La Palma: Volcano erupts: BBC News Review

A volcano has erupted on the Spanish island of La Palma.

Thousands have been forced to evacuate.

I'm Neil and this is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Joining me today is Roy. Hi 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

bbclearningenglish.com to take a quiz.

But now, let's hear more about this story from this BBC News report:

So, a volcano has erupted on the Spanish island of La Palma,

which is one of the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa.

It is home to around 80,000 people

and at the moment 5,000 people have been evacuated.

Now, this volcano has not erupted for the last 50 years

  and at the moment, fortunately, nobody has been seriously hurt

and we really hope it stays that way.

Yes, we do. Now, you've been looking around the various news websites

and picked out some really useful vocabulary we can use to talk

about this story and other things. What have you got?

We have: 'spewing', 'streaming' and 'scramble'.

'Spewing', 'streaming' and 'scramble'. OK.

Let's start then with your first headline please, Roy.

So, our first headline comes from right here in the UK,

from The Mirror, and it reads:

'Spewing' – coming out in large amounts.

Yes. So, this word is spelt S-P-E-W-I-N-G

and it means to expel a large amount of liquid or gas,

often used with... often with force. So, it's like a pressure...

a pressured release of liquid or gas.

Now, if you think in the case of the volcano,

you can imagine that lava is just forcibly coming out of the

top of the volcano and going all down the sides of the volcano.

Yeah, and lots of it – that's key, isn't it?

Yes, it really is.

So, another way we can use it as well is to talk about smoke.

Now, you can also imagine that the volcano

is 'spewing' smoke into the atmosphere,

but we can also use it in terms of, for example, cars.

Can you think of an example where a car was 'spewing' smoke?

Yeah, absolutely. I was driving last night actually –

I was coming home from some friends... a friend's house

and every time we stopped at the traffic light, the car in front –

when it started again, loads of exhaust 'spewed' out of the pipe –

the exhaust pipe at the back.

You know, there's lots of this smoke. It was going into...

into my car and it was very smelly. It wasn't very nice.

Oh no, it sounds horrible. And it was 'spewing' out black smoke.

So, again, it's that forcible and... release of liquid or gas.

Now, we don't only use it for liquids and gases, do we?

We have another meaning: we use it with paper.

So, for example, maybe you're printing a lot of documents

and your printer has a malfunction

and it just 'spews' out paper everywhere,

just continuously 'spewing' out paper

and you're trying to press the button, but you can't stop it.

That's another way that we might use 'spewing'.

Yeah, and you can imagine that maybe with a cash machine as well,

where the money doesn't stop. It just comes...

comes flying out as if it's a continuous flow.

Sadly, that's never happened to me.

I've always hoped that the cash machine would spew out lots of cash...

Me neither! ...but it's never happened.

There is... there is another meeting – a far more...

well, not very nice meaning. It can be used,

particularly in British English, to mean to vomit.

Absolutely. So, again, it's this same idea –

if we go back to the volcano with the...

the 'spewing' of lava: the forced... the forced expulsion of lava.

We use it as well to talk about a person who is vomiting.

Maybe you're not very well and you 'spew'

and it's commonly used with the preposition 'up' – to 'spew up'.

Absolutely. Let's move away from that, Roy.

I'm beginning to feel a little bit ill.

Let's get a... let's get a summary please:

Unfortunately, it seems there are lots of natural disasters going on

in the world at the moment. We have a story about the California wildfires,

which you might want to watch. Where can our viewers find it, Roy?

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

OK. Let's move on now to our next headline please.

OK. So, our next headline comes from the UK,

from the Guardian, and it reads:

'Streaming' – flowing continuously. Now, Roy – 'streaming'.

Everybody knows what 'streaming' is. When I listen to music these days,

I don't put on a CD, I don't put on a record;

I 'stream' it. I 'stream' it.

What's the connection between my listening habits

and the use of the word here with a volcano?

Well, this is a great example. Now, when you're listening to music,

do you like it to be continuous or do you like it to be interrupted?

Maybe there's a problem with it. How do you... how do you prefer it?

Continuous.

Absolutely. So, we use the word 'streaming'

to talk about a continuous flow of something.

So, in this case, we're talking about data

or information across the internet –

that music 'streaming' across the internet.

It's a constant flow of that information

and another good example of this, using information across the internet,

is to talk about video gamers.

You know, there's a lot of people who 'stream' content on various

sites on the internet, showing off their playing of video games.

They are 'streaming' their content across the internet –

a continuous flow of these video games.

