| | Words in the News |
INTRO | | A new King has been crowned in Nepal. The second in three days. Elizabeth Blunt reports: |
IN FULL | |  | Listen to the report in full |
 |  | 4th June 2001 Nepal in Crisis |
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NEWS 1 | | | Listen to the first part of the report |
| | | The coronation ceremony inside Kathmandu's old palace was solemn and dignified. Gyanendra - King Birendra's younger brother - was installed on a throne modelled on that of the god Vishnu, with a many-headed golden serpent on the back. But when his carriage emerged into the streets of Kathmandu, the new King, still wearing his plumed crown, was jeered and whistled at by the crowds. Prince Gyanendra - as he then was - managed to escape the palace massacre because he was out of Katmandu, in Western Nepal, at the time. But his wife and son were there, and his wife was wounded in the shooting. His son - Prince Paras - may be one reason for the new King's unfriendly reception; he has the reputation of being a drunken playboy, and when a popular musician was killed in a road accident last year, the Nepalese press carried reports that Prince Paras - who now becomes Crown Prince - had been at the wheel. |
| | | | Listen to the words |
WORDS | | coronation ceremony - a formal event where a King or Queen is crowned
solemn - serious rather than cheerful dignified - calm and impressive
a throne - a special chair used by a King or Queen
modelled on - based on or inspired by
plume - a large bird's feather
jeer - if you jeer at someone you say rude or unfriendly things unfriendly reception - the way people react to the King is unfriendly playboy - a rich man who spends most of his time enjoying himself at the wheel - driving |
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| NEWS 2 | | | Listen to the second part of the report |
| | | In a curious twist, this is actually King Gyanendra's second coronation; he was briefly installed as king once before - as a three year old boy - when the rest of the royal family fled to India amid threatsof a revolution. But in his adult life he has to some extent managed to escape the hothouse atmosphere of the royal family, and build an outside life for himself as a businessman and conservationist. This greater worldliness may be his best asset as he attempts to establish himself as the new King of Nepal. |
| | | | Listen to the words |
| WORDS | | In a curious twist - a twist in a story is an unexpected development to some extent - partially, not completely hothouse atmosphere - a hothouse is a heated glass building where plants grow. It is also used to describe a place where there is a lot of intense intellectual or emotional activity going on worldliness - experience of life in the outside world asset - something that is useful or helpful to a person |
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| | | Read about the background in BBC News Online |
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