Preview – Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton)

It is a place like no place on earth. A land full of wonder, mystery and danger. Some say to survive it you need to be as mad as a hatter, which, luckily, I am.

- Alice. You’re terribly late, you know, naughty.

[You’ve got a very important date: March 5th 2010. Go through the looking glass in 3D IMAX 3D]

EARTH= /ɜ:*θ/ The name of our planet. Notice the preposition: on earth (not “in”).

A PLACE LIKE NO PLACE ON EARTH= The most special place. The word LIKE here is a preposition of comparison.

WONDER= /wʌndə*/ The emotion you feel at something wonderful, fantastic.

TO SURVIVE IT= To survive in that place or situation. This is an infinitive of purpose: in order to survive it, if you want to survive there.

MAD= Crazy.

HATTER= A person who makes hats.

AS MAD AS A HATTER= Very mad. This is a comparative of equality (you need to be mad, the same as a hatter is mad). This is a very common expression, if someone is very mad (=crazy) you say that they are mad as a hatter. But, are hatters usually mad? No, but the most famous hatter in English culture was completely mad, precisely the hatter in the story of “Alice in Wonderland”.

LUCKILY= Fortunately.

TERRIBLY LATE= Very very late. This use of “terribly” is very common in BrE (not so much in AmE).

NAUGHTY= /nɔ:tɪ/ (esp of children or their behaviour) mischievous or disobedient; bad.

GO THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS IN 3D= This is a reference to the second part of the story of “Alice in Wonderland”, which is called “Through the Looking Glass” (a looking glass is a mirror). In that story, Alice gets back to Wonderland trespassing a big mirror.

3D= 3 dimensions.

Only once, in the word MYSTERY.

This video uses British English, so the letter R is only pronounced when it is followed by a vowel. The only time the R is followed by a vowel here is in the letter R.