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Words
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INTRO
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A
new King has been crowned in Nepal. The second in three days. Elizabeth
Blunt reports: |
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IN
FULL
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Listen
to the report in full |
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4th
June 2001
Nepal
in Crisis
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NEWS
1
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Listen
to the first part of the report |
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The
coronation ceremony inside Kathmandu's old palace was solemn
and dignified. Gyanendra - King Birendra's younger brother
- was installed on a throne modelled on that of the god Vishnu,
with a many-headed golden serpent on the back. But when his carriage
emerged into the streets of Kathmandu, the new King, still wearing
his plumed crown, was jeered and whistled at by the
crowds. Prince Gyanendra - as he then was - managed to escape the
palace massacre because he was out of Katmandu, in Western Nepal,
at the time. But his wife and son were there, and his wife was wounded
in the shooting. His son - Prince Paras - may be one reason for the
new King's unfriendly reception; he has the reputation of being
a drunken playboy, and when a popular musician was killed in
a road accident last year, the Nepalese press carried reports that
Prince Paras - who now becomes Crown Prince - had been at the wheel.
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Listen
to the words |
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WORDS
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coronation
ceremony - a formal event where a King or Queen is crowned
solemn - serious rather than cheerful
dignified
- calm and impressive
a throne - a special chair used by a King or Queen
modelled on - based on or inspired by
plume - a large bird's feather
jeer
- if you jeer at someone you say rude or unfriendly things
unfriendly
reception - the way people react to the King is unfriendly
playboy
- a rich man who spends most of his time enjoying himself
at
the wheel - driving
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| NEWS
2 |
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Listen
to the second part of the report |
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In
a curious twist, this is actually King Gyanendra's second coronation;
he was briefly installed as king once before - as a three year old
boy - when the rest of the royal family fled to India amid threats
of a revolution. But in his adult life he has to some extent
managed to escape the hothouse atmosphere of the royal family,
and build an outside life for himself as a businessman and conservationist.
This greater worldliness may be his best asset as he
attempts to establish himself as the new King of Nepal. |
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Listen
to the words |
| WORDS |
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In
a curious twist - a twist in a story is an unexpected development
to
some extent -
partially, not completely
hothouse
atmosphere - a hothouse is a heated glass building where plants
grow. It is also used to describe a place where there is a lot of
intense intellectual or emotional activity going on
worldliness
- experience of life in the outside world
asset
- something that is useful or helpful to a person
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Read
about the background in BBC News Online |
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