Passengers on a catamaran cruise along the river Thames

I think a trip on the river is absolutely essential for any visitor to London especially if you're interested in learning more about the language and the culture.

Lily: That's Ian Fyfe, marketing director of Bateaux London, talking to us on a catamaran cruiser on the Thames. I'm Lily.

Sun Chen: 嘿，你好吗？我是孙晨。今天让我们来乘坐着那种大型游船，来畅游泰晤士河。catamaran cruise.

Lily: If you look at the postcard from London, you will notice that a lot of the main attractions in the capital city are along the river.

Sun Chen: That's true. 伦敦泰晤士河的两岸，到处都是拥有悠久历史的名胜古迹，和英国著 名的标志性建筑。

Lily: Ian Fyfe is the director of marketing and sales with the catamaran cruisers company Bateaux London:

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The advantage with catamaran cruisers is that our boats are glass-crowned so you get absolutely the best views whatever the weather may be and with London being built around the river the best way to explore and to see the main attractions of London is to come down and take a trip on the Thames. And catamaran cruises is a specialist since 1969 in taking visitors through London on the Thames on beautifully glass-crowned boats.

Lily: The advantage is that all the boats are glass-crowned.

Sun Chen: 这种游览泰晤士河的好处就是，所有的船都是玻璃顶 Advantage; glass-crowned.

Lily: These beautifully glass-crowned boats will give you the best views whatever the weather may be.

Sun Chen: Whatever 用在这儿，是为了重读。意思就是甭管外面天气怎么样。

Lily: So what are the famous landmark buildings you can see from the boat? Here is Ian again:

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We cover the main interesting area of London which is the most historic area, so on our river boats you will see for example the Houses of Parliament with the very famous tower containing Big Ben as well as of course one of London's newest attractions which is the London Eye, which is the wheel that we have here in London. And then as we go down the Thames we pass other historic sites including St Paul's cathedral and the re-made Shakespeare's globe theatre which was built exactly as they did in the 1500s. And then down to the world famous Tower of London and of course Tower Bridge, the very famous Bridge in London that opens to let the tall ships through.

Sun Chen: 在游览船上能看到的著名景观可真不少！

Lily： Yes. The Houses of Parliament

Sun Chen: 议会大厦

Lily: Big Ben

Sun Chen: 大笨钟

Lily: The London Eye or the wheel

Sun Chen: 伦敦眼也叫摩天轮

Lily: St Paul's Cathedral

Sun Chen: 圣保罗大教堂

Lily: The re-made Shakespeare’s Globe theatre

Sun Chen: 重建的莎士比亚环球剧场

Lily: The famous Tower of London

Sun Chen: (著名的)伦敦塔

Lily: Tower Bridge the bridge that opens to let the tall ships through

Sun Chen: 就是一开一合,能让大船通过的塔桥

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And you can take a lot of photos can you?

Absolutely, absolutely. One of the loveliest things about the river is of course is that the attractions are built around the river so once you're on the river travelling through London you get beautiful views of the buildings and you have lots and lots of opportunities to stand and have your photograph taken as you pass them by. So you can get a very unique angle of you, for example, standing in front of the tower of London which just wouldn't be possible from the land or perhaps as you go underneath one of London's many historic bridges, you can get a photograph of yourself and then there are the beautiful cityscapes across St Paul's or perhaps looking at the Tate Modern. We, also on the boats, we do also have souvenir photographers on board, it's so popular that we actually provide photographers on board to help people.

Lily: You get a unique angle taking photographs that just wouldn't be possible from the land.

Sun Chen: A unique angle 独特的角度.

Lily: I would like to draw your attention to the use of prepositions in this clip as they can be difficult for Chinese learners of English. Let's look at them one by one:

Sun Chen: 在什么之上

Lily: On the river

Sun Chen: 在河上; through

Lily: Travelling through London.

Sun Chen: 贯穿伦敦; in front of

Lily: In front of the tower of London

Sun Chen: 在伦敦塔前; underneath

Lily: Underneath one of the bridges.

Sun Chen: 在大桥下面; in front of

Lily: In front of the Tower of London

Sun Chen: 在伦敦塔前; across

Lily: The cityscapes across St Paul's

Sun Chen: 从圣保罗大教堂看到的城市风光，那Lily, 你觉得这种游览伦敦的方式感觉好吗？

Lily: It's fabulous and most enjoyable! Ian said that he would recommend it to every visitor to London especially if you are interested in the English language.

Sun Chen: We will leave you with this clip from Ian and see you next time.

Lily: See ya.

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I think a trip on the river is absolutely essential for any visitor to London especially if you're interested in learning more about the language and the culture. On our river cruises we have our captains offering a commentary in English and they will fill you in on lots of very interesting pieces of information that you wouldn't realise about the history of London and the history of some of her buildings.