Cocaine chicken

  BBC Learning English 6 Minute English 6 September 2012 Cocaine¹ chicken 

 6 Minute English ? British Broadcasting Corporation 2012 Page 1 of 4 bbclearningenglish.com 

 Jennifer: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Jennifer and with me today is Rob. 

Rob: Hello there. 

Jennifer: Now, Rob, are you a fan of roast chicken? 

Rob: Definitely. There’s nothing better than a lovely roast chicken on a Sunday, with all the trimmings, of course! 

Jennifer: Indeed. The trimmings are the foods that accompany the chicken. Here in the UK, people traditionally eat roast potatoes and vegetables with their chicken, as well as stuffing. 

Rob: Stuffing is a mixture of breadcrumbs and herbs which is stuffed, or pushed, inside the roast chicken. And it is delicious! 

Jennifer: Well, you might be surprised to learn that today’s story is about stuffing roast chickens with something rather different… But first, a quiz question, I think! 

Rob: It wouldn’t be 6 Minute English without a quiz question, would it? 

Jennifer: Here goes. The chicken is thought to be the closest living relative to an extinct species - that’s a species which no longer exists, or has died out. Now, which species is it? 

a) The dodo 

b) The tyrannosaurus rex 

c) The pterodactyl 

Rob: Well I’m going to say the dodo, because it looks a bit like a chicken. 

Jennifer: As usual, we’ll find out if you’re right at the end of the programme. Let’s return to our story now, which is all about a failed attempt at drug smuggling² in Nigeria. 

Rob: Hang on! I thought you said today’s programme was about stuffing roast chickens? 

Jennifer: It is. Our story is about a Nigerian man, living in Brazil, who was struggling to earn a decent living. 

Rob: So, in other words, he didn’t earn a lot of money. 

Jennifer: The man had been working as a mechanic in Brazil, but decided³ he could earn more money if he smuggled⁵ drugs to sell back in his native country of Nigeria. 

Rob: If you smuggle⁴ goods in or out of a country, you bring them in without the authorities’ knowledge. Drug smuggling is, of course, illegal. 

Jennifer: Let’s listen to the first part of a report by BBC correspondent Leana Hosea. How did the mechanic try to smuggle drugs into Nigeria? 

Insert 

A Nigerian mechanic has been caught by the Drug Enforcement Agency in Lagos airport, Nigeria, attempting to smuggle $150,000 worth of cocaine in roast chickens. Investigators⁶ say they found over 2.5kg of the unusual stuffing, wrapped up in tin foil, egg-shaped packages. 

Rob: So that’s where the roast chickens come in. The mechanic tried to conceal⁷, or hide, the cocaine inside the chickens. 

Jennifer: He was very inventive, or creative, as he hid the drugs in egg-shaped 

packages. 

Rob: It’s certainly risky⁸, though. So why did he try to bring $150,000 worth of drugs into Nigeria? 

Jennifer: Well, it seems he had a plan for the money. Here’s the second part of Leana Hosea’s report: listen out for what he planned to do with the money. 

Insert 

They called it a remarkable⁹ seizure¹⁰, saying they never expected to find thousands of dollars’ worth of drugs in roast chickens. The suspect had flown in from Brazil, where he had been allegedly struggling to make a decent living for years. A spokesman for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says this was the suspect's retirement¹¹ plan, and he had been hoping to start a business with the drug sales. 

Rob: The money was part of the man’s retirement plan. A retirement plan is something you arrange to do when you retire, or stop working. It often involves saving lots of money. 

Jennifer: He wanted to start a business, but the drugs were seized, or taken, by authorities before he got the chance. 

Rob: We also heard in the report that the seizure of the drugs was remarkable, or unusual, because the authorities didn’t expect so many drugs to be hidden. 

Jennifer: Smugglers are using increasingly imaginative ways to conceal their drugs. 

Rob: Recently the Nigerian authorities have found drugs hidden in the lining¹² of suitcases, in wigs¹³ and even in a doctor’s stethoscope! 

Jennifer: Let’s listen to the final part of the report now. What are the Nigerian authorities using to help spot the drug carriers? 

Insert 

Nigeria is a major transit¹⁴ point for drugs, but the authorities have made efforts to improve security after a Nigerian man was discovered on a plane to Detroit, attempting to explode a bomb in his underpants three years ago. The Nigerian authorities say airport body scanners have helped identify more than one hundred drug carriers last year. 

Rob: The authorities have used body scanners to help spot the drug smugglers. Body scanners are machines which can detect whether you are carrying any illegal substances. 

Jennifer: It’s really an ongoing¹⁵ battle, but they are trying to improve security, particularly at airports. 

Rob: Thankfully the drugs hidden inside the chickens did not make it into the country this time. 

Jennifer: Indeed. Now, speaking of chickens, we need to wrap up the quiz before the end of the programme. The chicken is the closest relative to an extinct species. Is it: 

a) The dodo 

b) The Tyrannosaurus Rex 

c) The Pterodactyl 

Rob: I said the dodo - am I right? 

Jennifer: You were actually wrong I’m afraid, but good reasoning! The chicken is actually the closest living relative of the gigantic and terrifying dinosaur¹⁶, the tyrannosaurus rex! 

Rob: I’ll never look at a chicken, or eat a chicken, in the same way again! 

Jennifer: We’ve just got time to recap some of the vocabulary we’ve heard in today’s programme. 

Rob: The words we heard were: 

stuffing 

extinct 

smuggle 

conceal 

inventive 

retirement plan 

seized 

remarkable 

Jennifer: Join us again for more 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com. Bye for now! 

Vocabulary and definitions stuffing savoury mixture of herbs and breadcrumbs, traditionally served with roast meat 

extinct no longer in existence 

smuggle bring something into a country without declaring it 

conceal hide 

inventive creative 

retirement plan arrangements you make for after you stop working (often financial) 

seized taken 

remarkable unexpected, unusual 

1 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

2 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

5 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

8 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

9 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

10 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

11 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

12 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

13 wigs   

n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say that wigs will be coming in again this year. 据说今年又要流行戴假发了。 来自辞典例句
• Frank, we needed more wigs than we thought, and we have to do some advertising. 弗兰克，因为我们需要更多的假发，而且我们还要做点广告。 来自电影对白

14 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

15 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

16 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。