English Reading Practice To Get Fluent Fast

18,013 views ・ 2023-11-21

JForrest English


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

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In this lesson, we're going to review  a news article together about a new  
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scientific discovery, and you're going  to learn a lot of advanced vocabulary,  
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grammar, expressions, and  pronunciation along the way.
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Welcome back to JForrest English.
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Of course, I'm Jennifer.
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Now let's get started.
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First, I'll read the headline.
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Researchers discover oldest known black hole  that existed not long after The Big Bang.
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So let's talk about this,  the oldest known black hole.
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So in this case, notice how I said  the oldest, but it's not here.
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You might be wondering about  that because you might know  
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that you need the when you're  making superlative statements.
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But in headlines, they often leave out essential  grammar just to make the headline shorter.
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So you need the oldest, the greatest,  the best, the strongest, the youngest.
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If you're making a superlative, you  need the the oldest, the oldest.
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Black hole, now known in this  case, is not functioning as a verb.
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For example, I've known about  the black hole for 20 minutes.
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I put that example here.
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So in this case it's the verb no,  but it's in the participle form.
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I've known about the black hole for 20 minutes,  but in this case, known is an adjective.
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It means understood or proven.
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Let's look at this.
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This should be.
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It's.
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It's a fact that your videos are helpful.
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So you could say that to me, Jennifer,  It's a fact that your videos are helpful.
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Thank you so much.
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Now you can add, it's a known fact because  remember, adjectives are not required for grammar.
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So I can take it out and it's  still grammatically correct,  
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but when I add it's a known fact, I'm  making it sound like it's something  
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that's more understood by a large number  of people or you could even prove it.
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So I'm just emphasizing the point.
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It's a known fact that your videos are helpful.
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So it sounds stronger than  just saying it's a fact.
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So if you agree with this, I want you to  put it's a known fact in the comments.
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But Jennifer, it's a known fact  that your videos are helpful.
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It's a known fact.
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Put it in the comments.
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Now don't worry about taking notes  because I summarize everything in  
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a free lesson PDF so you can look  in the description for the length.
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So let's continue and learn about this black hole.
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So I guess this is an image right  here in this box of the black hole.
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I am not a science expert.
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I don't know very much about black holes.
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Do you?
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Because maybe I will learn a lot  about black holes in this article.
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And you'll learn a lot about black  holes and English from this article.
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The discovery of a gigantic black  hole, billions of light years from  
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Earth is giving researchers a clear  picture of the dawn of the universe.
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Gigantic.
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This is another adjective for  very large, extremely large.
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So if you want to emphasize  large, you can use gigantic.
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I have a gigantic problem.
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I ate a gigantic piece of cake.
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I wrote those examples for you.
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Now let's talk about light years.
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I did not know what this was.
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Well, I have an idea, but I didn't know what  the exact definition of a light year is.
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I knew it was a form of measurement.
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So it's the distance that  light travels in one year.
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I did not know that it was in one year,  
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and I certainly did not know that  it's 9.5 million million kilometers.
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I can't even imagine how many kilometers that is.
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That's a light year.
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And this is a gigantic, gigantic black hole.
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Billions of light years.
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So remember, one light year is  9.5 million million kilometers.
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So just imagine how far away  billions of light years is.
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Can't imagine it.
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Billions of light years from Earth is  giving researchers A clearer picture.
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So remember I said before, when  you have a superlative we use the  
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because you could say is giving  researchers the clearest picture.
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But and you we need to use the and when  you have the EST, the clearest picture.
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But that's not the meaning  because it changes the meaning.
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A clearer is just a comparative it's more than  previous, but it's not the clearest which is  
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the absolute greatest, the clearest picture,  a clearer picture of the dawn of the universe.
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Dawn is a period of time in  the morning when the sun rises,  
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and that takes place at different  times around the world, right?
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So if you said I start work before dawn, it  means you start work before the sun rises.
