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English as a Second Language Listening, speaking, pronunciation and accent
41

The government’s promising to build or renovate 10 million households for low-income families this year and next. Officials will provide about 40% of the cost. The rest will be raised from the families or companies who benefit from the programme.

It’s an ambitious target, perhaps too ambitious. The state-controlled media here says, last year, a plan to build just under six million affordable homes wasn’t completed. It’s getting harder and harder for families in Chinese cities to buy even a small apartment.

The government’s responded with measures to try to curb speculation, making it more expensive to buy second homes, and telling local governments to set price targets. Qi Ji, a housing minister, said these price curbs were an effort to direct the limited supply of housing towards those who needed it most.

Property developers are already complaining that the plans to build so many affordable homes will hit their profits. Ten million units would be more than half the number of new homes built here last year.

But China’s Premier, Wen Jiabao, has promised to work harder to address public concerns about the housing market. Reports in the state media quote officials as saying a new round of controls will be introduced if property prices don’t stabilise in the weeks ahead.

42

Forbes has been tracking the world’s billionaires since 1987 and this year there are more mega-wealthy individuals than ever before.

The world’s richest man is still Carlos Slim; the Mexican telecoms tycoon is worth $74 billion. The US has Microsoft’s Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett, plus six Facebook billionaires - 413 American billionaires in all.

But fast-growing rivals are challenging US dominance. Asia now has 332 billionaires, even more than in Europe. One hundred and fifteen billionaires are in China, many created as Chinese companies have listed on the stock market. And Moscow is the city with the most billionaire residents.

Commodities, like steel and oil, have soared in price creating fortunes this year. The authors warn that they may not last.

43

Killer whales whistle to talk to each other and click to find their way around. It’s the echoes from these clicks that help the animals to map their surroundings and to pinpoint the location of their next meal.

But while one type of killer whale eats fish, the other hunts marine mammals, including seals and porpoises. A shoal of salmon can’t hear the clicking of an approaching killer whale, but the mammals, with their highly sensitive underwater hearing, can.

The researchers used underwater microphones to listen to killer whales hunting seals off the coast of Alaska. They found that the animals fell completely silent when they were hunting. But, somehow, they still managed to organise themselves into groups - often spreading out up to a mile apart, before coming back together and calling loudly to each other while they shared their catch.

The scientists now hope to attach satellite trackers to individual killer whales, to find out more about this stealthy behaviour.

44

William: Hello, and welcome to the English We Speak, I’m William.

Yang Li: And I’m Yang Li…

William: And your task, Yang Li, is to guess today’s word, OK?

Yang Li: OK.

William: Awesome. Li, try some of this cake…

Yang Li: A cake? Oh, thanks! That’s very nice…

William: Do you like it? Awesome. They’re pretty awesome cakes, huh?!

Yang Li: Yes, and I think I know what this week’s word is. It’s…

William: Hang on Li, try some of this coffee as well – it’s really…

Yang Li: Awesome?

William: Exactly - it’s really awesome. You got it. So listen to this. Which three adjectives are used in this clip?

Example

This party is awesome. The food is amazing. The wine is excellent.

Yang Li: Awesome, amazing and excellent.

William: That’s right. Awesome means excellent or amazing.

Yang Li: Awesome. This word has existed in English for a long time, hasn’t it?

William: Yes, and it used to mean awe-inspiring. So awe means great respect or admiration, so something that’s awesome or awe-inspiring makes you feel great respect and admiration.

Yang Li: Full of respect and admiration. But now it just means cool?

William: Exactly, and that’s thanks to the influence of American slang. So the word can now be used to describe almost anything.

Examples

These shoes are awesome.
This is an awesome radio programme.
Wow! You are awesome at singing, mate!

William: And there is one slightly different usage of this word. Listen to this.

Example

A: Are you free to come for hotpot tonight?
B: Yes, I should be.
A: Awesome. That makes four of us!

William: So what does awesome mean in that clip, Li?

Yang Li: It’s like when we say ‘great’ at the beginning of a sentence.

William: Well, that’s it, yeah, exactly. Awesome can also be used at the beginning of a sentence to indicate agreement or approval.

Yang Li: Awesome! That’s clear now.

William: Awesome. And that’s the end of this awesome programme.

Yang Li: William, do you have any cakes left?

William: Er, just one. Do you want to share it, Li?

Yang Li: Awesome. Bye.

William: Bye.

45

Protestors say they are just ordinary Australian workers and taxpayers who feel betrayed by the government’s plans to put a price on carbon. They insist it would damage the economy and drive up the cost of living by making energy far more expensive.

