Pakistan's climate catastrophe: BBC News Review

A climate change catastrophe in Pakistan.

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 today's story.

And remember to like this video, subscribe to our channel

and try the quiz is on our website. Now, let's hear more about the story.

A third of a country under water. Floods caused by record monsoon rains in Pakistan

have killed over a thousand people and affected over 33 million others.  

It's thought the cost of dealing with the crisis

will reach over ten billion dollars.

One of Pakistan's regional governments has called the disaster

a climate change catastrophe.

You've been looking at the headlines, Beth.

What's the vocabulary?  

We have 'on steroids', 'swamped' and 'hallmarks'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline. This one comes from CNN.

And so the meaning of this headline is that the United Nations chief,

now, chief is a word often used in newspaper headlines

to mean the head of an organisation.

He has described this monsoon

as 'on steroids' and that's the expression

we are looking at today,'on steroids'. And you hear the word 'steroids',

often used to talk about cheating in sports.

'Steroids' are used by sportspeople illegally to gain an unfair advantage.

Basically, to make themselves stronger than they can

naturally become themselves. A more powerful version of themselves, really.

Yeah, so if we describe something, in this case, a monsoon,

as 'on steroids', we mean

it's a far more extreme, a stronger version.

Now, this expression was used by the head of the UN -

an important position. Does that mean it's really formal?

Well, that's not always the case.

So, yes. He is the head of the UN,

but that doesn't mean that he always needs to speak

formally. So formality really is all about context. And here

he used 'monsoon on steroids'

when he was launching an appeal.

That's right. Yes, he wants to make his speech dramatic,

he wants to appeal to lots of people.

So, it's fine to use this expression 'on steroids'.

You probably wouldn't see it, though, in a formal academic written paper.

Yeah, that's true. And you can use it in any situation

where you're comparing something more extreme than something else.

So, Neil, if you compare your smartphone now with your first ever mobile phone.

Yes, well, my smartphone is far more powerful.

It's like my mobile phone on steroids.

Let's have a look at that again.

Let's look at our next headline.

This one comes from The Times of Israel.

The headline is saying that Pakistan is 'swamped'.

It means that it is under water and it's the word 'swamped',

that we're looking at now. In this headline,

it has a literal meaning.

A 'swamp', as a noun, is an area of very wet land and we can use it

in the same sense as a verb. So, 'to swamp' is to make something very wet.

Yes, and so, Pakistan has literally been 'swamped'.

It's, large parts of it are covered with water.

But it's very common to hear this word used in a non-literal way.

So, as an example, Beth:

Are you swamped at the moment?  

Now, this may sound really not that important,

compared to what is happening in Pakistan at the moment, but

we do use 'swamped' in this way to talk about having too much work to do.

So, in answer to your question, Neil.

Last week, I had to finish a project.

And, yeah, I was really busy. I was 'swamped'.

Yeah. OK, so there's the sense that there's too much to do.

Also, that it's about

to get even worse and that it is very difficult to cope.

There's another expression with a similar meaning 'to be snowed

under'. 'To be snowed under' by work.

Yes. And we very often use this as well with students.

If they have their exams,

they have to study a lot.

So they might be snowed under.

Let's take a look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This one comes from The Economic Times.

And we are looking at the word 'hallmarks'.

The headline is saying that these floods have the 'hallmarks' of global warming,

and it's the second part of the word

'hallmarks' were interested in, 'marks'.

Yeah. So, marks are symbols and literally a 'hallmark' is a symbol

on precious metal like silver or gold.

But we don't often use the word 'hallmarks' in this literal way

we use it in a non-literal way.

Yes, that's right.

So if we say that

something has the 'hallmarks' of something, then.

it means it has a typical

feature of it. So, here in the headline,

we're saying that flooding has the 'hallmarks'

or is typical of climate change. And there are two main ways

of using this word 'hallmarks' in the expression 'to have the hallmarks'

of something' or 'to bear the hallmarks of something' and they're the same.

So a further example could be

that a bank robbery has the 'hallmarks' of organised crime.

It's typical of that type of crime. Or we could say

News Review bears the 'hallmarks' of a BBC Learning English programme.

Let's have a look at that again.

We've had on steroids - a

more extreme version. Swamped - suddenly filled with water,

often used to mean too much work.

And hallmarks - has the typical signs of something.

Don't forget, there is a quiz on our website at

www.bbclearningenglish.com Thank you for joining us and goodbye. Bye.