Green flights? Impossible: BBC News Review

Can flying ever be green?

Scientists say no.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Sian. And I'm Phil.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn the vocabulary

you need to talk about this story.

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and try the quiz on the website.

Now, for today's story.

Environmentally friendly flying is not likely to happen soon.

That's according to scientists from the Royal Society.

The UK Government's target is completely sustainable flying

by 2050, but researchers found that more than half

of all British farmland would be needed to grow the plants to make the biofuel.

You've been looking at the headlines.

What's the vocabulary?

We have 'use up',

'not in easy reach', and 'pour cold water on'. This

is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look now at our first headline. OK.

This is from the Times:

  So, crops -

that's plants - that are used to make jet fuel would use up farmland.

So, we're looking here at 'use up'. Now,

I know the verb 'use',

but what's the meaning here?

Well, 'use up' means to use something completely

so that there's nothing left.

So, in the story here, it's saying that if British farmland is used up

to grow jet fuel, then there's no space left for anything else,

like space to grow food. And that's why this is unrealistic

for these jet fuel crops to be grown. So, 'use up' together is phrasal verb, right?

It is. Now,

we often add 'up' to a verb to mean 'completely'.

So, for example, if you fill up your car with petrol,

you fill it completely so that there is no space for more petrol in your car.

And, if you say to your children eat up or drink up,

you want them to finish all their food or drink.

Let's look at that again.

OK, let's have our next headline. This is from the BBC:

OK, so, we are looking at this expression 'in reach' - and note in the headline,

it's in the negative and uses 'not'.

OK. So, Phil, I know the verbal 'reach'.

So, I reach for my water bottle

if I need a drink.

But in this headline it's 'in reach'.

So, it's not a verb is it?

No, it's not.

It's a phrase, and

we often use it with the verb 'be', and it means to have something close to you.

Sian, your water bottle is in reach - you can reach it. It's close to you.

OK, so, we can use it with physical things like my water bottle,

but we can also use it metaphorically, so, in the headline,

they say that green flights are not in easy reach,

meaning that green flights will not happen yet.

It is not easy to have them.

Yes, and we often use it like this, metaphorically. So,

for example, if you've got one month left until the end of the school year,

we can say that the end of the school year is in reach.

Or, if I'm a professional sports person and I have an injury,

then the Olympics are not in easy reach.

Let's have a look at that again.

OK. Next headline

please, Phil, This one is from the Guardian.

OK. So, here we are talking about net zero,

which means limiting harmful gases, and the expression

we are looking at is 'pour cold water on'. So, Phil,

if I pour cold water on you,

how do you feel? I don't think I'd like it.

But this is an idiom and it's metaphorical.

You can pour cold water on a plan or an idea,

and if you do that,

it means that you're very negative about it.

In fact, so negative that other people might lose their enthusiasm

for the plan or the idea.

OK. So, scientists criticised this plan to fly more sustainably.

But can we use this expression in everyday English?

So, Sian, think about if your kids are

arranging or planning a really big a house party.

I think you might pour cold water on the idea.

Definitely. And if you're thinking about cheating in an exam and your friends think

it's a bad idea.

Then they will pour cold water on it and you'll lose enthusiasm for this idea.

Let's look at that again.

We've had 'use up' - use all of something.

'Not in easy reach' -

not close or achievable. 'Pour cold water on' -

be negative about something.

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