China's Covid Recovery: BBC News Review

Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.  

I'm Tom and joining me today is Catherine. Hi Catherine.

Hello Tom. Hello everybody. Today we're looking at a recovery in the Chinese economy.

And don't forget if you want to test yourself on the vocabulary that you  

learned today we have a quiz at www.bbclearningenglish.com.  

Now, let's hear more about today's news story from a BBC World News bulletin:

Yes, so a lot of countries have experienced economic downturns due to the coronavirus,  

but China says its economy is recovering. Now, this is partly due to the travel restrictions,  

which mean that Chinese people are choosing to holiday in China instead of going abroad.

And we've got three words and phrases that you can use to talk about today's story.

Yes, we have: 'bounce back', 'accelerates' and 'rebound'.

'Bounce back', 'accelerates' and 'rebound'.

Catherine, can you give us today's first headline please?

Yes. We're starting here in the UK with BBC News – the headline:

'Bounce back' – return to a high level. What can you tell us about 'bounce back', Catherine?

Oh, I can tell you lots about 'bounce back', Tom,  

starting with: it's a phrasal verb. It's made of two words:  

the first word is 'bounce' – B-O-U-N-C-E – and the second word is 'back' – B-A-C-K.

Now, 'bounce' is a verb of movement  

and it's often associated with balls. So, do you like ball games, Tom?

I do like a game of tennis from time to time, yes. Why?

Well, think about your tennis ball, Tom:  

what happens if you get your tennis ball and you throw it against the ground or a wall?

So, if I get my tennis ball and I throw it against the wall, it will bounce  

and it will come back to me, so you're right it will 'bounce back'.

It'll 'bounce back' with a lot of energy as well;  

it's not like a small movement, a bounce, is it? It's really, kind of, quite powerful.

It is, yes, but what does this have to do with economic recovery?

Aha! Good question. Well, if you think about that recovery – that the ball  

comes back with lots of energy... an economic 'bounce back' means that the economy has  

struggled, it has fallen, it's slowed down, but it turns around and begins to recover:  

it has more energy, it grows again. And that's the sense of this economic  

'bounce back', which we can also use as a noun phrase: in China the economy is growing stronger. 

It was weak. It was struggling, but now it's strong and powerful.

So, we can use it to, kind of, indicate a comeback.  

Now, I'm thinking of a famous British politician who made a comeback recently.

Well, Boris Johnson, the prime minister, came back or 'bounced back' from coronavirus.

He was really quite ill with it and now he's back to health, so that's a 'bounce back'.  

You can 'bounce back' from anything bad: a breakup, you know, a bad job situation,  

an illness, lots of things. When you get better and you feel better, you've 'bounced back'.

'To bounce back' – a very useful word. Thank you, Catherine.

OK. 'Bounce back' was a phrasal verb and we've got plenty more  

about phrasal verbs as well, don't we Catherine?

Most definitely, and if you want to see some videos, just click the link down below there.

Click the link. Click the link.

OK, fantastic. Catherine, let's have a look at your second headline please.

Yes. We're still in the UK with The Independent this time:

'Accelerates' – goes faster. What can you tell us about 'accelerates', Catherine?

I can tell you that 'accelerates' is a verb. It's spelt like this: A-C-C-E-L-E-R-A-T-E-S.  

The 's' because the subject is China's economy in this case. Yes. Now, for pronunciation we've  

got a four syllable word here: 'ac – cel – er – ates'.

And the stress, Tom is where?

'ac-CEL-erates'. So, it's 'accelerates'.  

Often with four syllable words we can find the stress on the second syllable.

Second syllable it is. Now 'accelerates' describes speed. It describes increasing  

speed. If something accelerates, it goes faster and faster. Now, if you're driving  

you use a pedal with your foot to make your car or bike go faster and that pedal is called what, Tom?

That is the 'accelerator'. That's the name of the  

pedal and we can say it gives us increased 'acceleration'.

Good noun! Good noun – 'acceleration'. Now, what has this got to do with the Chinese economy?  

Well, 'accelerate' is to do with speed but it can be not just physical speed in a  

vehicle – moving vehicle – it's to do with growth in this case. The growth is getting  

faster and faster and faster, so the economy's growth is getting faster: it's accelerating.  

Things are not always – it's not always about upward movement. A decline or a decrease can  

also 'accelerate'. If something's going down faster and faster, it's still 'accelerating'.

So, it describes the speed at which something moves and we can use it to describe a car,  

or a quickening trend like the growth in China.  

Are there any other words we could use with accelerate?

Yes. Now, we can often use adjectives and adverbs depending on whether it's a verb or a noun.

So, you can talk about things 'quickly accelerating'. You can talk about them 'accelerating steadily',  

for example. A very, very common word to use is 'rapidly' – something 'accelerates rapidly' or  

you can talk about a 'rapid acceleration' and that means a very fast acceleration.

It sounds very dramatic, doesn't it? Yeah.

You 'rapidly accelerate' from something. OK. Wonderful. Thank you Catherine.

And we have more videos about driving as well, don't we?

We do: in fact, driving without a driver. To watch a video all about  

driverless cars, just click the link.

Fantastic. And let's have a look at our next headline please.

Yes. We're in the Middle East for this one – it's Al Jazeera and the headline:

And we can see that word 'accelerate' again.

So, 'rebound' – recovery. What can you tell us about rebound?

Yes. Now, R-E-B-O-U-N-D – 'rebound' – begins with that little prefix,

or prefix, 're-' – 'R-E'. Now, 're-' means what, Tom?

It means to happen again, doesn't it?

Exactly. The key part of the prefix is 'again'. 'Bound',  

and 'rebound' I should say, is very similar to a 'comeback' or a 'bounce back'. If something's  

gone away and then it comes back, it's 'rebounded'. Something got bad; it got better...  

we talk about a 'rebound'. So, the Chinese economy was bad; now it's better, it's 'rebounded'.

So, I heard you use 'rebound' as a verb as well. Is that right?

Yes, it is. It's a verb as well as a noun. The pronunciation is slightly different though.  

So, when this word is a noun, the stress is on the first syllable, like this: 

'RE-bound'.

And when it's a verb we stress the second syllable, like this: 

're-BOUND' – as in the Chinese economy has 'rebounded'.

Good example.

So, my favourite use of the noun 'rebound' is as part of a fixed expression to talk  

about relationships. Can you tell us more please?

Oh yes, this is a good one. Now Tom, imagine  

that you were deeply in love with somebody and then they broke up with you.

That sounds awful.

Awful, awful, awful... Terrible.

...but somebody else came along quite quickly, after about two weeks, and you fell in love with  

them and you started dating them and all your friends were a little bit worried about it.

Sounds like a bit of a rush, actually: it doesn't sound like a very good idea.

Because you're not ready for the relationship. You went into it 'on the rebound'.

'On the rebound'. So, I kind of bounced off my last relationship

straight into a new one... Yep.

...that perhaps isn't perfect or appropriate.

Because you're not ready for it, yes. So, don't go into relationships 'on the rebound', Tom.

Give yourself a break in between. You should.

Great. Catherine, can you please recap today's vocabulary for us?

Sure. We had: 'bounce back' – return to a high level.

'Accelerates' – goes faster.

And 'rebound' – recovery.

And don't forget you can test yourself as well at www.bbclearningenglish.com  

and as well as the website we are all over social media. That's it from us today, so  

I will see you next time. Say goodbye, Catherine.

Bye! Bye everyone. Thank you.