Name: SpaceX splash down - News Review
Uploaded: 2020-11-12T18:51:24.000Z
Duration: 12 min 29 s
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Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Rob and joining me today is Neil – Hello Neil.

We've got an interesting story about space exploration and its future today.

The company SpaceX and Nasa have been working together.

Astronauts have returned from the International Space Station by splashing down into the ocean

and that's the first time people have returned to earth from space in that manner for 45 years.

And don't forget you can test yourself on the vocabulary that we're talking about today

on our website at bbclearningenglish.com where you'll find a quiz.

OK – now it's time to find out what was going on in the control room

with Nasa astronauts splashing down into the ocean

after a trip to the International Space Station.

They went on a commercial operator into space

and normally they go up with Nasa rockets.

This time, they paid SpaceX, a company, to provide that rocket for them

and experts are saying this is a real game changer for space exploration

because it's the way that it's going to happen in the future.

Yes, an interesting story and we've got three words and expressions

that you can learn about to help you – to help you talk about this story haven't we Neil?

We have. We have 'plummeting', 'star-struck' and 'prank'.

That's 'plummeting', 'star-struck' and 'prank'.

OK, should we start with your first headline?

Yeah, the first headline is from  the Business Insider website and it reads:

So that's 'plummeting' – falling quickly and suddenly.

Yes, 'plummeting,' spelt P-L-U-M-M-E-T-I-N-G

Sounds like a very dramatic word, doesn't it?

Yes and I think that's the key – you know – people might say,

'Well, why can't I just say falling?'  because it means falling

but 'plummeting' has that sense  of falling rapidly and suddenly.

So if I was to go for a walk down the street  and I'd tripped over on the pavement,

would I be plummeting down to the ground?

No, not really, unless you wanted to sound really – kind of – dramatic,

or you wanted to say in a kind of comedic way, a funny way,

that you were very very tall and you had to fall a distance

but actually we wouldn't use it for that.  It would be more to describe something

like, for example, maybe you are on the Eiffel Tower in Paris

and you're leaning over the edge: you've got a water bottle – it slips from your hand.

Now that water bottle is going to plummet down to Earth.

It's going to hit the ground hard and it's going to travel very quickly.

And it would have happened very suddenly and that's what plummeting is.

Hmm – sounds very dangerous actually if you're traveling at such a speed as well.

Absolutely – that actually happened to me.

Fortunately it didn't hit me. I was standing on the ground

outside the Eiffel Tower and a bottle landed right next to me

and it could only have come  from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

It plummeted. That bottle plummeted towards Earth  and just missed me.

Thank goodness! So you could be here today  to present this programme.

And this is quite a literal use to this word plummeting isn't there?

It is, yes, but often you hear it used in a more, sort of, figurative sense

and especially in connection  with the world of business;

so we might hear about share prices, for example,

that fall dramatically and suddenly.  We might hear share prices plummeting

or the value of a currency. Or, particularly at the moment with the coronavirus

and the fact that people aren't shopping  and things like that as normal,

sales have plummeted.  Sales have plummeted over the last few months

and it has really badly affected the world economy.

Hmm, that's right, and also I noticed – I went into London this week for the first time

and there weren't so many people around. There were fewer visitors because

visitor numbers have plummeted because people can't travel any more I suppose.

Absolutely. The number of tourists has plummeted

and it's made a very strange summer here in the Northern Hemisphere anyway.

Yeah, definitely.  OK – well let's have a look at a summary of that word.

OK Neil, let's have a look at your second headline.

Second headline comes from the wcax.com website  and the headline reads:

OK – so that's 'star-struck':  describes someone who admires famous people greatly.

The second word is 'struck': S-T-R-U-C-K.

Usually this has a hyphen, but it does not have a hyphen in this headline.

when I came in and found out  that I was presenting with you, Neil.

Oh! Yes, haha! Are you suggesting that I'm famous, Rob? Because...

Because I had exactly the same feeling and in fact I have that feeling right now.

You know – you are so incredibly famous  that I have this feeling of admiration for you...

OK – so we are equally star-struck. ...slightly intimidating me.

We are joking of course.  There are more famous people

who we get star-struck about, aren't there?

Yes, you may not believe it  but there are even more famous people

than me and Rob in the world, and you have met

one of the most famous people in the world, Rob.

Yes, that's Paul McCartney – Sir Paul McCartney from The Beatles,

who I met a few years ago: I got a chance to interview him.

I was so star-struck that I almost forgot the questions

I must also say that he wasn't star-struck when he met me.

But it is that admiration, isn't it, for somebody famous...

have a lot of admiration –   you really admire the things they've done.

Absolutely. It's a bit weird in this title though, isn't it?

Yes, that's true: this headline has got nothing to do  with famous people really, has it?

No, it hasn't and this is – you know –  as people who watch News Review regularly will know,

headline writers love a little joke with words

because 'star-struck', as we've been discussing,

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