| | | Words
in the News |
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INTRO | | The
death of the Syrian President Hafez al- Assad has been marked by open displays
of grief in the streets of Damascus. |
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IN
FULL | |
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Listen
to BBC correspondents Jim Muir, Frank Gardner and Barbara Flett |
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15th
June 2000
Death of President Hafez al Assad
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| NEWS
1 | | |
Listen
to Jim Muir |
| | | Until
late into the night, thousands of mourners in trucks and cars draped
in black had driven through the streets, chanting slogans lamenting
the departure of their leader and hailing his son, Bashar, as the man who
will take on his legacy and carry it forward. |
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WORDS | |
mourners:
a person who attends a funeral draped:
if something is draped with a piece of cloth it is covered by it; in
this case draped in black - the colour associated with death slogans:
short, easily remembered phrases often used by crowds of shouting people lamenting:
if you lament something, you express your sadness or regret about it |
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| NEWS
2 | | |
Listen
to Frank Gardner |
| | | The
funeral cortege bearing the body of the late President Hafez al-Assad
has made its final journey through the streets of Damascus. Thousands gathered
in the city’s central square to bid farewell to the man who has ruled their
country for thirty years. From there, the coffin was taken to the presidential
palace, where Arab leaders and senior world figures took turns to pay their
respects. |
| WORDS | |
funeral cortege:
a cortege is a procession of people who are walking or riding in cars to a
funeral late:
you use late when you are talking about someone who is dead bid
farewell: an old-fashioned phrase meaning, "to say goodbye" pay
their respects:
spending a quiet
moment in the presence of the deceased person to honour their memory |
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| NEWS
3 | | |
Listen
to Barbara Flett |
| | | The
anticipation here is steadily building. The crowd has seen the plane in
the distance that is carrying the president’s body, which has already landed nearby.
People are straining eagerly to catch their first glimpse of the
coffin; they’ve been waiting all day in the baking hot sun; standing in
orderly groups and chanting slogans non stop near the village’s main mosque. One
young man marched around the area with a bloodied chest, apparently cut
in a show of excessive emotion. |
| WORDS | |
anticipation:
if you anticipate
an event, you realise in advance that it will happen and you are prepared for
it
straining:
if you strain to
do something you make a great effort to do it glimpse:
if you glimpse something, you see it very briefly and not very well baking
hot sun: very hot (you bake food in an oven) bloodied:
covered
in blood excessive
emotion: too much feeling |
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