English Lounge
We have selected one programme for each day of the coming week from TVB Pearl or ATV World. Enjoy the shows and learn English at the same time. We also recommend the daily news report (7.30-8pm, on both channels) which has English subtitles, helping you to follow the news script and improve your pronunciation, listening skills and spelling.
February 18: The World of Exploration - The Sustainable City (ATV World, 9-10pm)
Growing urbanisation combined with diminishing ( ) natural resources cast doubts on the way we build. City planners and architects are looking for innovative () solutions in designing cities, public spaces or private houses.
Focusing on key projects and interviews with prestigious architects (Norman Foster and Will Alsop in Britain, Francois Tirot and Laurent-Marc Fisher in France, Werner Sobek in Germany and Stefan Benish in Holland), the programme proposes an overview of ecological architecture in Europe.
February 19: Mr Bean: Back To School (ATV World, 8.30-9pm)
Mr Bean oversleeps. He has to get dressed and drive to the dentist . Fortunately some ingenious ( ) driving gets him to his dentist's appointment on time. But the dentist ends up wishing he had not arrived.
On the way to a park to have a picnic, he passes a young boy who is having trouble with the remote control ( ) of a small boat on the lake. Mr Bean offers to fix ( ) it and twiddles ( ) the controls with his screwdriver ( ). He accidentally tunes the remote into the same wavelength of an old man's wheelchair. Mr Bean wanders off happily, totally unaware of the turmoil ( ) he has left behind.
He spends the afternoon in a park and shares his picnic with an unwelcome guest - a wasp ( ).
February 20: Hip World: Ireland I (ATV World, 8-8.30pm)
This time Mona arrives in the green and bright Ireland. From the magnificent () hotel located in the countryside of Arthurstown, she decides to attend a riding lesson and a golf lesson before taking a look at the beautiful villages of Dunmore East and Tramore well-known for their cliffs and beaches.
The following day she travels to Waterford accompanied () by Jack, a fun Irish guide. After visiting the Waterford Treasure Museum and the famous Waterford Crystal factory, she ends her day playing and singing Celtic music in a trendy pub.
February 21: 2005 NBA All Star Game (ATV World, 8-10pm)
The NBA is the most prestigious basketball competition in America and perhaps the world. In the coming NBA 2004-05 season, a new team, Charlotte Bobcats, will join the game. In other words, 30 basketball teams, including last year's champions the Detroit Pistons, the LA Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and the New Jersey Nets, will compete head-to-head with each other for the championship.
Talented players like Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and Yao Ming are most appealing to audiences. Their amazing skills will surely add colour to the coming NBA.
February 22: The World of Nature - Bat Women of Panama (ATV World, 9-10pm)
Biologists are puzzled ( ) by a 240-hectare patch of forest in Panama where 72 species of bats co-exist - more than in the whole of Europe or the United States. So many species competing - and thriving - in such a small area is extraordinary, they say.
Scientist Elisabeth Kalko has spent more than 10 years working in the dark on Barro Colorado Island. She has gathered a group of the world's most adventurous ( ) scientists: the Bat Women of Panama. They live and work at the Smithsonian research station at Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal, determined in their quest ( ) to solve this bat mystery.
February 23: Jet Set - World's Best . . . Fast Food Stops (TVB Pearl, 8.30-9.30pm)
Americans spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers or new cars.
While most people think of fast food as the low-end of the food chain, the programme has found some of the most unusual, sometimes outrageous, and even high-end, fast food spots on Earth.
The programme uncovers the secrets behind these one-of-a-kind food joints, from the biggest fast-food restaurant in the world to one where you eat a burger in a tuxedo ( ).
February 24: Man's Heritage: Jungle - Canopy (TVB Pearl, 8-9pm)
This high frontier is one of the least-known and least-seen habitats on Earth, but it has the greatest concentration of life on the planet. In the jungles of Borneo, where the trees are tallest, Charlotte's quest is to find out what it's like to live 60 metres above the ground in a complex three-dimensional world where one slip could be fatal. For most of us who are used to walking on solid ground, it's an incredibly difficult place to explore.
By using various kinds of equipment, Charlotte climbs up into this remarkable but precarious
( ) world to reveal why it's such a special place. Using ropes, platforms, balloons, cranes, gondolas, inflatable rafts and raw climbing skills, she searches for spectacular concentrations of wildlife and finds out why the jungle canopy is the most diverse part of the most varied ecosystem on Earth.