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Unit 15: From Handel to Hendrix
Relative clauses

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  1. 1 Nice to meet you!
  2. 2 What to wear
  3. 3 Like this, like that
  4. 4 The daily grind
  5. 5 Christmas every day
  6. 6 Great achievers
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  14. 14 New Year, New Project
  15. 15 From Handel to Hendrix
  16. 16 What's the weather like?
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  20. 20 The Cult of Celebrity
  21. 21 Welcome to your new job
  22. 22 Beyond the planets
  23. 23 Great expectations!
  24. 24 Eco-tourism
  25. 25 Moving house
  26. 26 It must be love
  27. 27 Job hunting success... and failure
  28. 28 Speeding into the future
  29. 29 Lost arts
  30. 30 Tales of survival

Session 4

What are your most precious possessions? In the last Session, we heard about two world-famous musicians who moved to the UK and composed some of their greatest music in London. At the museums which honour their life and work, fans can see some of these musical legends’ favourite objects. Now you can hear from us at BBC Learning English, talking about the things that are dear to us. Then we want to hear from you!

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Activity 3

News Report

The Taj Mahal in your living room

Would you like to visit the Taj Mahal, without leaving your home?

In this week's News Report you will hear about new technology, which will soon allow users to take 'virtual tours' of popular landmarks like the Taj Mahal - and you'll also hear some examples of defining relative clauses, with words like 'who', 'which', and 'that'.

To practise your grammar, listen carefully and see if you can hear three examples of defining relative clauses in this News Report. You might need to listen two or three times. Then have a look at the transcript, and see if you were correct.

Listen to the audio

Show transcript Hide transcript

The Taj Mahal is India's most famous and romantic landmark. Soon, people who want to see the Taj Mahal will be able to take a virtual tour, using Google Street View, without leaving their homes.

The Taj Mahal is being mapped digitally using the Trekker, a special camera that creates 360-degree images. These images can make viewers feel that they are walking around the monument or landmark.

Google plans to use the Trekker camera to collect images of all the world's most beloved landmarks. It has already been used to map the Grand Canyon and the world's tallest skyscraper, Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Today, about 80% of holidaymakers research their trips online before booking their holidays. Online virtual tours of hotels and destinations, like the Taj Mahal, are becoming an important way for holiday companies to market their products.

But is it possible for 'virtual holidays' to replace real world holidays completely?

Stuart Hetherington, chief executive of Holovis, a company which specializes in this kind of technology, believes this is possible.

In the future, he says, the walls of our homes could become giant TV screens, giving us extremely vivid 3D experiences. This technology could allow us to take 'virtual vacations', while staying at home.

"But I think virtual vacations are still a long way off," he admits.

We can expect tourists to keep visiting the Taj Mahal for a long time yet.

Download

You can download News Report on our Unit 15 downloads page (size: 4.48MB).

Vocabulary

romantic
(here) beautiful; having a strong effect on your emotions

landmark
a building or a natural feature which is well-known, or easy to see from a distance

virtual
something you can see or experience through a computer

image
picture

monument 
a building, statue or structure which is famous or important

beloved
loved very much

to map 
to make a map of something

skyscraper 
a very tall building

holidaymaker 
someone who is on holiday, or planning a holiday

destination 
a place where someone is going, or where they are planning to go

to market
to advertise and tell people about something, in a way which encourages them to buy it

chief executive
the leader of a company or organisation

specialize
to have a lot of skill or knowledge about something

vivid
very colourful and lifelike 

Related story

This story is based on an original BBC News story.

End of Session 4

We are nearly at the end of this unit! In the next session, it's quiz time!

Session Grammar

View full grammar reference

Session Vocabulary

  • romantic
    (here) beautiful; having a strong effect on your emotions

    landmark
    a building or a natural feature which is well-known, or easy to see from a distance

    virtual
    something you can see or experience through a computer

    image
    picture

    monument 
    a building, statue or structure which is famous or important

    beloved
    loved very much

    to map 
    to make a map of something

    skyscraper 
    a very tall building

    holidaymaker 
    someone who is on holiday, or planning a holiday

    destination 
    a place where someone is going, or where they are planning to go

    to market
    to advertise and tell people about something, in a way which encourages them to buy it

    chief executive
    the leader of a company or organisation

    specialize
    to have a lot of skill or knowledge about something

    vivid
    very colourful and lifelike 

View full vocabulary reference

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