Episode 0352

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod. My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today, Marco, we're talking about some very special places, right?

That's right. Today we're gonna talk about the famous list of the Seven Wonders of the World. So you've probably heard about this before.

We're not going to tell you what this means quite yet. Uh, take a listen to today's dialogue and when we come back, we'll talk a little bit more about what these wonders are and, uh, where they are.

Have you seen this news article?

Apparently an organization has made a list to name the new Seven Wonders of the World and people could vote for them online.

Well, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal in India.

Also amongst the winners is Petra in Jordan, Machu Picchu in Peru and the pyramid in Chichen Itza in Mexico.

Wait a minute. It also says that the Christ Redeemer statue in Brazil and the Colosseum in Rome are wonders.

Alright, we're back. So let's talk about these very interesting places all over the world. Now on Language Takeaway.

Language Takeaway

So the set phrase for this, Marco, is the Seven Wonders of the World.

Now the key here is the word wonder. What is a wonder?

Right. A wonder is something very amazing, incredible, it's uh, it's something that's beyond your imagination almost.

That's right. You can't even imagine how man or how someone created it.

And so wonderful is a similar word that's an adjective, something that's just great, fantastic is wonderful.

A wonder is something very, very special and here we have seven of them.

That's right. So, uh, it's a list basically that you can, you can see even online about these wonders all over the world and they're so special because they are amazing works of art and architecture.

And starting off with one of the most famous ones is in China, it's the Great Wall of China.

I think what's special about this, I've heard, is that when astronauts are in space, it's so long and so distinct, they can actually see the Great Wall.

Yeah, that's what I've heard as well.

It's, it's a very long wall, thousands of kilometers long.

That's right. And it goes east to west all across the northern border of China.

That's right.

So it's a very big wall and what's interesting about it is that it was built such a long time ago and that the techniques used to make it were uh, were very special.

That's right. And sometimes you might hear us talk about the Great Wall instead of the Great Wall of China.

And so that's just uh a hint, it's, it's easy to say Great Wall, you can say them both ways though.

Exactly.

Now moving west towards India, we have another very amazing work of architecture. It's called the Taj Mahal.

Now the Taj Mahal is in North India, in a city called Agra, and it's very special because it's massive, it's very big, and it's all white marble.

That's right.

And it's interesting because the, this place, the Taj Mahal, is not really a temple. It was actually a tomb.

Alright, now that's an interesting word to look at.

Um a tomb, a tomb is a place where we bury someone, you know, after someone dies, maybe if you have a lot of money, you're very rich, you want to um put that body in a very special sacred place and that's called a tomb.

That's right. So this is actually what the Taj Mahal is.

Now the, we saw in the dialogue that the entire complex of the Taj Mahal is made of white marble.

So, when we talk about the entire complex, what what do we mean?

Well, complex here is a noun, you might have heard it in other situations where it's an adjective, it means something different. But here a complex means um many buildings together, right? So you can say the Taj Mahal is one building, but the Taj Mahal complex maybe has four or five buildings together. So um a side temple and um a gatehouse and so we say a complex is a grouping of buildings.

That's right.

Very good.

So, now let's uh move on, let's take a look at Language Takeaway part two and let's continue talking about these wonders of the world.

Petra, that's right.

This is actually a city, um but it's also known as the Lost City of Petra, right?

That's right. And what's unique about this city is that the city is built, it's carved out of stone in this cliff.

So, um it's not just pieces of stone put together, it's actually inside the rocks.

Exactly.

So uh it's very famous, you've probably seen it in movies like Indiana Jones, there's a, there's a, there's a big part of the scenes that go on inside Petra.

Very special place and again very unique.

Now, the next site is actually very far away in South America and again it's ancient and very intricate. It's called Machu Picchu.

That's right.

So this is in one of those very old uh cities that are actually in ruins now and uh the interesting thing about it is that it's very high up in like a little mountain.

And those mountains there, those are the Andes, right?

That's right.

So Machu Picchu, also a very famous place, many visitors from all over the world go there as well.

And another main attraction around the world are the pyramids.

So we have some pyramids in Egypt, I think those are the most uh well-known ones.

That's right. The pyramids in Egypt, like the pyramid at Giza, uh are very big structures. I mean they're huge and they were built thousands of years ago.

But they're still here because they're built so well.

But there are also very famous pyramids like the one we heard about today in the dialogue in Mexico.

That's right.

It's a little bit different though because the pyramids as, as we, most of us know them, they're very uh smooth on the sides, you would say.

Yeah, you can't climb on them really, right?

Right. Well, this one in Mexico has, actually has kind of like steps. So it's a, it's a different type of pyramid but the shape is very similar.

Alright, so uh the pyramids here are in a place called Chichen Itza.

You might have heard of that.

And uh we have another place though, which is also in South America, in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Uh now this one is actually a statue, right?

That's right. It's called the Christ Redeemer. It's a very big statue, very famous, you've seen it maybe in pictures.

It's a, it's a statue of of Jesus with his arms open.

Now, the word redeemer, okay?

A redeemer is a person, someone who does something, who redeems. Um what does it mean to be a redeemer?

Well, a redeemer is a person that saves souls for example. So, if you redeem yourself, you're redeeming yourself of your sins maybe.

Well, yeah, you're, you're taking value back, right?

