听播客学英语 179 堤坝

 　　Today’s podcast is about the word “run”. You know what “run” means. If you are late, you have to run to catch the train. In a football game, the players run after the ball. But we can use “run” in lots of other ways as well. As we shall see.

　　Last week, I visited Ludlow, which is a town about one and a half hours’ drive from Birmingham. It is an old market town. There is a castle, and lots of “black and white” half-timbered buildings. A friend of mine runs a hotel in Ludlow, and that is where we stayed. From Ludlow, we drove along a road which runs beside a river to another town – even smaller – called Knighton. Knighton is in Wales, not England. You know that you are in Wales because all the road signs are in the Welsh language as well as in English.

　　The border between England and Wales has been peaceful now for hundreds of years. But it was not always like that. In the eighth century, King Offa ruled a kingdom called Mercia in central England. He had trouble with the Welsh. He built a great wall of earth and a ditch¹ along the western border of Mercia to help to defend his kingdom. (He didn’t build it himself, of course – he sent thousands of his men to do it for him!) His wall is called Offa’s Dyke², and you can see the remains³ of it today. In fact there is a footpath⁴ which runs all the way along Offa’s Dyke. It starts in Prestatyn in north Wales and runs to Chepstow in the south. It crosses wild hills and beautiful valleys and is perhaps the finest long-distance footpath in Britain. Knighton is about half way along the footpath, and the local tourist authority⁵ runs an information centre there, where you can learn more about Offa’s Dyke.

　　Look at some of the ways we can use the word “run”.

　　My friend runs a hotel.

　　The tourist authority runs an information centre.

　　The road runs beside the river.

　　The Offa’s Dyke footpath runs from Prestatyn to Chepstow.

　　My local bus route runs from Druids Heath in south Birmingham to the city centre.

　　The buses run from 5am to midnight.

　　At weekends they run every hour throughout the night as well.

　　The play runs at the theatre from 7 to 27 March.

　　Last week, my car broke down. But now it is running fine.

　　Sometimes, I leave my computer running all night.

　　On Saturdays, the train runs 10 minutes earlier than on other days.

　　So you will have to run to catch it.

1 ditch   

n.沟，沟渠，渠道

参考例句：

• With the blind leading the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.如果瞎子替瞎子带路的话，那么两方肯定会掉到沟里。
• The water in the ditch is not very clean.沟里的水不很清洁。

2 dyke   

n.堤，水坝，排水沟

参考例句：

• If one sheep leap over the dyke,all the rest will follow.一只羊跳过沟，其余的羊也跟着跳。
• One ant-hole may cause the collapse of a thousand-li dyke.千里长堤，溃于蚁穴。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 footpath   

n.小路，人行道

参考例句：

• Owners who allow their dogs to foul the footpath will be fined.主人若放任狗弄脏人行道将受处罚。
• They rambled on the footpath in the woods.他俩漫步在林间蹊径上。

5 authority   

n.当局，官方；权力，权威，威信；当权者

参考例句：

• He is recognized internationally as an authority in this field.国际上承认他是这方面的一个权威。
• Professor White is looked upon as an authority on mathematics.怀特教授被看成数学权威。