BBC Learning English Words in the News

BBC Learning English Words in the News

Welcome home, gnomes

People either love them or hate them – garden gnomes, those little figurines of men with their pointy, red hats and white beards, with a pipe or a fishing rod, that are used to decorate gardens in some countries. Some people have called the ban on them at the prestigious Chelsea flower show ' snobbery ' – or worse still, gnomo- phobia. The organisers, the Royal Horticultural Society, defend themselves by saying the ban on what they describe as "brightly-coloured, mythical creatures" is in force so as not to distract from the flowers on show. But this year the ban is being lifted. So do people support the move?

(People giving their opinions:)

I don't mind garden gnomes. I think they bring a bit of colour. They bring a bit of amusement. And, you know, there's a place for them in the right type of garden.
I think they're very nice and I'm from Denmark and I think there's a tradition in Denmark. We always have them in our gardens.
I'm all for equality and equal opportunity for everybody including gnomes.

The moratorium is to allow in a group of more than 100 celebrity gnomes, or rather, gnomes decorated by celebrities such as Sir Elton John and Dolly Parton. They will be auctioned to raise money for a charity that helps children get involved in gardening.

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Vocabulary and definitions

figurines	small models of people
fishing rod	a long pole with a line of string and a hook attached to it, used for catching fish
prestigious	highly respected and admired
snobbery	behaviour and attitudes held by snobs (people who think they are better than others)
-phobia	extreme fear of something, often fear of things that people are not usually afraid of (examples: arachnophobia – fear of spiders, claustrophobia – fear of closed spaces)
mythical	not real, existing only in stories (in myths)
in force	(of a law or rule) being applied; happening
lifted	(of a law or rule) stopped, ended
all for	in favour of; agreeing with
moratorium	stopping an activity for an agreed amount of time
auctioned	sold publicly to the person who offers the most money

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04