BOX SET: 6 Minute English - 'The Future' English mega-class! 30 minutes of new vocabulary!

Hello. I'm Rob and this is 6 Minute

English– the show that brings you an

interesting topic, authentic listening

practice and some vocabulary to help

you improve your language skills.

And hello, I'm Neil. Our topic today

is transport. How do you think you'll

be travelling to work in, say, 30

years' time, Rob?

Well, not only will homeworking

be more prevalent – that means

‘common’ – but I hope I won't be

working in 30 years' time!

Good answer! But if we look back

and see how transport has changed

in the last 30 years, it makes you

wonder what the future holds.

Yes, we've seen how air travel has

become commonplace for

many people.

Commonplace means ‘not unusual’.

And there's been the development of

high-speed train travel. But the main

priority has been speed – going

faster to make your journeys quicker.

That's true, and we'll be discussing

some ideas for making transport

even faster soon.

But let's not waste any time and

speed on to today's quiz question.

Ah yes, time waits for no one, not

even you, Neil.

So, can you answer this question?

According to Guinness World Records,

in which country has the fastest

ever train been recorded?

Is it in… a) China, b) Japan, or,

c) France?

All these countries have fast

trains but I've heard that Chinese

trains go particularly fast. So, I'm going

to say a) China.

Well, you'll have to wait until the

end of the programme to see if

you're right.

But let's talk more now about the

future of transport.

One development we hear much

about is automation.

Automation means ‘using

machines to do work that humans

normally do’ and in terms of

transport this means driverless

vehicles.

It won't be too long before we

become the passenger in a

driverless car.

Scary! And the French train

engineering company, Alstom, is

planning to test automated freight

trains later this year.

The automated train prototype can

travel for about 100 kilometres

without driver intervention.

A prototype is the first version of

something which can be tested

before it is produced in large

quantities.

Of course, some trains are already

driven by computers but there's

an exciting plan to develop a form

of driverless vehicle that could

move you around at 1,123

kilometres per hour.

Come on, Neil. That sounds a bit

far-fetched – like flying cars that

we see in sci-fi movies – it's

difficult to believe because

it's unlikely to happen.

Well, you say that but it's already

being tested in Nevada in the

USA and has a name – Hyperloop One.

Tell me more!

The idea is, you get loaded into

a pod then you're pushed through

a metal tube at high speed, taking

you to your destination in minutes

rather than hours.

Anita Sengupta is the lead systems

engineer and says there's nothing

scary about it…

The Hyperloop is a maglev train

in a vacuum system – or in a vacuum

tube – and so you can also think of

it as an aircraft flying at 200,000 feet

so people don't have any issue flying

in aeroplanes and people don't have

any issue going in maglev trains.

This is simply combining the two

and allows you to be more

energy efficient.

So, Anita Sengupta explained the

type of technology the Hyperloop used.

First she mentioned maglev – that's

a short way of saying magnetic levitation.

It's when trains travel on magnetic

track rather than conventional rails.

And then she mentioned a vacuum

system - a vacuum is a space that

has had all the air and any other

gases removed from it.

So the tube these pods travel in have

no air in so there's no resistance.

And these technologies are more

efficient and they save energy.

Which is a good thing.

This sounds like a great way to

travel but will it take off?

Well, BBC technology correspondent

Rory Cellan-Jones isn't so sure.

He thinks it will be quite challenging

to convince governments to allow

long metal tubes to be built on or

below ground.

But we have to try these new

technologies, Rob.

If we didn't, we'd still be travelling

around on horse and cart!

A good point, Neil – and we wouldn't

have been able to travel at the great

speeds mentioned in today's question.

Now, earlier I asked you, according to

Guinness World Records, in which

country has the fastest ever train

travelled?

Is it in…a) China, b) Japan, or

c) France?

And I said a) China.

And you were wrong, Neil.

China does have some very

fast trains.

But the fastest recorded train was a

maglev from the Central Japan

Railway Company, which ran on a

test track at a speed of 603

kilometres per hour.

Now that would make my

commute to work very quick!

OK, shall we recap some of the

vocabulary we've heard today?

