BBC 英语学习 News Review 福岛水泄漏

Is it safe to release water from the Fukushima

nuclear plant? The UN says yes.

This is news review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil, and I'm

Beth. Make sure you watch to the end.

To learn vocabulary, you

need to talk about this story.

Don't forget to subscribe to our channel, like this video and try the quiz on our

website. Now, the story Fukushima, it was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl back in the 1980s.

Now, the UN says it's safe for Japan to start releasing wastewater from the plant into the ocean.

A tsunami flooded the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011, causing a radiation leak.

China and South Korea have opposed the plan.

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

We have watchdog green lighting and refute.

This is news review from BBC, learning English.

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

This is from the BBC Fukushima Nuclear Disaster UN Watchdog approves plan for water release.

So this headline explains that a part of the UN has decided that it's now safe to start releasing water from the site of the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.

The word that we are going to look at is watchdog.

Can you break that down please?

Yes. So watchdog has two parts that you recognize watch and dog.

Now, in its literal meaning, a watchdog is especially trained dog that watches over something.

Um, it's like a guard. OK?

And that's a clear explanation of the word, but why is watchdog being used here in this story?

It's not about animals. It's not.

But the word watchdog is very often used in a non literal way, although it does carry a similar sense to the original meaning.

So a watchdog is an organization that makes sure other organizations are behaving properly.

Yes, so this UN watchdog is there to make sure that nuclear safety standards are met.

And we see this word watchdog used often in connection to finance as well.

A financial watchdog is there to make sure that banks behave properly.

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

This is from the Korea Herald.

I-A-E-A chief to visit Korea after green lighting Japan Wastewater Discharge.

So the IAEA, that's the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is a watchdog, is going to visit Korea.

Now that this decision about the Fukushima nuclear plant releasing water has been made.

The vocabulary that we are interested in from this headline, though, is green lighting.

Now, beth, you like driving, don't you?

I do. And I especially like it when the roads are clear, there's nothing to stop me.

So I prefer green lights to red lights, because green lights mean go.

And that's key to understanding green lighting, isn't it?

Yeah. So green lighting is the metaphorical act of showing some one or something a green light, meaning that it is allowed to happen, just like when you're driving your car.

You see the green light. It means you are allowed to go.

And in the headline, we have green lighting.

But you can also give something the green light.

And this is often used when asking for official permission to do something.

Yeah, so e.g., you might want to do some home improvements, but you need permission from the local council.

You have to wait for them to give your plans the green light, or to green light your plans.

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

This is from the Japan News Japan Must use scientific evidence to refute disinformation.

The headline says that Japan must use scientific evidence to stop people suggesting that this decision about water and Fukushima is dangerous.

They describe it as disinformation, which means false information often spread for a particular

reason. The word we're interested in, though, is the verb

refute. Yes, and it's clear from the context of this headline that refute is connected to proving that something

is wrong. If you refute something, you strongly say that a person or an opinion is not right,

it's wrong. But refute? This is quite a formal word, isn't it?

Now, it is. Yes. We often hear refute in official context, legal language, academic writing and debate.

If we wanted to talk about something less official, less formal, we probably wouldn't use the word refute.

E.G., if you said to me, harry Styles is the greatest singer of all time, I don't agree, but I don't use the word refute.

There no. That kind of conversation is definitely too informal for the word refute.

You'd probably just say, that's rubbish, or you're talking nonsense, although Harry Styles is quite good.

Yeah, he is quite good. Let's look at that again.

We've had watchdog group that make sure another organization acts correctly green lighting, giving permission and refute, say something is wrong.

Now to learn more about nuclear power, and to find out just how green it is, click here for an episode of 6 min English, and click here to subscribe to our channel so you never MS.

another video. Thanks for joining us.

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