📙 Part 2: Describe a cultural place

This episode's vocabulary

Dock (noun) - an area of water in a port that can be closed off and that is used for putting goods onto and taking them off ships or repairing ships.

Awareness (noun) - knowledge that something exists, or understanding of a situation or subject at the present time based on information or experience.

Motto (noun) - a short sentence or phrase that expresses a belief or purpose.

Mast (noun) - a tall pole on a boat or ship that supports its sails.

Numerous (adj.) - many.

Component (noun) - a part that combines with other parts to form something bigger.

The Industrial Revolution (noun) - the period of time during which work began to be done more by machines in factories than by hand at home.

To dwarf (verb) - to make something seem small by comparison.

Paintwork (noun) - the covering of paint on a surface.

To dock (verb) - if a ship docks, it arrives at a dock and if someone docks a ship, they bring it into a dock.

Core (adj.) - the basic and most important part of something.

Embedded (adj.) - if an emotion, opinion, etc. is embedded in someone or something, it is a very strong or important part of him, her, or it.

Questions and Answers

R: There's this amazing piece of history in my hometown. Well, I say it's in my hometown... It's actually floating next to it in its own special wet dock near the riverbank. So basically, this is like a floating museum. When it comes to how I know about it, I mean, it's a giant early 20th-century sailing ship called the RRS Discovery with this tall mass that just sits in this open space between its own dedicated Museum and the branch of the Victorian Albert in Dundee. It's very hard to miss. You definitely don't see something like that every day, even in a country as steeped in history as the UK. I also went on a few school trips there when I was younger, which helped raise my awareness of it even further, as if I needed any help with that. The ship and its role in history are a key feature of my hometown's identity. Our town motto is actually the city of discovery, which is a fun play on words now that I think about it, in greater detail about the ship or the ship museum itself. It's got these three tall masts, like I said, and it's mostly made of wood, though it also has numerous metal components, since it was built during the Industrial Revolution when metal work was becoming more commonplace. I'm not sure how big it is, but it definitely dwarves your average house, and it has this striking black and white paintwork. So it really stands out. It's docked in Dundee because it was built there, initially, as a trade ship before being sent on an expedition to the Antarctic at the turn of the century. And while on the expedition, she became trapped in ice and was nearly destroyed in the process of escaping. Despite that, she made out and went on to have a long career in shipping, research and the military. I think ultimately she became a museum in the 1980s or the 1990s. And like I said, has become a core part of her identity ever since, apparently, she has had an even wider impact on Western culture, too, since the shuttle Discovery was named after her. I think it's great we have such a cool artefact right here on our doorstep. If we didn't, it's actually quite hard to imagine what my hometown would be like. It's so embedded in everything.

M: And what about your friends? Do they like this place?

R: I've never heard a bad word said about it, to be honest.