BBC Learning English

Video Words in the News

26 June 2013

Tightrope walker
Transcript:
450 metres above a gorge near the Grand Canyon.
With no safety harness, American acrobat Nik Wallenda walks the tightrope.
Wind made the cable sway during the 22 nail-biting minutes it took him to
cross.
But towards the end he felt confident enough to kneel and blow a kiss to fans
waiting on the other side.
Vocabulary:
gorge
a deep, narrow valley
safety harness
a system of belts to hold a person and stop them falling
walks the tightrope
walks along a 'tightrope': a rope or wire fixed high above the ground.
(this phrase also appears as the idiom 'to walk a tightrope', which means to deal
with a difficult situation where a small mistake could have bad results)
nail-biting
tense
blow a kiss
kiss your hand and blow it in the direction of someone

Watch the video online:

Tightrope walker http://bbc.in/1aMXWkp

Video Words in the News

British Broadcasting Corporation 2013

Page 1 of 3
bbclearningenglish.com

Exercise:
Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from
news reports.
Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence
correctly.
gorge / safety harness / walks the tightrope / nail-biting / blow a kiss

1.

The _________ was steep and dangerous with a river flowing through it.

2.

One of the athletes who did rise to the occasion was Lachie Stewart. In a
_________ race Stewart swept aside the clear favourite, Australian Ron
Clarke, to take a stunning gold in the 10,000 metres.

3.

"I love you Whitney," he said while __________ towards the sky.

4.

Spider-Man double Christopher Tierney, who fell 30 feet on Monday, is due

out of hospital this weekend.
Despite wearing a ___________, video of the incident showed him falling
from a ledge into a stage pit.

5.

This summer, Wallenda is set to become the first person in more than a
century to ___________ over Niagara Falls, after being granted rare
permission.

Video Words in the News

British Broadcasting Corporation 2013

Page 2 of 3
bbclearningenglish.com

Answers:

1.

The gorge was steep and dangerous with a river flowing through it.
Source: Last hero of Telemark: The man who helped stop Hitler's A-bomb
http://bbc.in/17zMWI4

2.

One of the athletes who did rise to the occasion was Lachie Stewart. In a
nail-biting race Stewart swept aside the clear favourite, Australian Ron
Clarke, to take a stunning gold in the 10,000 metres.
Source: The good and bad of Commonwealth Games
http://bbc.in/10i8tzz

3.

"I love you Whitney," he said while blowing a kiss towards the sky.
Source: Newsbeat's guide to Bobby Brown
http://bbc.in/14oq9J5

4.

Spider-Man double Christopher Tierney, who fell 30 feet on Monday, is due

out of hospital this weekend.
Despite wearing a safety harness, video of the incident showed him falling
from a ledge into a stage pit.
Source: Spider-Man musical re-opens to standing ovation
http://bbc.in/1aaqBRJ

5.

This summer, Wallenda is set to become the first person in more than a
century to walk a tightrope over Niagara Falls, after being granted rare
permission.
Source: Wallenda stumbles on Baltimore Inner Harbour highwire walk
http://bbc.in/17axzm2

Video Words in the News

British Broadcasting Corporation 2013

Page 3 of 3
bbclearningenglish.com