Starting with commonplace.

Yes. Which means ‘not unusual or often seen’.

For example, 'free Wi-Fi in coffee shops

is commonplace these days.'

And very useful it is too!

Next we had automation, meaning

‘using a machine to do something

instead of a human.’

'Automation in the car making

industry has led to the loss of

hundreds of jobs.'

Of course, when you build a new car

you need to make a prototype – that's

the first version of something which

can be tested before it is produced in

large quantities.

'The prototype of a new solar-powered

bike has been so successful that it's

now going into mass-production.'

Come on, Rob, that sounds a bit

far-fetched – and by that I mean ‘so

unbelievable it's unlikely to happen.’

Well, something people once thought

far-fetched is now a reality and that's

maglev – that's short for magnetic

levitation and is how some of the

world's fastest trains travel.

Finally, we discussed the word vacuum.

It's a space that has had all the air and

other gases removed from

it – basically an empty space.

'The plan for Virgin's Hyperloop One

is to make a maglev even faster by

putting it in a vacuum tube.'

And that brings us to the end of

today’s 6 Minute English.

Don’t forget to check out our You Tube,

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages,

and we’ll see you next time. Goodbye.

Bye

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

And I’m Rob.

From the ancient Roman sea god, Neptune,

to myths of mermaids, to modern Hollywood

films like Finding Nemo, people throughout

history have been fascinated by the idea of

living underwater.

In this programme, we’ll be hearing about

projects to create liveable underwater

habitats and the challenges they face.

We’ll be finding out how realistic it is to

believe that in a few years we could be

eating breakfast whilst watching fish

swim outside the kitchen window, before

heading off to work in an office under

the ocean...

…and we’ll be learning some related

vocabulary as well.

But first, it’s time for our quiz question.

One of the first adventure stories to fire

the public’s imagination about the

underwater world was the 1870 novel,

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

But who wrote this underwater classic?

Was it: a) H G Wells?, b) Arthur

Conan Doyle?, or c) Jules Verne?

I think I know this one, Neil. Wasn’t it,

a) H G Wells?

OK, Rob, we’ll find out later if you’re right.

Now, one of the most ambitious designs

for an underwater city is Ocean Spiral,

a huge transparent globe attached

to the seabed – the solid ground

which lies deep below the sea level.

The top of the globe stands above

the surface of the ocean and

running through the centre is a tower

to add strength, and to provide space

for homes, offices and even an

amusement park for five thousand

underwater residents.

Ocean Spiral has been dreamt up

by the Japanese Shimizu Corporation.

Here’s Shimizu engineer, Maksaki

Takeuchi, explaining to BBC World

Service programme, CrowdScience,

the motivation behind the idea:

At the moment the world is facing a

lot of serious problems regarding food,

energy, water, natural resources...

however, we are trying to solve the

issues just by using our land.

Our idea is to connect the sea surface

and the deep sea vertically and that way

we believe that we can utilise the

capability of the deep sea and that’s the

purpose of this whole project.

The effects of human activity on the

land have led some to look to the oceans

for natural resources - naturally existing

things such as minerals, oil, coal and

other energy sources that can be

used by people.

This search deep underwater is

happening vertically - at a ninety

degree angle straight up or down

from the ground, as opposed to

horizontally, or flat across the

Earth’s surface.

But as yet, Shimizu Corporation’s plans

for an underwater city are still in the

planning stages - no part of the project

has yet been built and the total cost

is thought to exceed 26 billion dollars.

In fact, the longest anyone has spent

living under the sea is only 73 days.

That record was set by Roger Garcia,

ex-military diver and head of The

Aquarius, currently the world’s only

underwater research station.

Here’s Roger Garcia, explaining to

BBC World Service programme,

CrowdScience, what happens to the

human body after living underwater

for so long:

Perhaps a change in their voice, not

much ‘cos we’re not very deep, that’s

because the air becomes denser.

Physiologically, the most important thing

though, is that since you are, in this case,

at two and a half times atmospheric

pressure you do take on more inner gas,

and, in this case, inside The Aquarius we

just breathe normal air - you’re gonna

take on more nitrogen and depending

on how long you stay in The Aquarius,

that’s going to incur some sort of

decompressed obligation.

