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Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Georgina…
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And I'm Neil.
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In this programme, we're talking about buying
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clothes and only wearing them a few times before buying more clothes!
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This is something known as fast fashion – it's popular,
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it might make us feel good, but it's not great for the environment.
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Which is why lots of people this year are pledging – or promising publicly - to buy no new clothes.
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I for one am wearing the same shirt I bought seven years ago.
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You're certainly not a fashion victim, Neil! But first,
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let's test your knowledge of fast fashion with a question.
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Do you know how many items of clothing were sent to landfill in the UK in 2017? Was it…
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a) 23 million items, b) 234 million items or
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c) 2.3 billion items What do you think, Neil?
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I'm sure it's lots, but not billions, so I'm going to say 23 million items.
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I shall tell you if you're right at the end of the programme.
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Let's talk more about fast fashion, which is being blamed for contributing to global warming.
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And discarded clothes – that means ones that are thrown away - are also piling
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up in landfill sites, and fibre fragments are flowing into the sea when clothes are washed.
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It's not great – and I've heard the average time someone wears something is just seven!
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So why is this, and what is driving our desire to keep buying more clothes?
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I think we should hear from fashion journalist Lauren Bravo,
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who's been speaking on the BBC Radio 4 programme, You and Yours.
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She explained that clothes today are relatively cheaper than those from her parents' days…
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A lot of clothing production got outsourced - offshored over to the developing world,
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so countries like Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and China are now responsible for making the
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vast bulk of all the clothes that are sold in the UK. And with that, we've seen what
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we call 'chasing the cheapest needle' around the world, so the fashion industry constantly
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looking to undercut competitors, and with that clothes getting cheaper and cheaper and cheaper.
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Right, so clothes – in the developed world at least – have become cheaper
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because they are produced in developing countries.
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These are countries which are trying to become more advanced economically and socially.
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So production is outsourced – that means work usually done in one company is given to another
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company to do, often because that company has the skills to do it. And in the case of
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fashion production, it can be done cheaper by another company based in a developing country.
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Lauren used an interesting expression 'chasing the cheapest needle' – so the
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fashion industry is always looking to find the company which can make clothes
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cheaper – a company that can undercut another one means they can do the same job cheaper.
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Therefore the price of clothes gets cheaper for us.
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OK, so it might be good to be able to buy cheaper clothes.
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But why do we have to buy more – and only wear items a few times?
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It's all about our obsession with shopping and fashion.
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It's something Lauren Bravo goes on to explain on the You and Yours
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radio programme. See if you can hear what she blames for this obsession…
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Buying new things has almost become a trend in itself for certain generations. I think
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that feeling that you can't be seen in the same thing twice, it really stems from social media,
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particularly. And quite often people are buying those outfits to take a photo to put on Instagram.
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It sounds illogical, but I think when all of your
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friends are doing it there is this invisible pressure there.
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Lauren makes some interesting points. Firstly,
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for some generations, there is just a trend for buying things.
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It does seem very wasteful, but, as Lauren says, some people don't like to be seen wearing the same
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thing twice. And this idea is caused by social media – she uses the expression 'stems from'.
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She describes the social pressure of needing to be seen wearing new clothes on Instagram.
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And the availability of cheap clothes means it's possible to post
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new images of yourself wearing new clothes very regularly.
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Hmm, it sounds very wasteful and to me, illogical – not reasonable or
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sensible and more driven by emotions rather than any practical reason.
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But, there is a bit of a backlash now – that's a strong negative reaction to what is happening.
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Some people are now promising to buy second-hand clothes, or 'vintage clothes', or make do with the
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clothes they have and mend the ones they need. It could be the start of a new fashion trend.
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Yes, and for once, I will be on trend! And it could
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reduce the amount of clothes sent to landfill that you mentioned earlier.
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Yes, I asked if you knew how many items of clothing were sent to landfill in the
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UK in 2017? Was it… a) 23 million items,
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b) 234 million items or c) 2.3 billion items
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What did you say, Neil?
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I said a) 23 million items.
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And you were wrong. It's actually 234 million items – that's according to
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the Enviro Audit Committee. It also found that 1.2
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billion tonnes of carbon emissions is released by the global fashion industry.
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Well, we're clearly throwing away too many clothes
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but perhaps we can recycle some of the vocabulary we've mentioned today?
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I think we can, starting with pledging - that means publicly promising to do
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something. You can make a pledge to do something.
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When something is outsourced,it is given to another company to do,
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often because that company has the skills to do it or it can be done cheaper.
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And if one company undercuts another, it charges less to do a job than its competitor.
