BBC News Review 普京在朝鲜

From BBC Learning English. This is Learning

English from the News. Are podcast about the news headlines.

In this program, vladimir Putin visits North Korea.

Hello, I'm Neil, and I'm Beth.

In this program, we look at one big new story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode, as well as a worksheet, on our websites, BBC learning English dot com.

So, neil, let's hear more about this story.

So the Russian president Vladimir Putin has met the North Korean leader, kim Jong Un?

Yes, putin was welcomed in North Korea with waving crowds and a parade.

Yes? And since russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine, russia has had poor relationships with Western countries like the UK and the US.

And so Russia has been looking for allies now, allies, our countries who support each other.

Now, I have a headline here that describes Vladimir Putin s relationship with Western countries.

This is from Sky News. Putin's visit to North Korea is very much a diplomatic two fingers to the west.

OK, so let's listen to that again from sky News.

Putin's visit to North Korea is very much a diplomatic two fingers to the west.

Now, this headline is talking about the political impact of the meeting between Putin and Kim.

Yes. And we have this strange expression, two fingers, which is actually quite rude, isn't it?

Birth it is yet two fingers literally describes a rude hand gesture that we have here in Britain.

Yes. And if you use this to finger gesture, you're basically telling someone to go away very, very rudely, and that you don't care about their opinion.

Now, there's an even stronger gesture with one finger that you might already know, but this two fingered gesture is particularly British, and it is a little bit less extreme, but it's still very weird, isn't it?

It is. Yes. So going back to this headline, A diplomatic two fingers means that what Putin is doing is considered very rude and dismissive to Western countries.

So he isn't literally making this hand gesture, but his actions could be seen as having a similar intention.

So, like in the headline, we can say that something is a two fingers, or we can use the verb, which here is Give two fingers to something.

Now, there are other hand gestures that we describe using language to mean things in English.

Here is an example of one which is much nicer than two fingers.

It's the thumbs up. So you might know that a thumbs up is a positive hand gesture, and we can describe that action to say, we approve of something.

We can give something the thumbs up.

Or my partner gave the thumbs up to my plan to buy a nice new car.

So two fingers is a rude gesture that means go away.

E.G. I decided to give two fingers to my neighbors and organize a very loud party.

I hope my neighbors aren't listening.

I haven't really organized a party.

This is learning English from the news.

Our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about Vladimir putin's trip to meet Kim Jong Un in North Korea.

Now, during this visit, kim Jong Un has said that he fully supports Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The US and South Korea have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with weapons and other equipment.

Now, both countries have denied this, but they have said that they want to strengthen their military relationship.

So let's look now at another headline.

This one is from The Economist, and it is Vladimir putin's Dangerous Romance with Kim Jong Un.

Yeah. So again from The Economist.

Vladimir putin's Dangerous Romance with Kim Jong Un.

So this headline is from an opinion article.

That means that it is the opinion of the writer, and it's about the impact of Putin and kim's relationship on the rest of the world.

And we're going to look at this interesting word romance, which is actually a mix of two words, isn't it?

Beth, it is. Yeah, it's a mix of the word romance, which you can see you're here quite easily, and then a slang word bro.

Yes, and bro is short for brother, and

it can be used to talk about your real brothers, but also your friends.

You can call your friends bro.

So Neil, if I call you my Bro, that would be a very informal way of saying that we were friends, yes, because I'm not your brother.

Exactly. Okay, so romance, it's from Bro and romance put together.

But what does it actually mean?

Well, it's quite a joky word, and is used to talk about a relationship between two men who understand and admire each other's way of thinking.

Yet now, it is important to say this is not about real romantic relationships between men.

It's an exaggeration. It's a joke.

Yes, so we do often use romance in quite an informal, humorous way.

So this is quite a playful headline to suggest that Putin and Kim like and respect each other.

We ve had romance, which is a very friendly relationship between two men.

E.G., I have a bit of a romance with one of my male colleagues at work, fill we get on really well.

This is learning English from the news, from BBC, learning English.

We're talking about putin's meetings with Kim Jong Un in North Korea.

Yes. And as we've heard, since russia's invasion of Ukraine in february 2022, putin has been looking for allies around the world.

So the two leaders, putin and Kim, have met to discuss how they could help each other in the future.

Yes, and they've signed a deal to help each other in case of aggression against either country.

And the Russian president is also planning to visit Vietnam to talk about trade.

So here's a headline on the impact of putin's visit elsewhere in the world.

This is from the French newspaper, lamont.

China has mixed feelings about putin's new coziness with Kim.

So again, this headline China has mixed feelings about putin's new coziness with Kim.

And that is from Lamont. Yes.

And this headline is about Chinas reaction to the relationship between Kim and Putin, the cosiness.

And that means the closeness. But we are interested in looking at the phrase mixed feelings.

Yes, a useful one this Beth, isn't it?

Because if you have mixed feelings about something, it means you don't have a completely positive or completely negative reaction to something.

It's a mix of both. So this headline is saying that China doesn't know if this relationship between Putin and Kim is a good or a bad thing.

It has mixed feelings yet. So I might have mixed feelings about my birthday.

I like getting birthday presents, but I don't like getting a year older.

Who does. We almost always have mixed feelings, so we don't feel mixed feelings.

Now, we can also use the phrase mixed emotions, and that means the same thing.

So that was mixed feelings, having positive and negative emotions about something at the same time.

E.G., I have mixed feelings about this book I'm reading at the moment.

I like the characters, but it's a bit too long.

And that's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We'll be back next week with another new story.

If you've enjoyed learning this vocabulary, try the English We speak a program about everyday phrases.

You can find it on our website, bbc learning english dot com.

And don't forget, you can follow us on your favorite social media channels.

Look for BBC Learning English. Goodbye,.

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