Thousands evacuated in Iceland
ahead of expected volcanic eruption.
This is News Review from BBC
Learning English, where we teach you how to understand the news in English.
I'm Beth. And I'm Phil.
Make sure you watch to the end to learn the words
that you need to talk about this story.
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Now, today's story.
Thousands of people have been evacuated
from their homes in Iceland
after a state of emergency was declared. Cracks have appeared in roads
after a series of earthquakes and there are
fears the Fagradalsfjall volcano will soon erupt. A huge eruption
in 2010 in Iceland disrupted air travel around the world.
You've been looking at the headlines.
What's the vocabulary that people need to understand this news story in English.
We have 'imminent', 'swarm' and 'frantic'.
This is News Review from BBC Learning English.
Let's have a look at our first headline.
This is from Sky News.
Cracks appear in roads amid fears of imminent volcanic eruption.
Now, this story tells us that roads have been damaged as worries grow
about a potential volcanic eruption.
We're going to look at the word 'imminent'. Phil,
is this related to bad things?
Yes, we often use 'imminent'
with bad things, like a volcano preparing to erupt,
and it means that we think it's going to happen very soon
and it's scaring us.
OK, so we use it with bad things are about to happen.
What common phrases might we see it in?
Well, we might talk about an 'imminent disaster', an 'imminent attack'
or an 'imminent crisis' and it has this idea that there is a bad thing hanging
over a situation that we think is about to happen soon.
It reminds me of a similar word 'impending'. 'Impending' is used
in a similar way to say something negative is about to happen.
OK, let's look at that again.
Next headline please.
This is from TTG Media.
Iceland declares state of emergency amid intense swarm of earthquakes.
Now, this is about the earthquakes which could be a sign
that a volcanic eruption is imminent.
We're going to learn about the word
'swarm'. Now 'swarm'
reminds me of insects.
What has that got to do with volcanoes and earthquakes?
OK, so what is a swarm of insects?
Well, it's a large group of insects that all fly together. For example,
if you disturb a hive of bees all the bees will come out.
That's a swarm of bees.
OK, so there's a large number and when
seismologists, that's people who study
earthquakes, talk about a 'swarm of earthquakes'
they mean that there is a large number of them close together
that appear in a short space of time
and that's often a sign of volcanic activity.
OK, so there are two things about the word 'swarm'. One -
it's a large number and two -
it's something negative.
Now, we can also use 'swarm' for people,
but usually only when we think that they are a problem.
OK, yes, so if there were a lot of tourists,
you might say there's a swarm of tourists because you think
it's a problem. Celebrities might be chased by a swarm of journalists,
which doesn't sound very pleasant.
It doesn't. OK, let's look at that again.
Next headline please.
This is from Edinburgh Live.
Frantic Edinburgh couple race home from Iceland
after travelling despite warnings.
So, this story is about tourists in Iceland
who are worried about what's happening.
The word that we're looking at is 'frantic'. Phil,
when do we use this word?
Well, this story's about tourists
but there's probably a lot of people feeling like that right now.
You said 'worried', but frantic is a bit more than that.
It's about being so worried that you find it hard to do things or hard
to control yourself, even.
OK, so if you're frantic
it's a little bit like you're panicking
and you might even do the wrong thing because you're so worried.
Yeah, because we often use this to talk about the way we do things
we can use the adverb 'frantically' to describe things done in a hurry
because you're worried or scared.
OK, let's look at that again.
We've had 'imminent' - about to happen
'Swarm'- a large number of bad things
and 'frantic' - worried and out of control.
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