Iceland prepares for volcano: BBC News Review

Thousands evacuated in Iceland

ahead of expected volcanic eruption.

This is News Review from BBC

Learning English, where we teach you how to understand the news in English.

I'm Beth. And I'm Phil.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn the words

that you need to talk about this story.

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Now, today's story.

Thousands of people have been evacuated

from their homes in Iceland

after a state of emergency was declared. Cracks have appeared in roads

after a series of earthquakes and there are

fears the Fagradalsfjall volcano will soon erupt. A huge eruption

in 2010 in Iceland disrupted air travel around the world.

You've been looking at the headlines.

What's the vocabulary that people need to understand this news story in English.

We have 'imminent', 'swarm' and 'frantic'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This is from Sky News.

Cracks appear in roads amid fears of imminent volcanic eruption.

Now, this story tells us that roads have been damaged as worries grow

about a potential volcanic eruption.

We're going to look at the word 'imminent'. Phil,

is this related to bad things?

Yes, we often use 'imminent'

with bad things, like a volcano preparing to erupt,

and it means that we think it's going to happen very soon

and it's scaring us.

OK, so we use it with bad things are about to happen.

What common phrases might we see it in?

Well, we might talk about an 'imminent disaster', an 'imminent attack'

or an 'imminent crisis' and it has this idea that there is a bad thing hanging

over a situation that we think is about to happen soon.

It reminds me of a similar word 'impending'. 'Impending' is used

in a similar way to say something negative is about to happen.

OK, let's look at that again.

Next headline please.

This is from TTG Media.

Iceland declares state of emergency amid intense swarm of earthquakes.

Now, this is about the earthquakes which could be a sign

that a volcanic eruption is imminent.

We're going to learn about the word

'swarm'. Now 'swarm'

reminds me of insects.

What has that got to do with volcanoes and earthquakes?

OK, so what is a swarm of insects?

Well, it's a large group of insects that all fly together. For example,

if you disturb a hive of bees all the bees will come out.

That's a swarm of bees.

OK, so there's a large number and when

seismologists, that's people who study

earthquakes, talk about a 'swarm of earthquakes'

they mean that there is a large number of them close together

that appear in a short space of time

and that's often a sign of volcanic activity.

OK, so there are two things about the word 'swarm'. One -

it's a large number and two -

it's something negative.

Now, we can also use 'swarm' for people,

but usually only when we think that they are a problem.

OK, yes, so if there were a lot of tourists,

you might say there's a swarm of tourists because you think

it's a problem. Celebrities might be chased by a swarm of journalists,

which doesn't sound very pleasant.

It doesn't. OK, let's look at that again.

Next headline please.

This is from Edinburgh Live.

Frantic Edinburgh couple race home from Iceland

after travelling despite warnings.

So, this story is about tourists in Iceland

who are worried about what's happening.

The word that we're looking at is 'frantic'. Phil,

when do we use this word?

Well, this story's about tourists

but there's probably a lot of people feeling like that right now.

You said 'worried', but frantic is a bit more than that.

It's about being so worried that you find it hard to do things or hard

to control yourself, even.

OK, so if you're frantic

it's a little bit like you're panicking

and you might even do the wrong thing because you're so worried.

Yeah, because we often use this to talk about the way we do things

we can use the adverb 'frantically' to describe things done in a hurry

because you're worried or scared.

OK, let's look at that again.

We've had 'imminent' - about to happen

'Swarm'- a large number of bad things

and 'frantic' - worried and out of control.

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