Name: Afghanistan: Taliban retake Kabul - BBC News Review
Uploaded: 2021-08-17T16:45:07.000Z
Duration: 9 min 55 s
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In Afghanistan, the Taliban have retaken Kabul after twenty years.

I'm Catherine. This is News Review from BBC Learning English

Hello Catherine and hello everyone. If you would like to take a quiz

on the vocabulary around this story, head to our website

Now, let's hear more about this story from this BBC News report:

The Taliban have retaken the Afghan capital of Kabul,

The President has left the country and people are trying to evacuate.

You have three words and expressions for us today, don't you?

'Brace', 'engulfs' and 'sweep'. So, your first headline please.

Yes, my first headline comes from the UK,

'Brace' – prepare for something difficult.

Now Roy, what can you tell us about 'brace'?

Right. OK. So, this word is spelt: B-R-A-C-E.

the UK having a third lockdown, how did you feel?

Urgh... well, you know, I thought, 'Here we go again...

another lockdown. Oh, it's going to be difficult.

I'm going to have to get myself mentally prepared.'

So, I had a little talk with myself, I bought some extra chocolates,

and, sort of, nice jogging trousers and I got ready to stay at home.

So, I got myself – mentally, I made myself feel really strong

and decided I'm going to power through this lockdown.

So, I had to really strengthen myself mentally.

So... Exactly. So, you 'braced' yourself mentally:

you prepared yourself for an unpleasant or difficult situation.

And notice there as well – I said, 'Brace yourself.'

We commonly use it with words like 'brace myself', 'brace himself',

'brace themselves' to talk about preparing for that negative situation.

So... so, is it only about mental preparation.

It's just about, kind of, your... your own self and feelings.

No... no. It can also be used about 'bracing' yourself for a negative...

'bracing' your body for... For example, if you go on a plane,

they quite commonly read those instructions where they say,

please – you know, you put your hands behind your head, I think –

and you 'brace' yourself for impact, or 'brace for impact'.

Yeah... OK. And what about – is it only for people?

for example, if you have a weakened wall in your house –

maybe you're having some renovations and you notice that

a wall is weak or some posts in the garden – maybe want to 'brace' that.

You want to support that. So, we use maybe a piece of wood

or metal to reinforce the structure to support it and 'brace' it.

OK. And what about 'braces' on people's teeth?

Yeah, slightly different. It's those metal things that we put on our teeth

and it's used to support and correct their positions.

Thank you. Let's get a summary of that please:

So, talking about difficult situations that we need to 'brace' for,

we have a programme about the climate emergency, don't we, Roy?

All you need to do is click the link beneath.

Yes. My second headline comes from Reuters and it reads:

'Engulfs' – affects powerfully; overwhelms.

Yes. So, 'engulfs' is spelt: E-N-G-U-L-F-S.

or a person has been almost overwhelmed by a negative situation.

So, in the state of the headline – in the case of the headline –

it's saying that chaos has 'engulfed' the airport,

which means there's people running around shouting,

nobody knows what's happening, no one knows who's in charge

And it's happening everywhere, isn't it? It's just...

it's not in, like, little... little parts of the airport.

The idea of 'engulfs' means it's absolutely everywhere.

it's – quite commonly we use it in the passive as well.

'He was engulfed', or 'they were engulfed',

And do we say – what prepositions are we using then, with the passive?

So, that's interesting; you're now talking about emotions rather than actions.

The airport example was about, kind of, the physical situation,

but you can also be 'engulfed' in or by an emotion, you're saying?

Yeah. You can be 'engulfed' by fear. So, for example,

if something is too overwhelmingly frightening,

So, that would mean, you know, you can't move,

you can't talk to anybody, you're completely panicked,

Absolutley. ...because the fear is so strong

and it's really taking over your entire person.

Absolutely. But it's not the only case that we use 'engulf'.

There is another meaning of 'engulf', which has this same idea

of being surrounded, or by... covered by something negative.

For example, a building could be 'engulfed' in flames

or an area or a country could be 'engulfed' by a snowstorm.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Afghanistan: Taliban retake Kabul - BBC News Review

overwhelmed

absolutely

situation

properly