Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.
I'm Georgina and today I'm joined by Catherine. Hi Catherine.
Hello Georgina. Hello everybody. Today's story comes from
London. It's about the London Marathon.
Don't forget – if you want to test yourself on today's vocabulary go to bbclearningenglish.com
and you'll find a quiz. Now, let's hear more about this story from BBC Radio 1 News:
Yes. So, the London Marathon should have happened earlier this year; it was delayed
due to the coronavirus pandemic. It finally happened last weekend. Now, only the elite
runners were actually in London running; the rest of the competitors were running wherever they
were in the world. Everybody came together online to experience this fantastic event.
Ken Jones, at 87 years old, joined in and he took eight hours to complete the marathon:
a fantastic achievement. So, Georgina – marathon runner, are you?
Yes, I am. Well, I've done one and I know how hard it is: it took me over five hours,
so congratulations to everyone who competed in the London Marathon 2020 on Sunday.
Right, Catherine, we've got three words and expressions you can use
to talk about this story.
That's right and today's three words are: 'virtual', 'braves' and 'heartwarming'.
Yes, 'virtual', 'braves' and 'heartwarming'. Let's have a look at your first headline, Catherine.
Of course. Now, we're starting in the UK today with The Guardian – the headline:
'Virtual' – similar but not completely the same. So, Catherine, is it an adjective?
It is an adjective, Georgina. It's spelt V-I-R-T-U-A-L. The pronunciation is
'virtual' and it has a lovely 'ch' sound in the middle. Can you demonstrate for us?
'Virtual'.
'Virtual', yes. So, virtual means if something is similar but not the real, real thing. Now,
we use this word a lot of the time to describe things that happen on computers – either on a
computer that you're using or in a kind of joined up way, where you're looking online and talking to
other people on the internet. So, this marathon didn't really happen the way it's supposed to:
it wasn't 43,000 people in London, but by the magic of technology everybody ran in
different places – but they joined together, so online you had the experience of 43,000 people.
So, not 100% real but it was made 'real-ish' in the – in the IT world.
Yes, so it was – they created a virtual world for this marathon, didn't they?
They did. They did and there's other ways – other words you can use as well as
'virtual world': you can have, as you said, a 'virtual marathon'; you can have a 'virtual
conference', where everybody joins together online; you can have a 'virtual meeting';
you can have a 'virtual concert' and there's been lots of 'virtual events' happening because of
lockdown. Things that normally happen in real life have been happening 'virtually' on the internet.
And can you only use it with things that are online or computer-based?
Well, no. I mean that's the main use of the word now, but you can use it
for things in real life, which are almost the same as things – other things in real life. So,
for example, during the lockdown, Georgina, how did you cope with not leaving the house?
Well, it was hard because I did – I hardly left the house at all. I didn't see people
I wanted to see, because I wasn't allowed, so I actually did feel like a 'virtual prisoner'.
A 'virtual prisoner' – so, you weren't actually in an
actual prison with high security and guards and electric fences and everything.
No. I had no prison officer at my door and I could actually open my door,
but because of lockdown our movements were restricted and the people we were
allowed to see was also restricted, so I felt like I was a prisoner.
Very good: a 'virtual prisoner', but now you're free, Georgina... free-ish.
Free-ish, yes, for now. So, that's great – let's have a look at our summary slide:
So, if you want to know more about adjectives then
you can watch one of our shows called The Grammar Gameshow.
That's right: just click the link and you'll go straight to the show.
Great. So, Catherine, let's have a look at your second headline.
Yes. Still in the UK with The Sun – the headline:
'Braves' – deals with a difficult situation with courage.
Yes. B-R-A-V-E-S – 'braves'. Now, 'brave' is normally an adjective and it means:
without fear or not showing fear when something is scary. So, something horrible happens and you're
not afraid: you're brave, or you do something because even though you're afraid, you're brave.
Now, this is the verb form: 'braves'. And if you 'brave' something, you deal with it
even though it's difficult and scary. You become strong and brave and you do it anyway,
like this lady: 85 years old – it's raining, it's cold, the weather's horrible, but she's out there
running and running and running. That takes some strength and courage, doesn't it Georgina?
It does because the weather was terrible on Sunday,
so she very much had to feel very courageous and, you know, really push herself to do it, I'm sure.
That's right. And we can use 'to brave' – the verb 'to brave' – with all kinds of weather:
you can 'brave' the wind, you can 'brave' the rain, you can 'brave' the heat and it
means you go out there and do whatever you have to do, even though the weather is pretty tough.
Can you use it with other words which are not associated with the weather?
You can, yeah, absolutely. Anything that's kind of difficult and scary,
but you get brave and you do it – you can 'brave' it: you can 'brave'
a scary meeting with your boss; you can 'brave' a first date if you're a nervous dater;
you can 'brave' rush-hour traffic, when the traffic's really bad; you can 'brave' crowds,
when you – if there's hundreds and hundreds of people, you can 'brave' the crowds.
Right, let's have a look at our summary slide:
If you want to watch more videos about marathons we've got lots, haven't we Catherine?
We have, including this one about running marathons and how it is good
for the health of your heart. So, just click the link and you'll go straight there.
Right Catherine, let's have a look at your next headline.
Yes, we're off to The Express now, still here in the UK – the headline:
'Heartwarming' – bringing happiness and pleasure.
Yes. So, we've got two parts to this word: it's all one word and
you've got heart – H-E-A-R-T – and then warming –W-A-R-M-I-N-G. So, 'heart' and 'warm' are the
two words we're looking at. OK. So yes, the heart Georgina – what do we associate the heart with?
Well, we could – we associate it with love, but also
we can associate it with feeling very sad as well: it's a real emotional part of our body.
Yes. Happy, sad, angry, scared: it's all to do with the heart, isn't it?
But if something 'warms' your heart – if something is 'heartwarming' – it makes you
feel good about things: it makes you feel happy, it makes you think the world is a better place.
And you often refer to the idea of something being 'heartwarming'
when somebody does something or you see something or something happens
and you feel good about it. So, Georgina, when was the last heartwarming moment that you experienced?
Well, it was a bit ago: it was during lockdown, when my neighbour came round and left me at my
door – at my door – a cream tea and we actually had it – well, not virtually – we had it over
the fence in the patios at the back. So, it was really nice. It was a socially distanced
but it made me feel really positive about what – you know, in a terrible situation.
Very nice, lovely, heartwarming gesture from your neighbour. So, everybody
give your neighbour something nice and it'll warm their hearts.
Definitely. Right, so let's have a look at the summary slide:
Right, Catherine, could you recap the vocabulary, please?
Most certainly. We had: 'virtual' – similar but not completely the same.
'Braves' – deals with a difficult situation with courage.
And 'heartwarming' – bringing happiness and pleasure.
Right, if you want to test yourself on today's vocabulary
you can have a look at our quiz on our website bbclearningenglish.com.
We're all over social media as well. Thanks for joining us and see you soon. Bye!
Bye