Man 1: “There is a ground swell of people that have finally had a gutful.”

Man 2: “Since the Labor government has come into this country, the union rules. We just cannot do it anymore. We have no more money left to pay the taxes.”

Reporter: The demonstrators have the support of the conservative opposition leader, Tony Abbott. He says that without a global carbon pricing agreement, Australian businesses would be less competitive:

Tony Abbott: “A one-sided carbon tax, a unilateral carbon tax is an act of economic self-harm.”

Woman: “Here we have 12,000 signatures supporting action on climate change.”

Man 3: “12,000. Fantastic.”

Reporter: Supporters of the tax believe it will cut pollution in Australia, which is one of the world’s worst per capita emitters of greenhouse gases, and will also encourage the development of a low-carbon economy.

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard says that opposition won’t derail the plan:

Julia Gillard: “Now, I understand there’s always going to be a variety of views in the community. We’ll see that on display today, but pricing carbon is the right thing for our nation’s future and that’s why I am determined to do it.”

Reporter: The Prime Minister hopes to bring in a tax on carbon next year, before introducing an emissions trading scheme as early as 2015. She insists that without these key economic reforms, Australia will be left behind by its international competitors.

46

In Britain, the only hazardous situations postmen are likely to encounter are having their fingers caught in a vicious letterbox, and perhaps occasionally being bitten by an angry dog.

How different things are in the USA. Over the past thirty years there seems to have been a spate of killings by American postal workers, who have gone on the rampage and shot their colleagues, members of the public and police officers. Apparently official statistics suggest that the murder rate at post offices is lower than at other workplaces in the US.

Nevertheless – perhaps it’s just the strange idea of homicidal postmen – but for whatever reason the image gradually caught the American public’s imagination, and by late 1993 we begin to find the expression ‘go postal’ being used, meaning ‘to rush about in a murderous frenzy’.

It got a burst of publicity with its use in the 1995 film Clueless, which boosted its popularity still further, and it entered the general vocabulary of everyday American English, in the rather watered-down sense ‘become extremely angry’ (as in ‘Mom will go totally postal when she sees what you’ve done to the car’).

British speakers on the whole still treat the phrase as something slightly odd and unfamiliar, but don’t bet against it catching on here.

47

Reporter: Now here is a bright idea - a designer, low-energy light bulb. So now, if you want to illuminate your home in an eco-friendly fashion, you have this curvaceous choice. The designers spent a great deal of time worrying about what might turn people on, and what might turn them off.

Their quest was to marry practicality, something that actually works, with a sense of style and beauty, to create an object of desire. Something that you not only wanted to own, but hopefully also wanted to keep.

Nicolas Roope: And that’s really the role of the designer, I think, is to make objects that people really connect with and really cherish, you know. I think that’s one of our roles, and obviously in this case this isn’t just about prettifying. This is about, you know, obviously, the underlying problem of getting people to adopt this stuff, because obviously that’s in everybody’s interests.

Reporter: That is if money is not too much of an issue - funky costs. Each one is nearly £20. That’s up to twenty times the price of some other low-energy bulbs.

It’s too early to judge if this product has a dazzling future, but its creators will be reassured to know that at least one major household goods retailer said its customers did not consider light bulbs dull. In fact, to them, design matters.

48

They’ve selected prospective sites under the Pacific Ocean where the crust is at its thinnest - just six kilometres.

Dr Damon Teagle, of the UK’s National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, is leading the quest. He likens the bid to the retrieval of Moon rocks by the Apollo programme and says samples from the mantle will tell us how our planet was formed and how it’s changing.

Dr Damon Teagle: Just as the Moon rocks told us about the composition of the Moon and how that relates to the early formation of the Earth itself, so will these samples as well.

Reporter: Next month, the team will begin a bid to drill nearly two kilometres down through the ocean floor off the coast of Costa Rica. They say an attempt to reach the mantle could begin as early as 2018, funds and technology permitting.

49

As protesters outside chanted, the judges inside the US Supreme Court were hearing evidence on what could turn into the largest sex discrimination lawsuit in American history. This group of women are suing their bosses at Wal-Mart, claiming they’ve been passed up for pay and promotion in favour of men.

It’s been a ten-year battle, but they are calling on their case to be heard as a class action, so the grievances of all women employees can be heard together. The women claim thousands of workers have been held back from opportunities based on their gender.

