BBC 英语学习 News Review 塞内加尔的民主危机

Democratic crisis

in Senegal as elections are delayed.

This is news review from BBC Learning English, where we help you understand news headlines in English.

I'm Neil, and I'm Georgie. Make sure you watch to the end to learn the vocabulary you need to

talk about this story. Don't forget to subscribe to our channel so you can learn more

English from news headlines. Now the story Senegal, one of the most stable democracies in West Africa, now that's under threat.

With only three weeks to go, a law has been passed which delays elections and keeps President Maquisel in power for ten more months.

Protesters clashed with riot police outside Parliament on Monday.

You ve been looking at the headlines, georgie, what's the vocabulary?

People need to understand this story.

In England, we have looms hangs by thread and baffled.

This is news review from BBC, learning English.

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

This one's from The Financial Times.

Constitutional crisis looms in Senegal after President Macquisale delays vote.

This headline is about how the delay to senegal's elections may cause a constitutional crisis.

Now, a constitutional crisis is when there's a big disagreement about how government is run.

But we are looking at the word looms.

Georgie, what can you tell us about looms?

Sure. Well, if something loses, it means that it's coming soon.

It's used for something negative. So something negative is about to happen, yes, and in this case, the constitutional crisis is the thing that's seen as bad.

It's the thing that looms because the delay could threaten democracy.

That's right. But we can use this word whenever a worrying situation seems likely to happen.

We could say that as the world heats up, more environmental disasters loom, yes, or a health care crisis looms when a new disease with no cure spreads.

Now, are there any other uses or meanings of rooms actually?

Yes. It's used in a more physical way as well.

So if something or someone bigger than you looms over you, they appear over you in a threatening way.

Imagine where in a horror movie, where in a dark forest, I turn around a tree and suddenly a horrifying monster looms over me.

That is pretty scary. Let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline. This one's from the economist senegal's Democracy Hangs by a Thread.

So we know that a constitutional crisis is looming.

And from the context, then we are clear that hangs by a thread, the expression we're looking at cannot be a good thing.

Can you break it down for us?

Yes. Let's start with thread. So a thread is a long, thin piece of fiber, like cotton that's used to make materials.

And this is my ring, and it's hanging by a thread.

It's supported by the thread at the top, but not at the bottom.

It's hanging, yeah. So if something hangs by a thread, it's not very safe or secure or strong.

No. So according to the headline, senegal s democracy is hanging by a thread.

It's not as strong as it was So Georgie, when else can we use hangs by a thread?

Well, the idiom means that a situation is delicate, it's in danger of failing, collapsing or coming to an end.

So if a company is having financial difficulties, the employees may feel that their jobs are hanging by thread.

They don't feel safe or strong.

Let's look at that again. Let's have our next headline.

This one's from ACI Africa, baffled by what's going on.

Archbishop in Senegal on postponing general elections.

So this headline is about an archbishop's reaction to this postponement in the elections in Senegal.

An archbishop is a very senior person in the church, and a postponement is a delay.

But we are looking at this word baffled, which is a lovely sounding word.

But what does it mean? Baffled means extremely confused.

The archbishop doesn't understand the president's decision to delay the election with just three weeks to go.

Now, georgie, I'm extremely confused. In fact, I'm baffled because we already have this word confused in English.

Why do we need another one?

Baffled. Well, neil, when you reach a certain level of English, it's good to have a variety of words so you don't get

stuck using the same ones all the time.

And baffled is a good one if we use it a lot, and it feels so nice to say, doesn't it?

Baffled? Other words that you can use to me and it

confused are perplexed and bewildered, although these are a little less

common. So baffle? Can that be used in other ways?

Yes, it's also used as a verb.

So just like you can confuse someone, you can baffle someone, neil, you baffle me when you turn up to work in the middle of winter without a coat on?

Well, there's nothing baffling about that.

I don't think you need a coat unless it's below zero.

Let's look at that again. We've had looms.

Something worrying is coming. Soon hangs by a thread.

Something is in danger of failing and baffled extremely confused.

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another video. Thank you for joining us.

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