BBC Learning English
6 Minute English
Population growth
NB: This is not a word for word transcript
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 1 of 5
Alice: Hello, I'm Alice…
Finn: And I'm Finn.…
Alice: And this is 6 Minute English! This week we’re talking about population
growth and the effects it might have on the world. At the moment it’s
estimated that there are about 7 billion people on the planet.
Finn: It’s estimated – experts make an educated guess at the number of people based
on research.
Alice: If projections are correct experts think there could be 9.5 billion people by the
year 2075.
Finn: Projections – the estimated number of people calculated by looking at
population changes over time.
Alice: Experts say there will be a population explosion.
Finn: That means a dramatic and very fast increase.
Alice: So before we find out more – I have a question for you Finn. How many zeros
are there after the 1 in a billion?
a) 12 b) 9 c) 6
Finn: Let’s guess. A thousand million. A million is 6 zeros so a thousand – 9, 9 zeros.
Alice: As usual, I won’t tell you the answer now - but we’ll find out at the end of the
programme. So let’s see how population growth is going to change the way
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 2 of 5
our planet works. The Institute of Mechanical Engineers recently published a
report about how technology could help us manage larger populations. They
say it’s the defining challenge of the century.
Finn: That’s the most important issue in the next 90 years.
Alice: Here’s the BBC’s environment analyst Roger Harrabin:
Insert 2: Roger Harrabin
One author of today’s report described population growth as the defining challenge of
the century - bigger even than climate change. The report says work needs to start now
on technological solutions for a world of nine and a half billion people. Many of the
practical ideas in the report have been welcomed by development groups.
Alice: Roger Harrabin says that population growth is even more important than
climate change. The report says that engineers need to start work now to find
technological solutions to provide enough food, water, energy and homes for
nine and a half billion people.
Finn: Technological solutions – that’s the use of technology to invent or improve
something.
Alice: One of the authors of the report is Tim Fox, Head of Energy, Environment and
Climate Change at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He says that
engineers have already created technologies which can deal with the challenge
of providing food, water, energy and homes for everyone in the world in 2075.
But one area he says we can try and improve on is wasting less food:
Insert 2: Dr Tim Fox
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 3 of 5
The challenge of providing food, water, energy and homes internationally can be met
through existing technologies that are available today. So something like 50% of food is
wasted in newly developing countries between the field and the market place – now here
in the highly industrialised countries we’ve solved that problem sustainably through the
use of refrigeration and transportation mechanisms that are highly optimised and we
waste all our food between the supermarket and our consumption.
Alice: What did Dr Tim Fox of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers say were the
two technological improvements we could make to stop wasting so much food?
Finn: He said we could improve refrigeration and transportation
Alice: Dr Tim Fox said that something like 50% of food is wasted in newly developed
countries between the field and the market place. This could be improved by
having better refrigeration and transportation from the farm to markets and
shops. What did he say about developed countries?
Finn: In developed countries the system of refrigeration and transportation has been
optimised.
Alice: optimised – that means it has been developed so that it is extremely efficient
and can’t be improved upon. But he says that in highly industrialised countries
– countries that are very developed economically – food is wasted between the
supermarket and people’s consumption.
Finn: That means that people might buy a lot of food at the supermarket but end up
throwing it away – they don’t consume it. Now, before we go let’s find out the
answer to the question I asked you at the beginning of the programme. How
many zeros come after the 1 in a billion? a. 12, b.9, c.6
Finn: I guessed b. 9
Alice: You’re right. And your prize, Finn, is to read out some of the words and
phrases we’ve heard in today’s programme.
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 4 of 5
Finn: What could be better? Here we go:
population
billion
it’s estimated
projection
explosion
defining challenge
technological solutions
refrigeration
transportation
optimised
consumption
Alice: Thanks so much for that Finn. We hope you’ve had fun with us today on "6
Minute English" - and that you’ll join us again next time.
Both: Bye.
