Sweden to join Nato: BBC News Review

79,640 views ・ 2024-02-28

BBC Learning English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Sweden, traditionally neutral, joins Nato.
0
480
3960
00:04
This is News Review from BBC
1
4440
2240
00:06
Learning English where we help you understand news headlines in English.
2
6680
4560
00:11
I'm Neil. and I'm Phil.
3
11240
2040
00:13
Make sure you watch to the end to learn the vocabulary
4
13280
2960
00:16
that you need to talk about this story.
5
16240
2120
00:18
Don't forget to subscribe to our channel
6
18360
3040
00:21
so you can learn more English from news headlines. Now, the story.
7
21400
5520
00:27
Sweden is to join NATO
8
27960
2160
00:30
after two hundred years of neutrality.
9
30120
4360
00:34
The nation applied to join the defence alliance
10
34480
3160
00:37
after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
11
37640
4720
00:42
All Nato members are expected to help an ally
12
42360
3640
00:46
if attacked. Hungary was the final Nato member to approve the invitation.
13
46000
6880
00:52
You've been looking at the headlines
14
52880
1360
00:54
Phil. What's the vocabulary
15
54240
1800
00:56
people need to understand this news story in English?
16
56040
3200
00:59
We have clears path, final hurdle and farewell.
17
59240
5800
01:05
This is News Review from BBC Learning English.
18
65040
3840
01:16
Let's have a look at our first headline.
19
76800
1920
01:18
This is from the BBC. Hungary's parliament
20
78720
4640
01:23
clears path for Sweden's Nato membership.
21
83360
3080
01:26
So, Hungary was the last member of Nato to approve
22
86440
4440
01:30
Sweden's membership.
23
90880
1440
01:32
It clears a path for Sweden.
24
92320
2720
01:35
That's the expression that we're looking at. It contains that word path. Now
25
95040
4840
01:39
a path is another word for a route a way from one place to another,
26
99880
4960
01:44
often in a park or in the countryside.
27
104840
3560
01:48
Yes, it is. And clear - it's often an adjective, but in this case,
28
108400
4760
01:53
it's a verb and it means to physically remove the obstacles
29
113160
4080
01:57
that are stopping you from walking on the path.
30
117240
2560
01:59
OK. Now let's use our imaginations, Phil.
31
119800
2480
02:02
Here we have Sweden and here we have NATO and there is a path between the two.
32
122280
5360
02:07
But imagine that path is covered with trees and bushes. Hungary
33
127640
4840
02:12
comes along and clears the path is a useful way of thinking about it. It's
34
132480
5160
02:17
a very literal way of looking at it. Here
35
137640
2720
02:20
the obstacles are political.
36
140360
1800
02:22
They are to do with votes and decisions
37
142160
2520
02:24
and Hungary's decision has cleared the path for Sweden to join Nato. Now,
38
144680
6320
02:31
I think there's another way we could use this to talk about the world
39
151000
1960
02:32
of work, isn't there, Neil?
40
152960
1120
02:34
Yes so imagine at work,
41
154080
2160
02:36
you want to get a promotion.
42
156240
1400
02:37
There's an opportunity for a promotion.
43
157640
2160
02:39
But there is somebody else who has more experience and qualifications than you.
44
159800
5560
02:45
However, that person decides to leave the organisation and that act
45
165360
5360
02:50
clears the path for you to get the promotion.
46
170720
3680
02:54
Let's look at that again.
47
174400
2160
03:04
Let's have a look at our next headline.
48
184200
2160
03:06
This is from the Financial Times.
49
186360
2600
03:08
Sweden overcomes final hurdle to join Nato in historic shift.
50
188960
6120
03:15
OK, so it says that Sweden overcomes something.
51
195080
3920
03:19
It means they have solved a problem. And in this case,
52
199000
2640
03:21
it's a hurdle. But what's a hurdle?
53
201640
2800
03:24
We need to know what a hurdle is to understand this headline.
54
204440
3080
03:27
Yes, well, a hurdle is one of those frames that athletes jump over
55
207520
4560
03:32
  when they are in a hurdle race
56
212080
2240
03:34
and actually, I can already see a link between this headline
57
214320
3600
03:37
and the last one because that was all about removing obstacles. And a hurdle
58
217920
4600
03:42
is an obstacle, yes.
59
222520
1640
03:44
So, Sweden's final hurdle or final obstacle
60
224160
3360
03:47
to joining NATO was Hungary's vote to approve them and they overcame it.
61
227520
5680
03:53
Can you give us another example?
62
233200
2080
03:55
Well, the reason that we make News Review
63
235280
2760
03:58
is to help you overcome any hurdles in understanding the news in English.
64
238040
4760
04:02
The words and phrases that we teach you
65
242800
1720
04:04
will help you overcome those hurdles.
66
244520
2560
04:07
Let's look at that again.
67
247080
2120
04:16
Let's have our next headline.
68
256200
1840
04:18
This is from the Guardian.
69
258040
2640
04:20
Sweden will complete its long farewell to neutrality
70
260680
3800
04:24
with Nato accession. So here in this headline neutrality
71
264480
5360
04:29
means that Sweden hasn't taken sides in any war or conflict
72
269840
4040
04:33
for two hundred years. But now,
73
273880
2040
04:35
they are abandoning that neutrality.
74
275920
2600
04:38
The word, though, that we're looking at is farewell.
75
278520
3160
04:41
What can you tell us about farewell Phil?
76
281680
2680
04:44
OK, well this is quite an old formal English word.
77
284360
4160
04:48
Historically, it meant go well or travel well.
78
288520
4200
04:52
But, really, it's just another way of saying goodbye,
79
292720
3920
04:56
but Phil is it the same as saying goodbye?
80
296640
2160
04:58
I've never heard you say at the end of a working day
81
298800
3240
05:02
"farewell!" Well, you can say farewell
82
302040
3560
05:05
at the end of the working day, but it would sound a bit strange.
83
305600
5200
05:10
We tend to use farewell for something
84
310800
2240
05:13
that's kind of an emotional goodbye an important
85
313040
3280
05:16
goodbye, or something that's very final. Yeah.
86
316320
3280
05:19
So if I was going to move to a different country,
87
319600
3280
05:22
I might have a farewell party and I might make a farewell speech
88
322880
4560
05:27
at that party, but I wouldn't do those things
89
327440
3120
05:30
If I was just going home.
90
330560
2040
05:32
No. It has this kind of poetic and romantic sense.
91
332600
3400
05:36
So we could talk about a fond farewell, an emotional farewell.
92
336000
4360
05:40
And if you want a really old fashioned formal English way of saying goodbye,
93
340360
4320
05:44
you could say I bid you farewell.
94
344680
2160
05:46
Now it's nearly time
95
346840
2000
05:48
for us to say goodbye.
96
348840
1240
05:50
Not farewell because we will be back next week. Let's look at that again.
97
350080
5200
06:01
We've had clears path
98
361200
1640
06:02
makes something easier to achieve. Final hurdle
99
362840
3280
06:06
The last thing stopping you from doing something
100
366120
2600
06:08
and farewell
101
368720
1240
06:09
another way of saying goodbye.
102
369960
1560
06:11
Now, if you like things about making important decisions,
103
371520
4151
06:15
why not check out our leadership playlist?
104
375671
2967
06:18
Don't forget to click here to subscribe to our. channel,
105
378638
2571
06:21
so you never miss another video.
106
381209
1648
06:22
Thank you for joining us and goodbye!
107
382857
1821
06:24
Goodbye!
108
384678
1037
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7