Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.
I'm Neil. Joining me is Catherine. Hello, Catherine.
Hello, Neil. Hello, everybody. The story we're looking at today is of a
cyber attack, which has happened on an underground nuclear facility in Iran.
If you want to test yourself on any of the vocabulary you
hear in this programme, you can test yourself
on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.
Now, let's hear some more about that
story from this BBC News report:
Yes, it's a big story.
There has been a cyber attack on an underground nuclear facility in Iran.
Now, they'd just started using new, advanced machines called centrifuges
and now those machines no longer work. The Iranian minister...
the Iranian Foreign Minister has blamed Israel for the attack
and says his country will 'take revenge'.
Now, Israel hasn't commented, but Israeli public radio has said that
yes, this was an attack by Mossad. Now, Mossad is the...
the Israeli – excuse me – the Israeli Intelligence Service.
OK. Well, you've been looking around at this story.
You've picked out three really useful words. What are they?
Yes, today we are looking at: 'sabotage', 'outage' and 'ironclad'.
'Sabotage', 'outage' and 'ironclad'.
So, let's have a look at your first headline, please.
Yes, we'll start here in the UK with the BBC – the headline:
'Sabotage' – deliberate destruction of something
to prevent a competitor's success.
Yes. Now, the spelling is: S-A-B-O-T-A-G-E.
The pronunciation:'sabotage'.
'-age' with that 'zjuh' sound at the end.
Yes, that lovely 'zjuh' sound that you get in 'television'
is at the end of 'sabotage'.
Yeah, and in this headline,
'sabotage' is a noun, often used as a verb as well.
Frequently, we use 'sabotage' as a verb and we can often use it in
the passive to say somebody or something 'has been sabotaged'.
Yes, and there's a nice little fixed expression
for when it's a noun: an 'act of sabotage'.
Yes, an 'act of sabotage'. So, if you do something that will
stop somebody else performing to their required standard or ability,
or if you do something that makes something else stop working properly,
you are 'sabotaging' it or you are committing an 'act of sabotage'.
Now, this word is neither formal nor informal.
It's used for both very serious things
and also things which people might not think are very serious.
Yes, absolutely. I mean, this nuclear facility – to stop a nuclear facility
working deliberately is a very severe act of sabotage, but you can
also use it in, kind of, domestic situations or personal situations.
Imagine you've got two children entering a colouring competition,
and one of them hides the red pen so that the other one can't
finish his or her drawing. That's an 'act of sabotage'.
Not a serious one – there's not going to be any massive consequences,
but it's still about deliberately stopping something happening the
way it should be, because they're a competitor, sometimes as revenge,
or because you just don't want them to finish or succeed.
It's 'sabotage'.
Yeah. There is a very British word for this as well,
a very colloquial British word, which has a similar meaning.
Yes, 'to nobble'. Now, 'nobbled' means sabotage.
It is mostly used in British English – and if you 'nobble' something,
again, you stop it being successful often in competitions or races.
I believe you're quite fond of betting on the horses,
aren't you Neil? You like a horse race and a bet.
Well, yes, there's a really famous horse race in the UK
called the Grand National that happened at the weekend.
My horse was completely useless, but I'm sure it must have been 'nobbled'.
Or just... maybe you just picked the wrong horse, Neil?
Maybe... I usually do.
OK. Let's have a summary:
If you are interested in stories about cyber attacks, we have the
perfect one for you. Where can our viewers find it, Catherine?
All you have to do is click that link.
OK. Let's have a look at our next headline.
Yes, we are now at arabnews.com – the headline:
'Outage' – a period when a service,
often electricity, is not working.
Yes. Now, the spelling for this one is: O-U-T-A-G-E.
It's a noun. The pronunciation is 'outage'.
Yes. Interesting pronunciation again here. It ends in '-age',
just like 'sabotage', but we don't say 'zjuh', do we?
No. In fact, it's '-tage', so we say 'sabotage',
but we say 'outage' and... Yes.
It's just the way it is. People...
It is a kind of French pronunciation for 'sabotage',
but a much more English, British English, way of saying 'outage'.
Yeah. And the clue is in the word 'out', isn't it?
Yeah, if something's out, it's not available, is it? So,
if the power is 'out' or if there is a 'power outage', there is no power.
Usually something's gone wrong. So, you should have power,
but you haven't got it. Then you have a 'power outage'.
Yeah and, as you said there, 'a power outage'. It's a countable noun.
Yes, it is. If you're very unlucky,
you will have several 'power outages' during one short period of time.
Yeah. Now, as you've said, it's often used with power: 'power outage'.
It can be on its own, though – just an 'outage'.
But there are some other expressions that have the same meaning.
Well, I mean, there's some other uses...
Oh yeah, we can say 'power cut'. You can... there can be a 'power cut',
there can be a 'blackout', and both of those have a similar
meaning to an 'electrical outage' or a 'power outage'.
Yeah. And it's also used for...
not just the electricity, but things that are powered by electricity.
Yeah. I mean, you can have, like, a 'telephone outage':
the phone lines can be 'down'. And that's another word we use:
to say something's 'down' – to say it's not available.
Or there can be an 'internet outage', when you can't get online:
that's an 'outage' as well.
Absolutely. OK. Let's get a summary:
If you would like to hear another story about 'power outages',
we have one from South Africa. Where can our viewers find it, Catherine?
All you have to do is the same as every time: just click that link.
OK. Let's have a look at your next headline.
OK. So, we are now in the United States with Politico and the headline:
'Ironclad' – impossible to change or weaken; completely definite.
Yes. So, we have one word here: I-R-O-N-C-L-A-D – 'ironclad'.
It's actually made up of two words. We've got iron: I-R-O-N,
which is the very, very, very strong metal.
And then we have the wood 'clad': C-L-A-D – 'clad'.
And if you're 'clad' in something, you're clothed in it – it's about
clothing – or you're wrapped in it, or you're surrounded by it,
or covered in it. So, a 'cladding' is a wrapping or a covering.
OK. So, originally an 'ironclad ship' was a ship, a wooden ship,
that had an iron coating or covering and it made it really, really strong.
Exactly that. Yeah, if you 'clad something in iron',
you make it super, super strong.
So, the world's first 'ironclad ship' was what, Neil – the name?
I think it's the HMS Warrior – that's the first British one anyway.
OK. And that was the strongest ship in the entire fleet of ships,
because it was 'ironclad' – it was super strong.
So, if you make an 'ironclad' promise, let's say, that is a really,
really strong promise that nobody...
it's not going to be broken because it's super, super strong.
Yeah. And we hear this word 'ironclad' with promise,
but also with guarantee, assurance.
Yes. All of them, yeah.
If you are using it as an adjective for a noun like 'promise',
or 'guarantee', or 'assurance', it means it's a super,
super strong promise or guarantee. So, I will give you – I know,
Neil, I'm sometimes late for our meetings and I do apologise,
but I am now publicly giving you an 'ironclad' promise that I will never
be late for a meeting with you for the rest of my life. How about that?
Brilliant. Is that a 'cast-iron' guarantee?
It's a 'cast-iron' guarantee, yes.
Another way of saying it. OK. Let's get a summary:
Time now then for a recap of our vocabulary, please, Catherine.
Yes. We had: 'sabotage' – deliberate destruction of something to prevent
a competitor's success. We had: 'outage' – period when a service,
often electrical, is not working.
And 'ironclad' – impossible to change or weaken; completely definite.
If you'd like to test yourself on the vocabulary,
there's a quiz you can find on our website: bbclearningenglish.com.
And of course we are all over social media.
Take care of yourselves and goodbye. Goodbye.