If You Can Understand This BBC News Article, Your English is Excellent!

In this English reading and listening lesson,  

we're going to read a news article together  so you can improve all areas of your English.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course, I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

Our headline, The country that measures happiness.

Any idea which country this could be?

Well, let's find out.

On the eastern edge of the Himalayas,  

nestled between India and Tibet,  lies the tiny nation of Bhutan.

So Bhutan is the country that measures happiness.

And notice they described it  as the tiny nation of Bhutan.

Tiny means extremely small.

And let's review nestled.

First of all, notice this pronunciation of the Ed.

This is the past participle of the verb to Nestle.

But here it's to be nestled, nestled.

And it functions as an adjective, in this  case nestled old, so a soft D old nestled.

And this means to be securely or  comfortably placed in a location.

It's used more in a literary sense.

It sounds very poetic.

You might hear this in a real estate  listing to make a location sound desirable.

For example, the cottage is nestled to be nestled.

So this stays in the Ed  form, nestled and then to be.

This is your verb you conjugate.

The cottage is nestled  between a river and a valley.

So this isn't everyday speech.

It's more poetic, more literary.

So again, maybe you're reading  a book or an article and it says  

the baby was sleeping soundly,  nestled in her mother's arms.

So carefully, carefully, securely,  comfortably placed in her mother's arm.

So you will see this a lot, but  more in a literary, poetic sense.

Don't worry about taking notes because I  summarize everything in a free lesson PDF.

You can find the link in the description.

Let's continue.

Fiercely proud and protective of his traditions,  

Bhutan has been closed to  outside influences for centuries.

So notice how this information  here describes Bhutan.

Now all of this can be removed from the  

sentence and the sentence would  still be grammatically cracked.

So this is a great way that you as a speaker can  

sound more advanced or you  can make more of an impact.

You can be more descriptive by adding  information at the beginning of your sentence.

So here the two adjectives are  proud, adding fiercely, intensifies.

It means strongly, extremely, fiercely  proud and protective of its tradition.

So the adjectives are proud and protective.

Thinking about that structure, you could  say I would say hard working and determined.

My students never give up on their dreams.

So this is the complete sentence.

My students never give up on their dreams.

Now I'm just giving information  about who my students are,  

simply using the adjectives  hard working and determined.

Or how about this enthusiastic and  motivated my students eagerly await,  

so eagerly describes how they're waiting.

It means with enthusiasm,  eagerly await my new lessons.

And await is a more poetic way than saying  wait for, you could say wait for notice.

If you use weight, you have to use the present  preposition for you wait for something,  

but you just await something.

So await my new lessons.

And this is a little more literary since I'm  communicating this in a more literary way now.

I'm sure you're hard working and determined and  

enthusiastic and motivated, and  you eagerly await my new lesson.

So put that's me, that's me.

Put that's me in the comments,  

and you can practice using this more  advanced literary sentence structure.

OK, let's continue.

The nation has decided to take a  unique approach to westernization,  

creating a concept known as the  Gross National Happiness Index.

So you may be familiar with the  GDP, the gross domestic product.

So this is the Gross National Happiness indexed.

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Now let's continue with our lesson.

Don't be fooled by the name.

Remember, the name is the  Gross National Happiness Index.

Don't be fooled by the name.

So this is in the imperative, in the negative.

So the imperative uses the base verb only  and it's used to give an instruction.

Both of these examples are  in the imperative subscribe.

So you're notified.

Every time I post a new lesson,  I'm giving you an instruction.

So please do that now.

Subscribe, subscribe.

It's very common for Youtubers to say hit  the subscribe button, hit the like button.

But that is also in the imperative because it  

starts with the base verb  hit the subscribe button.

So here's the example in the imperative.

Now I can add please in front of  my sentence to sound more polite,  

especially if you're giving  an instruction to someone.

Please support my channel by liking this video.

And please do that.

It truly does support this channel.

Now support is the base verb in the imperative.

This is just additional  information to sound more polite.

So this is in the imperative negative.

Don't be fooled by the name.

So in this case, fooled.

Notice that pronunciation ooled fooled, fooled.

That's another way of saying  tricked or deceived by the name.

So don't be fooled.

Now here notice with tricked, it's a soft T  sound tricked, but this is a soft D sound.

Fooled and deceived.

This is also a soft D sound.

Don't be fooled by the name.

So you can be tricked, fooled or deceived  by something because it's the passive form.

If it were active, you would say the name  tricked me or fooled me or deceived me.

This is not just a measure of how  much people smile and laughed.

So This is why you shouldn't be  fooled, tricked, or deceived.

It's not just a measure of how much.

So how much is the quantity?

