Pre-Listening Vocabulary

toll road: a road that requires drivers to pay a fee to use it

shred: to break up into very small pieces

pulp: soft, wet material

congestion: high volume; crowdedness

absorbent: holds a lot of water

Tarmac: a road material made of crushed rock and tar

A Road Built From Unsold Books-用未售出的书来铺路

In 2003, approximately 2.5 million unsold books from the UK romance book publisher Mills &Boon were used in the reconstruction of a toll road in the UK. The damaged or end-of-the-line books were shredded and turned to pulp at a recycling firm before being used by the construction company. The resulting paste from the books was mixed with Tarmac to create an absorbent surface for the road. The secret ingredient keeps the road from cracking.