Covid-19: A new era for cyclists?: BBC News Review

87,797 views ・ 2020-05-12

BBC Learning English


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hello and welcome to News Review I'm Neil and this is my temporary studio
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while we are on the coronavirus lockdown but I am joined by Kathryn on the other
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side of London hi Kathryn hello everybody
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what story have you got for us today well today is a cycling story it turns
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out that during the coronavirus lockdown a lot more of us are taking to two
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wheels okay well let's find out some more from
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this BBC news report the fear of catching coronavirus on public transport
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is leading to a boom in cycle to work schemes which allow new bicycles to be
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bought tax-free bike shops have reported a surge in sales so in the UK a lot of
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people are avoiding public transport and one way they're doing this is to cycle
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and cycle to work schemes have reported a massive uptake and psycho shops are
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busier than ever okay cycling to work schemes what are
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they well the cycle to work scheme is where your employer kind of helps you to
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buy a bicycle and you don't have to pay any tax
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so the bicycle becomes a lot cheaper so lots of people buying bikes and getting
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out old bikes and getting them repaired you've been looking around the various
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news websites and you've picked out three really great expressions what have
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you got yes we have boom time golden age and at the crossroads boom time golden
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age and at the crossroads so your first headline please yes and we're going to
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start here in the UK with the BBC the headline is coronavirus boom time for
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bikes as virus changes lifestyles okay so boom time a period in which
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there is a large increase in demand for something yes
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it's a two-word expression the first word boom bwm and the second word time t
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I am a boom time now new what noise does an explosion make ah it
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makes a boom it goes boom yes boom is a lovely onomatopoeic word that describes
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the word the sound of an explosion or a very very very loud noise now as we know
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explosions make things move all over the place and
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we often use them to describe rapid expansion rapid growth so if some people
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a lot of people start doing a particular activity all around about the same time
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we can describe this as a boom now we often use the word boom in economic
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terms or business terms if people buy a lot of a particular product we describe
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that activity as a boom we can also talk about boom time when a lot of people do
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as the same thing it's a boom time in this case it's boom time for bicycles
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it's boom time for cycling it's boom time for cycle manufacturers and notice
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the preposition there is for it is boom time for this activity so in that usage
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we saw boom as a noun but it's also used as a verb isn't it yes something can
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boom now we often that use the set phrase business is booming to describe
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any business that's doing really well yeah so the cycle business is booming at
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the moment often used in the continuous form something is booming now I've also
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heard an expression boom or bust what's that all about yes boom or bust
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and we use this expression boom or bust to describe the experience of taking a
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risk with a new idea or a new venture it means that you're either going to be
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very very successful it'll be a boom or it's going to be a complete disaster
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which is described as burst so boom or bust describes a risk
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um you did a kind of boom or bust activity recently didn't you kneel with
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your wonderful video series English for cats remember yeah I I had a feeling
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that it would be very very successful but I also had a bit of a doubt that it
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would be a terrible crushing failure and so the decision to go with this series
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was in fact boom or bust and unfortunately everybody hated it so it
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turned out to be bust I could have told you that dad Fran Smith could have saved
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you the trouble I just don't understand it
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try another one French for dogs French for dogs is coming up I can tell you
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great ok let's have a summary of that word please
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your next headline then please Catherine yes we're now going still in the UK to
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cycling weekly the headline is Prime Minister Boris Johnson says this should
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be a new golden age for cycling so golden age a period in which a
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particular activity is popular or successful yes so two words again golden
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gol de n and the second word age AG e so golden age now this is slightly
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confusing for me because I know what golden means it's an adjective which
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describes things that are gold that material or color so what's the
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connection yes the precious metal gold the
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adjective form is golden it can be golden gol te and if something is golden
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it's literally made of gold or it's golden color but we're using this in a
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more figurative sense so if something is golden it means that it's valuable it's
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successful it's important everybody loves it everybody wants it so golden
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here describes success and popularity and age a GE is a period of time so
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together the expression golden age means a period of great success and great
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popularity now with the headline Boris Johnson is saying but it's Prime
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Minister Boris Johnson is saying that there will be lots of popularity and
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success with cycling it will be a golden age he's saying but you can use it not
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just for transport for any phase in any really sphere of life it can be business
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it can be politics it can be your own personal life where a Golden Age is
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successful period in your life now I know that you really love old films
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Catherine we often hear about the Golden Age of Hollywood yes you can talk about
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the Golden Age of Hollywood and that was in their 1950s when they made lots of
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movies with big production values lots of dancing singing they were very very
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glamorous lots of movie stars this is described as the Golden Age of Hollywood
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and you can really talk about any success period being the Golden Age of
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something for example the two day the early 21st century can be described as
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the Golden Age of social media when lots of companies were having a lot of
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success with it yeah okay do we hear any other precious metals used in this way
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well we have a lot of expressions with silver but their word silver as an
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adjective often describes older people in fact you can talk about a silver
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surfer being an older person who uses the internet for example okay let's now
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have a summary of that expression Golden Age
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if you would like to watch another program and learn an expression
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connected to cycling we have the perfect thing for you don't we Catherine yes we
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do click the link in the description to find out what the English phrase like
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riding a bike means and how to use it ok let's now have a look at the final
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headline please let's do that and we're going to the telegraph in the UK the
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headline reads at the crossroads why coronavirus could turn Britain into a
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cycling nation at the crossroads at a point when an important decision needs
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to be made yes three word expression this time at 80 the tha crossroads C R o
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SS ro ad s at the crossroads now Mia you know what a crossroads is don't you yeah
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crossroads is when you've got one road going like that and you've got another
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road crossing it yes so two roads going in different directions that meet and
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cross each other so you haven't least four different options for directions of
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trouble when you reach it crossroads don't you you do yes so are we talking
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now about figurative changes of direction well we are yes if it's not to
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do with transport even though this story is about transport and that's probably
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why they've used this expression you can be at a crossroads meaning you have a
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decision to make about what's going to happen next now this could be a big
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decision in your life it usually is a big decision something like shall I get
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married or which university shall I go to or maybe you want to change your job
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so it's when you're at a point in your life when you've got a big decision to
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make I'm sure you've been at the crossroads a few times in your life here
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I guess we all have yes deciding whether or not to have children as you as you
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said or deciding to change your career I worked as a journalist before for
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example I decided to change my career that was I was at the crossroads when I
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made that decision yeah and there's a fixed phrase at the crossroads
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crossroads is always plural in this phrase it's not just about personal
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decisions it can be about bigger big business decisions a company can be at
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the crossroads deciding whether it's going to branch out into a new area or
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whether it's going to close some online stores or how it's going to kind of
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develop next big decisions when a big decision is facing you you are at the
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crossroads we often hear about the climate being at a crossroads at the
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moment yes we could say this planet is at the crossroads what happens to it
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next depends on human activity yeah so it's future direction is in the process
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of being decided I suppose it's up to us okay
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well let's have a summary of that final expression
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time now then just for a summary of our vocabulary
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yes we had boon time a period in which there is a large increase in demand for
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something we had golden age a period in which a particular activity is popular
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or successful and we had at the crossroads at a point where an important
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decision needs to be made I bet you would love to test yourself on that
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vocabulary which you can do by checking out our website BBC learning english.com
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stay safe and join us next time bye
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