Lego gives up its plan to replace the plastic in its famous bricks.
This is News Review from BBC Learning English.
I'm Neil. And I'm Beth. Make sure you watch
to the end to learn vocabulary to talk about today's story.
And don't forget to subscribe to our channel, like this video
and try the quiz on our website.
Now, the story.
Lego have stopped a plan to make
their toy bricks more environmentally friendly.
The Danish company say it's because
changing to recycled plastic doesn't actually reduce carbon emissions.
Around 80% of Lego bricks are currently made
from an oil-based plastic.
The toymaker says it's 'fully committed' to making its bricks
from sustainable materials by 2032.
You've been looking at the headlines,
Beth. What's the vocabulary?
We have shelves, axes and backtracks.
This is News Review from BBC Learning English.
Let's have a look at our first headline.
This is from Circular Online. Lego group shelves plans to make bricks
from recycled PET.
OK. So, we are looking at the verb 'shelves'. Now,
a shelf, as a noun, is actually behind us here.
You can see shelves. But is there a connection between the shelves
in this headline and those things?
There is. So, literally, when you shelve
something, as a verb, you put it on a shelf.
Normally, because you don't need it at that point.
But shelve here in the headline is metaphorical
and it just means leave it for now and it is normally used in this way.
OK. So the headline is saying
that Lego are leaving their plans to make recycled bricks.
They'll stop working on it for now. They'll shelve it.
Exactly. And we very often see the word shelve used with plans,
like we did in the headline, but it's used with other words as well,
like 'project' or 'idea'.
So, for example, Neil, a company might shelve an expensive project
because they are running out of money. Yes.
And we often hear it used in a business or work-related context.
I probably wouldn't say I'm shelving
my plans to go on holiday.
It just sounds a bit too formal.
OK. Let's look at that again.
Let's look at our next headline.
This is from BBC News. Lego axes plan to make bricks from recycled bottles.
So, Lego axes
its recycled brick plans. The word
we are looking at is 'axes'. Now
Beth, I have an axe.
It's this thing that I use for chopping down trees.
Is there a connection between that axe and the 'axes' in the headline?
There is. So the axe, the physical tool that you used is a noun. Here
in the headline 'axes' is a verb. Now, thinking about your tree, Neil,
it was standing until you axed it. Then it was
on the ground. Here in the headline,
it's an environmentally-friendly plan but it has been axed,
so the plan is gone.
Yes. So chopping down the tree was a literal action, but stopping this
bricks plan is metaphorical.
There was no axe,
no physical axe, involved. Now
how else can we use this verb 'axe'?
Axe is commonly used when jobs or services are reduced. So
a company might axe jobs to save money or your favourite
TV show might be cancelled
if it's not popular any more.
So, we'd better carry on doing a good job
on news review or they might axe the programme.
Let's look at that again.
Let's have a look at our next headline.
This is from Gizmodo.
Lego backtracks on plan to use recycled plastic for bricks.
So the language we're looking at from this headline is backtracks.
It contains the word 'tracks'.
Trains run along tracks and they move forward.
They make progress.
If a plan is on track,
it means it's going well.
But how does adding 'back' to 'track' change its meaning?
Well, it means the opposite.
So 'backtrack' is about going back metaphorically.
Not progressing and not moving forwards. Now,
Lego have stopped their plan
so they're not moving forward with it. They're backtracking.
Yeah. So maybe you say you're going to do something,
and then actually you don't. You backtrack.
You go back on what you said. That's true
and it reminds me,
Neil. A few weeks ago
you looked very smart in News Review.
You wore a tie and you said, 'I'm going to look smarter from now on'.
Ah, well, I haven't, have I?
So I have backtracked. Sorry!
Let's look at that again.
We've had: shelves - stops, for now,
axes - stops completely, and backtracks - stops progressing.
Now, if you enjoyed this episode of News Review
You might enjoy this episode
where we talked about plastic in your blood.
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Thanks for joining us. Bye.