Vocabulary and definitions
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 5 of 5
population the total number of people living in a particular country or
region
billion a thousand million (in some parts of the world a million
million)
it’s estimated experts have made approximate calculations of how much
something is likely to be or cost
projection an expected outcome
explosion here, a large, sudden increase
defining challenge a difficult or demanding task that will shape or characterise
related events
technological solution the use of technology to solve a problem or find an answer
refrigeration keeping something at a constant, cold temperature
transportation moving things or people from one place to another
optimised to have made something become as best as it can be
consumption here, eating or drinking something
More on this story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12160715
Read and listen to the story online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2011/01/110119_6min_populations_page.shtml
2011年1月29日 星期六
2011年1月15日 星期六
Brains and politics!
BBC Learning English
6 Minute English
Brains and politics
NB: This is not a word for word transcript
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 1 of 6
Alice: Hello, I'm Alice.
Rob: And I'm Rob.
Alice: And this is 6 Minute English! We’ve had a special request from our listeners in
Lugano, Switzerland for a more complicated topic this week. We’re talking
about the structure of the brain, and how it could be related to our political
beliefs.
Rob: Scientists at University College London scanned people’s brains and found
that certain areas were more or less developed depending on people’s political
views.
Alice: And - they found some interesting results! Before we hear them, I have a
question for you Rob. Are you ready?
Rob: Of course.
Alice: Now, which of these isn’t a part of the brain? And please excuse my
pronunciation:
a) corpus callosum
b) tomatosensory cortex
c) pons
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 2 of 6
Rob: Mmm – well, my Latin isn’t that great, but I think I’ll choose b, tomatosensory
cortex. It doesn’t sound real to me.
Alice: OK. Well, as usual I won’t tell you the answer now - but we’ll find out at the
end of the programme. Now let’s learn a bit more about this connection
between the structure of the brain and a person’s political beliefs. Let’s think
about the different ways we can talk about these. If someone is left-wing…
Rob: …they are considered to have liberal views.
Alice: And if they are right-wing.
Rob: If they are right-wing they are thought to be more conservative.
Alice: Scientists carried out MRI scans on two British Members of Parliament – MPs
- as well as 90 other students and postgraduates. Their hypothesis – the theory
they are testing to see if it is correct or not - is to find out if there is any
difference in their brains.
Rob: These MRI scans can measure the thickness of the grey matter in the brain –
that’s the outer layer of the brain which varies in thickness, and is full of
neurons – nerve cells, which are very sensitive.
Alice: Here’s a BBC Science correspondent, Tom Feilden:
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 3 of 6
Insert 1:
Tom Feilden: It’s time to get down to the serious business of scanning our MPs – one left
and one right-wing to see if we can find any differences in the structure of their brains.
(Background) Nurse:
Bit of scanner noise coming now.
Professor Geraint Rees: We’re now standing in the control room of our MRI scanner...
Tom Feilden: Professor Geraint Rees is the Director of the Institute of Cognitive
Neuroscience at University College London.
Professor Geraint Rees: We’re going to look in detail at the thickness of the grey matter
- that’s the outer covering of the brain.
Tom Feilden: The hypothesis we’re testing is to see whether there is any significant
difference in the shape or structure - the thickness of the grey matter covering the brain
- between people who self-classify as either left or right wing.
Rob: So did people who self-classify themselves – describe themselves as being
liberal or conservative - have different shaped brains?
Alice: What the scientists found was that people who have thicker grey matter in one
area of the brain – the anterior cingulate- described themselves as being liberal
or left-wing, and those with a thinner layer described themselves as
conservative or right-wing. Here’s Professor Geraint Rees:
Insert 2:
We find there are two areas of the brain – one called the anterior cingulate and the
other called the amygdala, whose structure seems to vary according to their selfdescribed
political attitudes. The anterior cingulate is a part of the brain that’s on the
middle surface of the brain, at the front. And we found that the thickness of the grey
matter – where the nerve cells or neurons are - was thicker the more people described
themselves as liberal or left-wing, and was thinner the more people described themselves
as conservative or right wing.
