This is News Review from BBC Learning English where we help you understand news headlines in English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Georgie.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn the vocabulary you need to talk about this story.

Don't forget to subscribe to our channel so you can learn more English from news headlines.

Now the story.

Emergency services are searching for trapped survivors following powerful earthquakes in Japan.

At least 64 people have died so far after a series of quakes on New Year's Day.

Images taken by helicopters show many fires and widespread damage to infrastructure and buildings.

You've been looking at the headlines, Georgie, what's the vocabulary people need to understand this news story in English?

We have 'battle against time,' 'rocked by,' and 'aftershock.'

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This one's from the Guardian: Japan earthquakes battle against time to find those trapped under rubble as death toll rises.

So this headline talks about the time pressure to find people trapped under the rubble after the earthquakes in Japan.

Rubble is the broken bits of buildings. But we're looking at the expression 'battle against time,' which contains the word battle, Georgie.

And I know this word from the context of war, but this isn't about a war. So why is it being used?

Yes, you're right.

Battle is used to talk about war.

A battle is like a fight and in a fight, we have two sides fighting against each other.

So here the rescuers are in a fight against time.

They are in a hurry to make sure as many people survive as possible.

There is another similar expression, Neil.

Yes. So we also have 'race against time' which is similar in meaning to battle against time.

But instead of fighting, we're talking about moving fast, the sense that time is running out, it could be too late soon.

What other examples have we got of the expression battle against time? When can we use it?

Well, like in this story, we use battle against time for search and rescue operations or natural disasters to help people quickly before the situation gets worse.

But we could also use it for things like work deadlines and exams.

So a student might be in a battle against time to answer all the questions before the time runs out.

Ok. Let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This one's from ITV news: Death toll continues to rise after Japan rocked by powerful earthquakes.

This headline tells us about the number of people who've been killed by this earthquake in Japan.

We call that the death toll, but we're looking at the expression rocked by which contains the word rock.

And I think probably most people know what a rock is as a noun, but this is a verb here.

What does it mean, Georgie?

Yes.

Well, rocked is literally this action.

It's to move from one side to another.

So you can rock a baby, rock a boat.

If you imagine a boat being rocked side to side in the waves, you can even rock backwards and forwards on a chair, for example.

Yes.

So in this case, Japan was physically rocked by the earthquake, the ground moved.

It's a literal meaning.

Exactly.

But there's also a metaphorical meaning.

A group of people or society can be rocked by a major event or a big change which means that it causes surprise, shock or emotional impact.

And in this headline, in fact, both of those meanings, we can see them both.

There's the physical movement of the ground but also the emotional movement of people.

It's a big scary event.

Let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This one's from The Telegraph: Powerful aftershocks rocked Japan after New Year's Day earthquake kills 62.

This headline talks about what's happened in Japan since the main earthquakes on New Year's Day.

We see that word 'rock' again, which we learned about in the last headline.

But we're interested this time in 'aftershocks.'

What are aftershocks, Georgie?

Well, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake or shock that happens after the first main earthquake.

They can happen minutes, hours, days or even weeks after the first earthquake.

Yeah. And they're usually smaller, but that doesn't mean they don't cause damage.

And in fact, there have been aftershocks causing further problems in the surrounding areas.

This word 'aftershocks,' though, is there another meaning that's not literal?

Yes.

Again, it's often used metaphorically to describe consequences or impacts of a major event or change.

So for example, with the COVID lockdowns, there were many aftershocks like damage to the economy and damage to people's mental health.

Let's look at that again.

We've had 'battle against time' - a rush to complete something.

'Rocked by' - moved from one side to another or shaken emotionally.

And 'aftershock' - a smaller secondary earthquake.

Now, if you're interested in learning more English from the news, click here.

And don't forget to click here to subscribe to our channel so you never miss another video.

Thank you for joining us and goodbye.

Bye.