In addition to engineering challenges,

living underwater for long periods of

time also affects the human body.

One example is the bends – or

decompression sickness, a serious

medical disorder created by nitrogen

bubbles in the muscles when returning

to the surface of the sea too quickly.

The bends, and changes to the voice,

are examples of how underwater living

changes the body

physiologically – relating

to how the bodies of living humans and

animals function.

As divers descend deep below the

ocean’s surface, there is an increase in

atmospheric pressure – the normal air

pressure within the Earth’s atmosphere.

The deeper they dive, the higher

the pressure.

Physiological reactions like the bends are

caused by divers incorrectly readjusting

to normal atmospheric pressure.

Well, Neil, with so many difficulties, it’s

no surprise that H G Wells's fantasy of

living under the sea is still science-fiction.

Ah, but are you sure it was H G Wells,

Rob?

In my quiz question I asked you who wrote

the classic underwater adventure Twenty

Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Yes, and I said a) H G Wells.

Which was… the wrong answer!

It was, in fact, c) Jules Verne, the

French author who also wrote Around

the World in Eighty Days.

In this programme, we’ve been

discussing the challenge of living

underwater, going down vertically – at

a 90 degree angle – to the seabed – the

solid ground hundreds of metres under

the sea.

Ocean explorers search underwater

for natural resources – useful materials

like coal and oil.

But they face many physiological

problems – problems relating to how

the human body functions, such as the

bends – a painful medical condition

caused by returning too quickly to

atmospheric pressure – the Earth’s

usual air pressure.

That’s all for this programme, but we

hope you’ll be diving back into 6 Minute

English very soon.

Bye for now!

Bye!

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute

English. I'm Dan and joining me

today is Neil. Hi, Neil.

Hi Dan. What’s with the protective

gear and helmet?

I’m just getting ready for the inevitable

rise of the machines. That’s the takeover

of the world by artificial intelligence, or

AI, which some people predict will happen.

'Inevitable' means 'cannot be avoided or

stopped'. Rise of the machines? What do

you mean?

It’s our topic in this 6 Minute English.

We’ll be talking about that, giving you

six related pieces of vocabulary and, of

course, our regular quiz question.

That’s the first thing you’ve said that

makes any sense. What’s the question?

The word ‘robot’ as we use it today was first

used in a 1920’s Czech play ‘Rossum’s Universal

Robots’. But before this, what was its

original meaning:

a) forced labour, b) metal man, or

c) heartless thing?

I will go for a) forced labour.

We’ll find out if you were right or not

later in the show.

OK Dan. Tell me what’s going on.

I saw a news article written by BBC

technology correspondent Rory

Cellan-Jones about the recent CES

technology show in Las Vegas.

He interviewed David Hanson, founder

of Hanson Robotics, who said it was his

ambition to achieve an AI that can beat

humans at any intellectual task.

Surely, it’s a good thing! Better AI and

robotics could take over many of the

jobs that we don’t want to do, or that

are so important to get 100% right…

like air traffic control.

We’d never have another plane crash.

It would be infallible because it

would be so clever.

'Infallible' means 'never failing'.

And that’s what bothers me.

What happens when its intelligence

surpasses ours? Why should it do

what we want it to do?

To surpass something is to do or

be better than it. Dan, you’ve been

watching too many movies.

Robots fighting humanity is a

popular theme. Guess what… humanity

often wins. And besides, we would

programme the computer to be

benevolent.

'Benevolent' means 'kind and helpful'.

But that’s just it, once the intelligence

becomes sentient, or able to think for

itself, who knows what it will do.

We humans are not exactly perfect,

you know. What happens if it decides

that it is better than us and wants us

out of the way?

Don’t worry. Asimov thought of that.

Isaac Asimov was an American

science fiction writer who, among

other things, wrote about robots.

He came up with three laws that

every robot would have to follow to

stop it from acting against humanity.

So we’re safe!

I’m not so sure. A sentient robot could

make up its own mind about how to

interpret the laws. For example, imagine

if we created an AI system to protect

all of humanity.