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 4 of 6
Rob: That’s all very interesting, Alice – but what about people who change their
political beliefs as they get older? Does this mean their brain shapes change
too?
Alice: We don’t know yet if brain shape changes as people’s political views change.
More research needs to be done - but scientist Professor Colin Blakemore
from Oxford University says that grey matter can change shape in the brain.
For example, even playing computer games for a short period of time a week
can change the shape of your grey matter:
Insert 3:
We know from lots of other recent studies, that the brain - even the grey matter of the
brain, the part that’s being measured in these studies - can change its organisation
incredibly rapidly, simply teaching someone computer games for a few minutes each
week, can cause their grey matter in certain areas of the brain to change thickness.
Alice: So perhaps even people who seem hard-wired to believe certain things may be
able to change their minds and the shape of their brains too.
Now before we go let’s answer our question. We heard a couple of terms used
to describe parts of the brain. But which of the ones I gave you, Rob, at the
beginning of the programme were real?
Rob: I think I said the one that sounded like a tomato? It didn’t sound like a real part
of the brain.
Alice: Well, Rob, you’re right. The odd one out was the tomatosensory cortex.
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 5 of 6
The corpus callosum and the pons are parts of the brain.
Rob: And before we go, let’s hear some of the words and phrases that we’ve used in
today’s programme:
Political beliefs
Scanned
Left-wing
Liberal
Right-wing
Conservative
MRI scans
Hypothesis
Grey matter
Neurons
Alice: Thanks, Rob. Well, we hope you’ve had fun with us today on 6 Minute English
- and that you’ll join us again next time.
Both: Bye.
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 6 of 6
Vocabulary and definitions
political beliefs your opinions on how governments should run the world
scanned here, photographed by a machine which can show images
of people’s brains
left-wing having political ideas which are close to socialism
liberal tolerant of different beliefs or behaviours
right-wing having political ideas which support conservatism and
capitalism
conservative likes to preserve traditional ideas, and resists changes or
new ideas
hard-wired here, unmovable in opinion
MRI scans a machine which can photograph people’s brains (MRI –
magnetic resonance imaging
hypothesis explanation or theory which has not yet proved to be
correct
grey matter type of matter which forms part of the brain
neurons cells in the human nervous system which conduct
messages to and from the brain
nerve cells cells which, together, form human nerves
More on this story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/today/tomfeilden/2010/12/are_political_beliefs_hard_wir.html
Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2011/01/110106_6min_brain_page.shtml
6 Minute English
Brains and politics
NB: This is not a word for word transcript
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 1 of 6
Alice: Hello, I'm Alice.
Rob: And I'm Rob.
Alice: And this is 6 Minute English! We’ve had a special request from our listeners in
Lugano, Switzerland for a more complicated topic this week. We’re talking
about the structure of the brain, and how it could be related to our political
beliefs.
Rob: Scientists at University College London scanned people’s brains and found
that certain areas were more or less developed depending on people’s political
views.
Alice: And - they found some interesting results! Before we hear them, I have a
question for you Rob. Are you ready?
Rob: Of course.
Alice: Now, which of these isn’t a part of the brain? And please excuse my
pronunciation:
a) corpus callosum
b) tomatosensory cortex
c) pons
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 2 of 6
Rob: Mmm – well, my Latin isn’t that great, but I think I’ll choose b, tomatosensory
cortex. It doesn’t sound real to me.
Alice: OK. Well, as usual I won’t tell you the answer now - but we’ll find out at the
end of the programme. Now let’s learn a bit more about this connection
between the structure of the brain and a person’s political beliefs. Let’s think
about the different ways we can talk about these. If someone is left-wing…
Rob: …they are considered to have liberal views.
Alice: And if they are right-wing.
Rob: If they are right-wing they are thought to be more conservative.
