Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.
My name is Marco.
My name is Catherine and today, Marco, we're talking about some very special places, right?
That's right.
Today we're going to talk about the famous list of the seven wonders of the world.
So you've probably heard about this before.
We're not going to tell you what this means quite yet.
Take a listen to today's dialogue and when we come back we'll talk a little bit more about what these wonders are and where they are.
Have you seen this news article?
Apparently an organization has made a list to name the new seven wonders of the world and people could vote for them online.
Wow, that's really interesting.
So who won?
Well, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal in India.
I've been there.
It really is an amazing work of architecture and art.
The entire complex is made of white marble and in the interior of the tomb the walls are covered with gems and emeralds.
Cool.
Also amongst the winners is Petra in Jordan, Machu Picchu in Peru and the pyramid in Chichen Itza in Mexico.
Wait a minute.
It also says that the Christ Redeemer statue in Brazil and the Colosseum in Rome are wonders.
I would love to go to Italy and see the Colosseum.
Stay in the middle like a gladiator.
Well, let's see if we can find some cheap airfare and we can go towards the end of the year.
Good idea.
Alright, we're back.
So let's talk about these very interesting places all over the world now on Language Takeaway.
Language Takeaway.
So the set phrase for this, Marco, is the seven wonders of the world.
Now the key here is the word wonder.
What is a wonder?
Right, a wonder is something very amazing, incredible.
It's something that's beyond your imagination almost.
That's right.
You can't even imagine how man or how someone created it.
And so wonderful is a similar word that's an adjective, something that's just great, fantastic is wonderful.
A wonder is something very, very special and here we have seven of them.
That's right.
So it's a list basically that you can see even online about these wonders all over the world and they're so special because they are amazing works of art and architecture.
And starting off with one of the most famous ones is in China.
It's the Great Wall of China.
I think what's special about this I've heard is that when astronauts are in space it's so long and so distinct they can actually see the Great Wall.
Yeah that's what I've heard as well.
It's a very long wall, thousands of kilometers long.
That's right and it goes east to west all across the northern border of China.
That's right.
So it's a very big wall and what's interesting about it is that it was built such a long time ago and that the techniques used to make it were very special.
That's right and sometimes you might hear us talk about the Great Wall instead of the Great Wall of China and so that's just a hint.
It's easy to say Great Wall.
You can say them both ways though.
Exactly.
Now moving west towards India we have another very amazing work of architecture.
It's called the Taj Mahal.
Now the Taj Mahal is in north India in a city called Agra and it's very special because it's massive.
It's very big and it's all white marble.
That's right.
And it's interesting because this place, the Taj Mahal, is not really a temple.
It was actually a tomb.
Alright now that's an interesting word to look at.
A tomb is a place where we bury someone.
After someone dies, maybe if you have a lot of money or are very rich you want to put that body in a very special sacred place and that's called a tomb.
That's right.
So this is actually what the Taj Mahal is.
Now we saw in the dialogue that the entire complex of the Taj Mahal is made of white marble.
So when we talk about the entire complex, what do we mean?
Well complex here is a noun.
You might have heard it in other situations where it's an adjective.
It means something different.
But here a complex means many buildings together.
So you can say the Taj Mahal is one building.
But the Taj Mahal complex maybe has four or five buildings together.
So a side temple and a gatehouse.
And so we say a complex is a grouping of buildings.
That's right.
Very good.
So now let's move on.
Let's take a look at Language Takeaway Part 2 and let's continue talking about these wonders of the world.
Now the top of our list in Language Takeaway Part 2 is actually a place I would love to go to.
So this is where we've been there.
It's in Jordan which is a country in the Middle East and it's called Petra.
Petra, that's right.
This is actually a city but it's also known as the lost city of Petra, right?
That's right.
And what's unique about this city is that the city is built.
It's carved out of stone in this cliff.
So it's not just pieces of stone put together.
It's actually inside the rocks.
Exactly.
So it's very famous.
You've probably seen it in movies like Indiana Jones.
There's a big part of the scenes that go on inside Petra.
Very special place and again very unique.
Now the next site is actually very far away in South America and again it's ancient and very intricate.
It's called Machu Picchu.
That's right.
So this is in one of those very old cities that are actually in ruins now.
And the interesting thing about it is that it's very high up in a little mountain.
And those mountains there, those are the Andes, right?
That's right.
So Machu Picchu, also a very famous place.
Many visitors from all over the world go there as well.
And another main attraction around the world are the pyramids.
So we have some pyramids in Egypt.
I think those are the most well-known ones.
That's right.
The pyramids in Egypt, like the pyramid at Giza, are very big structures.
I mean they're huge and they were built thousands of years ago, but they're still here because they were built so well.
But there are also very famous pyramids like the one we heard about today in the dialogue in Mexico.
That's right.
It's a little bit different though because the pyramids as we, most of us know them, they're very smooth on the sides you would say.
