extravaganza, purgatory, steep, price tag

Auckland City Brass Band It was such an awesome existence to watch live and it's still amazing all these years later on video too....Blast! - Gee! Officer KrupkeFrom the stage extravaganza Blast! - Gee! Officer Krupke

NBC shelled out $894 million for the broadcasting rights to the Beijing games, a steep price tag for the 17-day sporting extravaganza, which because of the time difference with the U.S. could be one of the least watched on network TV.

NBC為獲得北京奧運會的轉播權耗資8.94億美元﹐對於為期17天的奧運盛典來說﹐這個價格實在不菲﹐由於中國與美國之間的時差﹐北京奧運會可能會是美國電視直播觀眾最少的一屆奧運會。


In addition, network executives say this will be the biggest production event in television history, surpassing the $125 million the company spent in 2000 on the Sydney Games. NBC says ad time on Olympics is about 80% sold and the company says it expects to bring in more than $1 billion in ad dollars.
除此之外﹐電視台管理人員稱﹐本屆奧運會會是電視史上製作規模最大的賽事﹐超過了2000年悉尼奧運會耗資的1.25億美元。NBC稱﹐奧運會的廣告時間已經賣出去80%左右﹐還表示預計將帶來逾10億美元廣告收入。

Inside Europe | 05.01.2008 | 07:05

Dante's Divine Comedy Comes to Life on Stage

In Rome, a Vatican priest, who’s also a musician, has attempted what no other composer has before: to put into music one of the greatest works of literature in the Western world: Dante’s ”La Divina Comedia” or The Divine Comedy.

The 14th-century poem chronicles one man’s search for love – passing through hell, purgatory and finally heaven, to find it. The Divina Comedia opera extravaganza is currently playing in Rome and is due to tour across Europe this year. Our correspondent in Rome, Megan Williams went back stage and has this report.


Ref. "Super Tuesday".

The NYT紐約時報 leads with a very conversational guide to today's voting extravaganza involving 24 states. It's certainly an unconventional lead story, particularly for the NYT, but, truth be told, there isn't really anything new to say about the much-discussed Super Tuesday (candidates campaigned yesterday!)...

extravaganza
noun [C]a large, exciting and expensive event or entertainment:
a musical/dance extravaganzaa
3-hour extravaganza of country music


ex・trav・a・gan・za
━━ n. 突飛［風変り］な作品, 奇作, 異色編; 絢爛(けんらん)豪華な催し; 狂気じみた言葉［態度］.

Purgatory Show phonetics
noun [U]
the place to which Roman Catholics believe that the spirits of dead people go and suffer for the evil acts that they did while they were alive, before they are able to go to heaven
purgatory：煉獄；煉所：是那些死在天主恩寵中卻仍有些瑕疵的人，補贖罪罰、煉淨罪污的暫時受罰之過程（所），是一種進入天堂過程中被煉淨的體驗。為亡者獻贖罪祭，是為叫他們免除或減輕煉獄的罪罰（加下十二45）。

purgatory Show phonetics
noun [U] HUMOROUS
an extremely unpleasant experience which causes suffering:
I've been on a diet for two weeks now, and it's purgatory!

steep (TOO MUCH)
adjective INFORMAL
(especially of prices) too much, or more than is reasonable:
They are having to face very steep taxes.
We enjoyed our meal at the restaurant, but the bill was a bit steep.
The membership fees at the golf club are pretty steep.

price tag noun [C] (ALSO price ticket)
a piece of paper with a price on which is fixed to a product, or the amount that something costs:
How much is it? - I can't find the price tag.
These suits have designer names and a price ticket to match.