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Last updated at 12:44 BST, Wednesday, 19 October 2011

80 years at the top

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Report and vocabulary

transcript

The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. One of the world's most iconic monuments.

The famous Brazilian landmark, which is perched on top of the 700 metre Corcovado Mountain, is celebrating its 80th birthday.

It took five years to build and was inaugurated in October 1931. Now up to ten thousand visitors flock to the 38 metre tall figure every day.

iconic

famous or well known. Also, something that represents a place

landmark

place which is easily identifiable

perched

sitting in a position that is close to the edge

inaugurated

opened officially

flock to

gather together in large numbers and go somewhere

Exercise

Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from a Â鶹Éç news report.

Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.

iconic/landmarks/perched/inaugurated/flock to

1. One of Glasgow's most notorious ___________ is to be given a new lease of life as part of a scheme to boost cycling and pedestrian travel. The so-called "bridge to nowhere", a pedestrian link over the M8 motorway, has never been used and has no access ramps.

2. [The Maspero] was ________________ in Cairo in 1960 - the first dedicated television building ever built in the Middle East.

3. Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the Coca-Cola bottle and Christ are history's top ____________ images, according to an Oxford professor.

4. The eastern Canadian fishing town calls itself the iceberg capital of the world, and tourists ___________ visit in the summer when the season for the frozen goliaths is booming.

5. Hong Kong's Ocean Park, which features a vast aquarium and rollercoaster rides all _____________ atop one of Hong Kong's lush craggy peaks, saw attendance figures rise by 6% last year despite the threat from the big-name cross-town rival Disney.

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Exercise

Answers

How did you do?

1.

landmarks

2.

inaugurated

3.

iconic

4.

flock to

5.

perched

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