Turkey and Syria earthquakes: BBC News Review

Another earthquake has hit Turkey, near the border with Syria.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil and I'm Beth.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn vocabulary to talk about this story.

And there's a quiz on our website where you can test yourself

on the vocabulary you've learnt from this news story.

Now, let's hear more.

Turkey has been hit by another powerful earthquake.

Two weeks ago, tremors affecting Turkey and Syria

killed over forty four thousand people and left thousands homeless.

The latest quake has caused

many buildings weakened by earlier tremors to collapse.

You've been looking at the headlines Beth.

What's the vocabulary?

We have 'fresh', 'rattle' and 'wind down'.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This is from the Financial Times.

Fresh tremors hit earthquake devastated province in Turkey.

Yes, so tremors have hit again.

Tremors are when the Earth moves because of an earthquake.

We are looking though at the word 'fresh' in the headline

which most people will know.

But why, Beth, is it being used in this context, and what does it mean?

Well yeah, people know about it because we often use the word

'fresh' when we're talking about food and that means that it's at its best,

really it's 'new'.

OK, so when we see the expression 'fresh tremors' it means 'new

tremors' new earthquakes. Yeah, exactly.

So we know that two weeks ago areas in Turkey and Syria were hit

and now they have been hit again,

so 'fresh' refers to the tremors being new and different.

Yes and there are other things you can use 'fresh' to talk about

with this sense of something being new for example,

in your everyday life, maybe you're studying for an exam

and you take a break overnight and look at your notes again

in the morning with fresh eyes.

That's right. Or maybe you forget to drink your coffee.

It goes cold. So you have to make a fresh cup.

OK, let's look at that again.

Let's look at our next headline.

This is from Hürriyet Daily News.

Hospitals evacuated right after new tremors rattle Hatay

Yes. So, hospitals were evacuated.

That means people had to be moved from them

because it was a dangerous situation.

The area was rattled by earthquakes and we're looking at 'rattled'. It means,

as a verb, shake violently.

Yeah. Now, when everything shakes in an earthquake,

the tremors make the earth move very quickly and

this word 'rattle' is very often used in negative situations. Isn't it?

Yes, so imagine really really strong winds.

They might rattle the windows of a house.

or maybe somebody walks into a table, bumps into a table.

The plates and cups might rattle.

Yeah. Now, this word 'rattle' can also be used as a noun

and it means a loud and repeated noise.

Now, babies often play with a rattle.

It's a toy that they shake.

It makes a rattle, the noise, and the name of it is a rattle.

And you probably know the animal a rattlesnake.

It shakes its tail violently and it also makes that sound - rattle.

Let's look at that again.

Our next headline.

This is from the Washington Post.

Death toll from Turkey-Syria earthquakes rises to forty six thousand

as rescues wind down.

'Wind down' is the verb we're looking at.

So, rescues after the first earthquake were winding down.

That's the expression.

That's the word we're looking at. What does it mean?

Well, 'wind down' means that something is gradually ending.

So in the headline.

It's referring to the rescues.

They were ending in stages.

Yes, and this is a phrasal verb we can use with lots of other situations.

So, for example, a company might be struggling a bit.

And so they decide to wind down their operations.

Yeah. And it can be used in informal situations as well.

So maybe a meeting.

They tend to wind down towards the end of the working day.

Yes, and there's another meaning. You can wind down, meaning 'relax'.

So, after a hard day at work.

You might wind down by listening to music.

That's right.

Now a note about the pronunciation.

'Wind' ends with a 'd' sound and 'down' begins with a 'd' so

when we say 'wind down' together, you might notice

that the 'd' at the end of 'wind' disappears - 'wind down'.

Let's look at that again.

We've had 'fresh' - new or different.

'Rattle' - move quickly and often loudly.

And 'wind down' - gradually end, often in stages.

Now, to learn and practice the disappearing /d/ sound in English

phrases like ‘wind down’ – you need to watch this video right here, right now.

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Thanks for joining us. Bye.