Lesson 2 Great Buildings
【Tapescript】
Exercise 4
Female: Good evening and welcome to “Building Sights”. Today Ben Smith will describe four of his favourite buildings from around the world.
1 The Palace of the Doges, in Venice, is one of the best ancient buildings anywhere in Europe. It was finished in 1498. It has beautiful pink and white marble walls. From St Mark's Square you can see the balcony with statues on either side.
2 The Post Office Savings Bank building in Budapest was built in the early twentieth century. The most beautiful part of the building is the roof — which is green, blue, yellow and brown. On the roof, there are fantastic decorations representing waves, flowers, and angels. Someone asked the architect who designed the building why there are so many interesting things where people could not see them. He replied, “But the birds will.”
3 The ancient castle of Eilean Donan in Scotland is probably one of the most fantastic buildings in the world. It was built in the thirteenth century but was destroyed by the English in 1719. The castle was in ruins for 200 years until it was rebuilt in 1932. It has a large, stone tower and thick stone walls.
4 The Chrysler Building in New York is not the highest skyscraper in New York, but it is one of the most beautiful. This skyscraper was made of new materials: metal, concrete and glass. It was built in the 1930s and has a beautiful metal roof.
Exercise 6
Female: My favourite building's in Scotland. It's an amazing castle called.. Eilean Donan. Have you heard of it?
Male: No. I don' t think so.
Female: Well it's er ... Its on ... on a loch, you know, ..., a kind of lake. When you get near it, it looks as if it's in the water. It really looks like something from a fairytale, because it's located on a small island and it has a big tower.
Male: Mmm.
Female: When you walk across the bridge to the island you can see the castle in front of you. It looks really strong, cos it's made of a type of stone ... You know ... grey, and, er.
Male: Granite?
Female: That's right And anyway ... when you get inside it's sort of strange. And you can look out and see the loch around the castle and the sea. It's really beautiful.
Male: Mmm.