墨尔本PTE素材库——Melbourne Cup History

墨尔本PTE素材库——Melbourne Cup History

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这段报道讲解了著名的墨尔本杯赛马比赛的发展历史，是一段非常好的Re-tell Lecture和Summarize Spoken Text材料。大家可以尝试复述一下以下这些问题：

• Melbourne Cup的起源到底是什么？
• 它是怎么发展成一个国家性的活动的呢？

（备注：记住要在40秒内答题完毕哦！不然可就不算分咯~）

简单说来，墨尔本杯的历史可以追溯到一百五十多年前，在当时，马车还是主要的出行方式，就像今天的车展一样，赛马也是最好的展示好马的方式。这就是墨尔本杯最初的起源。而随着墨尔本杯的规模逐渐发展，它也开始变成不仅仅是单纯的赛马，而成为了一个重要的社交和庆祝场合。

澳大利亚语言学院，定期会整理、发布一些非常具有参考意义的PTE Academic素材，整合成墨尔本PTE素材库。由于这些视频/音频的话题种类符合PTE官方所给出的Question Criteria，所以能给各位PTE的考生提供大量有用的练习素材，同时也能帮助大家从不同方面不同领域提升英语能力！如果能够合理的运用这些素材，摘录学习vocabulary和一些native的表达，那么对于听力阅读写作口语这四项的提升帮助都非常大！

【Key Vocabulary】

horse race 赛马比赛

great-great grandmother 曾曾祖母

carriage n. 马车

captivate v. 迷住

enormous adj. 庞大的，巨大的

get around 到处走动

demonstrate v.证明，展示

spring up 出现，涌现

legendary adj. 传奇的

thoroughbred n. 受过严格训练的人，良种动物

Full Transcript

This week is Melbourne Cup week. It’s known as the race that stops the nation. But how did it actually start? To find out, we travel back in time to discover how a simple horse race became one of the most significant events on the Australian sporting calendar. Here’s Carl.

Back in the late 1800s Australia wasn’t even a nation yet. Queen Victoria, our current Queen’s great-great grandmother was the head of state. Most people still got around in horse and carriages and Canberra didn’t even exist yet!

But one famous Australian race did. These are images of an early Melbourne Cup – a race that started way back in 1861. It’s captivated generations. It’s been the birthplace of legends.

CALLER: Phar Lap simply played with them!

And it’s even appeared in movies!

CALLER: What a race, what a race!

But how exactly did a horse race become such an important part of Australia’s history?

Well back in the old days horses played an enormous role in Australian life. They were the main way to get around and helped with lots of hard work. Just like selling a top car today there was a lot of money to be made back then selling top horses. And what better way to demonstrate that your horses are the best than with a race.

Races started springing up across the country including one called the Melbourne Cup. The first time it was held, 154 years ago, a crowd of about 4000 people watched on. The winner of that race was Archer who won his owner a hand-beaten gold watch and 710 gold sovereigns which would be worth tens of thousands of dollars today!

But the Melbourne Cup wasn’t just about money. As racing grew in popularity some of the best horses like the legendary Phar Lap captured the imagination of Australians.

PIKE: This is not a disguise to dodge the gunman, it’s just Phar Lap in his exercise clothing.

The thoroughbred became a hero to many Australians winning 37 of his 51 races and even starring in films!

Over time the Melbourne Cup has grown and grown. And as the sport grew so did the amount of prize money! The winner of the Cup now takes home more than three and a half million dollars!

But events like the Melbourne Cup have come to be about more than just the horses. Many have come to treat race days as important social events. And like any big party, fashion became a big element here too. The Melbourne Cup became such an important event that Melbourne Cup Day became a public holiday in Victoria!

Now more than 100,000 people flock to the Flemington Racecourse to celebrate each year and about 650 million people worldwide tune in to watch it!

But the race that stops the nation started all those years ago as a competition between some of the fastest horses around. A display of strength power and skill. And down on the track that’s what the Melbourne Cup still is.

(Source: http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s4340750.htm)