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So if the sun rises at 5:00 AM in your country,  
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it means you start work at  440-5430 or anytime before dawn.
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So that is just dawn as a time reference  that we use in our daily routines.
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But when you say the dawn of something,  it means the beginning of something.
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And we generally use this with  an extremely important event.
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So the universe being created, obviously  an extremely important event right now.
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You could say the dawn of the Internet.
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Age revolutionize the way we work.
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So this is the start of the Internet.
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So you don't even need age here.
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Age represents era, time reference,  the dawn of the Internet.
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The start of the Internet  revolutionized the way we work.
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So it's just a more academic, a more  literary, poetic way of saying the start of.
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But remember, we only use it for  very important, significant events.
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Researchers were able to pinpoint the  oldest black hole ever discovered.
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So again, here we have oldest with  EST, so we know it's a superlative.
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So we need the and because  we're no longer in the headline.
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Remember, in the headline they leave  out grammar, but as soon as you get  
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to the main article, they're going to  use all the necessary grammar required.
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And the is required grammatically.
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Let's talk about PINPOINT.
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This is a great verb to have in your vocabulary.
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When you pinpoint something,  you discover the exact location.
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But we also use this for facts.
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So you understand, you discover  the specific facts of something.
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So exact location or I'll say,  specific facts of something.
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So my example here, we're still  trying to pinpoint the bug.
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Imagine a computer bug, a computer problem.
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Now it could be the location of it.
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You don't know where on your server or  where in the software program that bug is,  
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so you have to pinpoint the location.
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But it could also be more the facts.
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So why is this happening?
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What is the cause of it?
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What is the solution?
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How long has this been going on?
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So those are all the facts.
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And in this case we don't really know which it is.
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But if you say, oh, we're trying to pinpoint the  
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location, then it's obvious you're  trying to find the exact location.
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So this is a great verb to add to your vocabulary.
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Are you enjoying this lesson?
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If you are, then I want to tell you  about the Finally Fluent Academy.
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This is my premium training program where  we study native English speakers from TV,  
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the movies, YouTube, and the news so you  can improve your listening skills of fast  
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English, expand your vocabulary with natural  expressions, and learn advanced grammar easily.
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Plus, you'll have me as your personal coach.
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You can look in the description  for the link to learn more,  
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or you can go to my website and  click on Finally Fluent Academy.
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Now let's continue with our lesson and not only  is it ancient, but it's absolutely colossal.
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Ancient means extremely old.
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And notice the pronunciation Chint Chu Chu chint.
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Ancient.
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Ancient.
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So as an adjective, it's to be ancient.
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That building is ancient.
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Not only is it ancient, but  it's absolutely colossal.
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In this case, absolutely is just a intensifier.
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It's extremely, very, and colossal also  means large, extremely large, very large.
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So colossal already means very large.
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And then you add absolutely,  which makes it even stronger.
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But remember, before do you remember the word,  
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what was the other adjective  that means very large, gigantic.
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So either one, they both sound extremely large.
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And then you can add absolutely  to make it sound even stronger,  
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10 times bigger than the black  hole in our own Milky Way.
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So this is our Galaxy, and there's a black hole  in it formed 470 million years after The Big Bang.
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Its existence confirms the  theory that supermassive  
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black holes were part of the early universe.
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Scientists estimate that the  universe is 13.7 billion years old,  
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which makes the age of the  black hole 13.2 billion years.
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So clearly the black.
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They're emphasizing here  how old the black hole is.
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Now notice here formed.
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Now they don't have the subject they start  with formed and then this its existence.
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The black hole's existence confirms.
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Here is a simple example to  understand this grammar structure.
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So we take the Ed form of the  verb and then you have some  
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additional information to describe the sentence.
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So in this case this is the sentence.
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The company represented the dawn of AI.
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So remember this the dawn of the start of AI.
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The company represented the dawn of AI.