Alice: Scientists carried out MRI scans on two British Members of Parliament – MPs
- as well as 90 other students and postgraduates. Their hypothesis – the theory
they are testing to see if it is correct or not - is to find out if there is any
difference in their brains.
Rob: These MRI scans can measure the thickness of the grey matter in the brain –
that’s the outer layer of the brain which varies in thickness, and is full of
neurons – nerve cells, which are very sensitive.
Alice: Here’s a BBC Science correspondent, Tom Feilden:
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 3 of 6
Insert 1:
Tom Feilden: It’s time to get down to the serious business of scanning our MPs – one left
and one right-wing to see if we can find any differences in the structure of their brains.
(Background) Nurse:
Bit of scanner noise coming now.
Professor Geraint Rees: We’re now standing in the control room of our MRI scanner...
Tom Feilden: Professor Geraint Rees is the Director of the Institute of Cognitive
Neuroscience at University College London.
Professor Geraint Rees: We’re going to look in detail at the thickness of the grey matter
- that’s the outer covering of the brain.
Tom Feilden: The hypothesis we’re testing is to see whether there is any significant
difference in the shape or structure - the thickness of the grey matter covering the brain
- between people who self-classify as either left or right wing.
Rob: So did people who self-classify themselves – describe themselves as being
liberal or conservative - have different shaped brains?
Alice: What the scientists found was that people who have thicker grey matter in one
area of the brain – the anterior cingulate- described themselves as being liberal
or left-wing, and those with a thinner layer described themselves as
conservative or right-wing. Here’s Professor Geraint Rees:
Insert 2:
We find there are two areas of the brain – one called the anterior cingulate and the
other called the amygdala, whose structure seems to vary according to their selfdescribed
political attitudes. The anterior cingulate is a part of the brain that’s on the
middle surface of the brain, at the front. And we found that the thickness of the grey
matter – where the nerve cells or neurons are - was thicker the more people described
themselves as liberal or left-wing, and was thinner the more people described themselves
as conservative or right wing.
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 4 of 6
Rob: That’s all very interesting, Alice – but what about people who change their
political beliefs as they get older? Does this mean their brain shapes change
too?
Alice: We don’t know yet if brain shape changes as people’s political views change.
More research needs to be done - but scientist Professor Colin Blakemore
from Oxford University says that grey matter can change shape in the brain.
For example, even playing computer games for a short period of time a week
can change the shape of your grey matter:
Insert 3:
We know from lots of other recent studies, that the brain - even the grey matter of the
brain, the part that’s being measured in these studies - can change its organisation
incredibly rapidly, simply teaching someone computer games for a few minutes each
week, can cause their grey matter in certain areas of the brain to change thickness.
Alice: So perhaps even people who seem hard-wired to believe certain things may be
able to change their minds and the shape of their brains too.
Now before we go let’s answer our question. We heard a couple of terms used
to describe parts of the brain. But which of the ones I gave you, Rob, at the
beginning of the programme were real?
Rob: I think I said the one that sounded like a tomato? It didn’t sound like a real part
of the brain.
Alice: Well, Rob, you’re right. The odd one out was the tomatosensory cortex.
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 5 of 6
The corpus callosum and the pons are parts of the brain.
Rob: And before we go, let’s hear some of the words and phrases that we’ve used in
today’s programme:
Political beliefs
Scanned
Left-wing
Liberal
Right-wing
Conservative
MRI scans
Hypothesis
Grey matter
Neurons
Alice: Thanks, Rob. Well, we hope you’ve had fun with us today on 6 Minute English
- and that you’ll join us again next time.
Both: Bye.