How much time, how much money quantity.

You could also say how often people  smile, how often is the frequency,  

how much quantity, how often Frequency  is a holistic approach to sustainable  

development that gives as much weight  to human flourishing as it does wealth.

So human flourishing to flourish means that you  are performing well, you're functioning well.

So if you're flourishing, that could be your  sense of overall development and satisfaction.

That measure of happiness, as it  does wealth, now here as much weight.

So if you give weight to something, a  measure, it means that you value it.

So how much value you give  to flourishing as a person?

That indicator of happiness compared  to wealth in an everyday context?

I could say students need to give as much weight.

You could also say as much importance  to pronunciation as grammar.

Now you can have as something, so I could  just say as wells or you can say as they do.

So the subject is they because  it's students in this case,  

it is talking about it's a holistic development.

OK, so here they is the subject and then do is  the auxiliary verb that matches the subject.

They do grammar, but you  could simply say as grammar.

So if you value grammar this much, if  you think grammar is this important,  

this important, well then how much you  value pronunciation should be the same.

That would be as much weight as much importance.

Let's continue the Center for Bhutan and GNH.

So Gross National Happiness Studies is responsible  

for administering the Gross  National Happiness surveys.

So notice here to be responsible for  and then because for is a preposition,  

you need the gerund verb in ING.

Or you could also say to be responsible  for something such as the surveys.

And of course you need to  conjugate your verb to be.

So here it is because all of this is  conjugated as it third person singular it is.

But let's say it were two people, you could  say they are responsible for the surveys.

So you can have responsible for gerund or noun.

They measure 9 key areas of happiness every  five years, psychological, well-being, health,  

education, good governance, ecology, time use,  community, vitality, culture and living standards.

So these are the nine key areas and key in this  

case means important the ones you want  to focus on important areas, key areas.

Let's continue according to officials.

So notice this preposition  according to someone, no,  

the someone could be a company, it could  be a something according to the company,  

according to the government, which  is of course made-up of individuals.

But you can focus more on a something,  a company or the individuals.

So officials, these are the the people  who work for a specific institution.

This is often used with  government, government officials.

So according to officials, if a government policy  doesn't result in the well-being of Bhutanese,  

that policy will never be approved in the country.

So again, this is officials, government  officials in Bhutan saying this.

Let's review this preposition here.

Result in something.

So to result in something, you're  talking about the cause and the effect.

So this is the effect here, the  result in the well-being of Bhutanese.

Now you can also use lead to.

So if a government policy  doesn't create result in lead to.

So notice that preposition change  lead to the well-being of Bhutanese.

So here I gave a everyday example.

We increased our prices, we raised our prices, you  could say and it resulted in a lot of complaints.

So this was the the cause and the effect.

Now you could also say lead to,  but the past simple is lead.

And then remember your preposition choice is  to now it's very common to also use raise.

So I'll put that here.

We raised our prices.

Let's continue.

But Bhutan is not the  happiest country in the world.

So notice but is used to introduce a contrast.

So a contrast would either be a negative  to a positive or a positive to a negative.

So here this is all very positive about  this focus on well-being and happiness.

Now they're introducing a  negative, so it'll be a contrast.

But Bhutan is not the  happiest country in the world.

It actually ranks 95th out of 156 countries.

So here notice 95th.

So this is a voiced or unvoiced TH fifth out of.

So this is when you have that comparison out of.

So this is its number and  this is the total number.

And to rank is for your position.

So that's your score basically.

And here actually is used to clarify information.

I hear students use the word actually  incorrectly because they think it's more  

to introduce information, but it's only  used to introduce a clarifying point.

So let's say I've been talking about this  conference at work for quite a while,  

and one day you just asked  me, so when is the conference?

Now I want to clarify information so  I can say actually it was cancelled.

I can certainly just say it was cancelled.

It was cancelled, but actually introduces that  there is a miscommunication or something needs  

to be clarified because you believe  the conference is taking place,  

but new information is at the conference was  cancelled, but you don't have that information.

So that's how you can use actually.

Actually, it was cancelled.

So remember that actually is only used to clarify  information, not simply to introduce information.

Let's continue.

Much of that has to do with the nation's poverty.

So much of that the that being its score,  its rank being 95th out of 156 countries.

So much of that has to do with the  nation's poverty and the challenges  

of bringing economic and social equity  to a predominantly Agricultural Society.

So predominantly means that agriculture  is the main part of the society.

There are other areas, but they are  small in comparison to agriculture.

So that's how you can use predominantly.

You could say our clients are predominantly from  the US, that means the majority of them 808590.

Now if you use actually,  it means you're clarifying.

