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  • From BBC Learning English. This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

  • Today, a big health warning for 1.8 billion people around the world who don't do enough exercise.

  • Hello, I'm Neil.

  • And I'm Georgie.

  • In this programme, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

  • You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode, as well as a worksheet, on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

  • So Georgie, let's talk a little bit more about today's story.

  • A World Health Organisation study, that's WHO, has found that around 1.8 billion people in the world are inactive.

  • That means they do not move around enough.

  • Yes, so according to the WHO, adults need to spend at least 150 minutes a week doing moderate activity or 75 minutes a week doing vigorousthat means energeticactivity to stay healthy.

  • The results are part of a worldwide study and show that more people are inactive globally than the last study in 2010.

  • So our first headline describes the results of the report.

  • It is from Medical Express:

  • 'Wake-up call': third of adults not doing enough physical activity

  • OK, let's hear that again.

  • 'Wake-up call': third of adults not doing enough physical activity

  • And that's from Medical Express.

  • We're going to start by looking at the expression right at the beginning of that headline: wake-up call.

  • Yes, and we know wake up as a phrasal verb, it means to stop sleeping.

  • So you're in bed, you're sleeping and in the morning, we wake up.

  • But Neil, what about wake-up call as a noun?

  • Well, yes, let's think of a wake-up call like an alarm.

  • So it's something which forces you to stop sleeping.

  • Literally, you can get a wake-up call in a hotel where you ask them to call you at a certain time in the morning to wake you up.

  • Yes, but in the headline, wake-up call is more metaphorical.

  • So we're not talking about the literal sense like a hotel wake-up call.

  • It's like a warning or reminder that we need to wake up and do something about this problem, according to this WHO study.

  • So Neil, in what situations can we use it?

  • Well, it's used a lot in situations where we suddenly get information which reveals a serious problem and suggests that we need to change.

  • So, for example, it was my dad's birthday recently and I wanted to buy him a nice present.

  • But I realised I'd spent all of my money so I couldn't really afford to buy him what I wanted to and that was a wake-up call for me to organise my finances better.

  • That was wake-up call, a piece of information which gives a strong warning about a problem.

  • For example, this practice exam was a real wake-up call.

  • I really need to study more if I'm going to pass the real one.

  • This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

  • Today, we're talking about a WHO report which says 1.8 billion people across the world are inactive.

  • So, as we've heard, the results of the study show that more people in the world are not doing enough exercise or moving around enough.

  • So what's the problem?

  • Well, the reason the WHO are concerned about this is because scientists have linked inactivity to lots of serious health problems.

  • Yes, for example, inactivity is thought to increase the risk of strokes, heart attacks, diabetes and some cancers.

  • And we actually have a headline here which talks about these risks.

  • It's from The Sun and it says, "Laziness is 'silent threat' putting 1.8billion at risk of heart attacks, cancer & dementia, WHO warns."

  • So let's repeat that headline.

  • Laziness is 'silent threat' putting 1.8billion at risk of heart attacks, cancer & dementia, WHO warns.

  • That's from The Sun.

  • So that headline starts with the word "laziness"which the writer has used to describe people who don't do enough activity.

  • Of course, it's more complicated than that.

  • There are some people who can't do things, not because they're lazy, because they're not able to move.

  • Yes, and we are interested in this expression, "silent threat", which is how the WHO described high levels of inactivity.

  • Neil, how can a threat be silent?

  • Well, we use this phrase to talk about threats or dangers which people don't know about or they can't see.

  • Yes, in this story, silent threat is used to show that people don't realise that inactivity increases their risk of lots of diseases.

  • And Georgie, we hear also a related expression, "silent killer."

  • Silent killer, to talk about a serious disease which has no obvious symptoms.

  • Yeah, it's quite a dramatic term, often used to draw attention to something dangerous, as with silent threat in this headline.

  • Yes, and a good example, I think, of a silent killer is high blood pressure because lots of people have it and they don't realise that it can be really bad for you.

  • We've had silent threat, a danger people don't know about or can't see.

  • For example, this email system is a silent threat to the company.

  • It could be hacked really easily.

  • This is Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English.

  • We're talking about a report showing a third of the world's adults are inactive.

  • Yes, and beyond the headline number that 1.8 billion people globally are inactive, the results show what the situation is in different countries around the world.

  • Yes, and the highest levels of inactivity were found in South Asia and a region called high-income Asia-Pacific countries, for example, Japan and Singapore and South Korea.

  • And the results also show that more women were inactive than men.

  • Let's have another headline, this one from The Telegraph:

  • Britons are inactivebut WHO figures reveal they have leapfrogged one rival

  • Let's hear that again.

  • So this one's from The Telegraph: Britons are inactivebut WHO figures reveal they have leapfrogged one rival

  • OK, so this headline is looking in detail at how different countries performed in the survey, particularly Britain.

  • And it mentions a rival.

  • Georgie, any ideas who that rival could be?

  • I'm thinking European, I'll guess France.

  • Well, we'll find out later.

  • OK, but we're looking at this word "leapfrogged," which is quite a funny word.

  • What have frogs got to do with anything, Neil?

  • Well, it's not really about frogs, it's about a children's game.

  • And you probably know this game and it probably has a different name in your country.

  • But Georgie, you know that game when somebody bends down and another person jumps over their back.

  • That, as a verb, is to leapfrog.

  • Oh yes, actually I remember playing that game at school.

  • But this headline isn't literally about the game, is it?

  • No, we're talking about leapfrogging metaphorically.

  • So in the headline, if Britain leapfrogged their rival, it means they jump over the top of them and ahead of them in the results.

  • So basically, last time Britain did worse than their rival, so they were more inactive than their rival.

  • This time they did better, so they were less inactive.

  • They've leapfrogged them.

  • So Neil, who is this rival?

  • It's actually Australia.

  • Britain and Australia have a friendly rivalry and this is really a kind of fun article.

  • It's not really a competition between countries, but the writers are pointing out something interesting from these results.

  • OK, so back to leapfrog.

  • We can use this in sports or other competitive situations to describe that specific situation of jumping ahead of someone.

  • We had "leapfrog" - jump ahead of somebody in a competition.

  • For example, my favourite football team has been leapfrogged in the tournament by their rivals.

  • This is a nightmare!

  • That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

  • We'll be back next week for another news story.

  • If you've enjoyed this programme, we explore lots of stories about health in 6 Minute English.

  • You can listen on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

  • And don't forget to check out our social media channels, look for BBC Learning English.

  • Bye for now.

  • Bye.

From BBC Learning English. This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

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