0:00

This is the BBC. Search

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for survivors after New Year's

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Day earthquake hits Japan. This

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is News Review from BBC Learning English, where

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we help you understand news headlines in

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English. I'm Neil. And I'm

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Georgie. Make sure you watch to

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the end to learn the vocabulary you need to

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talk about this story. Don't forget to subscribe to

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our channel so you can

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learn more English from news

0:55

headlines. Now, the story.

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Emergency services are searching for

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trapped survivors following powerful earthquakes

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in Japan. At

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least 64 people have died so far after

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a series of quakes on New Year's Day.

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Images taken by helicopters show

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many fires and widespread damage

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to infrastructure and buildings. You've

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been looking at the headlines, Georgie. What's

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the vocabulary people need to understand this

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news story in English? We

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have... This

1:34

is News Review from BBC Learning

1:37

English. Let's

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have a look at our first headline. This

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one's from The Guardian. So,

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this headline talks about... about

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the time pressure to find

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people trapped under the rubble

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after the earthquakes in Japan.

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Rubble is the broken bits

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of buildings. But we're looking at the

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expression battle against time, which contains the

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word battle, Georgie, and I know this

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word from the context of war, but

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this isn't about a war, so why

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is it being used? Yes, you're right,

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battle is used to talk about war. A

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battle is like a fight, and in

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a fight we have two sides fighting

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against each other. So here the rescuers

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are in a fight against time. They're

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in a hurry to make sure as

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many people survive as possible. There

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is another similar expression, Neil. Yes, so

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we also have race against time,

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which is similar in meaning to

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battle against time, but instead of

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fighting we're talking about moving fast,

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the sense that time is running

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out, it could be too late

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soon. What other examples

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have we got of the expression battle

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against time? When can we use it?

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Well, like in this story,

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we use battle against time

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for search and rescue operations

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or natural disasters to help

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people quickly before the situation

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gets worse, but we

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could also use it for things like

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work deadlines and exams, so a student

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might be in a battle against time

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to answer all the questions before the

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time runs out. OK,

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let's look at that again. Let's

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have our next headline. This

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one's from ITV News.

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This headline tells us about the number

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of people who've been killed by this earthquake

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in Japan. We call that the

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death toll, but we're looking at

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the expression rocked by, which contains

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the word rock and I think

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probably most people know what a rock

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is as a noun, but this is

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a verb here. What does it mean,

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Georgie? Yes, well, rocked is

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literally this action. It's to move from

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one side to another. So you can

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rock a baby, rock a boat. If

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you imagine a boat being rocked side

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to side in the waves, you can

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even rock backwards and forwards on a

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chair, for example. Yes, so

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in this case, Japan was

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physically rocked by the earthquake.

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The ground moved. It's a

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literal meaning. Exactly, but there's

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also a metaphorical meaning. A

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group of people or society can be

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rocked by a major event or a

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big change, which means that it causes

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surprise, shock or emotional impact.

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Yeah, and in this headline, in

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fact, both of those meanings, we

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can see them both. There's

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the physical movement of the

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ground, but also the emotional

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movement of people. It's a

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big, scary event. Let's

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look at that again. Let's

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have our next headline. This one's

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from The Telegraph. Powerful

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aftershocks rock Japan after New Year's

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Day earthquake kills 62. This

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headline talks about what's happened in

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Japan since the main earthquakes on

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New Year's Day. We

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see that word, rock, again,

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which we learnt about in

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the last headline, but we're

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interested this time in aftershocks.

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What are aftershocks, Georgie? Well,

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an aftershock is a smaller earthquake

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or shock that happens after the

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first main earthquake. They

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can happen minutes, hours, days or

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even weeks after the first earthquake.

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Yeah, and they're usually smaller, but that

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doesn't mean they don't cause damage, and

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in fact, there have been aftershocks causing

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further problems in the surrounding. areas.

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This word aftershocks though, is there

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another meaning that's not literal? Yes,

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again it's often used metaphorically to

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describe consequences or impacts of a

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major event or change. So for

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example with the Covid lockdowns there

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were many aftershocks like damage to

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the economy and damage to people's

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mental health. Let's

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look at that again. We've

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had battle against time, a rush

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to complete something, rocked

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by, moved from one side to

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another or shaken emotionally and

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aftershock, a smaller secondary

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earthquake. Watch more news

6:45

review on our website and learn how

6:47

to talk about world events in English.

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Thank you for joining us and goodbye. you

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