Well, that’s great! No more war.

No more murder. No more fighting.

Do you really think that humans

can stop fighting? What if the AI decides

that the only way to stop us from hurting

ourselves and each other is to control

everything we do, so it takes over to

protect us. Then we would lose our

freedom to a thing that we created

that is infallible and more intelligent

than we are! That’s the end, Neil!

I think that’s a little far-fetched, which

means difficult to believe.

I’m sure others don’t think that way.

OK. Let’s hear what the Learning

English team say when I ask them

if they are worried that AI and robots

could take over the world.

Well, it’s possible, but unlikely.

There will come a point where our

technology will be limited – probably

before real AI is achieved.

Never in a million years. First of all,

we’d programme them so that they

couldn’t, and secondly we’d beat

them anyway. Haven’t you ever

seen a movie?

I totally think it could happen.

We only have to make a robot

that’s smart enough to start

thinking for itself. After that, who

knows what it might do.

A mixed bag of opinions there, Dan.

It seems you aren’t alone.

Nope. But I don’t exactly have

an army of support either. I guess

we’ll just have to wait and see.

Speak for yourself. I’ve waited

long enough – for our quiz question

that is.

Oh yeah! I asked you what the

original meaning of the word ‘robot’

was before it was used in its

modern form:

a) forced labour, b) metal man, or

c) heartless thing?

And I said a) forced labour.

And you were… right!

Shall we take a look at the

vocabulary then?

OK. First we had inevitable.

If something is inevitable then it

cannot be avoided or stopped.

Can you think of something

inevitable, Neil?

It is inevitable that one day the

Sun will stop burning. Then we had

infallible, which means never failing.

Give us an example, Dan.

The vaccine for smallpox is infallible.

The natural spread of that disease

has been completely stopped.

After that was 'surpasses'.

If something surpasses something

else then it becomes better than it.

Many parents across the world hope

that their children will surpass them

in wealth, status or achievement.

After that we heard benevolent, which

means kind and helpful. Name a person

famous for being benevolent, Dan.

Father Christmas is a benevolent

character.

After that we heard sentient.

If something is sentient, it is able

to think for itself.

Indeed. Many people wonder about

the possibility of sentient life on

other planets. Finally, we heard

far-fetched, which means difficult

to believe. Like that far-fetched

story you told me the other day

about being late because of a

dragon, Dan.

I swear it was real! It had big sharp

teeth and everything!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that’s the end

of this 6 Minute English. Don’t forget

to check out our Facebook, Twitter,

and YouTube pages.

See you next time!

Bye!

Bye.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English.

I’m Neil.

And I’m Sam.

Are you feeling well, Sam?

No headache or sore throat?

No, I feel fine, thanks, Neil.

Why do you ask?

Well, I’ve been reading some

inspirational stories about the

doctors and nurses

fighting Covid. When I was a boy, I

always dreamed of becoming a doctor.

Ah, I see. Have you ever been in

hospital?

Yes, I have, and I remember the

nurse’s bedside manner – you

know, the kind and caring way

that doctors and nurses

treat people who are ill.

Nowadays more and more of the

jobs that humans do are being carried

out by machines. But I doubt that a

doctor’s bedside manner could easily

be replaced by a robot.

In this programme, we’ll be discussing

whether the revolution in artificial

intelligence, often shortened to ‘AI’,

could replace human doctors

and nurses.

We’ll be asking: can you imagine a

future without doctors?

In fact, machines are already doing

some of the jobs traditionally done

by doctors - scanning people’s

bodies to detect skin cancer,

for example.

Yes, that’s true, Sam, and it links to

my quiz question which is about

human skin. It’s a well-known fact that

skin is the human body’s largest

organ – but how much skin does the

average adult have? Is it:

a) 2 square metres?,

b) 3 square metres? or

c) 4 square metres?

Of course our skin gets loose as

we age but I can’t believe there’s

3 square metres of it!

I’ll say the answer is

a) 2 square metres.

OK, we’ll find out if that’s correct later.