Yeah. And a very simple way to remember this

is that the name of this, sort of, little river.

A little river is a 'stream', isn't it?

And what... what happens in a river?

There is a flow – a flow of water – a continuous flow.

Yes, definitely. Very much the origin of that word.

So, the continuous flow of water down the 'stream'.

The water is 'streaming'.

Also we can use this word 'streaming' to describe

what happens to your nose when you have a very bad cold.

So, first we had 'spew' for vomit

and now we're talking about problems related to noses and eyes.

So, yeah, when you have maybe a heavy cold,

quite often your nose will expel or flow with a lot of liquid.

Likewise, your eyes... we sometimes say your eyes are 'running',

but you can also say your nose is 'streaming'

when it's a constant flow of liquid,

thanks to a heavy cold or your eyes are 'streaming'.

And likewise, when you're very upset, you're very emotional – you cry

and you can say tears are 'streaming' down your face.

Absolutely. It's like, sort of, rivers – 'streams' coming down your face.

Yeah. Especially when you have a cold,

sometimes it can be really heavy.

Or an allergic reaction.

Absolutely.

  OK. Let's get a summary:

OK. We've been talking about 'streams', liquids, water

and we have a story about water and the moon.

Where can our viewers find it, Roy?

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

Let's have a look at your next headline.

So, my next headline comes from the UK,

from the Daily Mail, and it reads:

'Scramble' – move quickly in response to a dangerous situation.

Yes. So, this word is spelt S-C-R-A-M-B-L-E.

And it can be used as both a verb and a noun

with the same spelling, but in the headline it is being used as a verb.

Now, when we 'scramble', quite often it's talking about a quick response.

There isn't much time to plan and it's just a very rapid response.

So, in the... the case of the headline,

the rescuers are 'scrambling' to help people.

Yeah, it's... there's a lot of action.

It can seem disorganised. It's urgent, isn't it?

It's all about being unplanned. Time is of the essence. It's...

it's a bit of chaos. A lot of maybe loud shouting and movements.

But, fundamentally, these people – the rescuers – are highly trained.

They know what they're doing, so they're able to cope with these

unplanned situations and likewise, when you think of a fire:

if there's a fire – a house is on fire... at the fire station,

the fire officers will 'scramble' into their fire engine.

They'll – very quickly, they'll go down their pole.

I'm not sure if they still do that, but they'll get into their vehicle.

They're highly trained for these unplanned situations,

but they 'scramble' to respond to the dangerous situation.

Yeah, likewise, airplanes – if there's some kind of attack or something,

you hear about planes being 'scrambled'.

Yeah. This is quite commonly used in the military.

So, it's a military response. They 'scramble' their fighter jets,

or they 'scramble' their fighter planes

to deal with a threat that may be coming towards them.

Yeah. We also used the word 'scramble' with a...

there's a connection, but it's a slightly different meaning,

when you're climbing a hill or a mountain.

Yeah. So, again, it's about this fast paced movement.

Now, I'm not very good at climbing mountains or hills,

so I 'scramble' up them.

My hands and my arms and my legs are going everywhere.

It's a kind of chaotic and erratic movement,

to try and 'scramble' up a hill.

Have you... have you 'scrambled' up any hills recently?

Not recently, but I'm planning to this weekend.

I'm going to visit the English Lake District,

where there are plenty of hills to 'scramble' up.

Very, very nice.

Yeah. And one further meaning of 'scramble',

which you may well have heard, is connected to eggs.

I love 'scrambled' eggs.

What connects this idea of 'scramble' to the ones we've been talking about?

OK. So, when you 'scramble' your eggs,

you cook your eggs and then you take a fork or a whisk and you rapidly,

sort of, beat these eggs – without, sort of, a plan.

It's kind of chaotic movement – very fast to mix these eggs together.

So, you can 'scramble' your eggs, mixing them together and that idea

of it being fast and quite chaotic is carried over from the meaning,

but this case – it's about mixing something.

Yeah, OK. Yeah. Alright, let's get a summary:

Time now then, Roy, for a recap of our vocabulary please.

Yes, we had 'spewing' – coming out in large amounts.

We had 'streaming' – flowing continuously.

And we had 'scramble' – move quickly in response to a dangerous situation.

If you want to test yourself on the vocabulary,

go to our website bbclearningenglish.com

and there's a quiz you can take,

and plenty of other stuff to help you improve your English.

Thanks for joining us. See you next time. Goodbye.

Bye.