Blood test for 50 cancers: BBC News Review

Could a simple blood test tell you

if you've got cancer?

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.

Don't forget to subscribe to our channel, like this video

and try the quiz on our website.

Now, the story.

A new blood test can identify more than fifty types of cancer.

Not only that, in eighty five percent of cases,

it correctly located the source of the disease.

The test works by looking for changes in the genetic code of cancers.

Researchers at Oxford University, where the trial took place,

say results have been encouraging soo far,

but there's more to do.

You've been looking at the headlines,

Beth. What's the vocabulary?

We have shows promise,

miracle and world first.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's look at our first headline.

This is from BBC News.

Multi-cancer blood test shows real promise in NHS study.

So the headline says that this blood test shows promise.

And that's the expression

we're looking at. It contains the word

'promise', which you probably know.

It means to say that you're going to do something. But together with show is it different?

It is quite different.

Yep, so with 'show' it is a two word expression.

It means that something is on the way to being successful.

So the headline is saying that this blood test shows promise.

It's on the way to being successful.

It could be successful.

Yes, that's right.

A note on the headline.

It says, 'shows real promise'.

This makes the success seems stronger.

Very common combination.

We can also say 'shows a lot of promise'.

Can you give us another examples, Neil.

Yes, well, you can use 'show promise' quite widely, for example

I heard you practising your Spanish earlier,

Beth and it shows promise - muchas gracias.

I heard you practising your singing. Your singing is is showing promise.

Yeah, OK, so... Don't worry.

I'm not going to sing. Let's look at that again.

Let's look at our next headline.

This is from the Economic Times India.

 

U S Company comes up

with miracle blood test that can detect fifty types of cancer.

OK, this headline again is about this new blood test that can detect cancer.

The word we're looking at is 'miracle'. Now, Beth.

I thought a miracle was connected to religious things

like walking on water or making something dead

come back to life.

Well, it can be that,

yeah, but we can also use it more widely.

So a miracle is a very big achievement and often something quite unusual.

So, for example, maybe your team is losing really badly at half time.

But then they bring it back and they win. It's a miracle.

Yes, and we can use 'miracle' as an adjective, as in the headline.

And it's used to describe something which is incredible.

A miracle blood test. Yeah, that's right.

Another example would be a miracle baby.

If someone's trying really hard to get pregnant and then they achieve it.

Let's look at that again.

Let's look at our next headline.

This is from the Express. Major cancer breakthrough as world's

first blood test can detect fifty types of disease.

So the headline says this blood test is a major breakthrough

a breakthrough is a very important discovery or event,

but we are looking at 'world-first'.

It describes the blood test as 'world-first'

and again two familiar words: 'world'

and 'first', but when we put them together.

What does it mean? Well together

'world's-first' means very important because it's the first in the world

Can you give us some other examples.

and is also used to show incredible new achievements like this blood test.

So other examples in the world of DNA the cloning of Dolly the sheep

was a world-first and also the astronauts landing on the Moon

in 1969.

It's a world first. Yes,

and take note, we can put world-first before or after the noun, for example,

we can say a world-

first blood test or we can say this blood test is a world-

first. Let's look at that again.

We've had 'show promise', show signs of future success.

'Miracle' describes something incredible.

And 'world-first'.

Very important because it's never been done before.

And for another video about blood, we've

been asking the question: What's the

point of blood types? Just click here to watch.

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Thanks for joining us. Goodbye. Bye.