英语播客 A Cup of English The Space Needle

This past weekend, I took my children to Seattle to have a break from our home town, and to take in a few of the famous sights. "A change is as good as a rest," is a saying in England which I agree with. Sometimes if you are worn down a little, instead of resting, it is actually good to go and see something new; it is good to be refreshed. So, I booked a hotel that is fairly close to the downtown area of the city. We set off Saturday morning. Travelling over the Cascades was beautiful; mist was all over the forest. We finally made it to the hotel at lunch time. The children wanted to go swimming in the pool at the hotel before doing anything else. So, of course, that's what we did. I know that children are not as enthusiastic about site seeing as adults are; they need lots of physical fun too. When they were good and tired from splashing around, we got ready and headed off to the Space Needle. It is the landmark of Seattle. It was built for the 1962 World's Fair, and has been quite an attraction ever since. It is 605 feet tall, has a restaurant inside that turns 360 defrees every hour, and was built to widthstand winds of up to 200 miles per hour, and earthquakes of up to 9.1 magnitude. A lot of thought went into the building; you could say that it was built to last. We zoomed up in the elevator to the observation deck where you can find lots of binoculars, spotting scopes, and multi-media that talk about the interesting places that you can see from the Needle. And there is a lot to see. Not only is the city all around, but on a clear day, you have spectacular views of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Mount Ranier, Mount Baker, Elliot Bay, and lots more. Unfortunately it was a drizzly day, so we couldn't see the mountains, but there was so much to see that we could have been up there for hours. Well, there was a lot more exploring to do, so we took some photos and headed back down in the elevator. We must return on a clear day to take in the views.

Grammar notes.

Related vocabulary: worn down, to site see, good and ...., to head.

1. That stone step is so old; you can see where it has been worn down with use.

2. We went site seeing; we saw so many historical buildings that I got dizzy!

3. After running a mile, the dogs were good and tired OR

If you wait for Thanksgiving dinner, you will be good and hungry.

4. *Meaning is similar as 'to go'or 'to set off': We headed down the mountain, and they headed off in their boat. OR

They got on the boat and headed out to the island.