BBC 英语学习 News Review 世界能源危机

There's a global energy crisis. Is the world turning against green solutions?

This is news review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil, and I'm Chan, and we'll be learning the language connected to the energy crisis.

Remember, there's a quiz on our website about the vocabulary in this program.

But now some more on our story.

The world s Temperatures are rising, and so are people s energy bills.

Gas supply problems have been caused by the war in Ukraine.

Now, some governments are thinking of going back in time and use in coal to generate power.

But many see this as a step backwards for the environment.

Shan, you ve been looking at the headlines, what's the vocabulary?

We have Unimaginable, short term fix and bitter This is news review from BBC, learning English.

Let's have a look at our 1st headline.

This headline is from France 24 Unimaginable Austria prepares to reopen coal power station.

The word we're looking at is unimaginable.

And we can break this down so it means something that you can't imagine.

Is that? Is it that simple?

Well, there's a little bit more to it, but that's right.

As you say, if something is unimaginable, it's hard for us to even think that it's true.

It's often used to describe bad things, though.

So although I can actually imagine a cold power station, what the headline writer means is that it's a really bad thing for the environment because of the climate crisis, and therefore, going back to coal is unimaginable.

Yes, and it's normally used in written English, partly because it's quite difficult to say in conversation.

You're more likely to use unbelievable or unthinkable.

Yeah? And going back to that word, unimaginable, it's really long, isn't it?

Unimaginable? Six syllables. Any tips for the pronunciation?

The most important thing is to think about where the stress is, so the stress is on the 3rd Syllable.

Unimaginable. Unimaginable. Unimaginable. OK, let's look at that again.

OK, shaun, let's have our next headline, this ones from ABC News in Australia, short term fix to gas crisis is to bring coal plants online.

Resources Minister Maddling King says the expression is short term fix.

So 1st, let's look at that word fix, which is a solution or repair.

So fix here is used as a noun, yes, and in the headline, the fix is for the gas crisis, isn't it?

Yeah, that's right, but this is a short term fix.

So short term is the future right in front of us?

The immediate future, yes. And the opposite of that is the long term.

We're talking about years, yeah. We can also have medium term for things in between.

So the plan to go back to coal in Australia is not something they want to do forever.

It's a short term solution. Yeah.

Now, can we use this expression short term fix everyday line?

Oh yes, we can. Neil say, this morning, neil sat on my sunglasses.

So as a short term fix, I put some tape on them.

But it's not a long term solution.

No, you definitely want to get a good, long term fix on that, don't you?

I didn't have a new pair, and sorry as well.

Let's have a look at that again.

Next headline, please. This one's from Sky News.

Bitter, but necessary. Germany turns to coal to replace Russian gas.

Bitter is the word we're looking at.

Bitters are kind of flavor. So what's the connection to cold?

Yeah, So it's that flavor imagined really, really dark.

Chocolate meal. So 98% do you like that kind of flavor?

Well, I was excited when you started talking about chocolate, but 98% that's too much.

It's a bit unpleasant for me.

Oh, I love that flavor. But yes, we can use it to talk about flavor, and also for things that aren't food or drink.

So like here in this headline, and in these situations, it's negative, yeah?

So going back to coal, it can be used to talk about unpleasant situations.

So the idea of using coal for Germany is really unpleasant, because they want to have a green energy solution.

Yeah. When we use bitter to talk about the weather, this is also to describe it as unpleasant.

So cold and windy weather. So

a bitter winter's day. Yeah. Also, we can use bitter to talk about people, people

who are really angry about something that happened in the past.

I'm really angry that you sat on my sunglasses now I can only apologize.

Let's have a look at that again.

We ve had unimaginable, hard to imagine, often because it's so shocking.

Short term fix. This will make things better, but only for a short time, and better a flavor, but also something unpleasant.

Now, don't forget, there's a quiz on our website.

Thank you for joining us, and see you again next time, on news of you.

Good Bye. Good Bye.

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