Improve Your English Fluency FAST | Reading & Listening Method with the News

In this learn English with the news  lesson we're going to read a science  

article together to help you improve your  English vocabulary, grammar, reading,  

writing, listening, and of course your  speaking. Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course, I'm Jennifer now  let's get started. Our headline,  

how microplastics are infiltrating everything  you consume. First, let's review the verb to  

infiltrate. Here you see it in the present  continuous because it's taking place now.

When something such as microplastics, tiny  plastic particles infiltrate something else,  

everything you consume, it means it  enters or spreads into but often in  

an unwanted or unexpected way. Now of  course you don't want microplastics in  

your water. In this context, consume  means everything you eat or drink.

But the verb to consume more broadly means to use.  I could say this computer consumes a lot of power,  

electricity. We commonly use consume  with resources such as energy, fuel,  

time, money. Here's a sentence you might  relate to Learning English consumes my

Weekends so it uses all your time and maybe  your energy that could be another resource on  

your weekends you can replace this whatever  time reference you want consumes my nights,  

consumes my mornings, consumes all my time.  So if learning English consumes a lot of  

your time or energy, put that's  me, that's me, put that's me in.

The comments and keep in mind this isn't  necessarily a bad thing, a negative thing,  

you could enjoy this and notice the grammar  here. This is a gerund statement. It's  

a general statement. Now the subject in  Jared's statements are conjugated as it,  

which is why we have this S. It  consumes my weekends. Don't worry  

about taking notes because I summarize  everything in a free lesson PDF. You can

Find the link in the description. Now let's  continue with the article microplastics have  

infiltrated so notice here this is in what  vertense the present perfect so is a completed  

past action, but there is a result in the  present. The result is that we consume them, it  

affects the environment, so that's the result, the  present perfect microplastics have infiltrated.

Every part of the planet they have been  found buried so notice the pronunciation  

here does not match the spelling buried  buried. So the pronunciation is just  

like a strawberry or a blueberry berry, but  then in the past simple buried. Now berry,  

of course, is when something is  below the surface under dirt.

They have been found buried in Antarctic sea ice  within the guts of marine animals inhabiting the  

deepest ocean trenches to inhabit means to live  in a place. It can describe humans, animals,  

other plant species, even within the guts of  marine animals inhabiting the deepest ocean.

Trenches and in drinking water around  the world, plastic pollution has been  

found on beaches of remote uninhabited. So  if inhabiting means to live in a place, then  

un makes it the opposite. So uninhabited means  that nobody is living on these islands. Another.

Word for that would be deserted,  deserted, not desert, deserted,  

deserted. And notice the pronunciation  here, island, island. So there's nos here,  

but to make it plural, you would pronounce  that as islands, islands, islands, islands.

And it shows up, so it being plastic pollution,  

it shows up in seawater samples across the  planet. Here the phrasal verb is to show up,  

which means to appear. So plastic pollution  appears in seawater samples. The phrase of verb  

to show up is very commonly used. It also  has more of the meaning of come, to come.

So similar to appear to come, do you  think she'll show up to the meeting?  

Do you think she'll come to the meeting?  Do you think she'll show up? Or you might  

ask how many people showed up last night?  How many people came last night? Are you  

enjoying this lesson? If you are, then I want  to tell you about the finally fluent academy.  

This is my premium training program  where we study native English speaker.

From TV, movies, YouTube, and the news so you can  improve your listening skills of fast English,  

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Now let's continue with our lesson. But  they aren't just ubiquitous in water.

What is the they? Well, we always want to  look to what our last subject is often we  

have to remind ourselves and our last subject  was actually plastic pollution, which is it,  

so that doesn't match. So we know that they  represents microplastics in a situation like this,  

it would be best to say but microplastics because  it isn't actually the last subject mentioned.

So that's just something to keep in mind you can  replace your noun with the pronoun just make sure  

it's known, but they microplastics aren't just  ubiquitous in water ubiquitous means found or  

existing everywhere we commonly use this with  things in our daily lives. Cell phones are of  

course ubiquitous. Perhaps we can say chat  GBT is becoming ubiquitous in the workplace.

