ABA Journal The digital English academy
Remember last year when Kate and William got married? Well now they have their own statues at Madame Tussauds. In case your not sure what Madame Tussauds is, it’s a wax museum which makes statues out of historical and royal figures.
It is a very popular tourist attraction in London, although it has also opened in New York and Berlin, amongst others.
Find out about other statues in Madame Tussauds in the following news story.
1. Read the text
2. Understand the vocabulary
3. Watch the video
Text
When you’re a royal couple, it’s hard to be everywhere at once. But if you’re in London, New York or Amsterdam, you’ll have an opportunity to get up close and personal with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, whose wax figures are now on display at Madame Tussauds in all three cities. Liz Edwards of Tussauds in London says each location captures a different moment in time.
– We always try and choose a snapshot in time so for London it was very natural choice for us to choose the engagement photo. That’s when they announced their love to the world and they were going to become man and wife. That was so iconic and London absolutely wanted to recreate that.
For the occasion, the wax house even rounded up the other royals. In New York, Stacy MacGregor said Tussauds chose the couple’s look from the BAFTA “Brits to Watch” Awards in Los Angeles.
– Kate is wearing an Alexander McQueen replica, we have worked directly with the design house. She is also wearing Jimmy Choo shoes and Jimmy Choo clutch as well as the earrings that she’s wearing were replicas of the ones that were donated by the queen for this event.
Each wax figure costs a royal price tag of around 300,000 U.S. dollars or close to 190,000 pounds, taking a team of sculptors and designers four months to create.
Vocabulary
Wax – a hard substance that becomes soft when it is heated and that is used to make various products (such as candles, crayons, or polish).
Display – an arrangement of objects intended to decorate, advertise, entertain, or inform people about something.
Location – a place or position.
Captures – to describe or show (someone or something) in a very accurate way.
Snapshot – a quick view or a small amount of information that tells you a little about what someone or something is like.
Recreate – to make (something from the past) exist or seem to exist again : to create (something) again.
Brits – an informal way of saying “a British person”.
Replica – an exact or very close copy of something.
Clutch – a small bag that women use especially on formal occasions : a small handbag.
Price tag – a piece of paper or plastic that is attached to a product and that has the product’s price written or printed on it.
Video
(To view the video click here)
It’s the first time in my life that I hear the expression “man and wife”. I would say “husband and wife”.
By the way, the wax figures are really genuine representations of the person. Regarding to a famous person you know that it is a wax figure. Visiting Madame Tussaud’s museum in London I asked an old lady who was a spectator like me and who was sitting on a bank if i might sit near her and rest a while . She didn’t even answer my polite question. Then i noticed that she was a wax figure, too.
Hahaha, that’s really funny! Who was she? The wax woman. What a great story.
Yes, we also say “man and wife” in English, I’m glad you got to learn something new!
The wax woman was an elderly poorly dressed lady who was sitting on a bank on the visitors’s side watching the exposed famous persons.
I think they mixed the wax figure with real people in order to show the qualilty of their figures. These must be and are excellent and worth of their high price because you can’t distinguish between a wax figure and a real person when you don’t expect to see a wax figure.