World energy crisis: BBC News Review

There's a global energy crisis. Is the world turning against green solutions?

This is News Review from BBC

Learning English. I'm Neil. And I'm Sian.

And we'll be learning the language connected to the energy crisis.

Remember there's a quiz on a website about the vocabulary in this programme.

But now some more on our story.

The world's temperatures are rising, and

so are people's energy bills.

Gas supply problems have been caused by the war in Ukraine.

Now, some governments are thinking of going back in time

and using coal to generate power.

But many see this as a step backwards for the environment.

Sian, you've been looking at the headlines.

What's the vocabulary?

We have 'unimaginable', 'short-term fix', and 'bitter'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This headline is from France 24.

The word we're looking at is 'unimaginable',

and we can break this down.

So, it means 'something that

you can't imagine'.

Is that is it? Is it that simple?

Well there's little bit more to it, but that's right.

As you say, if something is unimaginable,

it's hard for us to even think that it's true.

It's often used to describe bad things though.

So, although I can actually imagine a coal power station,

what the headline writer means is that

it's a bad thing for the environment because of the climate crisis,

and therefore going back to coal is unimaginable.

Yes, and it's normally used in written English,

partly because it's quite difficult to say. In conversation,

you're more likely to use.

'unbelievable' or 'unthinkable'.

Yeah, and going back to that word

'unimaginable. It's really long, isn't it?

  Un-i-mag-i-na-ble - six syllables.

Any tips for the pronunciation?

The most important thing is to think about where the stress is.

So the stress is on the third syllable: Un-i-MAG-i-na-ble

Unimaginable. Unimaginable.

OK, let's look at that again.

OK, Sian. Let's have our

next headline. This one's from ABC News in Australia.

The expression is 'short-term fix'.

So, first, let's look at that word 'fix' which is a solution or repair.

So 'fix' here is used as a noun.

Yes, and in the headline,

the fix is for the gas crisis, isn't it? Yeah.

That's right. But this is a short-term fix. So short-term is the future

right in front of us - the immediate future.

Yes, and the opposite of that is the long-term - we're talking about years.

Yes. We can also have medium-term for things in between.

So, the plan to go back to coal

in Australia is not something they want to do forever.

It's a short-term solution.

Yeah. Now, can we use this expression

'short-term fix' in our everyday lives?

Yes, we can Neil. So, this morning, Neil sat on my sunglasses.

So, as a short-term fix,

I put some tape on them, but it's not a long-term solution.

No, you definitely want to get a good long-term fix on that,

don't you? A new pair.

And sorry as well. Let's have a look at that again.

Next headline, please. This one's from Sky News.

'Bitter' is the word

we're looking at. Bitter's a kind of flavour.

So, what's the connection

to coal? Yea, so it's that flavour -

imagine really dark chocolate, Neil.

So 98%.

Do you like that kind of flavour?

Well, I was excited when you started talking about chocolate,

but 98% - that's too much.

It's a bit unpleasant for me.

I love that flavour, but yes, we can use it to talk about flavour

and also for things that aren't food or drink.

So, like here in this headline. And in these situations,

it's negative, Yeah, so going back to coal,

it can be used to talk about unpleasant situations.

So the idea of using coal for Germany is really unpleasant

because they want to have a green energy solution.

Yeah. And when we use bitter to talk about the weather,

this is also to describe it as unpleasant. So cold and windy weather.

So a bitter winter's day.

Yes. Also, we can use bitter to talk about people.

People who are really angry about something that happened in the past.

I'm really angry that you sat on my sunglasses, Neil.

I can only apologise.

Let's have a look at that again.

We've had 'unimaginable' - hard to imagine often because it's so shocking.

A 'short-term fix'. This will make things better,

but only for a short time.

And 'bitter'. A flavour, but also something unpleasant.

Now, don't forget there's a quiz on our website.

Thank you for joining us and see you again next time on News Review.

Goodbye. Goodbye.