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  • Cop 26 continues this week.

  • And analysis shared with the BBC has found there are more representatives from the fossil fuel industry than from a single country.

  • This is BBC News review.

  • I'm rob and talk more about this story and the vocabulary we have Neil hello neal hi rob and hello everyone.

  • If you want to test yourself on the vocabulary you learn in this program.

  • There's a quiz on our website at BBC learning english dot com.

  • Now let's find out some more about the story from this BBC news report.

  • An environmental campaign group has said there are more than 500 delegates representing the fossil fuel industries at the cop 26 summit.

  • More than from any single country.

  • Global Witness analyzed the participant list published by the un the summit in Glasgow is into its second and final week.

  • So as you just heard the cop 26 climate summit in Glasgow in Scotland continues its in its second week now.

  • And the organization Global Witness claims that there are more representatives from the fossil fuel industries at the conference than from any single country.

  • Yeah.

  • And we've got three words and expressions we can learn about to talk about this story, haven't we?

  • We have rob.

  • We have delegation fossil and swamp.

  • So that's delegation fossil and swamp.

  • And we're gonna find out where these words appear in the news headlines.

  • So what is your first headline?

  • Please kneel Okay, well my first headline comes from the BBC and it is a cop 26 fossil fuel industry has largest delegation at climate summit.

  • That's delegation, a group of people chosen to represent an organization.

  • That's right.

  • And it's spelled D E L E G A T I O N.

  • And the delegation is a group of delegates, is that right?

  • That's right.

  • Yes.

  • So a delegation is a group of people delegation but it's a group of people made up of delegates.

  • And delegates are people who are there to represent the interests of an organization.

  • That organization could be a company or a country, right.

  • Small and big.

  • Okay.

  • And we tend to say we send a delegation somewhere, don't we to do something.

  • Yeah.

  • You send a delegation somewhere so that you don't have to send all of the members of the organization to express their opinion.

  • It's more efficient to have a small group of people representing those views and opinions.

  • So those are the delegates and they make up the delegation.

  • Now, what about the verb form I've heard about to delegate something.

  • That's right.

  • Yes.

  • There's a verb to delegate to delegate.

  • Uh notice the difference in pronunciation.

  • It's spelled exactly the same way as delegate a person, delegate, but the verb is to delegate, delegate and you delegate work when you give it to somebody else to do on your behalf.

  • So for example, uh this often happens.

  • Your boss is too busy says he's too busy or too lazy uh and gives you the work to do.

  • They might say I like to delegate this work to you.

  • It means give you the responsibility for doing it and the act of doing that is delegation.

  • Yes.

  • So we come back to that word delegation but this is a slightly different meaning.

  • So a delegation that we heard at the beginning is that group of people group of delegates, but in this sense that we just talked about from the verb to delegate that activity is delegation.

  • Okay, now if my boss was to delegate some work to me and I want some more money for that, would I send a delegation to the boss to demand more money for that?

  • No, again, that is something that would happen at a higher level.

  • Um it would be more organized, more official.

  • So if you were really upset about the fact you've been given some extra work to do, you might speak to your trade union if you were a member of a trade union and eventually they might organize a delegation or send some delegates to a meeting with your employer.

  • Okay, right, understood.

  • Thanks for that Neil let's have a summary of that word.

  • Mhm mm If you want to talk more about cop 26, we have a special one off video that teaches you some useful vocabulary about the conference and climate change in general.

  • Where can people see that video Neil?

  • Yes, well they need to do is click on the link below to learn some really crucial expressions such as net zero and circular economy.

  • Just click on the link down below.

  • Thank you.

  • Okay what's your next headline please?

  • The next headline is from the mail online and it is a cop 20 six's largest delegation The fossil-fuel industry.

  • More than 500 people with links to oil and gas interests are accredited for summit more than from any single country says study that's fossil made from decay materials from thousands of years ago.

  • Yeah that's fossil F.

  • O.

  • S.

  • S.

  • I.

  • L.

  • And we're using this with fossil fuels.

  • That's right.

  • So in this case this is actually a fixed expression fossil fuel and the fossil refers to the old materials and decaying animals from thousands and thousands of years ago.

  • That turned into coal turn into oil that we then burn.

  • And it puts that carbon into the atmosphere.

  • Which is the problem.

  • And it relates to a fossil which is something that I might find on a beach for example.

  • It's it's like a shape of an old creature in a rock isn't it?