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So this on its own is a completed sentence.
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The company represented the dawn of AI.
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But if I wanted to give more  information about the company,  
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I can start by giving that information  first and then I can use a comma.
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And then I have my completed  sentence formed in 2021.
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The company represented the dawn of AI.
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Now other ways of saying formed, you  could say established, created, started.
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Those are different ways.
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But notice they use the Ed form.
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So this is a very common sentence structure.
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It's a little more advanced, and if you use it, it  will make your writing look more advanced as well.
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Let's continue.
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The researchers believe the  black holes formed from huge  
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clouds of gas that collapsed in a  Galaxy next to another with stars.
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OK, so they're talking about the  formation of black holes in general,  
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not necessarily this specific  black hole because it's in plural.
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So we're talking about black holes in general.
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The black holes formed from huge clouds of gas.
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So again, huge, we could  say giant or colossal cause.
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Huge also means very large.
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Gigantic.
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Well, I said giant.
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You could say giant, gigantic,  colossal clouds of gas that collapsed.
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So when something collapsed, it means it goes  from a upright position into a down position.
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So let's take a house.
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You have a solid house, but  then if that house falls and  
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everything is in one single layer,  you would say the house collapsed.
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That would be very unlikely to happen.
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But a roof could collapse  and that is more possible.
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But a very ancient.
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An ancient, extremely old.
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An ancient house, an ancient barn, an ancient  garage or shed structure could collapse.
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So cloud, massive gigant Oval.
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There's another one I just said that wasn't  on this list of ways to say very large,  
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massive clouds of gas that collapsed in  a Galaxy next to another another Galaxy.
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So next to is.
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Besides, we have one Galaxy and  then another Galaxy with stars.
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The two galaxies joined and  the black hole was in control.
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To be honest I'm not 100% sure what this means  because I don't have a science background,  
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but you learn some other ways to say  very large and if you if your background  
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is more scientific you've studied  black holes or anything like that,  
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feel free to share your your information  about the meaning of this article.
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So this isn't part of the article, but I wanted  to have a very simple definition of what a black  
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hole is cause although I have a general idea  of what a black hole is, I wasn't 100% certain.
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So I asked ChatGPT what is a black hole?
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That's what I put in ChatGPT.
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So let's see the answer.
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A black hole is like the cosmic  vacuum cleaner of the universe.
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Cosmic as an adjective, simply means  that it relates to the universe.
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So a black hole is like the  vacuum cleaner of the universe.
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So now you have an image of a vacuum cleaner  because everyone knows what a vacuum cleaner is.
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So imagine you're sucking up, you're  vacuuming a bunch of dirt in your living room.
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So now you can imagine that's  what happens in a black hole.
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So that's helpful.
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It's always helpful, for me at least, to  have an image of what these things are,  
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or to relate it to an everyday object  that we know, like a vacuum cleaner.
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It's a region in space where gravity is so strong  that nothing, not even light, can escape from it.
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So I guess the fact that  light cannot escape from it.
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So if light could escape from it, So  again, remember the vacuum cleaner.
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But light is getting sucked  into the vacuum cleaner,  
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so notice that's a verb I used  when I was describing the vacuum.
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I said you're sucking up some  some dirt in your living room,  
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'cause that's what a vacuum cleaner does.
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It sucks.
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That's the motion.
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So when dirt goes into it, it sucks up the dirt,  
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so the light gets sucked up by  the vacuum by the black hole.
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So that's probably why it's black hole, because  there's no light cause light cannot escape it.
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Imagine a massive * massive this was.
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I added it to the list of adjectives for  very large a massive * running out of fuel.
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When you run out of something  it means you have none left.
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So this means that the star has zero fuel left,  
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but if it's running out of it  means it's still in the progress.
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It's still in progress.
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So it's in the progress of running out of fuel.
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So it might have some fuel left now.
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So to have none left, that's when  you use it as a completed action.
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So you could say my car ran out of gas.
