BBC 英语学习 News Review 猴痘：新疾病传播

Monkey pox cases continue to spread around the world.

This is news review from BBC Learning English.

I'm

Neil. Joining me is Roy. Hello Roy.

Hello Neil 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.

The chief medical advisor to the uk's Health Security Agency, dr Susan Hopkins, has told the BBC that more cases of monkey pox are being discovered in Britain every day.

So far, at least 20 people have been infected with the virus, which is most common in remote parts of Central and West Africa.

Global health authorities have been meeting in Geneva to discuss outbreaks supported in 15 countries in Europe, north America and Australia.

So new cases of monkey pox are being discovered in the UK every day.

There have now been outbreaks in at least 15 countries around the world.

Global authorities are meeting to discuss the outbreak.

OK, you've been looking at this story across the world's media, and you've picked out some really interesting vocabulary.

What have you got? We have Ramp Up, formidable and explodes.

Ramp up, formidable and explodes. Let's take a look at your 1st headline, please.

Roy. Okay, so our 1st headline comes from The Guardian, and it reads, UK to announce more monkey pox cases.

As efforts ramp up to contain outbreak, ramp up, increased level of something dramatically?

Yes. So this is a braisal verb, two words, 1st word R-A-M-P, 2nd word U-P up.

And it is a separable frasal verb, which means you can ramp something up or ramp up something, and it means increase something sharply.

Now, roy, it might be useful for remembering this word to look at that 1st part ramp as a noun.

A ramp is a structure to help something with wheels go from a lower level to a higher level, e.g.

a wheelchair or a car. Yes?

So that idea of taking something with wheels from one level to another, from increasing its level, really helps us to understand the idea of ramp up.

Now, ramp up basically means increase something suddenly.

Now, in terms of the headline we're talking about ramping up efforts, you can also use it in the working world, e.g.

if you need to ramp up your work or your effort on a project, and if there is a lack of a product, you can ramp up manufacture.

Are there any alternatives to this word?

Ramp up? Yeah. Okay. So ramp up is a frasal verb, which means it's quite informal.

Another phrase of verb would be step up.

But if you want to go away, get away from fraser verbs, you could use increase or boost.

So you could increase your efforts or boost your efforts, and specifically related to efforts, you could double your efforts.

OK, let's get a summary. Now, of course, over the last two years, we have talked a lot about illnesses spreading around the world.

We have plenty of stories about Corona virus.

We've got really interesting one from the vocabulary point of view, haven't we?

Right? Yes, we do. And all you need to do to watch that is click the link in the description below.

Now, it's time for your next headline, please.

OK? So our next headline comes from The Independent, and it reads, monkey Pox News Live, W-H-O says World faces formidable challenges from virus as cases near 100, right?

Formidable. F-O-R-M-I-D-A-B-L-E. And it basically describes something that causes fear because it is very difficult.

Yes? And we often see this word used in combination with the word challenge, A formidable challenge, yeah.

So if a challenge is formidable, it's basically saying that it is a very difficult challenge to the point where it scares you or causes fear.

Now, synonyms for formidable could be daunting or intimidating, and it can be used to describe challenges or situations that are difficult.

Also, e.g. it could be used to describe an army.

So if it is a formidable force, you're describing a force that is very powerful, an army that is very powerful and scary.

You could ease even use it to describe, e.g., a mountain.

If there is a formidable mountain, it may be says that that mountain is very big and scary.

So it's often used to

talk about things like size, power and difficulty.

And how about people? Can we describe people as formidable?

Yes, you can. So, e.g., if somebody has read a lot about a subject, you could

say they have formidable knowledge of a subject.

Or in politics, e.g., you may have a very powerful opponent, and you could describe that person as a formidable opponent.

OK, let's have a summary talking about fear.

We have a program about spiders, don't we?

Roy? Yes, we do. And all you need to do to watch that program is click the link in the description below.

Time now for your next headline, OK, so our next headline comes from the Sun, and it reads, pox spreads monkey Pox.

Outbreak explodes across Europe, as cases in Spain and Italy.

Traced to Island Festival with 80000 revelers.

Explodes, increases rapidly. Yes, so this word is a verb, and it is spelt E-X-P-L-O-D-E-S, and it basically means to increase suddenly and quickly.

Now, roy usually we hear this word explode in connection with bombs?

Yes. Now, if you think about the idea of a bomb, it's it very quickly goes from nothing to a very, a huge event.

So we use this idea of explode to talk about a huge increase in the number of things or people, e.g.

product sales could explode if something gets bought a lot, or even if, e.g.

a singer suddenly becomes a very popular you could say they explode in popularity.

Another way that we could talk about this, after pandemic restrictions eased, we could say that the number of commuters on trains exploded.

Are there any alternatives? Right? Yeah.

You could say a sharp rise, sudden increase, or you could use the verb saw.

OK, let's get a summary. Time now for a recap, please.

Roy. OK. We had ramp up, increased level of something dramatically.

We had formidable describe something that causes fear, because it is difficult, and we had explodes increases rapidly.

It's really important that you test yourself on the vocabulary you learn.

So go to our website at BBC learning english com, where you'll find a quiz and lots of other activities to help you improve your English.

Thank you for joining us. And good bye bye.

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