  • That's right.

  • So this word fossil is also often used in a very sort of similar similar meaning those imprints or impressions of animals from thousands and thousands millions of years ago that are inside rocks that have been compressed over many thousands of years.

  • That is called a fossil.

  • Yeah but the fossil and fossil fuels I say are these old creatures and plants but not the actual shape of them.

  • They're the actual decayed thing aren't they?

  • That's right.

  • Yeah.

  • Now how come I've heard you being called a fossil because you're not anything to do with a shape of something of rock are you?

  • And hopefully you can't set fire to me.

  • Yes.

  • Okay.

  • So we're talking about an insult here rob.

  • If you want to say that someone is very old or has very old fashioned ideas about something, you can refer to them as a fossil.

  • You can say that person is a fossil and also dinosaur.

  • I suppose that's something from a long time ago.

  • Yes.

  • You can also with a similar meaning refer to somebody with old fashioned views as a dinosaur.

  • Yes, that's right.

  • Now both of these are insults but like with a lot of insults.

  • It depends on the context in which he used them.

  • It can be amusing and friendly if it's amongst friends.

  • Yes.

  • Which is what it is When I'm calling you a fossil.

  • Okay.

  • When you called me a fossil, I mean I've been, I've been around for a while at BBC learning english rob but I'm not sure I'm I'm a fossil yet not prehistoric.

  • Are you yet?

  • No, that's right.

  • Okay.

  • Thanks for that.

  • Let's have a summary of that word.

  • Mm hmm.

  • In our six minute english program, we're asking is the planet warming up faster and you can listen to a discussion about this by doing what Neil?

  • Just click on the link that you find below.

  • Yeah, have a look down below and click great.

  • Okay, let's have a look at your next headline please.

  • Yes.

  • My next headline comes from the mirror and it reads exclusive outrage as fossil fuel and nuclear power firms swamp cop 26 with 1000 lobbyists.

  • So that swamp overwhelmed with large numbers.

  • Yes.

  • And it's spelled S W.

  • A M.

  • P.

  • Okay.

  • So are we talking about a sort of wet boggy area where alligators might live?

  • No, we're not.

  • Although that is a swamp in the literal sense, a swamp is an area of land that is covered in water but it's not an ocean.

  • It's not a sea or a river.

  • Um It's an area of low lying area of land covered in water and it's got sort of grass and reeds sticking out of it.

  • Typically as you said, alligators and other such creatures might live in this area.

  • Mm And also an area that gets covered by water flooded for example, gets swamped, doesn't it?

  • Yeah.

  • So the verb to swamp means to make an area of swamp.

  • So to cover in water.

  • But we use this like with many expressions in a figurative way and that's how it's being used here.

  • What this headline is saying is that the conference, the climate conference has been swamped that there have been a large number of people from the fossil fuel industry attending the conference.

  • They are dominating it.

  • Mm.

  • So it's numbers to excess it's excessive.

  • Yes that's right.

  • Yeah.

  • And we use in a similar way the word flood in a figurative sense.

  • If something is flooded we can say that it is overwhelmed.

  • There are too many people from a certain organization there.

  • This is also used to talk about having too much work isn't it?

  • Rob.

  • Yeah you can be certainly swamped with work and that's why I couldn't make that drink the other night.

  • You invited me to because I just had too much to do.

  • I was swamped.

  • I was overwhelmed with all the amount of work I had to do.

  • Yeah that's a really good example though.

  • I feel sorry for you rob.

  • That's a good example of how to use swamp meaning having too much of something to deal with.

  • Were you swamped with beer maybe when you went to the pub without me?

  • I wasn't I wasn't rob.

  • I was very sensible.

  • That's good to hear.

  • That's good to hear.

  • Okay let's have a summary of that word.

  • Thank you.

  • Mhm mm.

  • Okay, Neil it's time to recap the vocabulary we've discussed today.

  • Okay first of all we had delegation a group of people chosen to represent an organization.

  • We had fossil in the expression fossil fuel meaning made from decayed materials from thousands of years ago and swamp overwhelmed with large numbers.

  • Okay.

  • And don't forget you can test yourself on your understanding of the vocabulary in a quiz on our website at BBC.

  • Learning english dot com.

  • And don't forget to check us out on social media as well.

  • Well, that's all for today on BBC.

  • News of you.

  • I'll see you again soon.

  • Bye for now.

  • Bye.

Cop 26 continues this week.

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