BBC News Review 格鲁吉亚“外国代理人”法

Foreign agent law passed in Georgia.

Thousands protest. This is news

review from BBC Learning English,

where we help you understand news headlines in English.

I'm Neil, and I'm Georgie. Make sure you watch to the end to learn the vocabulary you need to talk about this story.

And don't forget to subscribe to our channel so you can learn more English from news headlines.

Now

the story. Georgia's parliament has passed a new so called foreign agent law.

It would mean media and non governmental organizations which receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad will have to be registered and monitored.

Comparisons have been made with Russian laws, which the Kremlin has used to control its critics.

Protesters worry civil Rights and Georgia s chances of joining the European Union will be threatened.

You ve been looking at the headlines Georgie, what's the vocabulary that people need to understand this new story?

In English, we have Sounds Alarm, green lights and stand off.

This is news review from BBC, learning English.

Let's look at our 1st headline.

This one is from CNBC. US sounds alarm as thousands in Georgias Capital protest Kremlin style Foreign Influence Bill.

So this headline is about the protests in Georgia, about this Foreign Agents law the U-S Sounds the alarm in the headline.

It just says, sounds alarm, because we drop the often in headlines, but we are looking at sound, the alarm, which contains sound and alarm to nouns that we know.

But together here they're acting as a verb.

What can you tell her? Yes.

So sound as a noun is a noise.

So sound as a verb actually means to cause the sound to start sound the alarm means to cause the alarm sound.

These words are often seen together as a combination sound the alarm.

So are we saying, georgie, that the US literally caused an alarm to make a sound?

No. So we can use this literally.

So imagine theres a fire. We can sound the alarm, and that makes a real noise to alert people.

But here in this story, it's used metaphorically, and it means to warn peoples about something.

The US are warning people that the law is not a good development in their So other examples.

Environmental campaigners have for many years been sounding the alarm about the cutting down of rainforests.

They've been warning us about the dangers.

This word alarmed the Georgie. How else can we use it?

Well, also, in the headlines around this new story, I've seen the adjective Alarmed in the news.

It says, the US and Europe are alarmed.

And it's another way of saying, worried.

So they are worried about the future of democracy in Georgia.

OK, let's look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This one is from France. 24 threats against NGO leaders multiply as Georgia green lights Russian law for final vote.

Now, this headline was published just before this vote was finally approved, and it's about the difficulties that ngos, that's non governmental organizations, might face.

Now that this law has been passed, we're looking at green lights.

And Georgie, when we talk about green light, I think about driving and traffic.

Is that useful? Yes, it is useful here.

So that is green light as a mound.

It's the light that you can see.

But here it's used as a verb.

Georgian government green light the law.

And it means they're saying yes to the law.

They are giving permission for it to be approved.

Yes. Now, in your everyday life, perhaps you're a student, you've got an idea for a university project that you need your professor to approve it.

You need to ask your professor to green light your idea.

Now, georgie, is there any other form of words we can use around this expression?

Yes, so it's actually more common to say, give the green light.

Or an alternative is give the go ahead.

So, e.g., if I want to take some time off to go on holiday, my boss has to give me the green light or give me the go ahead, and it means he gives me permission to go on holiday.

OK, let's look at that again.

Let's look at our next headline.

This one's from The Financial Times, an Ominous standoff in Georgia.

This headline is about the clashes between the security forces and the protesters in Georgia, about this foreign agent law.

It contains the word ominous, which is used when we are describing something bad that's

likely to happen. But we're interested in standoff.

It contains stand, which is familiar.

I am standing now. But what does stand off?

Yes, so stand is a verb, but here, standoff is a noun.

It's where two opponents want different things

and they can't agree. So it comes from physically standing opposite someone that you don't agree with.

The protesters and the police are in a physical standoff.

They are opposite each other. If we are arguing, we could be in a literal standoff.

But what about metaphorically? Yes, it can also be used metaphorically.

So the protesters and the government are in a standoff, and obviously they are not standing opposite each other.

It's metaphorical. It's figurative. They both want different things, and they are unlikely to agree.

Um, are there any other useful things to know about standoff?

Yes, we have a couple of similar words, which both have this idea of being stuck.

1st, we have deadlock, which is when you can't reach an agreement.

We also have stalemate, and that's when neither side can win.

And we do often see this in chess.

OK, let's look at that again.

We've had sounds alarm warns people, green lights, gives permission and stand off a situation where opposing sides can't agree.

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another video. Thanks for joining us.

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