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The expression stems from means 'is caused by' or
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'a result of'. We mentioned that rise in fast fashion stems from sharing images on Instagram.
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And we mentioned this being illogical. So it seems unreasonable - not sensible,
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and more driven by emotions rather than any practical reason.
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And a backlash is a strong negative reaction to what is happening.
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And that brings us to the end of our discussion about fast fashion! Please join us again next
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time. Bye. Bye.
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Hello and welcome to Six Minute English. I'm Neil and joining me today is Dan – who
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is weighed down with shopping bags and wearing something very… strange. What's going on, Dan?
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Hi everyone. Well, I was feeling a bit miserable so I decided to cheer myself up by going shopping!
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Well that's lucky because the link between shopping and mood is what
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we're looking at in this 6 Minute English – and of course we'll be
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giving you six mood and shopping-related vocabulary items. But first, our quiz:
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Online shoppers in which country spend more per household
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than consumers in any other country, according to a report from the UK Cards Association?
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a) The USA
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b) Norway
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c) The UK
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Norway seems to come top of lots of lists, so for that reason alone I'm going to say Norway.
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We'll find out at the end of the show.
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Now, Dan, you said just now that you went shopping because you were feeling down.
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That's right – I like a bit of retail therapy.
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Retail therapy is a humorous expression which means going shopping to make yourself feel better.
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Oh, I do that all the time.
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Yes, I can see. And you're not alone. According to some research done by the
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website moneysupermarket.com, people are more likely to buy things they'll later regret
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when they're feeling sad, bored or stressed.
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Well I was feeling a bit down in the dumps. And that's a way of saying 'sad'.
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Oh dear, Dan. Sorry to hear you've been down in the dumps. I only hope you don't also get a
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pang of regret about your purchases when you get them home – the research suggests that you will.
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A pang is a sharp pain. We often hear it used figuratively to talk
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about strong emotions like guilt, regret and remorse. You're making me feel worse, Neil
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Sorry Dan – it's all for educational purposes! Our audience will learn from your pain!
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Remorse is like regret – and there's a good expression to describe exactly that bad feeling
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you get when you realise you don't really need or want the thing you've bought. Buyer's remorse.
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OK, OK, OK enough about me. Let's hear from Sam, Phil and Catherine from the Learning English team
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to see if their mood affects the shopping choices they make. Listen carefully. Can
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you hear the three types of things they say that they buy when they're down in the dumps?
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Honestly, I tend to buy food. Anything that will bring me comfort, so it can be any sort of
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warm drink, hot drink but also anything kind of warm and cosy – so like a nice jumper.
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Definitely, if I've had a bad day at work, or for whatever reason or I feel terrible,
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tired, I am more likely to buy something on the way home.
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Oh when I'm feeling sad, I probably buy a little bit of wine and often something to
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wear. I find that a bit of retail therapy when I'm sad usually does the trick at the time,
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so it makes me feel better. But I do find that when I look in my wardrobe,
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the things that I bought when I was sad – I never wear them.
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Sam, Phil and Catherine there from the BBC Learning English team
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talking about what kind of things they buy when they're feeling down. What were they?
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Food, drink and clothes.
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That's right. Sam mentioned she buys food, warm drinks and a nice jumper
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to keep her cosy. That's the feeling of being warm, comfortable and relaxed.
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Catherine also mentioned drinks – this time wine. And she also said that buying clothes
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does the trick. That means achieves the result
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she intended. She feels down, she buys clothes, she feels better – it does the trick.
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But what's interesting is that Catherine said she never wears the
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clothes she buys when she's feeling sad. That's exactly what the survey
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found – people regret the purchases they make when they're sad, bored or stressed.
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Sounds like a case of buyer's remorse.
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Indeed. Well, time now for the answer to our quiz question. I asked this:
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Online shoppers in which country spend more per household than consumers in any other country,
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according to a report from the UK Cards Association? Is it:
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a) The USA
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b) Norway c) The UK
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I said b) Norway.
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And I'm afraid you might need to go and buy some more stuff to cheer you
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up – you're wrong! The correct answer is the UK. Apparently,
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UK households spent the equivalent of $5,900 (£4,611) using payment cards online in 2015.
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Well, I hope they were happy when they made those purchases or they
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may feel the pang of regret I'm scared I might get after today's discussion!
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Well, a good recap of the vocabulary from this programme might do the trick.
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Shall we start with the first word? Do you ever go in for a bit of retail therapy, Neil?
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Actually, I try to avoid it. Especially after reading this survey – I don't think the happiness
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you feel after buying something lasts very long. In fact, you can end up feeling down in the dumps.
