英語播客 A Cup of English Travelling Sculptures.

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For a few years, the city of Wenatchee has been introducing sculptures to the towns people. Every now and then, as I am walking along, I will see a new one. Some of them have been bought by the local council, but others are on loan; they will be in our town for a few months, and then go to another town for a while. It is a great idea. It is also something that is quite unexpected. As you are driving along, or walking through a park, you can randomly see very unusual and often beautiful sculptures. The most recent one that I noticed in a local park is a humming bird. It is appropriate for this area as we have lots of those birds in the summer months. If you have enough of the right kinds of flowers and bushes, you will certainly have a tiny, winged visitor come into your garden. I have a butterfly bush which gets big every year. They love it. If you are very still and quiet, you can sit and watch this little, beautiful creature dart from one flower to another. Its wings beat so fast that you can't even see them. It is like a visit from a fairy; it's quite magical.

Grammar notes.

Verbs in present and past continuous:

Exs:

They have been introducing art into the community.

She is wanting to find a second hand car; new ones are too expensive.

I (had been) was hoping to find a job immediately, but it took longer.

Advanced.

The other day, I went for a walk in the local park called Walla Walla. An interesting name, isn't it? It is actually the name of a town that is somewhere in this state, but quite far from here. It sounds as if it might be a native american indian name. Wenatchee is one of those names. Before settlers came this far west, there was a tribe of native american indians called the Wenatchi tribe. They lived nearby this desert valley, surviving on fish and mountain animals, such as deer, and smaller mamals. The Columbia river provided their water needs. Infact, the name Wenatchi means 'River that comes from canyons.' When the settlers came here, the indians were unfortunately dispersed, and, I believe, their tribe no longer exists. However, all over this state, you can find special land reserves for the tribes that still exist. There are also many museums, statues, and relics dedicated to the many different indian tribes of this state. In the nearby town of Cashmere, there is a museum with bone tools that are eleven thousand years old, showing that natives or nomadic tribes spent time here during the last ice age. There is another city, about an hour and a half away, that has a very native sounding name: Yakima. I think the original name had an accent, or an emphasis on the 'i', so the original word sounds like Yakima. It's fascinating what a name can reveal, isn't it?

Grammar notes.

Useful vocabulary: settlers, tribe, native, to disperse, reserve, nearby.

Exs:

Many of the European settlers didn't know how to survive. They had to rely on help from the indians.

Their family is so big, it looks like a tribe.

She is a native of Norway.

The seeds of the plant disperse and become new plants quickly.

Just down the road from us is a nature reserve.

We don't have Italian restaurants in this town; there are two, though, in a nearby town.