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he's a review from BBC Learning English Hello and welcome to News Review.
The program where we give you the language You need to talk about the news.
Hi, I'm Neil joining me in this program.
Today's Sean.
Hello, Sean.
So what is our story today?
We have a story about an animal that is dying mysteriously on animal dying mysteriously.
Okay, well, let's find out some more about that from this.
BBC World Service News Bulletin.
The Peruvian Environmental agency is investigating the deaths of about 10,000 frogs whose bodies have been found in a river in the south of the country.
A local campaign group says pollution in the River Kuwata is to blame for the deaths.
Okay, so 10,000 frogs have been found dead in Peru, and it's a bit of a mystery.
They're investigating why, but local residents believe that it's due to pollution in the river, and they're desperate for the government to clean it up.
So you've been looking at this story how it's being half reported on the news websites.
What the words and expressions and phrases being used to talk about this story.
Okay, so I've picked out four expressions we have endangered species.
Get to the bottom off.
Turn of events, Andi.
Plea.
Okay.
Endangered species get to the bottom off.
Turn of events and plea.
How are these appearing in the headlines and in the articles.
Okay, so the 1st 1 endangered species is in this BBC news story, and we have the Titicaca water.
Frog is an endangered species that is found only in the huge freshwater lake shared by Peru and Bolivia and its tributaries.
So endangered species, that's, ah, type of animal or plant that might stop existing because there are only a very few of that type left.
So it is in danger status, the word endangered with any.
This time they Yeah, and this is what we call akal occasion words that go together very often in English.
Endangered species always goes together or endangered.
Animal animal also can't endangered plant species is a type of animal.
So here, for example, it's not all frogs that are endangered.
Just this special Titicaca water frog.
Yes.
On another reason why the word species is interesting.
Listen to the pronunciation species in the middle.
But why?
Because there's no S h in the spelling.
Normally or quite often in English when we want to produce the sound or represent it with letters we use S H no.
Here it's See I species with a c I Same with my name.
Sean.
Yeah, There's no essay.
Yes, it just goes to show the rules and spelling and pronunciation have a very strange relationship.
Exactly.
Makes it difficult.
Toe.
Look for us to learn how to spell, but also for learners to pronounce words.
Absolutely.
So you just have to learn it.
Yes, exactly.
Ok, let's get to the bottom of the next one.
Yeah, okay.
Appropriately, this is get to the bottom off And we have here in this story by sea nets.
Researchers are trying to get to the bottom off this tragic turn of events.
Yes.
So to get to the bottom of something, to discover the truth about something or find the cause of something, it's not literal.
They're not getting to the bottom of the lake or anything like that.
Just finding the truth.
Yes, but you can imagine kind of digging for an answer.
So yes, particularly something bad.
Often, often bad isn't so.
For example, three university had a problem with plagiarism people copying Andi.
They were keen to get to the bottom of it, to discover why it was happening.
So they stop it.
It's not always bad, though, is it?
You have that love letter on Valentine's Day a few months ago.
You have to get to the bottom of who sent it to you.
Yes, I did.
You ever get to the bottom of it?
Yes.
Yes, I did.
And I've told my mom to stop sending things to.
Of course, your mom.
We suspected that right then there's a sad turn of events for you.
It was a sad turn of events, which is the next Hoechst word.
So here, in the same same story we have researchers are trying to get to the bottom of this tragic turn of events.
So turn of events, turn of events means change in a situation.
I mean, turn is quite obvious.
Imagine a car going along a certain direction and then suddenly turns goes in a different direction.
Turn of events means a change in a situation and is often used with adjectives like tragic, dramatic, unexpected.
Yeah, Strange.
Yes.
Um, for example, recently, this week Last week Bob Dylan, who is a songwriter singer songwriter.
He was given an award for literature, sailors and literature.
The Nobel Prize for literature on day.
For some people, that was a strange turn of events because he's a singer.
Yeah, this is an award for a writer.
It was an unexpected situation.
Yes, Okay.
We also say that events take a turn so often news with worse.
So events took a turn for the worse, which means they suddenly became bad.
Finally, we have the last word we have.
It's please, which is not the same as please thank you.
It's the singular plea on its we have here.
In the same story from BBC News, it says the government has ignored pleas for the construction of a sewage treatment plant in the area.
Right.
So please our requests for something often serious and emotional s.
So it's not just a request for a coffee, for example, or very serious, very emotional of a dramatic Yeah, for example, those terrible stories.
When a child goes missing, you'll see the parents sometimes making an emotional plea for information.
And that's a call occassion, isn't it?
To make a plea?
Also use the verb.
So the parents plead for information.
Yes, and that's also something that you hear in court cases.
It is illegal to em for its way as well.
Yeah, somebody might plead guilty, put in a guilty plea or not guilty.
Be so if I say I am guilty, I plead guilty or plead innocent.
Yes.
Okay, let's now hear some more about this story about the frogs from the BBC's Leonardo, Russia.
Listen out for his use off the expression endangered species.
The Titicaca water frogs are endangered species that lives exclusively in the huge freshwater lake shared by Peru and Bolivia and its tributaries.
The number of residents around South America's largest lake has increased sharply in the past two decades, while the number of frogs there is estimated to have declined by 80%.
Residents say the government has done too little to deal with the impact of humans in the area.
They're calling for a sewage treatment plant to be built near the regional capital.
You know, the BBC's Leonardo Roger there with that report now in our program today we've been talking about endangered species, and a connected word is extinct, but what does it mean we have three options that we gave you on Facebook?
They were a not many exist.
Be None exists or see.
Many exist.
So what was the response?
Sean?
Very good, actually.
Almost everybody got it.
Correct.
For example, we have Emery Elton who says B and that's the correct answer.
So none exist.
And, for example, dinosaurs Alex Liu also says extinct, meaning none exist or endangered means not many exist.
So which is true?
There we go.
Well done to everyone who got that right now.
Sean, if you could just recap the words that we've heard today, please.
Yes, so we had endangered species, a type of animal or plant that might stop existing because there are only a few of that type alive we had gets to the bottom off.
So to discover the truth about something or find the cause of something and we had a turn of events, which is a change in a situation, and finally we had plea.
So that's a serious and emotional request for something, right?
And I'm gonna make a serious and emotional request now to our audience to check out our website.
BBC Learning english dot com for any help with their English.
Thanks for joining us and good bye, good bye.
He's a review from BBC Learning English.