媒體英語會帶大家一起學習BBC撰稿人在報道世界大事時常用到的單詞和短語。
Background: 沙特阿拉伯老式縫紉機的價格因某種奇說而突然暴漲。有人說，那些老機器含有某種特殊物質，既能用來探寶又能祛邪甚至還可以用來制造原子彈。
Questions:請在聽下面錄音的時候試著回答這些問題。這是一個用來幫助你提高聽力技能的練習。
1. Have people in Saudi Arabia found red mercury in sewing machines?
2. True or false: in 2006 three British men used red mercury to make a bomb.
3. True or false: some people claim that you can sell a kilogram of red mercury for over 100,000 dollars.
4. Do the Saudi authorities agree that sewing machines contain red mercury?
Saudi Sewing Machine Frenzy 沙特縫紉機搶購熱
Saudis have been racing to buy Singer sewing machines for up to fifty-thousand dollars because they believe they contain traces of red mercury. This is a substance which may or may not actually exist.
Some sources say it can be used to make a devastating, pure nuclear fusion bomb. Others say it's an urban myth.
In 2006, it featured in the British trial of three men accused of trying to make a dirty bomb. They went looking for red mercury, but during the course of the trial it became clear that no-one - not even the defendants themselves - knew what it was. But that hasn't stopped internet sites suggesting that one kilogram of the substance can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars on the black market.
However the rumours in Saudi Arabia started, it's the hope of such huge profits that's caused the sewing machine buying frenzy. Saudi papers have pictures of old men with pick-up vans, stacked with piles of sewing machines.
People believe they can use their mobile phones to test if the machines contain red mercury. The Saudi authorities say it's all a hoax and they’ve launched a police investigation.
GLOSSARY 詞匯表 (收聽發音, 請單擊英語單詞)
Answers
1. Have people in Saudi Arabia found red mercury in sewing machines?
No – red mercury is a substance “which may or may not actually exist”.
2. True or false: in 2006 three British men used red mercury to make a bomb.
False – They looked for red mercury but didn’t know what it was.
3. True or false: some people claim that you can sell a kilogram of red mercury for over 100,000 dollars.
True – some internet sites suggest “that one kilogram of the substance can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars on the black market”.
4. Do the Saudi authorities agree that sewing machines contain red mercury?
No they do not – they are calling it a hoax.
Listen to Sebastian Usher's report 點擊此處下載錄音材料