And so uh in the case of Jesus, he is taking away the sins of the world and he's redeeming, you know, that's why his arms are out, he's redeeming all people.

Uh and that's the idea I think behind the Christ Redeemer.

So the verb redeem, like you can use it in everyday life if you take a coupon and you redeem it.

That means you, yeah, you collect the value.

You collect the value, right?

So you can use it actually this word in everyday life.

You can.

And uh moving on now towards Europe, we have the famous Colosseum.

Um but this is a circular like a round stadium.

So it's a place where you play sports.

Well, you did.

Uh it was from, you know, thousands of years ago, the Roman Empire.

And it's in very good shape I would say, you can still see it.

Yeah, so it's generally called the Colosseum, although a colosseum as we know it now can also be the same thing, right? A structure where sports or activities are played.

Basically, yeah, a colosseum is an old stadium.

Um but the Colosseum like you said is, is definitely the Colosseum in Rome.

That's right.

And we've probably seen uh movies of ancient Rome where sports or activities were taken place, specifically gladiator fights.

So that's where we're there. Gladiator. Yeah, that's right.

So a gladiator is actually a person.

Uh and a gladiator was a man who thousands of years ago during the Roman Empire would fight uh maybe other men or animals and he had to fight to stay alive.

So that was his profession basically to be a gladiator.

So now as you are a boxer, back then you were a gladiator.

Yeah, and there are actually some very famous movies about gladiators like the movie Gladiator with Russell Crowe.

So it's a pretty common word these days.

That's right.

Okay, so let's take a break, let's listen to our dialogue again and we'll be back in a bit.

Alright, so this list that we gave you are actually the new Seven Wonders of the World. It was voted online, people all over the world out of uh different uh candidates or different places that were considered to be the new Seven Wonders of the World. Um among those like some of them that didn't win, for example, was Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Yeah, I'd never understood that. You know, I think Angkor Wat is such an amazing place and so big and it was the, the heart of this old civilization.

And instead we have other things like a statue.

Just it's...

I don't agree with it as well.

But actually the Statue of Liberty of the United States was also considered as a candidate for a, for a wonder of the world.

Interesting. Well, that's right. America doesn't have any wonders.

You have natural wonders, I think uh the Grand Canyon is considered, I think, one of those natural wonders.

Yes, I think Niagara Falls also maybe.

But that's an interesting point though, Marco, we've got the great wonders of the world and we've got the natural wonders. What's the difference?

Well, natural, a natural wonder of the world means that it's there naturally. It's not man-made.

All of these things that we see here, that somebody had to make them. Whereas for example, the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls, they are there naturally, it's by nature.

Alright, so man-made versus natural or made by nature.

Right. So it's very interesting because uh you have like we said, natural Seven Wonders of the World, you have these, the new ones. You have the ancient world wonders, which like none of them are, are existed anymore, I think only the uh the gardens of, yeah, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Colossus at Rhodes. Yeah.

You can't see them anymore.

So, but maybe some of you actually maybe your countries were considered uh to host one of these uh wonders or maybe you voted for some of them.

Yeah, let us know. What is a wonder where you come from? Doesn't have to be on this list. It can be something you think is wonderful.

Let us know our website is englishpod.com.

Alright, we'll see you guys there.

The English Pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

A mausoleum located in India made entirely of white marble.

Taj Mahal

An extensive wall in China that kept invaders at bay.

Great Wall

The art and science of designing buildings.

Architecture

A historical city in Jordan which was carved out of the mountain.

Petra

An ancient Incan city set high in the Andes Mountains in Peru.

Machu Picchu

A structure where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point.

Pyramid

An ancient amphitheater located in Rome.

Colosseum

A monumental human creation that is amazing.

Wonder

A person trained to entertain the public by engaging in mortal combat.

Gladiator

A grave or other place of burial.

Tomb

Let's try that faster.

The art and science of designing buildings.

Architecture

A person trained to entertain the public by engaging in mortal combat.

Gladiator

A structure where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point.

Pyramid

An ancient amphitheater located in Rome.

Colosseum

An extensive wall in China that kept invaders at bay.

Great Wall

A historical city in Jordan which was carved out of the mountain.

Petra

A mausoleum located in India made entirely of white marble.

Taj Mahal

An ancient Incan city set high in the Andes Mountains in Peru.

Machu Picchu

A grave or other place of burial.

Tomb

A monumental human creation that is amazing.

Wonder

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Architecture

The architecture of this town is very bizarre.

Architecture

I wish my city was designed better. The architecture looks like it comes from outer space.

Architecture

My friend wanted his new house to have architecture like that of Japan.

Tomb

When the king died, he left all his treasure in the tomb.

Tomb

His tomb is so big that you could fit a bus in there.

Tomb

If anyone breaks into a tomb, they will have a curse put upon them.

Wonder

I think the temples of Angkor Wat should be considered as one of the wonders of the world.

Wonder

My dream is to visit all the wonders of the world before I die.

Wonder

The only surviving wonder of the ancient world is the pyramid of Giza.

Pyramid

This building complex is very big.

Pyramid

The temple complex of Angkor Wat has over a dozen temples.

Pyramid

They are building a new housing complex next to my office.

Great Wall

The prize is round-trip airfare to a destination of your choice.

Great Wall

Airfare is set to increase with the higher cost of fuel.

Great Wall

The UK has one of the highest airfare taxes in all of Europe.