BBC 英语学习 News Review 大堡礁处于危险之中

The world's largest coral reef is in danger.

Now a un assessment begins. Hello, I'm Rob, and this is news review from BBC, learning English.

And to talk about this story with me is Roy.

Hello. Roy. Hello Rob. And hello 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 hear more about this story from this BBC news report.

United Nations Delegation is beginning an assessment of the state of the worlds largest coral reef off the western coast of Australia.

The UN last year recommended the Great Barrier Reef be added to the World Heritage Committees in dangerous because of damage caused by climate change.

The Australian government lobbyed against such a move.

But Doctor Jody Rama from the James Cook University in Queensland says it may be what's needed to highlight the danger of the re faces.

So this story is about the Great Barrier Reef, which is the world's largest barrier reef and is located in Australia.

Some scientists say that it is under threat from the effects of climate change.

A UN delegation is going to assess the Barrier reef's health.

It wants to assess whether it's World Heritage status should be changed to In danger.

And we've got three words and expressions from the news headlines about this story.

What are they Please. We have in danger, ways and dire.

That's in danger ways and dire.

OK, well, let's pick the 1st word from your 1st headline.

What is it, please? OK, so the 1st headline is from R-T-E, and it reads, un considers listing great barrier reef as in danger that's in danger at risk.

Yeah, OK, so this is two words, 1st word in I-N, 2nd word danger, D-A-N-G-E-R, and it basically means the possibility of harm to someone or something, or even death.

Hmm. And I noticed that we had the preposition in not at or on danger, yeah.

We commonly use it with in danger to say that something is at risk or under threat.

Hmm. And we said, in danger, not endangered.

There's a difference there, isn't there?

Yes, there is. So in danger, I-N-D-A-N-G-E are the two words.

Basically means you're at risk of harm or or death.

Potentially, you're in a dangerous situation.

So, e.g. maybe it's late at night and I'm worried, I'm a little bit scared, so I call my my wife to come and pick me up from the area, because I feel that I am in danger.

In other words, I am at risk of harm, endangered, which is E-N-D-A-N-G-E-R-E-D.

We usually use it to talk about an animal or a plant that is at risk of going extinct, existing no more.

So there are many endangered species in the world.

Okay? I got it. Endangered is about extinction.

A wildlife becoming extinct. In danger is about a risk to your your safety.

I guess absolutely. And, I mean, danger is a serious thing.

Being in danger is very serious.

Do we always use this expression in a kind of serious context?

Well, we can also use it informally to also mean at risk.

So, e.g., if you're a football fan and you're watching your football team, they're not playing very well, you could say the team is in danger of losing the match.

So at risk there. OK, well, we're in danger of running out of time, so let's get on with a summary.

We've talked about the Great Barrier Reef on news review before.

It's always been in danger. How can we watch this video again?

Please, roy, all you need to do is click the link in the description below, just down there below.

Fantastic. OK, let's have a look at your next news headline, please.

OK, so our next headline comes from Channel News Asia, and it reads, un weighs, listing Great Barrier reef as in Danger.

So that's Ways carefully considers facts in order to make a decision.

OK? So ways

is spelled W-E-I-G-H-S,

and it is a verb, and it basically means to consider something,

or think about something, very deeply

and carefully. Hmm. And I'm familiar with this word, ways, and the word weight is to do with measuring the heaviness of something.

So you put things on a scale,

maybe, or some scales, and you measure how heavy something is.

That's weighing, isn't it? Yeah, and it's

sort of connected. Okay, so, E.G., when you're talking about the physical weight, as you say, you're putting an object onto some scales or a machine to to measure how heavy something is.

And we commonly talk about things like kilos, kilograms, grams, stones.

In British English, we talk about stones and pounds.

Some people use those measurements to talk about the physical heaviness.

Now, way in the or ways in the headline, is actually talking about taking all of the information and the facts and considering what they mean, considering what that information means, is wave your way up the information.

And notice there I said way up.

We commonly use a frasal verb weigh something up or way up something.

So to give you an example of that, recently we talked about your phone.

You have a, you had a very, a terrible phone.

It was broken. I think you said one of the the buttons, the letters didn't work, and I kept telling you to buy a new phone.

And in the end, I said, look, just think about all the positives and the negatives, way up the pros and the cons.

Yeah. And that's what I did.

I weighed up all my options and chose a brand new, shiny phone.

Thank you for that, roy, you're welcome.

And also, when I go into the cake shop, because I love cakes, I like to weigh up my options.

There, I look at all those delicious pastries, Which one to choose?

I often choose the one that is gonna make me put on more weight.

That's the now. And wait, more heavy.

Yes. W-E-I-G-H-T. Wait the now. Indeed.

Thank you. Let's have a summary.

So we've been talking about the wood weight, and we did a program about the expression, punch above your weight.

The program is called The English We Speak.

And how can we watch it again?

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

OK, let's have a look at your next headline, please.

OK, so our next headline comes from the Climate Council website, and it reads, dire Warning for Great Barrier Reef as UN inspection begins Climate Council Briefing.

That dire? Extremely serious. Yes. So this word is dire, and it is felt D-I-R-E, and it basically is an adjective.

And it used to describe something that is, uh, very bad, or a very serious.

Hmm. So, and we we use the word dies talk about bad situations, yes.

So we commonly use it to talk about situations or conditions.

So, e.g. if somebody is living in a house with no heating, no water, no electricity, that we could say that they are living in dire conditions, very serious or bad conditions.

Another way that we use the word dire, though, and it's slightly different, is in front of the word need, a in dire need, in diet, need of something.

And it means when we are desperate, or, uh, really, really need something.

So, e.g., in the morning, I maybe wake up I'm really tired of and I'm very dramatic, I say, oh, I'm in dire need of a coffee.

You are desperate for coffee. I know that feeling.

And what about the expression in dire straits?

I've heard about that as well.

OK, so, yeah, in dire straits, we sometimes use this, and it talks about very serious or or a terrible situation.

So, and we commonly use this to talk about money, a lack of money.

So, e.g. at the end of the month, just before you get paid again, maybe you've spent all of your money and you have no money to do anything or to buy food.

You could say that you are in dire straits.

It's talking about a very serious situation with a lack of money in that case.

Yeah, an extreme situation, dire straits.

OK, let's have a summary. OK, roy, it's time now for you to recap the words and expressions that we've talked about today, please.

OK, so we had in danger, at risk ways, carefully considered facts in order to make a decision, and we had dire extremely serious Now, if you want to test your

understanding of today's words and expressions, we have a quiz on our website at bbc learning english dot com.

And that's the place to go to for lots of other

learning English resources. So check it out.

Oh, and don't forget, we're all over social media as well.

Okay, well, that's all for

today's news of you. Thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you next time.

Bye for now. Bye, bye, bye.

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