Every year in the UK over 5 million

people are treated for skin cancer.

Catch it early and your chances

of survival are increased.

Usually a skin specialist, or

dermatologist, will examine your skin

using a handheld microscope.

But in 2017, a team of researchers

at Stanford Medical School made

an exciting announcement.

Here’s Oxford University researcher

Daniel Susskind, telling BBC World

Service programme, The Big Idea, what

the medics at Stanford had invented:

A team of researchers at Stamford

last year announced the development

of a system that, if you give it a photo

of a freckle it can tell you as accurately

as twenty-one leading dermatologists

whether or not that freckle is cancerous.

The Stanford medical team had

invented an AI system to analyse

freckles – small brown spots

found on people’s

skin, especially on pale skin.

As it turned out, the AI programme was

better than human doctors at

telling whether a freckle was harmless

or cancerous – connected to some

type of cancer.

So, it seems that artificial intelligence

is already replacing humans when

it comes to detecting

cancer – and doing

a better job of it.

But Daniel Susskind isn’t convinced.

One reason is that AI systems still

need humans to programme

them – and as it turns out, knowing

exactly how doctors detect

illness remains

something of a mystery.

Here’s Daniel Susskind again in

conversation with BBC World

Service programme, The Big Idea:

If you ask a doctor how it is they

make a diagnosis, they might be

able to point you to particularly

revealing parts of a reference book

or give you a few rules of thumb,

but ultimately they’d struggle…

they’d say again it requires

things like creativity and judgment,

and these things are very difficult to

articulate – and so traditionally it’s

been thought very hard to

automate – if a human being can’t

explain how they do these special

things, where on earth do we begin

in writing instructions for a

machine to follow?

Most doctors find it difficult to

explain how they make a

diagnosis – their judgement

about what someone’s

particular sickness is, made by

examining them.

Diagnosing someone’s illness is

complicated but there are some

rules of thumb. A rule of thumb is

a practical but approximate way

of doing something.

For example, when cooking, a good

rule of thumb is two portions of

water to one portion of rice.

Exactly. And because identifying

sickness is so difficult, Daniel

says “where on earth do we

begin writing instructions for a

machine?” We use phrases like

where, how or what on earth to show

feelings like anger, surprise

or disbelief.

I might show surprise by asking

Sam, ‘how on earth did you know

the answer to that?’

Ha ha! I guess you’re talking about

your quiz question, Neil? And

you needn’t be so

surprised – I’m naturally brainy!

Of course you are. In my quiz

question, I asked Sam how

much skin there is

on an adult human body.

And I said it was a) 2 square

metres.

Which was… the correct answer!

With your brains, I think you’d make

a good doctor, Sam, and I’m sure

you’d have a good bedside

manner too.

You mean, the kind and caring way

that doctors and nurses treat

their patients.

OK, let’s recap the rest of the

vocabulary, starting with freckle – a

small brown spot

on someone’s skin.

Freckles are usually harmless, but

some skin spots can be

cancerous – connected to cancer.

A doctor’s diagnosis is their

judgement about what someone’s

particular sickness

or disease is.

A rule of thumb is a useful but

approximate way of doing or

measuring something.

And finally, we use phrases

like, 'where on earth..?'

as a way to show emotions

like anger, surprise or disbelief.

That’s all for this programme

but join us for the next edition

of 6 Minute English

when we’ll discuss another

trending topic

and the related vocabulary.

Why on earth would you miss it?

Goodbye for now!

Goodbye!

Hello. This is 6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English.

I’m Neil.

And I’m Rob.

From the bubonic plague to

cholera and tuberculosis, disease

and pandemics have changed the

way cities have been built.

For example, buildings in 19th century Paris

were designed with large, high-up windows

to allow plenty of sunlight.

They were supposed to stop

the spread of tuberculosis.

Coronavirus has been no different.

In lockdown, cities from Rio to Barcelona

were transformed as wildlife and birdsong

replaced the noise of taxi horns

and traffic. And with no car pollution,

you could even see the stars at night!

In this programme, we’ll be asking if cities

after lockdown will ever be the same

again – and if we want them to be.

