BBC News Review 宇航员在太空呆了9个月后回家

From BBC. Learning English. This is learning

English from the news. Are pocast about the news headlines In this program.

It was only supposed to be eight days in space, but after nine months, NASA astronauts have returned to Earth.

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

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 website, bbc learning english dot com.

So lets him more about this story.

After nine months in space, NASA astronauts Bush Wilmore and Sunny Williams have finally arrived back on Earth.

Their stay on the International Space Station, or the ISS, was only supposed to last eight days, but their mission was dramatically extended after the spacecraft they arrived on, called star Liner began to have technical problems.

Star Liner was sent back to Earth empty in september 2024.

So butch and Sunny needed an alternative spacecraft to take them home.

Nine months after they arrived, they're finally back.

They splashed down into the ocean off the coast of Florida on Tuesday afternoon.

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

This one is from the Independent in the UK.

Nasa's stranded astronauts finally begin return to Earth after being stuck in space for months.

And that headline again from the Independent nasa's stranded astronauts finally begin return to Earth after being stuck in space for months.

Now, this headline was written before the astronauts splashed down, and we have too interesting and related words here Stuck and stranded.

OK, let's talk 1st about being stuck.

The astronauts were stuck in space for months.

So this word stuck is related to the words sticky and stick So, E.G., my shoe broke at the weekend, and I used glue to stick it together.

That is a very clever idea.

So the two pieces of the shoe can't move their stuck.

And if you describe something as stuck, it means it can't move.

That's right. And if you think about the astronauts, we have this idea of being unable to move.

The astronauts planned to be in space for only eight days, but the problems with the spacecraft meant they were stuck on the International Space Station for nine months.

Now, there are different degrees of how literal the word stuck can be.

The astronauts were quite literally stuck in space.

They couldn't move. And I was once stuck in a lift and I couldn't move.

That was also the literal sense, yes, but we can also use this word stuck in a less literal sense, e.g.

I was stuck talking to the most boring person at the party last night.

Now, I wasn't literally unable to leave, but I couldn't think of a polite way to leave the conversation.

And we can use stuck in that kind of situation as well.

Yes. Now, what about this word stranded?

The stranded astronauts? Stranded is similar to stuck in that you're unable to leave.

But it has a more specific meaning, doesn't it?

Yes. So if you are stranded, it means you've been left somewhere and you have no way of leaving.

But it has this added sense of needing outside help or assistance.

Yes, we often imagine being stranded on a desert island.

That means that you're on an island in the middle of the ocean, without a boat or any way of getting off the desert island, you're gonna need outside assistance to help you get off.

We had stuck unable to move, e.g.

the lock on the bathroom door broke, so I was stuck in there for hours.

This is learning English from the news our bookcast about the news headlines today, we're talking about the return of NASA astronauts.

Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams On Tuesday afternoon, the SPACEX Dragon Capsule entered the earth's atmosphere, and there were temperatures of up to 1600 degrees Celsius.

Four parachutes opened up to take them slowly to splash down into the ocean.

As the capsule slowed down quickly, the astronauts experience strong forces on their bodies, known as g forces, about four times the earth's gravity.

And our next headline is about the journey back to Earth.

Two astronauts stuck in space for more than nine months Head back to Earth.

And that's from Sky News. That headline again, two astronauts stuck in space for more than nine months head back to Earth.

And that's from Sky News. So we see that word stuck again that we just looked at in the 1st headline, astronauts stuck in space.

But this time we're looking at the frasal verb.

Head back, the astronauts head back to

Earth. So Georgie, what can you tell us?

Well, quite simply, head back means return, but it's a good one to add to your vocabulary, because it's quite common in everyday speech.

E.G. Imagine you and I go for dinner after work, and I say, I'm going to head back home.

I've got some things to do before tomorrow.

And after we finish recording this Georgie, we're going to head back to our desks, aren't we?

Yes, we are. Oh, as I've said, head back is a good one to learn, because it's much more natural to use head back in those sentences than return.

It was sound a little formal to say, I'm going to return home, or we're going to return to our desks.

Yeah, now it's absolutely fine to say return.

But if you want to start sounding more natural, learning Frasal Verbs is a really good way to do that.

Yes. And we can also use head back to mean to return to where you started, e.g.

on a hike. You might say, it's getting dark, we should probably head back.

That just means you turn around and go the same way you came.

Yeah. Now, one last thing to mention is that you can also use the word head on its own to mean something like go or leave.

So, E.G., it's getting late, let's head home.

Or it's getting late, shall we head And we also say head off, meaning to leave.

I'm going to head off. I'm going to leave.

We ve had head back return.

E.G. My kids are heading back from school now.

They'll be home any minute. This is learning English from the News are podcast about the news headlines.

Today, we're talking about the astronauts who were stuck in space for nine months.

Now, the astronauts, but and Sunny, didn't just sit around waiting for the spacecraft.

They got a lot done. They did They carried out experiments, did space walks.

That's when an astronaut goes outside the spacecraft into space, with Sunny breaking the record for the woman who spent the most hours outside of the space station in the weeks before they left the International Space Station.

But said they weren't phased when their mission was extended.

If you aren't phased by something, it doesn't worry you.

But having said that, long durations in space can have negative effects on the body, and it can take a long time to return to normal.

And we have a headline here about the downsides of being in space for so long.

NASA stranded astronauts are finally on way home after nine grueling months.

And that's from the Daily Mail.

That headline again from the Daily mail.

Nasa's stranded astronauts are finally on way home after nine grueling months.

Now, this headline, again, was written before they arrived home.

Yes, and we're looking at this word grueling nine grueling months Now, it seemed that butch and sunny actually felt fine about being up in space for all that time.

But this word grueling is quite negative, isn't it?

Yes, if something is grueling, it's extremely tiring and difficult.

It's a very expressive word, and it's often emphasized in the pronunciation Nine Grueling Months.

It makes it sound terrible. Yes, like it was a big struggle that they needed a lot of effort to overcome.

What else, georgie, can we describe as grueling?

Well, an inexperienced runner might find a marathon extremely grueling.

Yes. Or we could describe a long day at work as grueling.

Perhaps you have a twelve hour shift in a busy hospital emergency department, that's really grueling.

We've had grueling, extremely tiring and difficult, e.g.

I've got a grueling schedule at work tomorrow, back to back meetings all day with no breaks.

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

Will be back next week with another new story.

If you've enjoyed this program, try the worksheet on our website to test what you've learned, visit BBC learning english dot com.

We learned a useful fraser verb head back in this episode.

But did you know we have a whole series about fraser verbs on our website?

Search for fraser verbs with Georgie at BBC Learning english dot com.

Good Bye for now. Good Bye, .

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