Long Covid: Three types identified: BBC News Review

83,726 views ・ 2022-08-17

BBC Learning English


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Long Covid.
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Scientists say there are three types.
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This is News Review from BBC Learning English.
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I'm Sian. And I'm Beth.
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Make sure you watch to the end to learn how to talk about the story.
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And remember: Subscribe to our channel, like this video,
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and try the quiz on our website.
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Now, today's story.
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Long Covid.
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Millions of people around the world have reported symptoms of Covid-19
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more than twelve weeks after getting the disease.
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Now, research by scientists in the UK
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has identified three different types of long Covid.
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Some people suffer brain fog and headaches.
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Others have breathing problems.
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And a third group experience a range of symptoms.
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Before we look at the headlines,
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a quick look at the word 'brain fog'.
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This is a condition when you feel confusion
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and you can't think clearly.
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Now, let's look at the vocabulary today, Beth.
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So today,
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we have 'unknown enemy', 'rockets' and 'being sold'.
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This is News Review from BBC Learning English.
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Let's have a look at our first headline.
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This one comes from the Guardian:
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So, this headline is from an opinion piece about long Covid, and the word
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we're looking at here is 'unknown enemy'. So, 'enemy' -
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that's the opposite of a friend, right?
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Well, yeah.
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As I'm sure you know, an enemy is someone that hates you.
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They want to harm you.
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You have to defend yourself against them.
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We can think of some good fictional examples from films and books.
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Yes, so in Star Wars
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we have Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader
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are enemies. We have Harry Potter and Voldemort.
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They are enemies, but also ordinary people like us. We can have enemies too.
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Yeah. And usually you know quite a bit about your enemy.
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You probably know their personality and their type of behaviour,
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but an 'unknown enemy' is different. And with long Covid,
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we have the perfect example,
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as in this headline.
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Yeah. So, because it is so new scientists don't really know that much about long
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Covid yet. They haven't had enough time to study it,
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so it's behaviour isn't known, and for that reason we call it an unknown enemy.
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And the sense here
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is that it's more worrying because it's unknown.
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So, it might not be as bad as we think.
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But then again, it might be a lot worse.
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And that's the key meaning of 'unknown enemy'.
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Indeed. And there's that old saying, isn't there?
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'Know your enemy'.
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At least you know what to expect. Or the phrase:
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'Keep your friends close.
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Keep your enemies closer.'
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Well, it's a good job we're friends then, Sian.
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Exactly. Let's look at that again.
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Let's have our next headline. This one comes from ITV:
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OK. So, the headline is saying that demand for medical services
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for people suffering from long
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Covid has increased very quickly. And the word
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we're looking at here is 'rockets'.
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Now, I know what a rocket is.
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Yes, it's something that blasts
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off the ground into space. It can also be a weapon.
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It's really just something that goes up
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and goes up very quickly.
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But here, we are not talking
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about an actual rocket,
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are we? Here, in the headline,
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it's used as a verb.
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Yes, it is a verb and it's used metaphorically, but really,
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it's just the same sense as the rocket that blasts into space.
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So, it's something that goes up very quickly,
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and thinking back to the headline,
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we heard that demand for medical services from people with long
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Covid has gone up quickly.
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Exactly. But it's not just demands that can rocket, is it?
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What other things can rocket?
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Yeah. So, you can use in other ways. For example,
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prices can rocket. Now,
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inflation is something that is affecting almost everyone in the world right now,
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so, prices are rocketing. Or even 'sky rocketing' -
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which is a more extreme way of saying the same thing.
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Let's look at that again.
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Can we have the next headline, please, Beth?
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Yes, this one comes from The Conversation:
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OK. So, let's break this headline down.
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So, there are a list of three possible cures that they say
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are being sold. And we're going to look at the use of this 'being sold' here.
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Yeah. And this is a bit more complicated than you might think.
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So, I'm sure you know that
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'sold' comes from 'sell', and 'sell' is giving something in return for money.
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So, are we talking about people paying money for these cures?
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Yes. And this is the confusing part.
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So, some people are actually paying money for cures,
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but we can also use 'sell' in another way.
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So, it can mean that someone is trying to convince
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or persuade someone else that something is right
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or a good idea. And in this case, no money needs to be involved.
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Yes, and 'sell' is often used in this way to talk about ideas. So, for example:
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'He tried to sell me the idea that people didn't really land on the Moon'.
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So, this means he tried to persuade me
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that the Moon landings didn't actually happen.
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Yes. Good example. And the sense is often that
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the thing that someone is trying to convince you of is
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maybe a bit wrong or you can't really trust it.
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But, you can trust us.
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We will never try and sell you a bad definition.
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So, let's look at that again.
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OK. So, we had 'unknown enemy' - something or someone wants to harm you,
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but you don't know how. 'Rockets' - goes
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up quickly'. 'Being sold' - being persuaded
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that something is a good idea,
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but can you trust it?
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Don't forget, there is a quiz on our website:
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bbclearningenglish.com
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Thank you for joining us, goodbye. Bye.
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