We’ll be hearing some ideas from

different cities around the world.

And, of course, we’ll be learning

some new vocabulary along the way.

One of the cities most affected by

Covid-19 was Mumbai in India –

but approximately how many people

were affected? What’s the estimated

population of Mumbai?

That’s my quiz question for you today, Rob.

Is it: a) 15 million people,

b) 20 million people, or

c) 25 million people?

I know Mumbai is an international

mega-city, so I’ll say

b) 20 million people.

OK, Rob, we’ll find out later if

that’s right.

Now, Beatriz Colomina is a professor

of architecture at Princeton University

in the United States. She’s spent years

researching the relationship between

cities and disease. Here she is talking

with Kavita Puri, presenter of BBC

World Service programme, The Inquiry:

Take tuberculosis. Unlike

cholera, which

was eliminated in London by

re-designing the sewage system

in the 1850s, TB was airborne.

It became a real problem with

the rise of the industrial cities, the

metropolis, before an antibiotic

was effective.

One in seven people on the

planet had TB, but in dense cities

like Paris, it was one in three. Closely

packed tenements meant the disease

spread like wildfire and architects

and planning experts responded.

Some diseases, like cholera, could

be prevented by redesigning cities

to improve hygiene, like the waste

water sewers in 19th century London.

But the problem with tuberculosis, or

TB for short, was that the disease is

airborne – carried and spread in

the air.

Adding to the problem was the fact

that antibiotics – medicines like

penicillin that can destroy harmful

bacteria or stop their growth – was

not discovered until 1928 – too late

to save the thousands of people who

died in Mumbai, New York, Paris and

other cities during the 1800s.

Diseases like TB killed more and

more people as cities industrialised

and grew bigger and bigger, leading

to the creation of the

metropolis – the largest, busiest and

most important

city in a country or region.

Many people crowded together in

large metropolises meaning that

disease could spread like wildfire – an

idiom meaning spread quickly around

many people.

Even today disease is shaping

our cities. In post-Covid Paris, new

ideas for a ’15 minute city’ aim to

make all public services available

within a fifteen minute walk to help

people working from home.

Other countries want to build

better, more affordable housing

outside the city centre.

But according to Mumbai resident

Dr Vaidehi Tandel, this won’t

work – even if the housing on

offer is better.

But why? The reason is work.

When you shift them out, you’re

moving them away from their

livelihoods and they’re not going to

be able to sustain themselves there

so, they will be coming back because

their jobs are in the city and they

cannot afford the commute from

further off places.

Dr Vaidehi Tandel there, talking on

the BBC World Service programme

The Inquiry.Trying to make cities less

crowded is one way to minimise the

risks from disease. But moving people

away from the city centre means moving

them away from their livelihood – their

job or other way of earning money to

pay for food, housing and clothing.

Many people still want to live near

their workplace in the city centre

because they can’t afford to pay

for the commute – the journey

between their home and their

place of work.

Which is real problem when you

live in a city of… how many people

did you say live in Mumbai, Neil?

Ah yes, in our quiz question I asked

you what the estimated population

of Mumbai is.

I said b) 20 million people.

And you were absolutely right!

Around 20 million people live in

the Mumbai metropolis, making it

very difficult to socially distance.

In this programme, we’ve been

discussing the relationship between

cities and disease. In the 1800s,

tuberculous, or TB, killed thousands

because it was an airborne

disease – spread

in the air, and hard to prevent.

Antibiotics – medicinal chemicals

like penicillin which can destroy

harmful germs, couldn’t help

because they weren’t discovered

until decades later.

So in metropolises – the largest and

most important cities, where people

live crowded close together, diseases

spread like wildfire – an idiom

meaning spread widely and quickly.

In Mumbai and other places, the

problem remains that many

people need the city for their

livelihood – job or other way of

earning money.

So, they prefer to live in the city

centre instead of paying for the

daily commute – a journey, often

by train, bus or car, from your home

to your workplace.

That’s all we have time for in

this programme, but remember you

can find more useful vocabulary,

trending topics and help with your

language learning here at

BBC Learning English.

Bye for now!

Bye bye!