Practice English Listening B1+ Exercises – Sites and sights

A

1 the West Door   2 the Dome   3 the South Transept

4 the South Quire Aisle   5 the Whispering Gallery

6 the Crypt

G = guide

G   Good afternoon, everybody, everyone, and welcome to St Paul’s, which, as you probably know, is one of the most famous and most historic cathedrals in Britain.

***

1

G   Just behind you is the Great West Door, you can see the Great West Door. The magnificent doors are nine metres tall. And now in front of you, you see the Nave, which gives you the most wonderful view of the full length of St Paul’s Cathedral.

***

2

G   We’re now in the centre of the cathedral. Look up above you, and you can see inside the wonderful Dome. It’s one of the largest domes in the world, and I personally think the most beautiful.

***

3

G   We are now in the area called the South Transept. Over there, you can see the monument to Britain’s great naval hero Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in eighteen oh five.

***

4

G   We’re now in the South Quire Aisle, and we’re just going to stop for a moment to look at this marble statue of John Donne.

***

5

G   Now, are you all feeling energetic? I hope so because we’re going to go up these stairs here, to the Whispering Gallery, which goes around the inside of the great Dome, and I do need to tell you that there are two hundred and fifty-seven steps…

***

6

G   We’re now going to go back along the Nave, and then down into the Crypt to see some of the tombs of famous people who are buried in St Paul’s.

B

1 1066   2 Fire   3 London   4 cathedral   5 Christopher

6 nine   7 Queen   8 full length

Part 1

G = guide, T = tourist

G   Good afternoon, everybody, everyone, and welcome to St Paul’s, which, as you probably know, is one of the most famous and most historic cathedrals in Britain. The previous church on this site burned down in sixteen sixty-six, in the Great Fire of London, and the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren was asked to design a new cathedral. It took nearly forty years to build and was completed in seventeen ten.

Just behind you is the Great West Door, you can see the Great West Door. The magnificent doors are nine metres tall.

T   Ha dicho nueve metros?

G   They’re normally closed, except when someone very special arrives, for example, Her Majesty the Queen.

And now in front of you, you see the Nave, which gives you the most wonderful view of the full length of St Paul’s Cathedral.

T   Wie schoen.

G   Maybe some of you watched Prince Charles and Princess Diana walk down the Nave when they married here in nineteen eighty-one.

OK, now please follow me. We’re going to walk down the Nave, and you´ll see the North and South aisle on either side…

C

The Dome

• the cross: In 1710, Christopher Wren was lifted up in a basket to watch his son place the cross on top of the Dome.
• the height of the dome: From the top of the Dome to the floor is exactly 365 feet, one foot for every day of the year.
• something that was true until the 1960s: St Paul’s was the tallest building in London until the 1960s because until that time, nobody was allowed to build anything taller near St Paul’s.

The South Transept

• Horatio Nelson: There’s a monument to Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805; he’s the one on top of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square.

The South Quire Aisle

• the statue of John Donne: Donne was a Dean of the Cathedral and a famous poet – he died in 1631. The statue is one of the few monuments which survived the Great Fire of London, and it has burn marks on it.

The Whispering Gallery

• the number of steps you have to climb: There are 257 steps.
• the reason the gallery gets its name: If you talk very quietly on one side, your voice can be heard very clearly on the other side.

The Crypt

• the famous people in the tombs: Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Christopher Wren
• the Latin words on Wren’s tomb: The words on Wren’s tomb say, ‘Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.’ Because the whole of St Paul’s is Wren’s monument.

Part 2

G   Right. Can we just stop here? Could we stop here? We’re now in the centre of the cathedral. Look up above you, and you can see inside the wonderful Dome. It’s one of the largest domes in the world, and I personally think the most beautiful. Now, you remember the outside of the Dome, which you saw when you arrived. Can anyone tell me what was on top of the Dome?

T   A cross?

G   Yeah, that’s right, a cross. In seventeen ten, the year the cathedral was finally completed, Christopher Wren was eighty-one years old, and he was lifted up in a basket and was able to watch his own son place the cross on the top of the Dome. Another thing about, fascinating thing about the Dome is that from the top of the Dome to the floor, down where you’re standing, is exactly three hundred and sixty-five feet, one foot for every day of the year.

T   How much is that in metres?

G   Approximately one-one-one, a hundred and eleven metres. In fact, St Paul’s was the tallest building in London right up until the nineteen sixties because until that time, no one was allowed to build anything taller near St Paul’s. We’re going to move on shortly, but just spend a few minutes now looking at the magnificent paintings.

***

G   We are now in the area called the South Transept. Over there, you can see the monument to Britain’s great naval hero Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in eighteen oh five.

T   C’est lui qui est sur…

G   Yes, yeah, he’s the one on top of the Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square.

***

G   We’re now in the South Quire Aisle, and we’re just going to stop for a moment to look at this marble statue of John Donne. Donne was a Dean of the Cathedral and one of Britain’s finest poets – he died in sixteen thirty-one. But this statue is also important because it’s one of the few monuments that survived the Great Fire of London. And you can still see the burn marks at the bottom of the statue there…

***

G   Now, are you all feeling energetic? I hope so because we’re going to go up these stairs here, to the Whispering Gallery, which goes around the inside of the great Dome, and I do need to tell you that there are two hundred and fifty-seven steps…

T   Yo no voy, yo no voy…

G   …so if there are any of you who don’t think you can manage it, just wait for us here.

***

G   So, that wasn’t too bad, was it? We’re now in the Whispering Gallery. The gallery gets its name because if you whisper – talk very quietly – on one side, your voice can be heard very clearly on the other side. When there are a lot of tourists, it doesn’t always work, but as there aren’t so many of us today, why don’t you try it…?

***

G   So, did any of you try out the whispering? We’re now going to go back along the Nave, and then down into the Crypt to see some of the tombs of famous people who are buried in St Paul’s.

***

G   Right, now the tomb over there is Lord Nelson’s – you remember you saw his monument earlier – and then here we have the tomb of the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. And finally, this tomb here belongs to the great man himself, Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St Paul’s. It’s just a simple stone monument, but can you see the Latin words on it? Anyone speak Latin here? No? Well, I’ll translate it for you. It says, ‘Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.’ Because of course, the whole of St Paul’s is really Wren’s monument.