So this is in progress now simply because it's  a new technology you could argue Chachi BT has  

become ubiquitous or is ubiquitous so you  can use to be ubiquitous become is that  

transition from not to so what do you think?  Is it becoming or has it already become? But  

they aren't just ubiquitous in water, they  are spread widely in soils on land too.

And can even end up in the food we eat.

The phrase of verb end up is also very commonly  used by native speakers is definitely one of the  

most common phrase of verbs in my vocabulary. Now  it is used to say to be in a particular place,  

situation, or condition, but to finally  be. So it's really talking about the  

end result. Now the end result can be  unexpected or unintentional as well.

So often it's not planned from the beginning so  it wasn't planned to put microplastics in the soil  

they ended up there. Now in an everyday situation  it's very common to ask someone, oh, what did you  

end up doing last night? Now you can ask someone  what did you do last night, but if you say.

What did you end up doing last night? It  sounds like you previously talked to that  

person and they had a few different  things that they were considering,  

so you want to know which one did you  choose? So which particular place or  

situation or condition did you finally  end up in, finally found yourself in?

Now you can reply back and simply say  I stayed home, or you can say I ended  

up staying home. Now up is a preposition, so  you need to use the Jain verb after. That's  

why before I said I stayed home in the  past simple, I ended up staying home and  

reviewing my weekly J For English lesson.  So it sounds like you made this decision.

At the last minute or maybe unexpectedly,  unintentionally you didn't plan it in  

advance and you were considering other  things as well so perfecting this phrasal  

verb may consume your weekend, but  trust me it's worth it because it is  

such a common phrasal verb and it will  help you sound very natural. OK, let's  

continue unwittingly, mm, do you know what this  means? This means without knowing or planning.

So we may be consuming remember eating  or drinking tiny fragments of plastic  

microplastics with almost every bite we take  but of course we're not doing this on purpose  

we're not planning to do this we might not  even know we're doing this so that's the  

unwittingly. You can also put unwittingly  before your verb because it's an adverb,  

but it is commonly found at the  beginning of the sentence to.

Introduce the sentence. Now notice this use of  this modal verb. It's important because we may  

be this just means there's a chance it could  be a 50% chance, 60% chance we don't know,  

but we may be consuming. It isn't guaranteed  it's just a possibility or a chance and remember  

grammatically it's modal plus base verb. I see  a lot of mistakes with this modal plus base.

Surp the backlash against single use  plastics. So single use plastics,  

you may know what this means because it's very  common in the news these days. It's a plastic  

bag that you use once and then you throw it  away. That's a single use plastic, so it's not  

a reusable plastic. Now, let's look at this,  the backlash, the backlash against something.

Backlash this is a noun it represents  negativity and criticism and public  

negativity and criticism now notice  against something let's review this example  

the company received a lot of backlash so remember  backlash is a noun it's commonly used with.

The verb to receive but in this case it could  be a company or a person or a policy even the  

company received a lot of backlash received  a lot of criticism or opposition when the  

public found out phrase a verb, which means  discovered, when the company found out it  

doesn't recycle it being the company  doesn't recycle now using the style.

Of speech here I could take this  sentence and change it to the backlash,  

the opposition criticism against the company  for not recycling. This is the reason why  

the company received backlash. So the backlash  against the company for not recycling caused it.

to plummet. So this part is not in  the first sentence. So caused is the  

reason why it's stock, so the shares of  the company that are publicly traded in  

the stock market caused its stock  to plummet, to decline sharply.

So a large decline and it happened quickly. That  is the word plummet, which is commonly used with  

the stock market. Backlash is a very common  term you'll hear in the news. Let's continue  

the backlash against single use plastics.  So now it's not a specific company, it's

The actual plastics that are receiving a lot of  public criticism and opposition has seen many  

companies seeking to use alternatives,  alternatives to single use plastics,  

alternatives that claim to be more  biodegradable or compostable, but in  

some cases these alternatives may actually  be compounding the microplastic problem.

So compounding means it gets bigger and bigger  and bigger and bigger gradually over time  

so the problem being the microplastics problem  so that gets bigger and bigger and bigger even  

though alternatives may seem to be better  but because there are other issues with them.

