Andy Warhol’s painting of Marilyn Monroe has become the most expensive piece of artwork by a US artist ever to sell at auction.
Rob and Neil look at the vocabulary used in the headlines about this story.
Video chapters:
0:00 – Introduction
0:30 – Story
1:30 – Headline 1: The Guardian – Andy Warhol’s iconic Marilyn Monroe portrait sells for record $195m
4:30 – Headline 2: RTE – Iconic Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe fetches record $195 million
7:00 – Headline 3: The wire.in – Why Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe Portraits Continue to Enthral
8:53 – Language summary
Key words and phrases:
iconic
very famous; represents an idea
- Elvis Presley’s iconic jumpsuits are a symbol of the 1970s.
- The iconic Gangnam style video was a massive YouTube hit in the 2010s.
fetches
sells for a certain amount of money
= I put my old bike on an auction site, and it fetched twice as much as I originally paid!
- Can you fetch me a coffee? I’m really sleepy.
enthral
keep your total attention; be extremely exciting
- The World Cup enthrals millions of viewers across the globe every four years.
- People say Squid Game is the most enthralling drama on TV in recent years.
To download the audio and a transcript and test your understanding, go to our website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/newsreview-2022/unit-1/session-21