Learning English - Words in the News

轉錄自
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2007/09/070928_coppola.shtml

28 September, 2007 - Published 12:05 GMT

Coppola robbed

Thieves in Argentina have stolen a computer from US film director Francis Ford Coppola, which contained his new script. The director was not in the house at the time, but he is offering a reward for the return of the information. This report from Daniel Schweimler:

Listen to the story

It wasn't in the script, but that might have to be rewritten now; five armed thieves broke into the house in the fashionable Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires belonging to Francis Ford Coppola, hitting and threatening a person who was in the house at the time.

They took a number of items, including his computer containing the screenplay and other information for his next film, Tetro. It's about the rivalries over the generations in an artistic Italian immigrant family to Buenos Aires and will star Matt Damon. Filming is due to start next February.

A spokeswoman for Mr Coppola offered a reward for the return of the computer which she said was vital for him and his work. The five-times Oscar winner is reported to be very sad.

Coppola, the maker of the Godfather trilogy and the Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now, has been living in Buenos Aires for some months, learning Spanish and working on his next film. He's occasionally seen in public attending football matches.

However, he's not the first high-profile American to fall victim to Buenos Aires thieves. President Bush's daughter Barbara had her handbag and mobile phone stolen last year, despite the protection of US Secret Service agents.

Daniel Schweimler, BBC News, Buenos Aires

Listen to the words

stolen
the past participle of steal

steal
{verb}
past tense stole / past participle stolen
1 take something [intransitive and transitive] to take something that belongs to someone else:
Boys broke into a shop and stole £45 in cash.

• steal from

He stole money from his parents.

• steal something from somebody

He'd stolen the flowers from our garden.

2 use ideas [intransitive and transitive] to use someone else's ideas without getting permission or without admitting that they are not your own ideas [= pinch]:

Inventors know that someone is always going to try to steal their designs.

• steal something from somebody

A well-known scientist was accused of stealing his former student's ideas.

script

{noun}

1 [countable] the written form of a speech, play, film etc [↪ screenplay]:
They write all their own scripts.
a film script
2 [uncountable and countable] the set of letters that are used in writing a language:
Arabic script
3 [countable] British English a piece of work that a student writes in an examination
4 [singular, uncountable] formal writing done by hand:
a diary entry written in neat black script

broke into
if you break into a building or car, you enter by force, usually to steal something

fashionable
popular at this particular time

screenplay
text for a film, including the words to be spoken by the actors, acting instructions, scene directions for cameramen etc.

rivalries over the generations
competition (for the same thing, e.g. status, wealth etc.) that was started by someone's parents, or even grandparents, and continued by their children

due to start
scheduled, or timetabled to begin

offered a reward
said he would give money (to show his thanks)

vital
very important, essential

trilogy
a series of films or books based on one story that consists of three parts

high-profile
well-known, attracting a lot of attention and interest from the public and media

to fall victim to
to have an unexpected bad experience (in this case, to be robbed) as a result of someone's bad actions

mobile

{adjective}

1 not fixed in one position, and easy to move and use in different places:
mobile air-conditioners

2 moving or able to move from one job, area, or social class to another:
a more mobile workforce
People these days are much more socially mobile.
an upwardly mobile (=moving to a higher social scale) professional

3 able to move or travel easily [≠ immobile]:
She's more mobile now that she has her own car.

• 4 mobile library/shop/clinic etc

[British English] a shop etc that is kept in a vehicle and driven from place to place:

Two mobile units provide healthcare in rural villages.

• 5 mobile mouth/face/features

[written] features that can change their expression quickly:
His mobile features registered amusement.

Animal Crackers (garfield cat)

http://www.mycomicspage.com/comic_sample.tt?ref=mcp&feature=animalcrackers


nap
{noun}
1 [countable] a short sleep, especially during the day

• have/take a nap

I usually take a nap after lunch.
an afternoon nap
2 [singular]TIM the soft surface on some cloth and leather, made by brushing the short fine threads or hairs in one direction ➔ pile(7)


pile
{noun}
7material [uncountable and countable]TIM the soft surface of short threads on a carpet or some types of cloth

• thick/deep pile

Her feet sank into the thick pile of the rug.

a deep pile carpet

snoopy today's strip

Peanuts
a humorous US cartoon strip (=a set of drawings that tell a story in a newspaper or magazine) by Charles Schultz, about a boy called Charlie Brown, who is nice but not very confident and often unlucky. Other characters include his dog Snoopy, his sister Sally, and his friends Lucy, Linus, Pigpen, Peppermint Patty, and Schroeder.

peanuts
{noun}
1 [countable] a pale brown nut in a thin shell which grows under the ground [= groundnut]:
a packet of roasted peanuts

2 peanuts informal a very small amount of money:
The hotel workers get paid peanuts.
I'm tired of working for peanuts.


you'd
1 the short form of 'you had':
If you'd been more careful, this wouldn't have happened.

2 the short form of 'you would':
You'd be amazed at how much she spends on clothes.

merely
{adverb}
1 used to emphasize how small or unimportant something or someone is [= only]:
He's merely a boy - you can't expect him to understand.
2 used to emphasize that nothing more than what you say is involved [= just]:
We're merely good friends.
He merely shrugged and walked away.

• not merely/rather than merely

used before the less important of two ideas in a sentence to emphasize the more important idea:
It's not merely a matter of cost, but whether she's old enough to go on holiday alone.
It's important to write these goals down, rather than merely think about them.

snoopy today's strip

go by
{phrasal verb}

1 if time goes by, it passes:

Things will get easier as time goes by.

• as the days/weeks/years go by

As the weeks went by, I became more and more worried.

• hardly a day/week/month etc goes by

Hardly a week goes by without some food scare being reported in the media.

• in days/times/years etc gone by

These herbs would have been grown for medicinal purposes in days gone by.

• go by something

to form an opinion about someone or something from the information or experience that you have:
You can't always go by appearances.
If his past plays are anything to go by, this should be a play worth watching.

• go by something

to do things according to a set of rules or laws:
Only a fool goes by the rules all the time.

snoopy today's strip

mental
{adj}
1 [only before noun] relating to the health or state of someone's mind

• mental illness
• mental health.

2 [only before noun] relating to the mind and thinking, or happening only in the mind:

• mental attitude.
• mental picture/image

3 to make a special effort to remember something:

• make a mental note

4 a difficulty in remembering something or in understanding something:

• mental block

5 (British English spoken informal)
a) to get very angry
b) to start behaving in an uncontrolled or excited way

• go mental
  

6 [not before noun] (British English informal) thinking or behaving in a way that seems crazy or strange:

• mentally = {adv}
• somebody must be mental