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  • Thousands evacuated in Iceland ahead of expected volcanic eruption.

  • This is News Review from BBC Learning English, where we teach you how to understand the news in English. I'm Beth.

  • And I'm Phil.

  • Make sure you watch to the end to learn the words that you need to talk about this story.

  • And to learn more about the world in English, don't forget to subscribe to our channel.

  • Now, today's story.

  • Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in Iceland after a state of emergency was declared.

  • Cracks have appeared in roads after a series of earthquakes and there are fears the Fagradalsfjall volcano will soon erupt.

  • A huge eruption in 2010 in Iceland disrupted air travel around the world.

  • You've been looking at the headlines. What's the vocabulary that people need to understand this news story in English?

  • We have 'imminent', 'swarm' and 'frantic'.

  • This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

  • Let's have a look at our first headline.

  • This is from Sky News: Cracks appear in roads amid fears of imminent volcanic eruption.

  • Now, this story tells us that roads have been damaged as worries grow about a potential volcanic eruption.

  • We're going to look at the word 'imminent'.

  • Phil, is this related to bad things?

  • Yes, we often use 'imminent' with bad things, like a volcano preparing to erupt, and it means that we think it's going to happen very soon and it's scaring us.

  • OK, so we use it with bad things are about to happen.

  • What common phrases might we see it in?

  • Well, we might talk about an 'imminent disaster', an 'imminent attack' or an 'imminent crisis' and it has this idea that there is a bad thing hanging over a situation that we think is about to happen soon.

  • It reminds me of a similar word 'impending'.

  • 'Impending' is used in a similar way to say something negative is about to happen.

  • OK, let's look at that again.

  • Next headline, please.

  • This is from TTG Media: Iceland declares state of emergency amid intense swarm of earthquakes.

  • Now, this is about the earthquakes which could be a sign that a volcanic eruption is imminent.

  • We're going to learn about the word 'swarm'.

  • Now 'swarm' reminds me of insects.

  • What has that got to do with volcanoes and earthquakes?

  • OK, so what is a swarm of insects?

  • Well, it's a large group of insects that all fly together.

  • For example, if you disturb a hive of bees all the bees will come out.

  • That's a swarm of bees.

  • OK, so there's a large number and when seismologists, that's people who study earthquakes, talk about a 'swarm of earthquakes,' they mean that there is a large number of them close together that appear in a short space of time and that's often a sign of volcanic activity.

  • OK, so there are two things about the word 'swarm'.

  • One - it's a large number and two - it's something negative.

  • Now, we can also use 'swarm' for people, but usually only when we think that they are a problem.

  • OK, yes, so if there were a lot of tourists, you might say there's a swarm of tourists because you think it's a problem.

  • Celebrities might be chased by a swarm of journalists, which doesn't sound very pleasant.

  • It doesn't. OK, let's look at that again.

  • Next headline, please.

  • This is from Edinburgh Live: Frantic Edinburgh couple race home from Iceland after travelling despite warnings.

  • So, this story is about tourists in Iceland who are worried about what's happening.

  • The word that we're looking at is 'frantic'.

  • Phil, when do we use this word?

  • Well, this story's about tourists, but there's probably a lot of people feeling like that right now.

  • You said 'worried', but frantic is a bit more than that.

  • It's about being so worried that you find it hard to do things or hard to control yourself, even.

  • OK, so if you're frantic, it's a little bit like you're panicking and you might even do the wrong thing because you're so worried.

  • Yeah, because we often use this to talk about the way we do things, we can use the adverb 'frantically' to describe things done in a hurry because you're worried or scared.

  • OK, let's look at that again.

  • We've had 'imminent' - about to happen.

  • 'Swarm'- a large number of bad things.

  • And 'frantic' - worried and out of control.

  • To watch more episodes of News Review, click on this playlist.

  • And click here to subscribe to our channel, so you never miss another video.

  • Thanks for joining us. - Bye.

Thousands evacuated in Iceland ahead of expected volcanic eruption.

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