But again, notice the use of  this modal may be these are  

important words to notice because it  changes the meaning it takes us from  

a factual statement to just something  that is a possibility but not fact. So  

it's very important to notice modals when  understanding the meaning of something.

And again, remember modal plus base verb,  

even though it's separated by actually,  we still need modal plus base verb.

Let's continue. Research has found that bags  labeled as biodegradable can take years to  

disintegrate. So if something disintegrates, it  goes from it it's whole piece, so a whole bag,  

and then it breaks down until it is nothing until  there's nothing left that would be disintegrate.

So it can take years to disintegrate  and even then they mostly break down  

into smaller pieces rather than their  component chemical parts so this is the  

reason why the alternatives may be compounding  the problem, making it worse because they don't.

Fully disintegrate, go to zero. Now here this  use of break down into smaller pieces is the  

definition of disintegrate. So notice this  phrase of verb to break down. So you take  

something that's whole and then it separates  into smaller and smaller and smaller pieces.

This meaning of breakdown is commonly  used as advice to someone who has a  

large problem or a large challenge or even  a large goal such as becoming fluent that  

is such a big goal it may be difficult  to stay motivated to work toward it but  

if you just break it down so you take the  whole piece and you turn it into smaller.

Pieces and then you can focus just on increasing  your vocabulary to the most common 500 words,  

then 1000 words, then the 5 most common  verb tenses, then the more advanced idioms,  

so you just focus on one part at  a time. So I gave the example,  

let's break the problem down  or let's break the goal down.

And focus on one aspect at a time so this is often  offered to advice to someone who feels overwhelmed  

by something so large a problem, a project, a  goal just break it down, just break it down,  

swapping out plastic packaging for glass, so  to swap out means to replace one thing with.

Another so you take your plastic and then  you replace it with glass. That would be to  

swap out. So if you are following a recipe and  you don't have any milk, you might swap it out  

for an alternative. So that would commonly  be used in baking or in following a recipe.

Swapping out plastic packaging for glass could  potentially help to reduce exposure. So in  

this case exposure is how you come in contact  with microplastics through what you consume.

The food you eat and the beverages you drink,  

but notice this use of could potentially again  these models tell us this isn't a fact yet,  

it is just a possibility. So again we  have modal could help but potentially.

Makes it sound again just more like a possibility,  not a fact, but it would also have environmental  

repercussions. So repercussions, these are  negative consequences or negative impacts.

Of something often parents say to kids,  your actions have repercussions, meaning  

when you do something there could be negative  impacts or effects because of that action.

So in this case, the repercussions, the negative  effects are on the environment and notice here,  

but it would also have environmental  repercussions as glass has a higher  

environmental footprint than plastic. Footprint  means the lasting effect. So the environmental  

footprint is the impact on the environment on  the environment over a longer period of time.

And this uses the modal wood it would have an  environmental or environmental repercussions.  

So in this case it's presenting the repercussions  as a fact, but it's a hypothetical situation. So  

these repercussions will only happen if plastic  is swapped out for glass, so this situation.

This situation isn't a fact, it's  a hypothetical, but the impact,  

the environmental repercussions  are offered as being a fact.

Let's continue. Fortunately, oh, some good news.  I know what follows will be positive because  

fortunately is used to introduce something  positive. Fortunately, there is some hope.

Researchers are developing a number of  approaches to help get rid of the plastic  

pollution in our environment. If you get rid  of something, then you remove it permanently,  

you delete it in the context of a computer  if I were to get rid of this text.

I deleted it. I just got rid of it.  If I wanted to get rid of this shirt,  

I would give it to Goodwill where clothes are  recycled because you don't want to throw it  

in the garbage that creates waste,  right? So I can give it to someone  

else and then it is no longer mine. So  that's how you get rid of something.

And in this case they are developing  a number of approaches, so a number of  

it is many or some. So if you say I have  a number of tasks to do, it means I have  

some tasks or many tasks. Just remember  that the noun that follows this is plural.

Because it means so many there's  more than one developing a number  

of approaches to help get rid of  permanently removed the plastic  

pollution in our environment. One approach  has been to turn the fungi, so notice here,  

fungi, this is the plural of fungus.  Fungus is 1 and then fungi is 2 or more.