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So this means your car has zero gas.
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My car is running out of gas.
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So you do have some gas.
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So you have some gas, but not a lot.
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And you're almost at 0.
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You're going to be at 0 soon.
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OK, so I'll just make these proper sentences  with periods and capitalize first letter.
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So imagine a massive * running out of  fuel and collapsing under its own gravity.
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So we have a whole star, but it  has no fuel left, so it collapse.
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It flattens under its own gravity, so the weight  of the star's gravity causes it to collapse.
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It's like a bottomless pit in space.
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So bottomless means a pit is like a giant hole.
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So again, black hole because that's what a pit is.
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A pit is a very large hole, but if  there's but if it's a bottomless pit,  
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it means it does not have a bottom.
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So imagine there's a hole in your  backyard, a pit in your backyard,  
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which is a hole, and you look  in it and it just goes forever.
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There's no bottom to it and  everything gets sucked into that pit.
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Now gobbling up anything that gets too close,  
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gobbling up this is a way  of saying consume quickly.
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For example, the gas gobbled up my pie,  
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so they consumed it quickly  because your pie was really good.
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It was delicious.
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So this is a positive thing.
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Oh my guess Gobbled up my pie.
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They consumed it quickly.
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But if you say my car gobbles up gas, that  isn't a positive thing because your your car,  
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your vehicle consumes gas quickly,  which means it isn't fuel efficient.
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So it can be positive to gobble something  up, but it can also be negative.
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So it means to consume quickly.
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It's like a bottomless pit in space,  gobbling up anything that gets too close.
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So I really like this description.
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I find it's it's easier for me at least  to understand what a black hole is,  
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if I can have an image of it.
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So now I have this image of what a black hole is.
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Let me know if that was helpful for you.
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And again, if your area of expertise  is science or studying the universe,  
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then feel free to share more  information about this because  
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I feel very confident teaching you  the language, the English language.
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But to be honest, I don't feel that  confident teaching you about black holes.
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So don't learn black holes from me.
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And that is the end of our article.
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So what I'll do now is I'll go to the  beginning of the article and I'll read  
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it from start to finish and this time  you can focus on my pronunciation.
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Researchers discover oldest known black hole  that existed not long after The Big Bang.
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The discovery of a gigantic black  hole billions of light years from  
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Earth is giving researchers A clearer  picture of the dawn of the universe.
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Researchers were able to pinpoint the  oldest black hole ever discovered.
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And not only is it ancient,  but it's absolutely colossal,  
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10 times bigger than the black  hole in our own Milky Way.
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Formed 470 million years after The Big Bang.
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Its existence confirms the  theory that supermassive  
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black holes were part of the early universe.
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Scientists estimate that the  universe is 13.7 billion years old,  
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which makes the age of the  black hole 13.2 billion years.
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The researchers believe the black  holes formed from huge clouds of  
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gas that collapsed in a Galaxy next to another.
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With stars, the two galaxies joined  and the black hole was in control.
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ChatGPT What is a black hole?
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A black hole is like the cosmic  vacuum cleaner of the universe.
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It's a region in space where gravity is so strong  that nothing, not even light, can escape from it.
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Imagine a massive * running out of fuel  and collapsing under its own gravity.
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It's like a bottomless pit in space,  gobbling up anything that gets too close.
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Did you enjoy this lesson?
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Do you want me to make more  lessons just like this?
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Well, if you do, then put black hole.
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Put black hole in the comments and I learned  a lot about black holes in this lesson,  
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and maybe you'll teach me some  more things about black holes.
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So put black hole in the comments and  of course make sure you like this video,  
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Share it with your friends and subscribe so  you're notified every time I post a new lesson.
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And you can get this free speaking  guide where I share 6 tips on how  
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to speak English fluently and confidently.
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You can click here to download it or  look for the link in the description.
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And you can keep improving your  English with this lesson right now.
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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.

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