【英语听和读】声音的描述

 Callum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is entertainment. In the programme today

I'm going to be looking at sounds and talking about sounds we like.
Sounds and noises are all around us – from the sounds of nature such as the
wind in the trees to man made sounds like traffic. Often we don't notice sounds,
they are just there but we all have sounds we love to hear – like Carrie, what
sound does she like?
Carrie
My really really favourite sound is the sound of waves. I just love the sound of waves
crashing on the beach because it just reminds me of being on holiday, being at the seaside,
relaxing. I just find waves really really relaxing and the sound of crashing waves is just really
soothing 1.
Callum: Carrie likes the sound of waves, she loves the sound of waves crashing on the
beach.
Describing sounds like this is very easy – you can say the phrase 'the sound of'
followed by a noun.
Carrie
the sound of waves, the sound of waves
Callum: Instead of using a single noun, like the word 'waves' you can also use a group
of words together which make what we call a noun phrase. With a single noun 
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you describe the sound of something. With a noun phrase you describe the
sound of something happening, which is usually more descriptive. These
phrases will often use -ing forms of verbs.
Carrie
the sound of waves crashing on the beach, the sound of waves crashing on the beach
Callum: Here now are some other people describing the sounds they like, listen
carefully and you will hear that they use the same structure.
FAVOURITE SOUNDS
I’ve always liked the sound of champagne 2 corks 3 popping and the sound of laughter and also
very recently the sound of my little baby boy cooing I find particularly nice.
A sound that I like is the sound of a cat purring.
My favourite sound at the moment is the sounds coming from my garden. There’s a lot of
birdsong out there and particularly in the mornings I find that a really peaceful and nice and
pleasant way to wake up, birds singing and even children playing out there.
A sound that I really love is the sound of traditional Scottish or Irish music and the thing I
really love is the sound of a really bass 4 drum beating away and you can feel it in your heart.
That’s a sound that I love.
Callum: The sounds we heard described using a noun phrase were: champagne corks
popping, a little baby cooing, a cat purring, birds singing, children playing and
a bass drum beating. Listen again
FAVOURITE SOUNDS REPEAT
I’ve always liked the sound of champagne corks popping and the sound of laughter and also
very recently the sound of my little baby boy cooing I find particularly nice.
A sound that I like is the sound of a cat purring. 
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My favourite sound at the moment is the sounds coming from my garden. There’s a lot of
birdsong out there and particularly in the mornings I find that a really peaceful and nice and
pleasant way to wake up, birds singing and even children playing out there.
A sound that I really love is the sound of traditional Scottish or Irish music and the thing I
really love is the sound of a really bass drum beating away and you can feel it in your heart.
That’s a sound that I love.
Callum: That's all from this edition of entertainment, don't forget to try the quiz on this
topic on the web page where you can also download the script and an audio
version of this programme.