'Spy balloon' row: BBC News Review

Was it a spy balloon that the US Air Force shot down?

China says no.

This is News Review from BBC

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

Make sure you watch to the end to learn vocabulary to talk about this story.

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like this video and try the quiz that's on our website. Now, the story.

A Chinese balloon has been shot down by the US Air Force,

near the country's coast.

Washington believes it was a spy balloon, while China says that

it was just monitoring the weather.

The incident has led to the delay of an important diplomatic visit to China.

You have been looking at the headlines,

Beth. What's the vocabulary?

We have 'deflate', 'bickering'

and 'on edge'.

This is News Review from

BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This is from BBC News.

Balloon saga deflates

efforts to mend US-China relations.

 

So, this headline is saying

that this story about the balloon has had a negative effect on

China-US relations.

They are not getting better as a result. The word

we are looking at is 'deflate'. Now, literally,

'deflate' means to let the air out of something.

Now, I'm sure that the headline writer has chosen this word

because we're talking about a balloon,

but also you can let the air out of something like

a football or car or bike tyres.

But, that's not what we're talking about here, is it?

No. Here it is a metaphor.

So, to deflate something in this way means to take the energy

or force out of it.

So, think about that ball or tyre.

If it has no air in it,

it's pretty useless.

Now, this way of talking about it is connected to hopes and dreams,

isn't it? It is, yeah.

So, your hopes and dreams can become deflated

and it just means that they become weaker.

Yeah. Now, maybe you have

a football team or a sports team.

You really want them to win

and then they keep losing so you feel deflated. Your hopes for the team

are deflated.

Yeah. Or you need 80% in an exam to pass and you get 79% –

you're going to feel deflated.

Let's look at that again.  

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This is from AP. Balloon bickering

over Biden's actions,

China's intentions.

Yes. So, there have been arguments over President

Biden's actions and also China's intentions with this balloon.

We are looking, though, at the word 'bickering'.

Now, 'bickering',

it means arguing.

But, there are lots of words in English that we can use instead of arguing.

But the headline writer might have chosen 'bickering' because it starts

with the same letter as 'balloon'.

So, we have 'balloon bickering'.

Now, what kind of arguing is 'bickering', Neil?

Well, 'bickering' is the kind of arguing

about things that aren't really that important.

So, imagine a brother and sister constantly fighting over

little things.

So, if it's little things,

why is the headline writer

using 'bickering' about this thing that sounds quite serious?

Well, it's quite possible that the headline writer thinks that these

things that they are talking about, aren't very important.

But it's more likely what we said before, that

it just sounds good to write

or to say 'balloon bickering'.

Let's look at that again.

 

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This is from the Financial Times.

China's military keeps rivals

on edge with balloon strategy.

So, the headline and story is saying that China's use of balloons

in this way is making other countries feel uncomfortable.

The expression that we're looking at is 'on edge'.

That's right. So, the expression 'on edge'

is that you feel tense because maybe you're nervous or worried.

Can you break it down for us Neil?

Yes, well, we don't know exactly the origin of this expression,

but it's useful to imagine standing on the edge of something, for example,

a mountain, a cliff or a tall building.

You are going to feel nervous and stressed because something bad

might happen. Exactly.

It's quite dangerous.

You might fall.

So, when people are 'on edge',

they can sometimes react in a very stressed

way, or maybe with anger.

Neil, is there anything that puts you on edge?

Well, this morning, Beth,

we came to the studio and the script wasn't quite ready

and we didn't have much time. I felt a bit 'on edge'.

Yeah. That's right. We're OK now.

It was OK in the end.

OK, let's look at that again.

We've had 'deflate' –

take the air, energy or strength out of something.

bickering – arguing over something that really doesn't matter.

And 'on edge' – tense because you're nervous or worried about something.

Don't forget there's a quiz on our website at

BBCLearningEnglish.com. Thanks for joining us and goodbye. Bye!