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| Words in the News
Wednesday 17 July 2002
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Saving Venice
Summary: A team of British scientists has begun work in the Venice Lagoon in the latest international effort to protect the city from high tides and floods that struck again this week. This report from Brian Baron:
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| | The News | |
| | | Led by Professor David Paterson of St Andrew's University, the British team have begun a three-year project to map tidal flows and marine life, using satellite technology and the latest remote sensing techniques. The work, funded by the European Union, is aimed at finding out exactly how the Lagoon functions before the construction of a Thames-style barrier of steel gates. They'll be raised from the sea bed to shut off high tides. That two billion pound engineering project remains intensely controversial and years behind schedule. Professor Paterson thinks there's merit in another plan for floating artificial marshes in the Lagoon to help break up the most destructive waves. Twice this week, St Mark's Square has been engulfed by high tides. Some scientists fear that sea levels will rise by over eighteen inches this century which could prove catastrophic. Brian Baron, BBC
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| | The Words
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| | | to map tidal flows
to study and make a record of the way the water moves up and down and through an area
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| | | marine life
animals and plants that live in the water
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| | | remote sensing techniques
ways of finding out information automatically
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| | | funded by
paid for by
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| | | Thames-style barrier
A gate, like the one on the River Thames in London, which goes up and down to stop too much water coming into the river
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| | | sea bed
the bottom of the sea
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| | | intensely controversial
if something is intensely controversial many people have very strong feelings that it is a bad idea
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| | | merit
if there is merit in something, then it is worth doing, it has value
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| | | engulfed by high tides
the high tide is the time of day when the water level is at its highest and this has caused a lot of water to flood the area
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| | | catastrophic
disastrous, causing a lot of damage and destruction
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