BBC 6分钟英语 胡子要留了！

From BBC, learning English. Hello, and welcome to Six Minute English.

I'm Rob, and I'm Neil. Hello, hi, there, neil.

What's that on your face? This?

Yeah, it's a it's a beard.

Rob. Have you never seen one before?

I have, but I've never seen one on you before, and I'm surprised to say it looks good on you.

Well, thank you. I thought I'd get on the beard bandwagon.

You know, beards are all the rage at the moment.

That means very fashionable. And to get on a bandwagon is when you join other people in doing something that has become popular, perhaps because you hope to become popular yourself.

Well, that doesn't apply to me, rob because, as you know, I'm very popular already.

Yes, yes, I know that, of course.

Right? Anyway, beards are such a talking point, a subject that a lot of people are discussing, that we decided to talk about them on today's program.

So are you ready for today's Questionnail.

What's the name for someone who loves beards?

Is it a barber file? B Paganophile or c Pelifile?

Hmm. All the answers sound tempting, but I'm going to go for a barber file, right?

Okay. Well, we'll find out if you're right or wrong later on.

But this is interesting. A new scientific study suggest that the more beards there are in a population, the less attractive they become.

And this currently gives clean shaven men a competitive advantage.

Oh no, that's bad news for me then.

Competitive advantage means when a condition or circumstance puts you in a favorable position, in this case being clean shaven or having no facial hair.

That's right, we've reached peak beard apparen'tly?

Beard Popularity has peaked or reached its highest point, and will decline in popularity from this point.

OK? let's listen to writer Lucinda Hawksley talking about beards through history, and listen out for a word That means women struggle to achieve the same rights and opportunities as men.

It's interesting, when I was writing the book, I came to realize that the most heavily bearded times in Britain are either when women are in power, such as Elizabeth the 1st, or Queen Victoria, when there's a big discussion of feminism.

And it is really interesting that the last few years there's been so much more discussion of feminism.

You get a woman on the throne, and man go, oh, a beard.

Or, it's really strange. Or in the sixties and seventies, with all the kind of big thing about women's lips, suddenly the beard becomes huge here.

Well, needless to say, lucinda doesn't have a beard, but she certainly knows a lot about them.

She is the great great granddaughter a famous writer, charles Dickens, who sported or wore a very flamboyant beard.

Flamboyant means eye catching and different.

Now, did you spot the word for women struggle to achieve the same rights as men?

Yes, it's feminism. She also talks about women's Live, which is short for women's Liberation.

And this has a similar meaning to feminism.

So what do you think, neil?

Are beards a show of testosterone in reaction to powerful women?

Is that why you've grown your beard?

I don't think it's testosterone. That's the main male hormone.

For me, it's laziness. I'm flying the flag for men's live liberation from the razor, right?

Well, I'm not sure whether that's a worthy cause or not.

Neal. Let's hear from brook L Bank, the photographer behind the exhibition beard, he's talking about one of the people he photographed.

I found Jimmy on a friend s Facebook page while I was in Sydney, invited him to come to my home studio for portray, and I posted it, and it got reblogged over half a million times in 4 h I mean, um, I think when Jimmy and I, when I met Jimmy, he told me about his beard season Melanoma charity, and I'd, I was kind of on board from the get go.

So Jimmy must have a pretty awesome beer.

Indeed. We should check out the beard exhibition and find out.

But Jimmy has a beard for a special reason right now.

That's right, yes, brock mentions jimmy's melanoma charity.

Melanoma is a serious type of skin cancer, and Jimmy is raising money and awareness to help people who suffer from it.

And Brock says he was on board from the get go, meaning he wanted to be involved with the charity right from the start.

We should also mention November and decemberard.

Both campaigns invite men to get hairy for good causes.

That's right, good causes. Moustaches in November and beards in December.

Now, let's have the answer to the quiz question.

I asked, what's the name for someone who loves beards?

Was it a barber file? B Pegonophile or C pelophile?

And I said A barber file?

Wrong? I'm afraid the answer is actually be paganophile.

Oh, well, you can't win them all now, then, rob, can we hear today's words again?

Sure, we heard all the rage.

Get on a band wagon. Talking point

competitive advantage, clean shaven, picked sport flamboyant feminism, women s live testosterone melanoma on board from the get go.

Well, that's the end of today's six minute English We hope it wasn't too hair raising for you.

Please join us again soon. Bye.

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