So someone could say to you, oh, so are  you going to to Europe for your clients?

So they assume your clients are in Europe.

And then you could say actually to clarify,  

actually our clients are  predominantly from the US.

So no, we're not going to  Europe for that conference.

Let's continue.

What sets Bhutan apart from other  countries is that their vision  

is to value well-being and community  metrics as highly as economic metrics.

OK, let's talk about this.

What sets Bhutan apart?

So you can use a something like a country.

You can use a someone as well.

This is a very useful phrase.

It means what makes Bhutan unique or different.

So unlike other countries, so unlike  other countries, unique or different.

Now I could say what sets my lessons  apart because you need a something here.

So what sets my lessons?

I could use me as well and say what sets me  apart is the focus on real world English.

So here this would be what sets  my lessons or what sets me.

Now you only need to use from if you include  the the others, if you specify the others.

So in this case, it's from other countries.

Now in my context, it would be from  other teachers or from other channels.

And there's an S because  there's more than one here.

But if you don't include this  part, then you don't need the from.

So what sets my lessons apart is  the focus on real world English.

Now in a job interview, it's a very common  question to be asked, what sets you apart?

What sets you apart?

Now again, if you use the someone else,  

the other noun you would use from what  sets you apart from the other candidates?

So you need to talk about why you're unique,  

why you're different, why you're unlike the  other candidates, what makes you special.

So that's a great phrase to have  your to have in your vocabulary.

And what sets Bhutan apart is that their vision  is to value well-being and community metrics.

So a metric is a a source of measurement.

So a metric would be how they measure  well-being the different points.

So that would just be a measurement to value  well-being and community measurements metrics  

as highly as so as much as because you can  have a high-ranking or weight or importance.

Remember that word weight or a low.

So that's why it's as highly as, but you  could also use as much as economic metrics.

So again, measures, let's continue.

The World Bank calls Bhutan a  developmental success story,  

with decreasing levels of extreme poverty  and improvements in gender equality,  

as well as a stable political  and economic environment.

Now in the news, in media, in movies,  everyone loves a success story.

So here it's a story.

What kind of story?

A success story.

So said a different way to be a story of success.

But is more common to use success as  the adjective to describe the story.

But what type of success story?

A developmental success story.

So how Bhutan is developing as a country,  So they are successful in their development.

So that's a success story.

And then these are the examples of the success.

So it shows why it's a  developmental success story.

To give an example, you could  say after years of hard work,  

Ellie's Bakery became a real success story.

So a success story, when people talk  about success, success of, of a regular  

person who started a business, they  instantly think of Ali and his bakery.

Now, because this is a noun, a story,  

a success story, you use real as the  intensifier, a real success story.

Now you can simply say Ali's bakery is a success.

You can absolutely say that.

It's just very common to use a success story.

And again, media, news, movies, they love  success stories now because it's a success story.

You might ask yourself, what  says Elise Bakery apart?

Now, because I didn't identify the competitors,  I didn't use that additional preposition.

What was the additional  preposition from other bakeries?

In this case, because the bakeries  are the competitors, you could also  

say from other businesses,  you could say that as well.

What sets Ali's Bakery apart?

That's a great question to ponder.

And that's the end of the article.

So I will read the article from start to  finish and you can focus on my pronunciation.

The country that measures happiness  On the eastern edge of the Himalayas,  

nestled between India and Tibet,  lies the tiny nation of Bhutan.

Fiercely proud and protective of its traditions,  

Bhutan has been close to outside  influences for centuries.

The nation has decided to take a  unique approach to Westernization,  

creating a concept known as the  Gross National Happiness Index.

Don't be fooled by the name, this is not just  a measure of how much people smile and laugh.

It's a holistic approach to  sustainable development that  

gives as much weight to human  flourishing as it does wealth.

The Center for Bhutan and GNH Studies is  

responsible for administering the  Gross National Happiness Surveys.

They measure 9 key areas of happiness every  five years Psychological well-being, health,  

education, good governance, ecology, time use,  community vitality, culture and living standards.

According to officials, if a government policy  doesn't result in the well-being of Bhutanese,  

that policy will never be approved in the country.

But Bhutan is not the  happiest country in the world.

It actually ranks 95th out of 156  countries in the World Happiness Report.

Much of that has to do with the  nation's poverty and the challenges  

of bringing economic and social equity  to a predominantly Agricultural Society.

What sets Bhutan apart from other  countries is that their vision  

is to value well-being and community  metrics as highly as economic metrics.

The World Bank calls Bhutan a  developmental success story,  

with decreasing levels of extreme poverty  and improvements in gender equality,  

as well as a stable political  and economic environment.

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