Yeah, you can't climb on them really.
Right.
Well this one in Mexico actually has kind of like steps.
So it's a different type of pyramid, but the shape is very similar.
Alright so the pyramids here are in a place called Chichen Itza.
You might have heard of that.
And we have another place though which is also in South America in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Now this one is actually a statue, right?
That's right.
It's called the Christ Redeemer.
It's a very big statue, very famous.
You've seen it maybe in pictures.
It's a statue of Jesus with his arms open.
Now the word redeemer, okay, a redeemer is a person, someone who does something, who redeems.
What does it mean to be a redeemer?
Well a redeemer is a person that saves souls for example.
So if you redeem yourself, you're redeeming yourself of your sins maybe.
Well yeah, you're taking value back, right?
And so in the case of Jesus, he is taking away the sins of the world and he's redeeming, you know, that's why his arms are out.
He's redeeming all people.
And that's the idea I think behind the Christ Redeemer statue.
So the verb redeem, like you can use it in everyday life if you take a coupon and you redeem it.
That means you, yeah, you collect the value.
You collect the value, right?
So you can use it actually this word in everyday life.
You can.
And moving on now towards Europe, we have the famous Colosseum.
Ooh, now I love this one.
I've actually been there and I know you have too recently.
But this is a circular, like a round stadium.
So it's a place where you play sports.
Well you did.
Yeah, it's from, you know, thousands of years ago, the Roman Empire.
And it's in very good shape I would say.
You can still see it.
Yeah, so it's generally called the Colosseum.
Although a Colosseum as we know it now can also be the same thing, right?
A structure where sports or activities are played.
Basically, yeah, a Colosseum is an old stadium.
But the Colosseum, like you said, is definitely the Colosseum in Rome.
That's right.
You've probably seen movies of ancient Rome where sports or activities were taking place.
Specifically gladiator fights.
So that's our word there, gladiator.
Yeah, that's right.
So a gladiator is actually a person.
And a gladiator was a man who thousands of years ago during the Roman Empire would fight maybe other men or animals.
And he had to fight to stay alive.
So that was his profession basically, to be a gladiator.
So now as you are a boxer, back then you were a gladiator.
Yeah, and there are actually some very famous movies about gladiators, like the movie Gladiator with Russell Crowe.
So it's a pretty common word these days.
That's right.
Okay, so let's take a break.
Let's listen to our dialogue again, and we'll be back in a bit.
Have you seen this news article?
Apparently an organization has made a list to name the new seven wonders of the world, and people could vote for them online.
Wow, that's really interesting.
So who won?
Well, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal in India.
I've been there.
It really is an amazing work of architecture and art.
The entire complex is made of white marble, and in the interior of the tomb, the walls are covered with gems and emeralds.
Cool.
Also amongst the winners is Petra in Jordan, Machu Picchu in Peru, and the pyramid in Chichen Itza in Mexico.
Wait a minute.
It also says that the Christ Redeemer statue in Brazil and the Colosseum in Rome are wonders.
I would love to go to Italy and see the Colosseum, stand in the middle like a gladiator.
Well, let's see if we can find some cheap airfare and we can go towards the end of the year.
Good idea.
All right, so this list that we gave you are actually the new seven wonders of the world.
It was voted online.
People all over the world out of different candidates or different places that were considered to be the new seven wonders of the world.
Among those, some of them that didn't win, for example, was Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Yeah, I never understood that.
I think Angkor Wat is such an amazing place and so big, and it was the heart of this old civilization.
Right.
And instead, we have other things like a statue.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't agree with it as well.
But actually, the Statue of Liberty of the United States was also considered as a candidate for a wonder of the world.
Well, that's right.
America doesn't have any wonders.
You have natural wonders, I think.
The Grand Canyon is considered, I think, one of those natural wonders.
Yes, I think Niagara Falls also, maybe.
But that's an interesting point, though, Marco.
We've got the great wonders of the world and we've got the natural wonders.
What's the difference?
Well, a natural wonder of the world means that it's there naturally.
It's not man-made.
All of these things that we see here, somebody had to make them.
Whereas, for example, the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls, they are there naturally.
It's by nature.
All right, so man-made versus natural or made by nature.
Right.
So it's very interesting because you have, like we said, natural seven wonders of the world.
You have these, the new ones.
You have the ancient world wonders, which none of them exist anymore.
I think only the pyramids.
That's right.
The hanging gardens.
Yeah, the hanging gardens of Babylon and the colossus at Rhodes.
Yeah.
Yeah, those ones are very cool, but not, like you said, not around anymore.
But maybe some of you actually, maybe your countries were considered to host one of these wonders or maybe you voted for some of them.
Yeah, let us know.
What is a wonder where you come from?
Doesn't have to be on this list.
It can be something you think is wonderful.
Let us know.
Our website is EnglishPod.com.
All right, we'll see you guys there.
Bye.
Bye.