Boost Your English Comprehension And Stay Informed Ep 685

English Listening Practice: Find the silver lining in today's most daunting global challenges.

Tired of learning English that you don't hear in everyday English conversations? 🔥 Forget dull English lessons that teach you words you'll never use. This Adept #englishlesson doesn't just teach you words—it opens your eyes to what's happening around the world! You'll walk away not just speaking better English, but also richer in knowledge and perspective.

Why You Need This Lesson in Your Life:

• 💥 Expand Your Vocabulary: Learn a fresh, relevant word like "polycrisis"—and know how to use it!
• 🌍 Stay Worldly: Get insights on real-world events like conflicts, environmental crises, and health breakthroughs.
• 😃 Positivity Blast: Tough news got you down? We sprinkle in some hope and show you the brighter side.
• 🎧 Listen & Learn: Master English fluently with Adept English's proven listen & learn method.
• 🔄 On Repeat: Listen as many times as you like for true understanding and retention.

✔Lesson transcript: https://adeptenglish.com/lessons/listen-learn-english-through-uk-culture-and-current-events/

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
⭐ Albert Einstein

Find your daily dose of positivity and uplift your spirit while #learnenglish. Ever feel like you're drowning in a sea of bad news? What if I told you there's a way to not only stay informed but also improve your English skills? Intrigued? You should be! In our latest Adept English lesson, Hilary dives into the term "polycrisis"—a word that's as relevant as it is impactful.

But here's the kicker: Hilary also balances it out with uplifting stories that will renew your faith in humanity. Get ready to expand your vocabulary while restoring your optimism. Tune in now; your fluency—and mood—will thank you!

In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.
⭐ Albert Einstein

So stop wasting your time on lessons that put you to sleep. Grab this Adept English lesson today, and feel the surge of fresh, practical English flood your mind! 👉 Don't think—just do it. Hit the 'Play' button and elevate your English now! 🎉

More About This Lesson

Do you feel swamped by bad news? What if you could improve your English and stay informed at the same time? Tune in to Adept English's latest podcast lesson about the word "polycrisis." You'll get more than just vocabulary; you'll get a fresh outlook on life too.

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.
⭐ Albert Einstein

Things you will gain in today's English listening lesson:

1. Vocabulary Expansion: You learn new words like "polycrisis," broadening your vocabulary for real-world conversations.
2. Listening Practice: Constant listening sharpens your understanding of spoken English, making you more fluent.
3. Cultural Context: Understanding the UK's take on global issues adds depth to your English language experience.
4. Pronunciation Help: Hearing the words spoken aids in correct pronunciation, an essential part of fluent speech.
5. Structured Learning: The lesson organizes various topics, helping you follow English discussions logically.
6. Real-world Examples: Discussing current issues like climate change makes the learning relevant and immediate.
7. Repeated Exposure: The lesson encourages multiple listens, which helps reinforce the material.
8. Positive Content: Uplifting stories offer an emotional break, making it easier to engage with the lesson.

Benefits of our listen & learn approach to learning

Here are the key reasons to engage with this lesson:

• Explore the term 'polycrisis' in the context of today's world.
• Find out how listening repeatedly aids your learning and makes you fluent.
• Discover how staying informed can improve your English and make you a better global citizen.
• Tackle Vocabulary Fears: The lesson simplifies tough words like 'polycrisis.'
• Keep Up with the World: No need to feel left out; you'll understand global issues.
• Structured Learning: Our 'Activate Your Listening' course makes your learning path easy.
• Escape Boredom: Our topics range from health breakthroughs to global crises, keeping you hooked.
• Connect with Others: Sharing our podcast helps you meet other learners and build a community.

By participating in lessons like this, you are on a fast track to English fluency.

• Boost Your Vocabulary: Master the word 'polycrisis' and other terms to level up your English.
• Stay Current: Learn about real-world events and issues, so you're not left in the dark.
• Change Your Outlook: Our listen & learn system is not just for language; it's a mindset change.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
⭐ Margaret Mead

• Help us make more content with a donation https://adeptengli.sh/donate

Common Misconceptions: New learners, watch out for these traps:

• Thinking you need big words to speak well.
• Believing British English is all about serious topics.
• Assuming learning English is just bookish knowledge.