It’s for the Supreme Court to decide in the coming weeks whether the lawsuit should cover all female retail staff who’ve worked in Wal-Mart stores in America since 1988.

Wal-Mart says any grievances should be heard on a case-by-case basis, rather than be lumped together as one, and deny any claims of sexism.

Many big businesses fear that if the Supreme Court does allow a class action lawsuit to go ahead, it could open the floodgates to many similar large-scale discrimination cases.

50

Amidst all the dramatic headlines about the rebel advances in Libya, two things are clear. Firstly: that the rebel forces still have a very limited offensive punch. Libyan government units seem to have dissolved in front of them, rather than being defeated in battle. Secondly: the retreat of the Libyan government forces has been caused by the damage they have sustained from the air. We do not know how extensive the air attacks have been, but they clearly have dented the Libyan government forces’ morale.

Continuing air attacks will reach a point where they are no longer ensuring the protection of civilians, but aiding the offensive operations of the rebels. Some might argue that point has already come. Inevitably, this will cause strains within NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation). No wonder then that diplomatic efforts are beginning to focus on the end game in this crisis.

A major conference involving the coalition countries and the Arab League is to be held in London. The Italians are already talking about an exit route for Colonel Gaddafi himself and Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is casting himself in the role of a mediator to attempt to bring about a ceasefire.

51

You’ve broken up with your girlfriend or boyfriend, your wife or husband has left you and you feel rejected, dejected, broken-hearted. Well, new research suggests that intense feelings of rejection are as hurtful as physical pain.

The lead author of the study, Ethan Kross, said the reason is because the same regions of the brain that become active in response to painful sensory experiences are also activated during intense experiences of social rejection.

The researchers hope their findings will offer new insight into how the experience of intense social loss may lead to various physical pain symptoms and disorders.

They also confirmed the notion that people from different cultures all around the world use the same language, words like ‘hurt’ and ‘pain’, to describe the experience of both physical pain and social rejection.

52

Honda says it’s cutting production at its Swindon plant, in southern England, by 50% from next week, as it grapples with shortages of key components from Japan.

Wide swathes of Japanese industry are working at well below full capacity due to power shortages, following the nuclear accident at Fukushima. The earthquake and tsunami devastated a region that’s home to some key parts suppliers to the motor and electronics industries. The effect is being felt in the supply chains of many companies around the world, not just Japanese ones, that rely on Japanese made components.

The problem’s been exacerbated by the prevalence of so-called ‘just-in-time’ production systems, where manufacturers don’t keep large stockpiles of parts on-site. Instead, they rely on timely deliveries made just before the parts are needed, more efficient when things are going well, but prone to disruption if the parts don’t arrive on time.

53

‘Brown the Bottler’ the placards said. Gordon Brown had recently taken over as prime minister of Britain in 2007, and he’d been thinking of holding a general election, to confirm his leadership. Then he suddenly seems to have been struck by terrible doubts over whether he’d win, so he decided not to have an election after all. His enemies accused him of being scared, of, to use a different metaphor, chickening out. That’s what ‘bottler’ means in British slang: a person who lacks the courage to go through with something.

But why? It all goes back to a rather strange use of ‘bottle’ to mean ‘bravery’ or ‘nerve’, which has been around for nearly a century now. So if someone has lost their bottle, they’ve lost their nerve, they’re afraid. The verb ‘to bottle’ soon followed: you could ‘bottle out of’ something, or simply ‘bottle it’, if you didn’t have the guts to do it. And so we got ‘bottler’.

But the original question why remains. There’s an old slang expression ‘no bottle’ meaning ‘no good’ which may have something to do with it, and it’s often claimed that it’s linked with Cockney rhyming slang ‘bottle and glass’. That stands for ‘arse’, and various not entirely convincing attempts have been made to connect that with the idea of courage.

And a word of warning: in Australia, ‘bottler’ means ‘someone or something excellent’ (as in “That try he scored was a real bottler”). A slippery thing is slang.

54

The colour olive green is the latest weapon in the ongoing battle between the Australian government and big tobacco. Under aggressive new proposals, billed as the toughest in the world, every packet of cigarettes sold in Australia would be packaged in that colour after research showed that olive green was the most off-putting for smokers.

Logos and any form of distinct branding would be completely banned. Instead, the brand names would appear in a standard size and font, making them as bland and anonymous as possible. A greater area of the packaging would also be taken up with grotesque pictures of cancerous tumours and the health effects of tobacco.

Claiming a global first, the Australian government says it wants to remove any remaining glamour from cigarettes, but the big tobacco companies have questioned the legality of the legislation.

