Learning English - Words in the News - From the ashes of Pompeii

Last updated at 13:38 GMT, Wednesday, 27 March 2013

From the ashes of Pompeii

Video

Sorry, you can't see the video.

To see the video in the page you need to enable JavaScript in your browser's preferences.

Report and vocabulary

Transcript:: Frozen in time...

Plaster casts of victims buried following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius around 2,000 years ago.

They are part of a major exhibition of more than 250 archaeological discoveries in the British Museum about the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Jewellery still intact, a cot turned to charcoal... they offer a snapshot of the lives of ordinary people at the time.
frozen: stopped moving and completely still
plaster casts: copies of statues or other objects made from plaster: a mixture of white powder and water that becomes hard when it dries
archaeological discoveries: items or information found by archaeologists: people who study the past by looking at objects, graves and buildings from that time
charcoal: hard, black substance made from burned wood
snapshot: a description that tells you about a place or situation at a particular time

Exercise

Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from news reports.
Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.

frozen / plaster casts / archaeological discoveries / charcoal / snapshot

1.
It is comparatively easy to find evidence of human occupation in caves through the dating of __________ from fires or bones from long-ago dinners, Dr Cohen said.

2.
Gori's main tourist attraction is its museum to Stalin. The ornate building, with its collection of heroic photographs and Stalin's death mask, appears __________ in time - a Soviet shrine to the dictator, almost untouched since the museum was built in 1957.

3.
The excavation has revealed artefacts that show a __________ of life in Ireland at least as far back as the 9th century AD.

4.
The gymnast, who won a bronze medal at London 2012, had to stand with her body covered in plaster-filled bandages for an hour while the cast was made.

The __________ was then taken back to Ms Giblin's Sussex studio where the artwork was completed.

5.
Recent __________ on the Arabian Peninsula have uncovered evidence of a previously unknown civilisation based in the now arid areas in the middle of the desert.