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 6 of 6
Vocabulary and definitions
political beliefs your opinions on how governments should run the world
scanned here, photographed by a machine which can show images
of people’s brains
left-wing having political ideas which are close to socialism
liberal tolerant of different beliefs or behaviours
right-wing having political ideas which support conservatism and
capitalism
conservative likes to preserve traditional ideas, and resists changes or
new ideas
hard-wired here, unmovable in opinion
MRI scans a machine which can photograph people’s brains (MRI –
magnetic resonance imaging
hypothesis explanation or theory which has not yet proved to be
correct
grey matter type of matter which forms part of the brain
neurons cells in the human nervous system which conduct
messages to and from the brain
nerve cells cells which, together, form human nerves
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/today/tomfeilden/2010/12/are_political_beliefs_hard_wir.html
Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2011/01/110106_6min_brain_page.shtml
2011年1月7日 星期五
Families!
BBC Learning English
6 Minute English
Families
NB: This is not a word for word transcript
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 1 of 7
Yvonne: Hello, I'm Yvonne…
Rob: And I'm Rob.…
Yvonne: And this is 6 Minute English! Now lots of people have been getting together
with their relatives for Christmas and the New Year, so we thought we’d talk
about families today.
Rob: Now BBC radio in the UK has had a family week. They surveyed their
listeners and web users to find out how they feel about their families.
Yvonne: And - they got some really interesting results! Before we hear them, I have a
question for you Rob. Are you ready?
Rob: Of course.
Yvonne: People in the UK were asked, at what age should their children be able to go to
school on their own. Can you guess what most people thought was an
acceptable age, Rob? 5, 8 or 11 years old?
Rob: Hmm – I know people are quite cautious these days so I'd say, 11 years old.
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 2 of 7
Yvonne: Umm - as usual I won’t tell you the answer now, but we'll find out what the
answer is at the end of the programme. Now recently, there's been a lot of
attention given to the break-down of traditional British families.
Rob: The break-down of families – that's when parents get divorced or separate.
Yvonne: And lots of children are brought up by single parents
Rob: Single parents – just one parent, either a mother or a father
Yvonne: There’s also been a lot of talk about people needing to be better parents – or
even attending parenting classes. But despite the negative view of families we
might read about in the newspapers, most people said that their families made
them happy.
Rob: People were asked which of the following things made them most happy –
family, friends, job or hobbies.
Yvonne: Now families came in at almost 80%, friends just over 60%, next came hobbies
and last on the list of the things that make people happy were their jobs. Only
about 25% of the people surveyed said their jobs make them happy!
Rob: Umm - interesting!
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 3 of 7
Yvonne: Hmmm. One of the most surprising things was reading about how people felt
about staying together if they were unhappy in their marriage but they had
children. Would they stay together for the sake of the kids?
Rob: For the sake of the kids – if you do something for the sake of something –
you’re not doing it for yourself, you’re putting other people's needs and
feelings first, even if you're suffering.
Yvonne: Here’s Radio 5 Live’s Chris Warburton:
Chris Warburton/Quiz contestant
How many people say they would stay together for the sake of the children?
Woman:
40%
Nearly two thirds of you think it’s better not to stay together for the sake of the kids.
Yvonne: So Chris Warburton says two thirds of people from the survey think they
shouldn't stay in unhappy relationships just for the sake of the children.
Rob: Perhaps that's because there are many happy single parent families. It is not
unusual for children to grow up in single parent families. It's socially
acceptable in modern Britain.
Yvonne: Now here's an interesting statistic: a large majority of people said they'd report
a relative to the police if they found out their relative had committed a crime.
Here’s more from Radio 5 Live’s Chris Warburton:
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 4 of 7
Chris Warburton
A big majority of people said that they would report to the police if they thought they had
committed a serious crime. 84 per cent of people are prepared to do that even if the
consequences were pretty tough.
Yvonne: 84 percent of people said they were prepared to tell the police if they found out
their relative had committed a crime – even if the consequences were pretty
tough.
Rob: Pretty tough – that's relatively severe, like having a large fine or going to
prison
Yvonne: People were also asked about their family secrets. You may have heard the
phrase: ‘skeletons in the closet’.
Rob: Those are uncomfortable secrets which people try their very best to hide.
Yvonne: Ha ha – and most families have a few skeletons in the closet. The BBC’s
Stephen Chittendon found out about some of the secrets people knew about
their family, but, would rather others didn’t know. Rob, you may have to help
us out here with some of the words and phrases we hear.