Worried about the possible worldwide knock-on effects of Australia introducing such stringent regulations, they’ve vowed to put up a fight - saying the new measures infringe international trademark and intellectual property laws.

55

Entire houses, bodies, car parts, tractors and many upturned boats have amassed off the east coast of Japan on an epic scale.

The floating objects have been declared a maritime hazard by the American Navy, which warned they could pierce the body of a boat, or destroy engines in the Pacific’s shipping lanes.

The island of debris of most concern, 110 kilometres long, is being closely monitored by the US Navy’s seventh fleet, as experts predict it could hit Hawaii’s shores in two years and the American west coast a year later.

Hawaiian scientists put it bluntly. They warned that a vast mess that originated in a few moments of destruction in Japan, could eventually foul beaches and reefs off the Eastern North Pacific and kill marine life.

The American Navy’s working with civilian construction companies from the earthquake-hit country, as huge cranes and boats are deployed to clear the seas of this vast bobbing mass of wreckage of household furniture, wood, tyres, fishing equipment and other garbage, sweeping eastwards.

56

Rob: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Rob Carter.

Wang Fei: And I’m Wang Fei. Did you enjoy the party at the weekend, Rob?

Rob: Of course! And it was good of William to buy all that food and drink – he’s a good egg!

Wang Fei: A good egg?

Rob: Yes, he’s someone who is good to other people and he’s generous too!

Wang Fei: So you’re telling me William is a good egg because he’s a generous person and he put on a good party?

Rob: Well not just that. He’s reliable too – he always does what he says he will do – like helping me with the decorating.

Wang Fei: So a good egg is really a nice person to know then?

Rob: Yes, a good egg is an all round good guy.

Wang Fei: A good guy. Are we really talking about William?!

Rob: We are.

* Thanks for buying me lunch, you really are a good egg!
* I think we can trust her, she really is a good egg.

Rob: So these examples of using good egg mean someone is a reliable, trustworthy and generous person.

Wang Fei: It’s a very British term isn’t it?

Rob: It is, which is why I tend to say it in a posh voice – good egg. Of course, the opposite of a good egg is a bad egg. Let’s hear how this term is used…

* He's a bad egg. I can't rely on him to do anything!
* How can I trust you to be on time? You're such a bad egg!

Rob: So in these examples bad egg is used to describe someone who is not reliable and untrustworthy.

Wang Fei: Actually Rob, I meant to tell you - I bought all the food and drink for William’s party. He had forgotten to get any.

Rob: Really? Did he have egg on his face?

Wang Fei: Excuse me?

Rob: If you have egg on your face it means you’re extremely embarrassed by your actions.

Wang Fei: Oh I see! William certainly had egg on his face but we still had a good party.

Rob: Of course we did!

Wang Fei: Well don’t forget to check our website.

Rob: That’s www.bbclearningenglish.com for lots more useful English words and phrases.

Both: Bye bye.

57

Women’s football - or soccer as it’s known in many countries - has been played in England for more than a hundred years. But, unlike men’s football, it’s always been an amateur game. The new Super League will be the first semi-professional competition for women, with eight teams from across the country competing for the title.

The players will get paid for their efforts, although their salaries will be nothing like those given to top male football stars. The Football Association says it hopes to avoid uneven competition, where a country’s richest clubs get access to all the best players.

Each club in the women’s Super League will have a maximum annual budget of around $400,000. Some clubs, like Arsenal and Everton, will be helped by their respective male clubs, but others are trying to match their incomes by coaching school pupils or raising money through social events.

Organisers are hoping the league will eventually attract the world’s best female players and stop England’s top stars heading to Germany and the United States, where there are already major professional competitions.

58

Li: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Yang Li.

William: (subdued) I’m William Kremer.

Li: So, what English are we speaking today, William?

William: (sigh) I don’t know.

Li: Oh what a big sigh! What’s wrong?

William: Oh, it doesn’t matter.

Li: Oh, come on! I can see something’s not right. What’s wrong?

William: (sigh) It’s… well, if you must know, it’s Tigger… he’s died.

Li: Tigger? Who’s Tigger?

William: Tigger… Tigger is… Tigger was my beautiful cat. He was my best friend. I suppose you could say that. I’m going to miss his stripey face in the morning. And his purr, yeah, I’m going to miss that. But, you know, these things happen. I shouldn’t get so upset…

Li: Why not? I think it’s normal to be very sad when a pet dies.