Don't wait! Subscribe to the Adept English podcast and start learning today. With our listen & learn system, you'll get the English skills you crave and the global awareness you need. Click 'play' and set your learning in motion!

Questions You Might Have...

Listening to this Adept English podcast is like diving into a linguistic treasure chest amid a tempest of current events. You emerge not just with the gem of 'polycrisis' but also with nuggets of optimism that light up the surrounding storm. With Hilary as your guide, you don't just boost your vocabulary; you elevate your spirits. Get enlightened about the world's complexities while also discovering the rays of hope that often get lost in the daily noise. Dive in, listen up, and come out richer in both words and wisdom!

1. What Does the Term "Polycrisis" Mean in the Transcript? The term "polycrisis" in the Adept English podcast is a combination of "poly," meaning many, and "crisis," which refers to an extremely difficult or dangerous point in a situation. It describes the multiple crises happening simultaneously in the world today. Understanding this term is crucial for boosting your vocabulary in British English and being aware of real-world issues.
2. How Does Listening to this Podcast Help in Learning British English? The podcast gives you the chance to expand your vocabulary and improve your listening skills, both essential for achieving fluency in British English. It's a part of Adept English's listen & learn system, allowing you to immerse yourself in the English language and British culture.
3. What Other Resources Does Adept English Offer for Learning English? In addition to podcasts, Adept English offers a course called 'Activate Your Listening' aimed at improving your English understanding and speaking abilities. This course can be found on their website and aligns with their goal to help you speak English fluently.
4. Why Should I Share the Podcast? Sharing the podcast on platforms like Spotify helps boost the reach of Adept English. The wider the audience, the more people can benefit from this valuable English learning resource.
5. Are There Any Other Topics Covered in the Podcast? Yes, besides discussing the term "polycrisis," the podcast also brings in positive news stories from various fields like health, environment, and technology. These stories not only lift your spirits but also offer additional contexts for learning new vocabulary and idioms in British English.

Most Unusual Words:

• Polycrisis: A situation where multiple crises happen at the same time.
• Biodiversity: The variety of life in a particular place or in the world.
• Médecins Sans Frontières: French for "Doctors Without Borders," an organization that provides medical help worldwide.
• Humanitarian: Related to helping people who are suffering or in need.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Computer systems that can perform tasks that usually require human intelligence.
• Inflation: The rate at which prices for goods and services rise.
• Screening: Testing or checking for the presence of disease.
• Symptoms: Signs or indicators of a disease or condition.
• Insecticide: Chemicals used to kill insects.
• Amyloids: A type of protein that can build up in organs and tissues.

Most Frequently Used Words:

Listen To The Audio Lesson Now

Transcript: Boost Your English Comprehension And Stay Informed

A new word - 'polycrisis'

Hi there. Today, let's talk about a new word. The word is 'polycrisis'. P O L Y C R I S I S. So I'll explain what that word means, but I also want to talk about some positive things that are going on in the world to lift our spirits, to make us all feel better - I think we might need that at the moment!

And of course, you'll be getting some great English listening practice and be boosting your vocabulary on real world issues and events.

Hello, I’m Hilary, and you’re listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.

Please share Adept English on Spotify - and buy Activate Your Listening

And one favour I have to ask of you, if you're on Spotify, please share our podcast with other people. It's really easy to do this and it helps boost Adept English.

And don't forget, if you want to improve your English understanding and your ability to speak English in a much more structured way, 'Activate Your Listening' is waiting for you on our Courses page at adeptenglish.com. And this is exactly what it will help you with.

Boost Your Learning With Adept English

Are we in a period of 'polycrisis'?

So 'polycrisis' is a new word which I heard only just this week, but apparently it's been around since 2022. It's not difficult to understand why this has become a word in English. ' Poly', P O L Y, just means 'many' or 'multiple' when it's on the front of a word. And 'crisis', C R I S I S. That's defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary, as being 'an extremely difficult or dangerous point in a situation', that's a 'crisis'.

So, you could say that we're currently in a period of 'polycrisis'. There are so many crises going on in the world at the same time. So many issues and difficulties which confront us, and I sometimes talk about these in the Adept English Podcast, especially when I cover news. I'll give you a quick list of the sorts of issues which are confronting us at the moment, so you can reflect on what a lot there are.