Stephen Chittendon
1. My brothers and sisters don't know I'm adopted.
2. My brother in-law pawned his Mum's engagement ring.
3. My Nan – this not all from the same person (woman: that's a relief to hear) – My nan votes
Tory.
Yvonne: So, we heard: 'my brothers and sisters don’t know I’m adopted'
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 5 of 7
Rob: OK, well if you’re adopted, you don’t live with your biological parents – other
people become your new parents.
Yvonne: And – 'my brother-in-law pawned his Mum’s engagement ring'
Rob: The sister's husband – my brother-in-law - gave his mother’s precious
engagement ring to a pawn shop in return for money
Yvonne: And this one was odd: 'My nan votes Tory'
Rob: (Ha ha) That person’s grandmother voted for the Conservative Party! Of course,
that wouldn't be a secret for all families.
Yvonne: OK, thanks very much, Rob. Now, do you have any skeletons in your closet?
Rob: Nothing at all. I'm very honest and upfront. No secrets at all.
Yvonne: Umm, I don't know if I believe you Rob!
Rob: I wouldn't tell you anyway; it's a secret!
Yvonne: (Ha, ha). And the answer to our question - what age do most people think it’s
appropriate for children to go to school on their own?
Rob: And I said 11 years old.
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 6 of 7
Yvonne: And you're right, Rob! The largest number of people from the survey think that
children are ready to walk to school on their own when they're 10 or 11. Thank
you, Rob. We hope you’ve had fun with us today on "6 Minute English" - and
that you’ll join us again next time.
Both: Goodbye!
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 7 of 7
Vocabulary and definitions
cautious careful, wary
single parents people who are the only parent to their child or children
hobbies things that people do in their spare time for enjoyment
consequences things that happen as a result or effect of something you do
skeletons in the closet secrets, information that people do not want others to
know about
adopted someone who is adopted was taken into the home of
another family and legally became their child
pawned temporarily exchanged for money
upfront open, honest, truthful
More on this story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/5live/2010/12/5-live-family-week-survey-resu.shtml
Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2010/12/101230_6min_english_families.shtml
6 Minute English
Families
NB: This is not a word for word transcript
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 1 of 7
Yvonne: Hello, I'm Yvonne…
Rob: And I'm Rob.…
Yvonne: And this is 6 Minute English! Now lots of people have been getting together
with their relatives for Christmas and the New Year, so we thought we’d talk
about families today.
Rob: Now BBC radio in the UK has had a family week. They surveyed their
listeners and web users to find out how they feel about their families.
Yvonne: And - they got some really interesting results! Before we hear them, I have a
question for you Rob. Are you ready?
Rob: Of course.
Yvonne: People in the UK were asked, at what age should their children be able to go to
school on their own. Can you guess what most people thought was an
acceptable age, Rob? 5, 8 or 11 years old?
Rob: Hmm – I know people are quite cautious these days so I'd say, 11 years old.
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 2 of 7
Yvonne: Umm - as usual I won’t tell you the answer now, but we'll find out what the
answer is at the end of the programme. Now recently, there's been a lot of
attention given to the break-down of traditional British families.
Rob: The break-down of families – that's when parents get divorced or separate.
Yvonne: And lots of children are brought up by single parents
Rob: Single parents – just one parent, either a mother or a father
Yvonne: There’s also been a lot of talk about people needing to be better parents – or
even attending parenting classes. But despite the negative view of families we
might read about in the newspapers, most people said that their families made
them happy.
Rob: People were asked which of the following things made them most happy –
family, friends, job or hobbies.
Yvonne: Now families came in at almost 80%, friends just over 60%, next came hobbies
and last on the list of the things that make people happy were their jobs. Only
about 25% of the people surveyed said their jobs make them happy!
Rob: Umm - interesting!