William: No, no, it’s silly! I’m getting upset over an animal! I’m not a baby! I should grow up.

Li: But you might find it helpful to talk about your feelings for Tigger.

William: No, no, no, no! I hate all of that touchy-feely stuff!

Li: Touchy-feely?

William: Yeah, if something is touchy-feely it’s very emotional. If you are a touchy-feely person you don’t mind talking about your feelings and maybe actually hugging people.

Li: I see. So is this a negative phrase, touchy-feely?

William: Yeah, a little bit. Let’s hear a couple of examples of it in use:

* Man: Do you know, I never once saw my mum and dad kiss or hug.
* Man 2: Really? Gosh, that seems incredible.
* Man: But I think they really loved each other. They just weren't all touchy-feely about it. 

* Woman: Did you go to that drama group?
* Woman 2: Yeah. I don't think I'll go again.
* Woman: Oh? Why not?
* Woman 2: Well, the acting was fine. But it's all that touchy-feely stuff they do that I don't like.

Li: Look, you English people! You just can’t talk about your feelings, can you?

William: Well, you might be right Li – we’re not famous for talking about our feelings. Now, before we finish, I have heard this phrase touchy-feely being used in a very different way too. Listen to this:

* Woman: I love your sweater!
* Man: Thanks.
* Woman: It's so soft! I love this material. It's so touchy-feely!
* Man: OK. Shall I take it off and then you can touch it properly?!

Li: So in that example, ‘touchy-feely’ was being used to describe a kind of material.

William: Yes. If something is touchy-feely it is very soft. You want to stroke it, just like Tigger. I’m going to miss stroking Tigger.

William: The way he used to purr… And sometimes he would bring me a little present, you know. A dead mouse or maybe a little bird. So thoughtful.

Li: Hmm. It’s OK to cry you know, William…

William: (recovering himself) No! No it’s not. No touchy-feely stuff!

Li: Oh I give up. Goodbye everyone.

William: Bye!

59

William: Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, I’m William Kremer.

Wang Fei: And I’m Wang Fei. William I hope we finish recording quickly today.

William: Oh, why’s that?

Wang Fei: I need to get to the bank before it closes.

William: Oh I see.

Wang Fei: Yes, just need to move some money around. I’ve got to move some money into a high interest account and transfer some into my investment account…

William: Look at you Wang Fei. High-interest accounts and investment accounts. You really are quite money-savvy aren’t you?

Wang Fei: Money what?

William: Money-savvy.

Wang Fei: Money-savvy?

William: Yeah. It means you’re good with money. You know what you’re doing with it, how to invest it, that kind of thing.

Wang Fei: Well, I guess I am. I do look after my money.

William: I wish I was a bit more money-savvy like you! But I am quite good with technology. You know, you wouldn’t need to rush to the bank if you tried online banking.

Wang Fei: Online banking? Not for me. I just don’t really trust it.

William: Maybe you should try it.

Wang Fei: No, I just don’t feel safe doing that. I’m not very… can I say… technologically savvy?

William: Yes, you can say technologically savvy or just tech-savvy. Or you might say that you’re not very web-savvy, as we’re talking about the web, the internet.

• I wouldn’t recommend you go down that street after dark. It’s just not safe. And you’re not very street-savvy to be honest with you.

• A: So what do you think of the new flower shop?
B: It’s in a good location, and the owner is really business-savvy. I’m sure it’ll be a great success.

Wang Fei: Money-savvy, tech-savvy…

William: And business-savvy. You can be savvy about a lot of things. So are you going to go to the bank in the end?

Wang Fei: No I think I’ll sign up for an online account. Give it a go.

William: And I might buy those stocks that you were suggesting.

Wang Fei: Great. And let’s hope all our listeners are a bit more slang-savvy after this programme.

William: Bye for now.

Wang Fei: Bye.

60

“Have you ever considered yourself a fan of Michael Jackson?” That’s question number 97 on a 30-page list potential jurors have had to complete. The document also asks if they’ve ever owned the star’s music or if they went to see the movie “This Is It”, about preparations for his comeback tour.

Would-be panellists have been asked whether they feel celebrities in Los Angeles get away with crimes because of their status and there are several questions about how jurors would deal with the intense media scrutiny this case will undoubtedly attract.

The trial of Dr Conrad Murray is due to start in early May. He denies killing Michael Jackson with an overdose of a powerful anaesthetic. That was nearly two years ago and the case has rarely been out of the headlines. Authorities have called nearly 500 people to take part in the jury selection process. They must make sure the panel is fair.