Boost Your English Comprehension And Stay Informed Ep 685 Article Image

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A panoramic view of melting ice. Effective Practice: Repeated listening improves your English fluency and understanding.

©️ Adept English 2023

A list of crises that confront us

There are natural disasters and extreme weather events that pose threat to life or take lives. There's global warming generally, in terms of polar ice melt, increased wildfires and flood events. There were also earthquakes this year in Turkey, Morocco and Afghanistan.

There's pollution and plastics in the sea.

And there's our need to cut CO2. And that upcoming pain, both financial and otherwise, of all the measures that we'll have to take to cut CO2 successfully.

There's loss of biodiversity.

There's the aftermath of the COVID 19 pandemic. We're still counting the cost in many ways.

But probably bigger than all of this at the moment, in people's awareness, all the conflicts going on in the world.

Of course, there's Russia and Ukraine, but now there's also what's going on in Israel and Gaza.

There's the fleeing of Nagorno Karabakh, anti-regime protests in Iran, problems in Yemen, Ethiopia, lots of places in the world where conflict has either broken out or could easily do so again.

In fact, sometimes there's so many conflicts, it's hard to focus your attention. They compete for our attention. And inside of these war zones and where these natural disasters take place, people are suffering terribly. I don't know how organisations like the Red Cross or Médecins Sans Frontières, Doctors Without Borders - I don't know how they choose where to put their resources. There are so many people in need. There are so many people in need of humanitarian aid. That's AID or 'help'. That's just basic support to keep people alive, but that's what these organisations do.

There's also large-scale migration and the pain of this to individuals. And sometimes the horrific reports of loss of life as people drown in boats when trying to migrate.

More at home and in the developed countries - other things we worry about Artificial Intelligence, AI. Will it take our jobs? Will it change the world of work? What skillset will I need? And so called 'AI anxiety'.

There are also high interest rates, high fuel prices, food inflation and the cost of living crisis or C O L C as it's known in the UK. Everything's just more expensive and can we afford to live?

And there's also so much employment discontent, both doctors and train drivers still striking in the UK at the moment.

Time for some good news stories instead?

So it's easy to think of ourselves as experiencing a 'polycrisis' at the moment. So much bad news in the world all at once. But Andrew of Adept English suggested recently, 'Why don't you do some more positive news stories instead? Give people something more encouraging to listen to'.

So I thought that was a good idea. I found some positive news stories to give to you, things that are much happier, much more positive going on in the world at the moment. Here they are.

Listen to some birdsong

1. Firstly, a nice gentle one, a musician and composer that's C O M P O S E R in the UK - that means 'someone who writes music', a composer. He spent a year recording birdsong along his local river. That's the River Nene in Northamptonshire in the UK.

So this man's name is Nick Penny, and I've included his video in the transcript. I really encourage you to listen to this. It's very short. It's a recording of birdsong, and it reminds us how nature can repair us. And that there are still beautiful things in the world. Just take a moment to listen and you may feel better!

It's also good to know that there's still different birdsong and some biodiversity left in the UK! The birds on this recording are called a turtle dove, a skylark, a woodpecker, a chiff chaff, a tawny owl, and a mistle thrush.

Good news for men's health

2. Men's health news. Women in the UK and many other countries have routine checks for their most common cancer, breast cancer, that's C A N C E R. And this saves many lives every year. But so far in the UK, men haven't had the same screening programme for their most common cancer, which is prostate cancer, P R O S T A T E.

Prostate cancer is a cancer which men tend to get with increasing age. And one in four black men will get prostate cancer. So this is a very serious health problem with no screening programme.

But in the UK recently, scientists trialled MRI for screening for prostate cancer, and it was very successful. So they now plan to set up a screening programme.

Currently, something called a PSA test is used, and it's very unreliable. It gives false positives and false negatives.

And just to show how common this cancer is and why this MRI screening programme is so badly needed - on the MRI trial, the actual test, they tested 308 men for prostate cancer between the ages of 50 and 75, and they found 48 men with the cancer. And 25 of these needed to have serious and immediate cancer treatment. 48 men - that's nearly 16 percent of them actually had the cancer.

Prostate cancer is slow growing and may not have many symptoms. ' Symptoms', S Y M P T O M S - that's the sign that you've got the disease. How great that we have this breakthrough and let's hope that screening programme is set up soon in the UK and in other countries as well.

