. First, we can say“used to. ” , anda podcast about “used to. ” in May 2006. But instead we can use the word“ would ” , like I did when I was t

9、alkingabout launching a ship." The owners of thecshivitecaj Very The shspipwnuo theImportant Person. The Very Important Person would break a bottle of champagne over the bows of the shipwater.and so on.Second, I am sure that you noticed that the Very Important Person who was launching the ship

10、said, ess h erGOnd bill who sail in her. " Ships are “she/her “ in EngDshCno task me whyit ". because I don ' t know.And finally, I know that some of you particularly if French is your first language find it difficult to hear the difference between a long “ee” sound and a short "i

11、" sound in English. So the wordsounds the same as “ sleeping ” . Here are a few examples of long and short " i " for you to practice:“heat"-hit "“seat" *it ”“feet ” “fit ”“ reach " 2ch ”“sheep”-ship"Now lets get back to the word“l(fā)aunch ” . Ships are not the on

12、ly thingsthat you can launch. You can launch a rocket or a space ship, for example. And we can use “l(fā)aunch “ figuratively as well.For example, one of the clients of the company where Kevin works has produced a new sort of washing powder. It is in fact the same as the old washing powder, but it smell

13、s different, and it has a new name and new packaging. The company wants everyone to know about their wonderful new washing powder, so it buys lots of advertising time on television and has a special-one-get-otnuyfree offer for the firsttwo months. We can talk about the companya launching ” the newwa

14、shing powder, and about its“l(fā)aunch offer ” .Sarah has just written a novel. It has taken her about 10 years. Her friends are pleased that the book is now finished, because they were very bored of Sarah telling them about it all the time. Sarah publishers want to get some good publicity for the book,

15、 so they organise a “l(fā)aunch party “ to launch the book. They invite journalists, and other authors, and people who write book reviews, and a few minor celebrities who are always happy to go anywhere where there are free drinks. Sarah talks to the guests about her new book, and theguests all say how

16、wonderful it is. Unfortunately, it is not a very successful book launch the book shops have sold only 153 copies of Sarah ' s book, and you can now buy it for half price!And a final example. Joanne is angry because the bcal authority want to close the public library near her home. She decides to launch a campaign to make them chang