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Down in the dumps - meaning sad/unhappy. Yes and a pang of regret might follow once you
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realise you've spent a lot of money on something you don't really need.
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A pang is a stab – used here figuratively to mean a sharp pain
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used to talk about strong emotions. And after the pang can come buyer's remorse.
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Hmm, I'm beginning to feel buyer's remorse from
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this leopard skin onesie. Seemed like such a good idea at the time.
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Well it does look cozy – warm comfortable and relaxed,
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so I think if that's what you wanted, it does the trick.
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Does the trick, meaning achieves the result you wanted.
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OK before Dan heads off to buy even more stuff he doesn't need, please remember to check out our
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Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages. Bye!
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Hello, and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
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And hello, I'm Rob.
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Now, then, Rob, what do you know about unicorns?
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Ah, well, the unicorn is a fantasy creature from history. In our tradition,
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it looks like a white horse with a single spiral horn coming out of its head. Why do you ask?
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Well, funnily enough, unicorns are the topic of this programme. Before we learn more though,
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a question. What do we call the study of legendary creatures like the Loch Ness Monster,
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Big Foot and unicorns? Is it: a) Cryptozoology,
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b) Protozoology, or c) Paleozoology?
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Have you got any idea about that, Rob?
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Ah, well, I know this because it was the topic of a 6 Minute English programme a while back,
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in 2008, to be exact. So I think I'll keep the answer to myself.
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OK, well for everyone else, we'll have the answer later in the programme.
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Over the last few years unicorns have been popping up all over the place - on T-shirts, in movies,
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as toys and even in political conversations. Why is this? Natalie Lawrence is a natural historian.
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She appeared on the BBC's Woman's Hour programme to discuss the topic. Listen out
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for the answer to this question: Why does she say people used to drink out of unicorn horns?
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Those original stories were developed in a time when magic actually existed in the world. The
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world was still very enchanted … the idea that the unicorn is a very strong animal and also that
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could achieve magical feats, so unicorn horn used to be seen as a panacea for all sorts of
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ills and a guard against poison. So people used to drink out of unicorn horn cups to
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prevent themselves getting poisoned, and I think that idea of it being magical and
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having magical powers has still come through today.
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Why did they drink from unicorn horn cups?
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Well, they were supposed to have magical powers
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so people drank from them so they wouldn't get poisoned.
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Yes, she said they could perform magical feats. A feat is something that is difficult to do
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or achieve - like recording this programme without making a mistake, that's a real feat!
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Well, we usually do it. It must just be unicorn magic.
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No, just the magic of editing, Rob!
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Now, she also said that unicorn horn was seen as a panacea. What does that mean?
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A panacea is another word for a cure - something that can protect you from
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illness or help you recover if you are sick. But is all this true, about the unicorn horn?
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Well, seeing as how unicorns don't and never have existed,
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it's unlikely to be true. She says these stories come from a time when the world was enchanted.
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This means it was a time when people believed in magic and the possibility of mysterious creatures
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from mysterious parts of the world. It seems as if these days people are looking for a bit of magic,
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a bit of enchantment in their lives. The unicorn has also come to be a term commonly
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used in politics to refer to unrealistic ideas and plans. Why is this? Here's Natalie Lawrence again.
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Because it's such a potent cultural symbol at the moment
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it's being deployed in one of the most pressing issues of our time,
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as well, so… and the idea of the UK trying to be its own special unicorn potentially…
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So Rob, what is she talking about here?
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Well, we are in a very complicated time politically in the UK at the moment.
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She says they are pressing times. A term which means something important but difficult has to be
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done in a very short time. A pressing matter is an important one that has to be dealt with urgently.
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Now, at the time of recording our parliament can't agree on the current pressing matter of Brexit and
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each side says the other has unicorns. There's nothing special or magical about these unicorns -
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it's a negative comment - a unicorn is a fantasy idea - a plan that has no chance of working,
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She says unicorns are a potent symbol - which means they are
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a very strong and recognisable symbol.
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And this symbol is being used, or as she said being deployed. This is the same word that would
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be used when you send a military force somewhere. You deploy the army in a military conflict, and in
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the current political conflict they are deploying the word 'unicorn'! Here's Natalie Lawrence again.
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Because it's such a potent cultural symbol at the moment
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it's being deployed in one of the most pressing issues of our time,
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as well, so… and the idea of the UK trying to be its own special unicorn potentially…
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Right, our pressing matter now is the vocabulary review. Before that though, the answer to this
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week's question: What do we call the study of legendary creatures like the Loch Ness Monster,
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Big Foot and unicorns. Is it: a) Cryptozoology,