Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
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Neil: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.
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I'm Neil and joining me today is…
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Feifei: Argh! Ouch!
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Neil: …Feifei… who's just walked right into
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a door.
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Feifei: Hi. I was just catching up on some
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messages on my phone and I sort of lost
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track of where I was.
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Neil: Hmm yes, you were walking around
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like a zombie
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– a smartphone zombie.
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A smombie is a person who walks around with
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their head bowed down, writing messages or
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playing games on their phone and not paying
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any attention to the world around them!
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Feifei: Even if they're in a situation which might
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be dangerous – like crossing a road.
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Neil: Or walking into a radio studio door!
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How's your nose?
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Feifei: OK, OK, Neil. You've made your point.
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Let's hear some examples.
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I'm too terrified to drive past the college
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these days. You never know when a smombie's
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going step out into the road in front of the car!
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I was knocked flying the other day by a smombie
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as I was trying to get a bus. I don't even
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think she knew she'd bumped into me!
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People don't know how to communicate with
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each other face-to-face any more. They are
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such smombies!
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01:25
Feifei: This is The English We Speak from
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BBC Learning English
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and in this programme we're learning
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a really new word which is made up of two
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words – smartphone and zombie.
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Neil: The word is smombie. It's actually
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from German and has won
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Germany's 'Youth Word of the Year' competition.
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Feifei: But people are now starting to use
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it in English too.
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It describes people who walk around totally
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absorbed by their smartphones.
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Neil: You know, the kind of people who
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walk into
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the road without looking at the traffic…
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Or into studio doors.
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Feifei: Enough now Neil!
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Neil: Goodbye!
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Feifei: Bye.
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