Good news in the fight against malaria

3. Another positive health story and one far wider-reaching than the last one. Scientists at a research laboratory in Spain, run by GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical company, discovered a possible way of preventing malaria, entirely by chance!

They noticed that a group of mosquitoes, that were being bred, created, to test malaria drugs, had stopped carrying malaria. This led them to discover that a particular type of bacteria, that's B A C T E R I A, which naturally occurs, can prevent mosquitoes transmitting malaria.

'Malaria', M A L A R I A, ' is a deadly disease, which of course comes from being bitten by mosquitoes. That's M O S Q U I T O E S. And it's a problem in many parts of the world. It's estimated that 620,000 people die every year of the disease, many of them children under the age of five. Apparently that's one child a minute, which is just an utter tragedy.

So preventing malaria is a top priority in many countries. Apparently this bacteria, called TC1, once it colonises the mosquito, it lasts the entire lifespan. So that mosquito cannot infect anyone. More trials are now taking place in Burkina Faso, at a field research laboratory, called MosquitoSphere. And they're testing to see how safe and effective this is in the real world. This bacteria could be a game-changer in the fight against deadly malaria. Brilliant!

Countries that have been declared malaria-free in 2023

4. Another malaria-related story. Recently Belize in South America declared itself malaria-free. This was after a public health campaign against malaria, which used mosquito nets, insecticide - that's substances to kill insects - and investment in trained community health workers, to help raise the issue and keep it in people's minds. So Belize has had no cases of malaria since 2019. And it's the third country in the world this year to be certified 'malaria-free', after Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. The WHO, the World Health Organisation, gives certificates to countries, as being 'malaria-free' once they can show there's been no cases for three years in their country. So great news for all three countries here!

And just quickly, two other news stories, which I've covered before actually in various podcasts, but which I think are so positive for the future, they're worth mentioning again.

Listening Lessons

Breakthrough in Alzheimer's

Firstly, scientists recently made a breakthrough in understanding the disease Alzheimer's and other types of dementia. So this is scientists working in the UK's Dementia Research Institute at University College London or UCL and working with scientists at KU Leuven in Belgium.

For years, scientists studying Alzheimer's knew that there was a build-up of proteins called amyloids and tau proteins in the brains of people who get dementia, that is. But they couldn't work out how this connected to the death of healthy brain cells, which is the main problem of the disease, of course. Recently, they discovered that a substance called MEG3 was responsible. This is produced by the amyloid and tau proteins and this is what causes the death of the healthy brain cells. They also found if they used a drug which blocks MEG3, the death of the healthy brain cells didn't happen! Surely this research brings us closer to treatment and to cure for Alzheimer's and dementia? Good news for all of us, I think!

Breakthrough on electric cars?

And secondly, the need to electrify our transport because of global warming and pollution. I've talked many times about the problems of electric cars and in particular, some of them to do with lithium batteries. Lithium's rare and expensive and there's problems with how it's mined as well. But, the Chinese company CATL have recognised promising technology around sodium batteries. Batteries that don't need lithium. Sodium is S O D I U M. And sodium is a mineral that is a thousand times more common in the world than lithium. That would make it much cheaper, but also it should be able to power car batteries for 300 to 400 miles. Much better! Sodium car batteries are, of course, still under development. But Maybe this is the technology that we're all going to be using.

Download The Podcast Audio & Transcript

There are some positive news stories to be had!

So you can see there are some positive things happening in the world at the moment!

Let me know if you'd like more positive news stories like these. They're not that difficult to find, even in this period of 'polycrisis'!

Goodbye

Don't forget to listen to this podcast a number of times to improve your vocabulary. It is an English lesson after all!

Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.

Thank you so much for listening. Please help me tell others about this podcast by reviewing or rating it. And, please share it on social media. You can find more listening lessons and a free English course at adeptenglish.com

Links

• By w:User:Julius.kusuma - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
• List of earthquakes in 2023
• 10 Conflicts to watch out for in 2023
• Nagorno-Karabakh
• Sounds along the River Nene
• Hopes that MRI scans
• Fight against malaria
• Belize declared free from malaria
• Sodium-ion batteries could make electric cars cheaper
• Breakthrough In Alzheimer's Research
• Help us make more content with a donation https://adeptengli.sh/donate
• More great listening lessons
• Find us on Spotify
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