Why are fewer people going to the countryside? 6 Minute English

Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute

English. I'm Neil.

Catherine: Hi! And I'm Catherine.

Neil: Now, Catherine, when was the last

time you went for a walk in the country for

fun, for exercise or relaxation?

Catherine: People do that?

Neil: Well, believe it or not, they do.

Catherine: Interesting, people are strange.

Neil: Well, it sounds like you should pay

close attention to today's programme

because it's all about how fewer and

fewer people are venturing out into the country.

Catherine: Well, I wonder if that word is

part of the problem. To venture out

somewhere suggests that it's a big

challenge, or even a risky activity.

Neil: I don't think a walk in the country

is a particularly dangerous activity, even

in bad weather. It's not one of the reasons

people gave in a recent survey for why they

don't do it. In fact, one of the biggest

reasons people gave was that it wouldn't

look good on their social media.

Catherine: Well, of course, why would you

go for a walk in the rain in the country if

you couldn't get good snaps for your

social media account?

Neil: Interesting you should say that

because it's the topic of this week's quiz

question. In the survey what percentage

of people gave the poor social media

photo opportunity as their reason for

not wanting to venture out into the

countryside. Was it:

a) around 10%, b) around 30% or c)

around 50%? What do you think?

Catherine: To be honest, I don't think that

would be a good excuse at all, so I'm

going to say it's just 10%.

Neil: Listen out for the answer at the end

of the programme. Annabel Shackleton is from

an organisation called Leaf - Linking

Environment and Farming. They want to

encourage more people to visit the

countryside. She recently appeared

on the BBC's Farming Today radio

programme. She gave her response to

the survey we mentioned which revealed

that many of us prefer to stay indoors.

What does she say a quarter of people

in the survey know and believe?

Annabel Shackleton: I can't believe that 4

in 10 millennials think they should spend

more time in the countryside and a

quarter of them know and believe that it's

much better and easier to relax in the

countryside but they're just not going out.

It's phenomenal.

Catherine: She was talking about a group in

the survey which she called millennials. This

term refers to people who are young

adults now, people who were born in the

1980s and 1990s.

Are you a millennial, Neil?

Neil: No, I'm actually Generation X, the

age group before millennials. We were

born in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s.

Shackleton said that a quarter of

millennials know and believe

that it's better and easier to relax in the

country, but they just don't go.

Catherine: She thought it was

phenomenal. Now this adjective means

that something is

incredible, unbelievable. It's often used

for something that is positive, something

that is very impressive or amazing.

Neil: In this case though she is using it

to say how shocked and surprised she is that

people know going out in the country is

good and a great way to relax but they

still don't do it. So what explanation does

she have for this phenomenal behaviour.

Here's Annabel Shackleton again.

Annabel Shackleton: There are just so

many other distractions and it's just so

easy for people to stay indoors.

You know and they're using excuses like

they haven't got the right

clothing, it's not instagramable, would you

believe it? And yes, it's a shame.

Catherine: She said that there are many

other distractions. A distraction is

something that takes your attention

away from doing something.

Usually we think of a distraction as

something that delays us from

doing something more important.

Neil: These days we have a lot of

distractions or things that offer us easy

entertainment.

So it's very easy to come up with an

excuse for not taking the time to go outside.

Catherine: Another very good excuse of

course is the weather. It's not a lot of fun

to go out if it's cold

and pouring with rain.

Neil: Well, a very wise person once said

that there is no such thing as the wrong

weather, just the wrong clothing!

Catherine: True, Neil, but you have to have

the right clothing in the first place and

if the weather is terrible you might not be

able to get good pictures for your

Instagram account. They might not be

instagramable.

Now you're not going to find that word in

the dictionary, but you probably know that

the suffix able means 'possible'. So put 'able'

on the end of Instagram and you get

instagramable.

Neil: And that brings us neatly back to our

question. What percentage of people in the

survey said that they wouldn't go out in

the country because they wouldn't get

good pictures for social media?

Was it around 10%, 30% or

50%. What did you say, Catherine?

Catherine: I said 10.

Neil: And the answer was about 30%!

Catherine: What is the world coming to?

Neil: I don't know what the world is

coming to, but we are coming to the end

of the programme,

so time to review today's vocabulary.

Catherine: We started off with to venture

out somewhere, which simply means to

go out somewhere,

but usually when the conditions are

bad, for example - it was pouring with rain

but I still decided to venture out to the

shops.

Neil: We heard about millennials and

Generation X. Different age groups,

millennials are those who became adults

in the early 21st century, and Generation X

are from the previous generation,

who became adults in the 1980s and 1990s.

Catherine: Something phenomenal is

amazing, surprising and unbelievable.

Neil: And then we had distractions for

activities that prevent us from doing more

important things.

Catherine: And one of the biggest

distractions is social media. Put the suffix

able onto the end of the name of a

social media platform and you create a

word that describes something

that is suitable for posting, so

instagramable.

Neil: bbclearningenglish is certainly

instagramable, facebookable, tweetable

and youtubeable. You can find us on

all those platforms as well as on our

website. So do check us out there

before joining us again for more 6 Minute

English. Goodbye.

Catherine: Goodbye!