By Duncan Kennedy, Rome

媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Background : 英国的考古学家在一个繁忙的机场跑道附近发掘了一个精美且十分重要的古罗马圆形剧场。由一所英国大学领导的挖掘小组在坡特斯展开了一场前所未有的最大规模的考古挖掘。坡特斯曾是向罗马输送补给的一个古代港口。

It's under the flight path of Rome's modern airport that lies the remains of its ancient seaport, Portus.

A great staging point for goods in and out of Rome and believed to have been twice the size of the port of Southampton.

A team from Southampton and Cambridge Universities working with the British school in Rome are digging out the vast area, but within it what they've found is an even more impressive discovery, an amphitheatre.

They think the vast round structure could have once held up to 2,000 people and was built to entertainVIPs and even emperors as they passed through.

Professor Simon Kay, the project leader said it would have been used for every kind of entertainment.

It makes this one of the most significantarchaeological sites in the world today.

• background [´bækgraund]   n.背景；经历；幕后   (初中英语单词)
• flight [flait]   n.逃走；飞行；班机   (初中英语单词)
• working [´wə:kiŋ]   a.工人的；劳动的   (初中英语单词)
• structure [´strʌktʃə]   n.结构，构造；组织   (初中英语单词)
• entertain [,entə´tein]   vt.招待；娱乐；使高兴   (初中英语单词)
• project [prə´dʒekt, ´prɔdʒekt]   v.设计；投掷 n.计划   (初中英语单词)
• entertainment [,entə´teinmənt]   n.招(款)待；联欢会   (初中英语单词)
• cambridge [´keimbridʒ]   n.剑桥   (高中英语单词)
• impressive [im´presiv]   a.给人深刻印象的   (高中英语单词)
• significant [sig´nifikənt]   a.重要的；意义重大的   (高中英语单词)
• seaport [´si:pɔ:t]   n.海港   (英语六级单词)