Baltimore bridge collapse: BBC News Review

Baltimore bridge collapse: search for missing people suspended.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English, where we help you understand

news headlines in English.

I'm Neil, and I'm Beth.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn all the vocabulary

you need to talk about this story.

Don't forget to subscribe to our channel

so you can learn more English from news headlines. Now the story.

The search for six people missing after a bridge in the US collapsed

has been suspended. The accident happened when a ship hit

a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the city of Baltimore.

There are fears the collapse could lead to a significant impact

on the world's supply chains.

Investigators are now trying to understand

what went wrong.

You've been looking at the headlines,

Beth. What's the vocabulary

people need to understand this story in English?

We have 'heart-pounding', 'move heaven and earth' and 'put something to the test'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have our first headline.

This is from the Mail Online.  

Heart-pounding audio of Baltimore

cops rushing to stop traffic going over Francis Scott Key Bridge.

So, this headline describes the recordings of police officers

trying to prevent people from driving on to that bridge in Baltimore

before it collapsed.

Now, the vocabulary that we're looking at his heart-pounding. Heart-pounding,

Beth. What is that?

Well, normally, your heart beats.

That's when blood flows around your body normally.

But if you are stressed, your heart pounds.

Now, pound means to hit very hard.

So if something is heart-pounding,

it's very stressful,

very dramatic.

Yes, now heart-pounding is an adjective.

It describes those situations

you described - you can literally feel your heart pounding

sometimes. But also we can use heart-pounding

just to describe very stressful situations where you might not feel the heart pound.

Yes, that's right. For example, maybe in a job interview,

it's quite stressful.

So you could say that that's heart-pounding.

Maybe you go into an exam,

you turn over the exam paper, and you think, 'I don't know the answer'.

It's a bit stressful.

It's heart pounding.

OK, let's look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This is from the Independent. Biden

vows to move heaven and earth to rebuild

Key Bridge and reopen Baltimore port after collapse.

OK, so the US President Joe Biden says

that they are going to move heaven and earth to build this bridge again.

Move heaven and earth is our expression, Beth.

What's he talking about?

Well, Neil, it helps to think literally here.

So Earth is huge, heaven is huge.

Imagine trying to move them.

It would be very difficult.

But Joe Biden says he going to try. Of course

we're not talking literally about moving heaven and earth.

OK, so what it means, basically, is to make a great effort to do something which might be difficult,

but you are determined to achieve it.

What other context

can we use this in? Well, it is often used for serious situations like

the bridge collapse in Baltimore.

We can use it for war.

A government might say they will move heaven and earth to defeat the enemy.

But we can also use it for more personal situations,

especially when you're determined.

So, for example, if you haven't seen your family in a long time,

and then there are train strikes, you might say it doesn't matter.

I will move heaven and earth to see my family.

Let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This is from Ars Technica.

Bridge collapses

put transportation agencies' emergency plans to the test.

So, this headline says that the accident

will put transport agencies' plans to the test, and 'put something

to the test' is our expression.

What's it all about? If we put something to the test,

we see how good

it is. Now, in this case, the emergency plans of the transportation agencies

are going to be put to the test. We'll find out if they work

if the trade flows smoothly or not.

Yes, now this is a verb phrase - 'put something to the test', and, for example,

before the coronavirus pandemic,

there were plans to deal with such a situation.

But when the actual thing happened,

those plans were put to the test.

That's right, and put to the test

is often used for these kind of complex situations like the pandemic,

but we can also use it for more everyday situations. Now, in school and at work,

we have practice fire drills, and then when the fire alarm actually goes off,

we're putting those plans, those procedures to the test.

Yes, and on a really personal level,

this weekend, I'm meeting a Spanish friend.

It will really put my Spanish to the test.

Let's look at that again.

We've had 'heart-pounding' - describes a very stressful event.

'move heaven and earth' - make a great effort to achieve something.

And 'put something to the test' - find out

how well, something works.

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