| | Words in the News |
INTRO | | World leaders attended a ceremony marking the transfer of control of the Panama Canal from the United States to Panama.BBC correspondent Peter Greste reported. |
IN FULL | |  | Listen to the report in full |
 |  | 16 December 1999
US hands over Panama Canal |
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NEWS 1 | | | Listen to the first part of the report |
| | | It was a poignant reminder of the tremendous cost of building the Panama Canal. The official delegation including Jimmy Carter, the Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso and King Juan Carlos of Spain visited two cemeteries to offer floralwreaths to the tens of thousands who died carving the canal across the Central American isthmus. More than four hundred perished for every one of the canal’s fifty miles. Most died between 1880, when the French first tried and failed to push the waterway through, and 1914, when the Americans finally completed the colossal engineering project. By BBC correspondent, Peter Greste. |
WORDS | | poignant: something which is poignant affects you deeply and makes you very sad
cost: here, not the money but the loss of lives delegation: a group chosen to represent other people cemeteries: a place where dead people are buried floral wreaths: rings of flowers left on graves in memory of dead people isthmus: a narrow area of land connecting two larger areas (North and South America) perished: died colossal:very large |
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| NEWS 2 | | | Listen to the second part of the report |
| | | But if Panamanians are delighted to reclaim their territory, many in the US are not. Many republicans equate the loss of their bases in the zone with a major breach in national security. Now Mr Carter is the most senior American in the delegation. President Clinton, Vice-President Al Gore and the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, have all declined invitations to come - a point that has riled Panama which senses that Washington is still only grudgingly giving up its southern territory. |
| WORDS | | equate: if you equate one thing with another you believe that the two are the same: Republicans believe that if they lose the bases this will mean national security will be threatened
breach: here, breach means the breaking of national security bases: a military base is a place from which part of an army, navy or airforce works riled: if something riles you it makes you angry
senses: feels or thinks grudgingly: reluctantly |
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| | | Read about the background in BBC News Online |
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