There are actually a lot of funny shirts  and jokes about this word because the  

pronunciation is fun guy, fun guy. So  there's a lot of jokes with this. You  

might see it sometime and wonder  why this is on someone's shirt.

OK, it has been turned to fungi and bacteria that  feed on plastic, breaking it down, so remember to  

break something down so we take the the plastic  and the fungi and bacteria they cause it to go  

into smaller parts. So that would be breaking it  down in the process. A species of beetle larvae.

So here larvae is the irregular  plural of larva and you have the egg,  

so the egg for the beetle  and then the beetle hatches,  

but it's not a developed beetle. So it's  in between being an egg and a full beetle  

that describes larva, the larva stage of  certain species such as beetles. Remember.

This is the irregular plural  larvae, the singular is larva,  

a species of beetle larvae that can devour  polystyrene. So devour means to eat a large  

quantity of or to eat something fully and  completely usually in a short period of time.

So if you're really hungry you might say,  oh I could devour a hamburger right now  

so you can use it more hyperbolically in  that sense, but in this case it's more of  

a literal meaning now to be honest,  I don't know what polystyrene is I.

I assume it's some sort of chemical that  is found in plastic perhaps just based on  

the context of this. So the beetle  larvae that can devour polystyrene,  

eat a large amount of it or in a short period of  time, has also offered another potential solution.

Again, this use of potential, it  isn't a proven solution yet. It is  

a potential solution. So that word is important.

Let's continue. Others are looking at using water  filtration techniques or chemical treatments that  

can remove microplastics so again they're  offering this as another potential solution.  

Others I assume means other researchers or  maybe even other companies are doing this.

And let's review this phrasal verb to look at  something. This means you're considering it or  

exploring it as an option, and this is our verb  look conjugated in the present continuous. We have  

our preposition ads, so that's why your next verb  is in the ING form. Here's an example that might.

resonate with you. I'm looking at ways to  expand my vocabulary. So I'm considering,  

I'm exploring different ways, different options.  I'm looking at and it's in progress now so that's  

why it's in the present continuance. So the  something is ways to expand my vocabulary.

And then maybe you add on so far,  learning English with the news has  

been the most effective method. And think  of everything that you've learned today,  

so hopefully you do find this an effective method,  and that's the end of the article. So what I'll

do now is I'll read the article so you  can also improve your pronunciation at the  

same time as your vocabulary and we've also  discussed a lot of grammar as well. So I'll  

read the article now. How microplastics  are infiltrating everything you consume.

Microplastics have infiltrated every part  of the planet. They've been found buried  

in Antarctic sea ice within the guts of  marine animals inhabiting the deepest  

ocean trenches and in drinking water around  the world. Plastic pollution has been found  

on beaches of remote uninhabited islands, and it  shows up in seawater samples across the planet.

But they aren't just ubiquitous in water.  They are spread widely in soils on land too,  

and can even end up in the  food we eat. Unwittingly,  

we may be consuming tiny fragments of  plastic with almost every bite we take.

The backlash against single use  plastics has seen many companies  

seeking to use alternatives that claim  to be more biodegradable or compostable,  

but in some cases these alternatives may  actually be compounding the microplastic problem.  

Research has found that bags labeled  as biodegradable can take years to.

Integrate and even then they mostly break  down into smaller pieces rather than their  

component chemical parts. Swapping out plastic  packaging for glass could potentially help to  

reduce exposure, but it would also have  environmental repercussions as glass has  

a higher environmental footprint  than plastic. Fortunately there.

Some hope. Researchers are developing a  number of approaches to help get rid of  

the plastic pollution in our environment.  One approach has been to turn to fungi and  

bacteria that feed on plastic, breaking it  down in the process. A species of beetle  

larvae that can devour polystyrene has  also offered another potential solution.

Others are looking at using water  filtration techniques or chemical  

treatments that can remove microplastics.  

Do you want to keep learning English with  the news? If you do put let's go, let's go  

put let's go in the comments. And of course make  sure you like this lesson, share it with your.

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