Olympics: Tokyo too hot for athletes?: BBC News Review

Hello. Welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English. I'm Tom.

Joining me this morning is Catherine. Hi Catherine.

Hello Tom. Hello everybody. Yes, there is a new report which is asking

if the health of Olympic athletes is at risk because of climate change.

And don't forget – if you want to test yourself on today's language,

we have a quiz at the website bbclearningenglish.com.

Now, let's hear more about this story from a BBC News report:

Yes, there's a new report out about the effects of climate change

on the health of Olympic athletes.

Now, it turns out that the temperature has risen in Tokyo

three times as much as it has in other places around the world.

This causes extreme heat,

which the report says will put the health of Olympic athletes at risk.

OK. And we've got three words and expressions that

our audience can use to talk about this story today, right?

Right! We have: 'mean', 'tame' and 'adversely'.

'Mean', 'tame', 'adversely'.

Catherine, let's have a look at your first piece of language please.

Yes, we're in the United States. We are looking at part of the

story and it goes like this – from Newswise:

'Mean' – average. What can you tell us about 'mean', Catherine?

OK. I'm actually not going to tell you, Tom,

because I don't like you very much...

What do you 'mean'?? That's a bit 'mean'!

  Mean, mean, mean, mean, mean!

OK. So, there's clearly a lot of 'meanings' of this word 'mean'.

This word 'mean' represents many things.

What does it represent here, Catherine?

OK. Today we're looking at 'mean' in a mathematical sense.

'Mean' is a mathematical term and it means average.

Average. OK. And here it's an adjective, right?

Because we're talking about the 'mean annual temperature'

or the 'average annual temperatures'.

Yes, it's an adjective, spelt: M-E-A-N.

And we can also use it as a noun. You can talk about 'the mean',

which means the average. So, what's all this average about?

Well, let's give you a demonstration with Rob and his biscuit consumption.

I was measuring his biscuit consumption. I did an observation

study of him and I discovered that on Monday he ate five biscuits,

on Tuesday he ate four biscuits and on Wednesday he ate three biscuits.

So, that's twelve biscuits total, right?

Yes, but I divided that by the number of days that I was doing my study on,

and that makes an average, or a 'mean', of four biscuits:

his daily consumption was a 'mean' four biscuits.

So, the 'mean' value is four, or the average value is four.

Or we could just say, 'The mean is four.' Cool, OK.

I mean, this is all good, this mathematical talk,

but why is it important that people know this?

Well, it's important if you're studying mathematics or if you're,

you know, working in that field, the word 'mean' is used frequently.

Average is your everyday English term.

It's good to know both of them because you will see both

terminologies, and also if you're doing an exam such as IELTS,

it's good to show off your English and ensure that you know these words.

You can show off that you know all the 'meanings' of the word 'mean',

if you know what I 'mean'. OK. Let's...

Thank you very much, Catherine. Let's move onto our summary slide please:

So, we've seen that 'mean' can have many meanings,

but sometimes people can have many meanings as well.

Phil, my colleague, did a show about this, right Catherine?

He did, because it turns out that people don't always 'mean' what

you think they 'mean', so he did a show called What They Really Mean.

And you can find out what they really mean by clicking the link.

OK. Wonderful. Right, great! Catherine,

let's have a look at your second piece of language today please.

Yes, we're in the Daily Mail here in the UK now – the headline:

It's actually quite a long headline;

I've just given you the first half there.

Fantastic. OK. So, 'tame' – control something that was once wild.

What can you tell us about this word, Catherine?

OK. So, it's a verb: 'to tame' – T-A-M-E.

And we often use this when we mean to control or domesticate a wild animal.

...OK. Can you... so, 'tame' is to make something that was wild,

sort of, controllable; can you give us an example of this?

Well, I can actually. Funnily enough,

there was a bird who used to live in the garden,

but it started coming into the house and it became, kind of,

more and more used to humans, and in the end this bird lived in the house.

It was a wild bird – a blackbird.

It ate with the family, it slept in the house, it was actually, you know,

living with us and lost its fear of humans. So, it was pretty 'tame'.

A 'tame' bird.

So, an animal can 'be tame'; or to make an animal 'tame',

we need 'to tame' it. Are there any other ways that we can use this word?

Well, it's not just for animals; it's for anything that's,

kind of, hard to control and then you get it under control. So,

a lot of us have had problems with our lockdown hair, haven't we Tom?

I don't know what you mean, Catherine...!

Getting wilder and wilder. And we've had...

you know, we have to 'tame' our wild and crazy hair.

That's one way: you often talk about 'taming' hair.

You can 'tame' a toddler or a child, you know. We don't actually –

kind of, you know – do anything; it's more a case of socialising.

So, we can use it in anything that's a little bit out of control:

you can use the word 'to tame' to bring something under control.

So, something that's not wild is 'tame', and you can also use this

in a negative way, can't you? Like if something's not very exciting.

Yeah, you can. You know, if you go to the

cinema and you're expecting a really exciting action film,

and it's actually not that exciting – the effects aren't that good,

the action's a bit underwhelming, a bit boring –

you can say: 'Well, that was a bit tame.'

A bit 'tame', right? OK. Great.

So, hopefully you guys aren't finding this episode of

News Review a bit 'tame'... No, it's wild!

And to make sure of that, let's move on to our next slide:

OK. We were just talking about animals that live with humans.

We have an episode of Lingohack,

which addresses some problems to do with this, right Catherine?

Yes, it's all about the trade in baby elephants between zoos,

and to find out more about that story just click the link.

Great. OK. Let's have a look at that next article please.

Yes, we're in the United States now, with CNN.

We have a snippet from an article and it goes like this:

'Adversely' – negatively.

Catherine, what can you tell us about 'adversely'?

OK. Well, we spell it: A-D-V-E-R-S-E-L-Y.

It's an adverb and it means the same as negatively.

If something's 'adversely' affected or 'adversely' impacted,

it's negatively impacted or affected.

So, the athletes... So, what this sentence is saying is that the

athletes in Tokyo could be negatively affected by the heat, right?

Yes... exactly. Bad things will happen as a result of the heat.

So, they could experience 'adverse' effects, right?

That's right, yes: 'adverse' effects.

Yes, and we also – that's the adjective form: A-D-V-E-R-S-E.

We have a noun form: 'adversity',

which is... it means negativity.

Negativity, yes.

So, I suppose if the athletes in the Olympics are met with 'adversity',

it means – kind of – negativity or negative conditions.

Definitely, yes. And that's a very nice little fixed phrase:

'to be met with adversity' means to experience negative conditions.

And we do have one other noun form,

right, which can be used to describe a person.

Yes, 'adversary': somebody who is your opponent,

either in a competition or just generally something who you...

somebody who you're always, kind of, up against – competing with.

Adversary – your opponent.

So, one of my British sporting heroes, Tyson Fury, the boxer –

he would go in the ring to compete against his adversary – his opponent.

Yes... Good example. Great. OK.

Now, before we 'adversely' affect this broadcast,

let's take a look at our summary slide please:

Wonderful. Catherine, can you recap today's vocabulary for us please?

Of course. We had: 'mean' – average.

'Tame' – control something which was once wild.

And 'adversely', which means negatively.

OK. Don't forget – if you want to test yourself on today's vocabulary,

we have a quiz at the website, which is bbclearningenglish.com,

and I'm sure you know that we are all over social

media as well, so do get in touch. That's it from us today.

Thanks for joining us and goodbye.

Goodbye!