California Wildfires: BBC News Review

Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Georgina and joining me today is Catherine.

Hi Catherine.

Hello Georgina! Hello everybody.

Yes, today's News Review story is about the wildfires

that are sweeping the West Coast of America.

And don't forget: if you want to test yourself on the vocabulary you learn

today, go to bbclearningenglish.com to find a quiz.

Now, let's hear more about that story about the wildfires

in California from this Radio 1 News headline:

So, wildfires in America are now in

three states on the West Coast. That is Washington,

Oregon and California. The wildfires have claimed

several lives and thousands of people have had to leave their homes.

We've got three words and expressions you can use to talk about this story.

What are they Catherine?

They are: 'brace', 'smog' and 'grip'.

'Brace', 'smog' and 'grip'. Catherine, give us your first headline.

Yes, we're in America for all our

headlines this week and the first one comes from ABC News.

It reads like this:

Yes, so it's 'brace' – get ready physically or mentally for something bad.

That's right. B-R-A-C-E – that's a verb. It can also be a noun.

Now Georgina, imagine that you see me coming towards you.

You're in an enclosed space and I have my hand in a fist and

an angry look on my face: what are you gonna do?

I'm gonna run away, Catherine.

But you can't run away: you're in an enclosed space

so what are you gonna do when you

see that fist coming?

I'm going to prepare myself physically,

so I'm going to tighten up all the muscles in my body...

...and wait for the impact of the fist to hit me.

And yeah – so I'm going to tighten up

all my body like a hard piece of cardboard, so to speak.

I'm going to brace myself.

OK. You're going to brace yourself. Now of course,

Georgina, I would never do a thing like that – never in a million years!

But in this scenario, if you feel that someone's about to

hit you, you're going to prepare yourself physically and mentally because you know

something bad is going to happen.

Same if you're in – traveling in a car and a crash is about to happen:

you will tighten up and get ready for an impact and this is the idea of 'brace'.

It's both physical and mental of course. You're going to be

feeling – preparing yourself mentally for an

impact of some kind and this is the way that 'brace' is being

used in this context. In the West Coast of America, people are

getting ready physically: they're making fire defences.

They're getting ready emotionally

and mentally: they might have to move – it's going to be difficult, traumatic,

uncertain – so preparing yourself for something bad to happen.

Let's – so let's have a summary slide:

So, 'brace' is an action verb and we've got

lots of useful information all about those, haven't we Catherine?

We have. To find out what action verbs

are and how they work, just click the link and

you'll go straight there.

Great. So, let's have a look at your second headline.

Yes and now for the Los Angeles Times – the headline:

'Smog' – type of air pollution often found in cities that makes it difficult to breathe.

Yes, 'smog' – S-M-O-G – it's a noun: 'smog'.

Now Georgina, you know what 'smoke' is, don't you?

Yes. So, when you light a fire it's the grey kind of stuff

that comes off it and it can get in your eyes and in your

lungs as well and make it difficult to breathe.

That's right. And you know what 'fog' is, don't you Georgina?

I do. Well, actually I just learnt really

what it is today – like the details. So, it's small water

droplets that come together to create a form of a cloud, but it's low to the

ground and it means you can't see through it.

Yes. So, if we take the 'sm-' from 'smoke'

and we add the '-og' from 'fog' and we put them together, we get...

...'smog'. 'Smog'!

'Smog', 'smog'. Now, smog is traditionally a combination of smoke and fog,

but these days we use it to mean

airborne pollution that makes it difficult to breathe,

difficult to see properly. If you look at photographs now of California,

you can see that the air literally is orange

and quite hazy: you can't see very well. People are struggling to breathe.

So, it's air pollution which is either a mixture of smoke and fog,

or it's just airborne pollution.

Right, so let's have a look at a summary slide:

Catherine, we've covered other stories on wildfires, haven't we?

Yes, we have. And to see a story about the Australian

bushfires that happened at the beginning of this year,

just click the link.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

And we're in The New York Times now – the headline:

'Grip' means: hold tightly.

Yes. Now, it's spelt: G-R-I-P – 'grip'. It's a verb

and it is also a noun. Now Georgina, would you please demonstrate

'grip', please, by gripping your pencil very tightly?

Yes, I'm gripping the pencil. And I – and I can see

you're kind of straining: your hand – your fingers are going white

because you're gripping it so hard. And I think if I tried to get that pencil out of

your hand it would be very very difficult.

Almost impossible, Catherine. Almost impossible.

You've got quite a strong grip, I think, Georgina.

Yeah. I feel like I need to relax it now actually.

Yes, relax! Yes, you won't be able to use your hand.

OK. So, grip means hold very very very tightly. It can be literal,

as you've just been demonstrating with your pencil, Georgina,

or it can be the idea of something having a lot of power over people's

movements. In this case the wildfires are causing

fear: they're causing destruction. And it's those two things,

fear and destruction, which are 'gripping' people. That means they are

controlling people: people are thinking about it all the time,

they're planning around it, they're worried about it.

So, if something 'grips' you, it really takes all your attention so that you can't

think of anything else, and you behave in a particular way

because of the thing that's gripping you.

So, in the headline it's being used as a

verb. Can it also be used as an adjective, Catherine?

Yes, it can. Yes.

If you add '-ing' – '-pping', it's 'gripping' and you can talk

about lots of things that are gripping,

especially in the world of entertainment, Georgina.

Do you like to watch gripping films?

Oh yes! So, the last film that I watched

that was really gripping was 'Gravity': I was on the edge of my seat,

the effects were fantastic, the characters, the script was amazing.

I didn't know what was going to happen – would Sandra Bullock survive her

space expedition? What would actually happen? It was amazing.

Fantastic! Sounds really gripping.

Yes, it is. It is amazing.

So, let's have a look at our summary slide:

Catherine, could you recap the vocabulary please?

I could. We had 'brace' – get ready physically or mentally for something bad.

We had 'smog' – type of air pollution often found in cities that makes it difficult to breathe.

And we had 'grip' – hold tightly.

So, you can test yourself on today's vocabulary with the quiz

on the website. We're all over social media too.

Thanks for joining us. Bye!

Bye everyone!