BBC 英语学习 News Review 未来的燃料是什么

What is the future for fuel?

The war in Ukraine has made many people question their alliance on oil and gas, and there have been calls for the transition to alternative and renewable energy sources

to be speeded up. Hello, I'm Rob.

Welcome to news review from BBC, learning English.

And to talk more about this story and the vocabulary behind the headlines, we've got Roy.

Hello. Roy. Hello, rob and Hallow Everybody, if you would like to test yourself on the vocabulary around this story, all you need to do is head to our website, bbc learning english dot com, to take a quiz.

But now let's explain more about this new story.

Countries, mainly in Europe, have been trying to reduce their reliance on russia's oil and gas.

Following the invasion of Ukraine, the EU gets roughly 40% of its gas from Russia.

That's according to figures from research group Transport and Environment.

This dependence costs around $118000000 a day.

The EU has now laid out a strategy that could cut reliance on this fuel source by two thirds within a year.

The repower EU plan aims to make Europe independent of Russian fossil fuels by 2030.

Yeah. And you've picked three words and expressions from the news headlines about this story.

What are they? Please, we have re energized, mitigate and seeing sense.

So that's re energize, mitigate and seeing sense.

Okay, well, let's have a look at that 1st headline then, please.

Okay, so our 1st headline comes from writers, and it reads, europe's fuel crisis re energizes debate over natural gas.

So that's re energize, give new energy and life to something.

So re energize. R-E hyphen, E-N-E-R-G-I-S-E.

Now, notice when I spelt it, I felt it with an S.

In British English, we spell this word with an S, whereas in American English, it is spelled with a ZED, and it means to give new vitality or energy to something.

But let's break this word down.

Let's 1st of all, talk about that prefix re.

Yeah. RE? I mean, I've seen lots of words that begin with re, e.g.

related to movies. You can get a remake or a re release.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So what re means is, again, that prefix means again.

So if you remake a film, you take an original film, maybe the same story, with different actors and a different director, and you make it again.

You remake the film. You also said, re release.

That's when we take the original film and release it again, to re release.

Now, let's move away from movies, um?

In sort of, if you write an essay and your teacher, they they don't like your essay, you could rewrite it, write it again, or redo it.

do it again. Re Energize means give new energy to something.

Yeah? And in the headline, we were talking about a situation being re energized.

But of course, people can be re energized.

When I'm feeling a bit low, a bit tired, I might have a strong cup of coffee to re energize myself.

Absolutely yes, people can. And if you're really, really tired, maybe you should take some more holidays.

Now, often, when we go away, it's time that we can use to distress and and relax, and that means that we then feel, uh, more energized.

We feel energized again, or re energized.

We have another expression that we can use to say this, and it means, uh, we say, recharge your batteries.

So you go on holiday to recharge your batteries.

It's like we have batteries inside of us.

And again, it's, it adds charge again.

So it recharges our batteries. And of course, you can actually recharge batteries, recycle, or sort of rechargeable batteries.

You can re energize those. Can't use that how we say it.

You can re energize a battery, but it's not a common way of saying it.

It would be more natural to say recharge a battery, but both of the words re energize and recharging are both about adding energy again.

So it's got a similar idea.

Okay, roy, thanks for that. Let's have a summary.

In our six minute English program, we looked at smart tech and climate change, an interesting topic.

How can we watch that video again?

Roy? All you need to do is click the link in the description below.

Yep, it's down there below. OK, let's move on to your next headline, please.

OK, so our next headline come from New

Civil Engineer, and it reads, UK Renewable Energy Projects should be accelerated to mitigate impact of Ukraine conflict.

That's mitigate lesson negative effects. Okay, so mitigate is a verb, and it is spelt M-I-T-I-G-A-T-E, and it means to lesson or lower the bad effects of something.

And we often use this word in connection with business these days, don't we?

Yes, we do. Now, let me give you an example now, when we talk about mitigating something, I come from an island, and it's quite a popular place for tourists, and in the summer, a lot of people come here for tourism.

Now, there are lots of benefits to the economy of tourism, but also for some, there's a negative impact, because there's a lot more people, and things are busier.

Now to get to the island where I live, you need a boat to get here, and that means that in the summer, when the tourists come, it's a lot busier.

So the company can mitigate the effects of more people by running more boats.

OK, got it. But in the headline here, when we're using the word mitigate, we're talking about reducing the reliance on fossil fuels from other places.

But mitigate have other uses, yeah?

So, e.g. you could mitigate damage to the environment by starting to use renewable energy sources.

Or you could mitigate pollution in rivers, uh, by changing the way in which, uh, you the your drainage systems.

There are lots of different ways that you can use mitigate, and we use the word, it seems, for things that have big impacts or big changes.

And it's quite a formal word as well.

Absolutely, it's not commonly used in everyday situations.

So, E.G., you said earlier, when you're tired, uh, you you you drink a coffee, I wouldn't say, E.G., I'm mitigating the effects of tiredness.

It would be very strange, uh, alternatives to mitigate?

You could say, maybe ease lesson or weaken.

OK, very interesting. Thank you, roy.

Let's have a summary. In one of our news review programs, we talked about countries trying to change the UN Climate Report.

How can we find out more?

Roy. All you need to do is click the link in the description below.

OK, thanks. Let's now have a look at your next headline, please.

OK, so the next headline comes from The Guardian, and it reads is the UK government finally seeing sense on renewables.

So that seeing sense, understanding something logical.

Okay? Seeing sense, it's a fixed expression.

We usually say C sense. In this case, it spell S-E-E-I-N-G-S-E-N-S-E, and it means understand, to understand something logical.

Hmm. Now, an example of this is a while ago.

I was struggling with my old phone.

It had a crack screen. Even the letter P wouldn't work on the keyboard.

I was really struggling, and you kept saying, buy a new phone, rob, buy the latest phone.

Eventually, I gave into your nagging, and I bought a new phone, and it's changed my life.

I've seen sensory, yeah, you finally saw sense.

Now, sense in this, this sort of situation means logic, or a good idea, or the idea that you're coming round to, my way of thinking.

And I'm using C sense, you saw sense, to mean that you finally agreed with me.

And we kind of use this phrase when we think someone's doing something a bit foolish.

We want them to see sense.

Yeah, um, that's right. We commonly use it when we're talking about when we think somebody's behavior is maybe a bit silly or it's not correct, and we want them to uh to change or to agree with something that most people believe is sensible.

Now we have another expression when we talk about what most people believe is a sensible idea, and that is common sense.

It's something that everyone knows or thinks is a good idea.

Yeah, I guess it's e.g. when you're using a train, it's very busy train when it comes to the station, you want all the people to get off the train before you get on the train.

That that's common sense, isn't it?

Yeah, absolutely. Now, my father always says, common sense isn't that common, which means that, although it's logical, and a lot of people should understand that, not everybody gets that idea, which is why I always see people are not letting other people

get off. And this there's a real struggle, and it makes it difficult for people.

I think they need to see sense.

Yeah, yes. OK, very sensible advice.

Let's have a look at summary.

Well, it's time now for you to recap the words and expressions we've talked about today, Please, roy.

Yes, we had reelegized give new energy and the to something.

We had mitigate lesson negative effects, and we had, ay, a seeing sense, understanding something logical.

Now, if you want to test your understanding of today's vocabulary, just go to the quiz that's on our website at bbc learning english dot com.

And that's the way to go to to find all our learning English resources.

And of course, we're on social media as well, so check us out.

Well, that's all a for today's news review.

Thank you for watching, and we'll see you next time.

Good Bye. I What?

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