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Last updated at 13:50 BST, Wednesday, 03 April 2013

Musical miners

Video

Report and vocabulary

Transcript:

This is Siberia - over 1,000 metres below ground.

And miners at Russia's largest nickel mine were given the surprise treat of some cheerful music.

Musicians swapped their stage costumes for hard hats and overalls for the day.

The company says it's all part of a plan to boost productivity and hope to hold more underground cultural activities to keep the positive attitude going.

nickel mine

a hole in the ground from which nickel, a silver-white metal, is removed

treat

something special and enjoyable you do or buy for yourself or someone else

swapped

gave something in exchange for something else

boost productivity

increase the rate at which goods are produced

positive attitude

good feeling or opinion about something

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.

nickel mine / treat / swapped / boost productivity / positive attitude

1. He ________ his military fatigues for elegant business suits, but - in contrast to his jovial and temperamental father - remains a reserved figure.

2. After being plant foreman of the Bindura ________ for 10 years, he climbed the unionist ladder until in 1988, he was elected secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

3. The usual American fast food outlets are spread around Cambridge but there are also takeaways or 'chippies', selling fish and chips, a national ________.

4. "Under this funding round 121 projects from all corners of coastal Scotland have received 拢5.8m, to support modernisation, expansion and _________."

5. According to a new survey by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers almost half of Georgians have a __________ towards Stalin.

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To take away:

Exercise

Answers

How did you do?

1

swapped

2

Nickel Mine

3

treat

4

boost productivity

5

positive attitude

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