Coronavirus: 99-year-old man raises millions for NHS: BBC News Review

hello and welcome to news of you once again we are still at home of course

because of the corona virus outbreak we can't go to the BBC studios but we are

here from our homes bringing you the news and the headlines hi Catherine how

are you hello name hello everybody yes I'm fine thank you we have got a really

heartwarming story heaven way today we have yes 99 year old captain Tom Moore

has been raising money for charity by walking round and round his garden ok

well let's find out some more about that story from this BBC news report when

captain Moore started his fundraising effort last month he initially wanted to

thank the staff who treated him for cancer and a broken hip but as the virus

spread around the world so too did generosity for those working in crowded

hospitals each time the fundraising goal was met

it was increased mr. Moore has now walked the 100 laps of his 25 meter

garden 10 laps each day allowing time to recover before another effort and he

says he will keep walking as long as people keep donating so captain Tom 99

years old he's been walking around his garden to raise money for the National

Health Service also known as NHS here in the UK now his original target was to

raise one thousand pounds but right now as Neil and I are recording this show

he's raised over 12 million pounds that's about 15 million dollars for the

NHS it's an amazing achievement especially considering his age he's 99

and his health problems he's already beaten cancer and he's had several hip

operations so he's a wonderful guy raising lots of money for charity and

he's doing this because he wants to say thank you to the National Health Service

workers who've helped both him out and are helping out thousands of people who

are suffering from the coronavirus okay well you've been looking at

this story and you've been picking out headlines and vocabulary that's useful

to talk about it what have you found yes we have fundraiser uplifting and vet

fundraiser uplifting and vet okay let's see your first headline please yes we're

going to BBC views here in the UK coronavirus captain Tom Maas NHS

fundraiser reaches 12 million pounds fundraiser event organized to raise

money yes it's a two-word expression fund and raiser fu nd Rai ser now the

first part of this expression fund refers to money second part raiser while

we know the word raise if you raise something you make it go up so

fundraiser means money going up and that's it you make money if a fundraiser

is an event that makes money now in particular fundraisers make money for

charity or for good causes so Neil imagine there is in your street there is

somebody who has a health problem yeah and they want some treatment and you

want to help them make to get some money for this treatment what kind of things

could you do as a fundraiser well typical kind of things could be for

example I might decide to take part in a marathon or some some kind of difficult

physical challenge that people would give me money and that money would go

towards the cause or might organize some kind of event in the evening where

people pay money for a ticket yeah and the money from those tickets goes

towards the good cause well there might be an auction or something along those

lines yeah good sounds something yes or people also

some people cook they bake cakes and they sell them and the money they make

from the cake sale goes towards a particular charity or a cause so it's

make doing something that makes money for a charity or a good cause that's not

the end of the fundraiser story that are other ways you can use the word

fundraiser we talk about political fundraisers now the idea is the same you

do an event that makes money but it goes to a political party of your choice so

it's not quite the same as money for you know stray cats or people who were real

or making and you roof for the school or something like that but a political

fundraiser is an event that makes money for a political party yeah and also we

use this word to refer to the person who is raising the funds yes so captain Tom

Moore is a fundraiser he's organized a fundraiser the event

because he is a fundraiser somebody who's making money and this is actually

a job description as well you can be a paid fundraiser that's somebody who

organizes events to make money for particular charities okay brilliant

let's have a summary of that word

now time for our second headline please Katherine yes we are going now to the

Express and star still in the UK the headline uplifting news

drumming weatherman goes viral and veterans fundraiser hits 11 million

pounds uplifting making people feel happier yes and it's two words again up

lifted you P LIF TI ng written there's one word

first pot is up and that's the opposite of down up lifting is the act of making

something go higher so if you lifting something up you're making it higher put

them together uplifting but this is about the way people feel it's about

your feelings your mood if something is uplifting

it makes your mood or your feeling better it makes you happy yeah and this

is we're talking a figuratively here aren't we yes absolutely it isn't about

and nothing comes along and hold you and makes you go higher it's very sort of

idiomatic idea of your spirits your feeling your mood you just feel good you

can talk about lots of things can be opening the I love you what was the last

uplifting movie you saw oh well there are plenty of uplifting movies around

out then songs can be uplifting as well but I think the most uplifting things

I've heard or seen recently are some of these stories that have come out of the

coronavirus crisis for example the the singing on the balconies in Italy and

playing guitars and stuff the Rainbows the children have been

making and then here in the UK every Thursday at 8 o'clock people go on to

their out into the street or stand in their front doors and they clap to say

thank you to the health workers who are helping people in this terrible crisis

all of those things are really uplifting they are very uplifting things they make

you really feel good and that kind of another word for

uplifting we can talk about heartwarming if something's heartwarming it's the

same idea it makes you feel a little bit happy and fuzzy inside it makes you feel

good so uplifting or heartwarming the things that make you happy and feel good

really important at times like these very much so yeah okay let's have a

summary of that so talking of things that are uplifting we have an uplifting

hopefully video for you don't we Catherine we do so we thought we would

share with you the kind of things that we've been doing to keep busy while

we're all at home so if you want to find out what Neil's been doing amongst other

babysitting's English stuff click the link in the description and you can find

out and it's not what you expect no it does involve cucumbers though okay let's

have a look at our final headline please okay and we're finishing up today with

Sky News from the UK again ninety nine year old war vet raises millions for NHS

that person who used to be in the Armed Forces

you confused deal by this way well as you can imagine Catherine I'm very very

confused because I thought a vet was some kind of animal doctor yes that ve T

is an animal doctor it's short for veterinarian but this particular 99 year

old is not an animal doctor he's a war vet now vet in this case is short for

veteran ve ter a N and if you're a war veteran or a war vet you have been that

you have fought in a war it comes really from the United States it comes from

North America doesn't it originally but we know what it means over here in the

UK yes most certainly there was on people often talked about Vietnam

people who fought in the Vietnam War from America but it's common now in the

UK you can often use an adjective or another noun in front of it so you've

got war vet means somebody who fought in a war you can talk about an army vet

somebody who was in there in the unite in the army a Navy vet an Air Force vet

so somebody who used to be in the Armed Forces it also has a wider usage doesn't

it beyond the military just to mean somebody who is probably old and very

experienced in their particular field yes it does yes so you can be a vet in

your profession and still do your profession or often we'll use the word

veteran for this purpose so you can be a broadcasting veteran that means somebody

who's been doing TV or online or radio for a long long time they're still doing

it everybody knows who they are they're very well respected they're kind of

senior in their profession so you can be a broadcasting veteran somebody like

David Attenborough is a broadcasting vet you kneeled you keep going for a few

years and one day maybe one day I will be you will you're not far off it now

there were you now now you'll soon be abroad a living english veteran okay

let's have a summary of that please

find out for a summary of the vocabulary we've looked at today please Katherine

yes we had fundraiser event organized to make money we had uplifting making

people feel happier and we had vet person who used to be in the Armed

Forces if you want to test yourself on this vocabulary there's a quiz you can

take on our website BBC learning english.com

you can find all kinds of other things videos quizzes to help you improve your

English do stay safe everybody and we'll see you next time goodbye say bye