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 3 of 7
Yvonne: Hmmm. One of the most surprising things was reading about how people felt
about staying together if they were unhappy in their marriage but they had
children. Would they stay together for the sake of the kids?
Rob: For the sake of the kids – if you do something for the sake of something –
you’re not doing it for yourself, you’re putting other people's needs and
feelings first, even if you're suffering.
Yvonne: Here’s Radio 5 Live’s Chris Warburton:
Chris Warburton/Quiz contestant
How many people say they would stay together for the sake of the children?
Woman:
40%
Nearly two thirds of you think it’s better not to stay together for the sake of the kids.
Yvonne: So Chris Warburton says two thirds of people from the survey think they
shouldn't stay in unhappy relationships just for the sake of the children.
Rob: Perhaps that's because there are many happy single parent families. It is not
unusual for children to grow up in single parent families. It's socially
acceptable in modern Britain.
Yvonne: Now here's an interesting statistic: a large majority of people said they'd report
a relative to the police if they found out their relative had committed a crime.
Here’s more from Radio 5 Live’s Chris Warburton:
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Chris Warburton
A big majority of people said that they would report to the police if they thought they had
committed a serious crime. 84 per cent of people are prepared to do that even if the
consequences were pretty tough.
Yvonne: 84 percent of people said they were prepared to tell the police if they found out
their relative had committed a crime – even if the consequences were pretty
tough.
Rob: Pretty tough – that's relatively severe, like having a large fine or going to
prison
Yvonne: People were also asked about their family secrets. You may have heard the
phrase: ‘skeletons in the closet’.
Rob: Those are uncomfortable secrets which people try their very best to hide.
Yvonne: Ha ha – and most families have a few skeletons in the closet. The BBC’s
Stephen Chittendon found out about some of the secrets people knew about
their family, but, would rather others didn’t know. Rob, you may have to help
us out here with some of the words and phrases we hear.
Stephen Chittendon
1. My brothers and sisters don't know I'm adopted.
2. My brother in-law pawned his Mum's engagement ring.
3. My Nan – this not all from the same person (woman: that's a relief to hear) – My nan votes
Tory.
Yvonne: So, we heard: 'my brothers and sisters don’t know I’m adopted'
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Rob: OK, well if you’re adopted, you don’t live with your biological parents – other
people become your new parents.
Yvonne: And – 'my brother-in-law pawned his Mum’s engagement ring'
Rob: The sister's husband – my brother-in-law - gave his mother’s precious
engagement ring to a pawn shop in return for money
Yvonne: And this one was odd: 'My nan votes Tory'
Rob: (Ha ha) That person’s grandmother voted for the Conservative Party! Of course,
that wouldn't be a secret for all families.
Yvonne: OK, thanks very much, Rob. Now, do you have any skeletons in your closet?
Rob: Nothing at all. I'm very honest and upfront. No secrets at all.
Yvonne: Umm, I don't know if I believe you Rob!
Rob: I wouldn't tell you anyway; it's a secret!
Yvonne: (Ha, ha). And the answer to our question - what age do most people think it’s
appropriate for children to go to school on their own?
Rob: And I said 11 years old.
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Yvonne: And you're right, Rob! The largest number of people from the survey think that
children are ready to walk to school on their own when they're 10 or 11. Thank
you, Rob. We hope you’ve had fun with us today on "6 Minute English" - and
that you’ll join us again next time.
Both: Goodbye!
6 Minute English c bbclearningenglish.com 2010
Page 7 of 7
Vocabulary and definitions
cautious careful, wary
single parents people who are the only parent to their child or children
hobbies things that people do in their spare time for enjoyment
consequences things that happen as a result or effect of something you do
skeletons in the closet secrets, information that people do not want others to
know about
adopted someone who is adopted was taken into the home of
another family and legally became their child
pawned temporarily exchanged for money
upfront open, honest, truthful
More on this story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/5live/2010/12/5-live-family-week-survey-resu.shtml
Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2010/12/101230_6min_english_families.shtml
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