Transcript
A relaxing place for a coffee… Or is it?
This cafe, which has just opened in Tokyo, is not for the faint-hearted.
Here you sip your drink in the company of 35 snakes.
None of them are venomous, meaning customers can get up close and personal with the reptiles.
The cafe’s owner says he’s interested in conservation, and hopes customers will realise the animals are worth saving, even though they often have a bad reputation.
Vocabulary
not for the faint-hearted
not suitable for people who are not brave or do not like to take risks
venomous
contains poison
get up close and personal
be intimate with something
conservation
(here) the act of protecting wildlife
reputation
opinion people have of someone or something
To do
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.
not for the faint-hearted / venomous / get up close and personal / conservation / reputation
1. Drilling for oil in the Arctic may harm Shell’s __________ and cost it dear, the former BP boss Lord Browne has said.
Shell has just started preliminary drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea after several setbacks.
2. A __________ centipede which climbed into a woman’s suitcase during her Caribbean holiday has been given a new home at Bristol Zoo.
3. This would put at least 15 carnivores, 8 primates and 21 bat species at risk of extinction by 2080, almost doubling the proportion of threatened mammals on the island, according to the research.
But there is hope that better forestry management for __________ outside existing reserves could curb this loss, said lead researcher Dr Matthew Struebig.
4. There are pearls of all shapes, sizes and colours here, including the world’s largest, a 276-carat whopper fashioned into a ring. Most of these pieces are not for sale but the price tags for those collector pieces that are available are __________. I offer quiet thanks my wife is not with me to see these amazingly opulent jewels.
5. As footballing history is made at Hampden, Scots fans are being offered the chance to __________ with the oldest football in the world.
Made from cow leather and a pigs bladder, it was found behind panelling of the Queen’s chamber in Stirling Castle, which was decorated in the 1540s.
Answers
1. Drilling for oil in the Arctic may harm Shell’s reputation and cost it dear, the former BP boss Lord Browne has said.
Shell has just started preliminary drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea after several setbacks.
2. A venomous centipede which climbed into a woman’s suitcase during her Caribbean holiday has been given a new home at Bristol Zoo.
3. This would put at least 15 carnivores, 8 primates and 21 bat species at risk of extinction by 2080, almost doubling the proportion of threatened mammals on the island, according to the research.
But there is hope that better forestry management for conservation outside existing reserves could curb this loss, said lead researcher Dr Matthew Struebig.
4. There are pearls of all shapes, sizes and colours here, including the world’s largest, a 276-carat whopper fashioned into a ring. Most of these pieces are not for sale but the price tags for those collector pieces that are available are not for the faint-hearted. I offer quiet thanks my wife is not with me to see these amazingly opulent jewels.
5. As footballing history is made at Hampden, Scots fans are being offered the chance to get up close and personal with the oldest football in the world.
Made from cow leather and a pigs bladder, it was found behind panelling of the Queen’s chamber in Stirling Castle, which was decorated in the 1540s.