Name: Syria: One year since Assad's fall: BBC Learning English from the News
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From BBC Learning English this is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines in this program, one year since the fall of the Assad government, Syria reflects.

In this program, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com okay, Phil, let's hear more about this story.

The 8th of December marked a year since Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad was forced to leave the capital Damascus.

Assad's regime or way of governing was marked by civil war and brutal attacks on pro democracy protesters.

Ahmed Al Shara became the country's president.

Al Shara is a former Al Qaeda fighter who led the rebel group which removed Assad from power.

In a speech to the nation on Monday, he promised to build a Syria for all Syrians, saying the country had broken away from its past of repression and violence.

Syrians gathered at home and abroad to celebrate the year anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime, which whether they agree with President Al Shara or oppose him.

This One is from France 24 taking stock of Shara's rule in Syria one year after the fall of Assad.

And that headline again from France 24 taking stock of Shara's rule in Syria one year after the fall of Assad.

Now this headline is about President Ahmed Al Shara's first year in office.

We're looking at this phrase, take stock.

Now originally, take stock was about shop or business owners counting their goods or stock.

Yes, that's where the phrase take stock comes from.

But it's evolved to have a more general meaning.

If you take stock of something, it means you carefully evaluate or review a situation.

So here in the headline, if you're taking stock of Shara's rule in Syria, you're looking back and evaluating how it's going.

And a year anniversary is a good time to do that.

Yes, it's often used when you stop and review things after a change, a problem or a busy period.

So another example, at the end of the five year project, the researchers took stock of their achievements.

We've had take stock carefully evaluate or review a situation.

For example, when choosing a career, it's a good idea to take stock of what's important in life.

This is learning English from the news Our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about the fall of Syria's former president, Bashar Al Assad.

One year on since coming to power, Ahmad Al Sharah has tried to build his reputation as a respectable leader and and show that he has moved on from his jihadist past and has gained considerable international support.

Last month, he met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, who lifted sanctions on Syria.

Sanctions can be financial penalties put on a country to make them obey international law.

Earlier this year, he became the first Syrian representative to address the United Nations General Assembly.

Syria, however, remains extremely poor and divided, with minorities still mistrusting the authorities.

This is from the Guardian, a British Can Syria's President turn wave of global goodwill into tangible results at home?

Can Syria's President turn wave of global goodwill into tangible results at home?

Now this headline has some interesting language.

A wave of global goodwill refers to the international support that Syria has received.

There's a lot of it, but this time we're looking at tangible.

So the headline is asking whether the support from other countries will actually make a real difference to people in Syria.

until they experience a real change, for example, things getting cheaper in the shops, they may not feel that these results are tangible or something that they can experience themselves.

Some similar words to tangible are real, concrete and noticeable, whereas words that mean the opposite are intangible and abstract.

For example, tangible evidence is something real and physical, like fingerprints or a video.

Intangible evidence is something you can't touch, like a feeling or a belief.

For example, the training program showed tangible results in test scores.

This is Learning English from the News from BBC.

We're talking about the year anniversary of the fall of Assad's regime in Syria.

As we've heard, Syria's current president, Ahmed Al Shara, has been presenting himself as a respectable leader to the West.

But at home in Syria, there are weaknesses.

Many Kurds, Druze and Christians find it hard to forget Shara's jihadist past.

The UN Human Rights Office said that hundreds have been killed over the past year.

Alawite, Druze, Christian and Bedouin communities were mainly affected by the violence, the organisation said.

Syria feels lighter without the assad's crushing weight.

Jeremy Bowen, Syria feels lighter without the Assad's crushing weight.

So Jeremy Bowen is a BBC correspondent and this article is giving his analysis on the situation in Syria.

We're looking at the phrase crushing weight.

Now, the literal meaning is about a weight that's so heavy it breaks, squashes or crushes anything underneath it.

Yes, but the phrase crushing weight is mostly used metaphorically in the headline.

The Assad family's crushing weight refers to the feeling of being oppressed or restricted by the family's strong control over the country.

So crushing weight means a very heavy feeling of pressure or control that makes life feel difficult even though there's no real physical weight.

Yes, we often hear it followed by the word of and an abstract noun like responsibility, emotional stress or uncertainty.

For example, she felt the crushing weight of guilt when she lost her grandmother's priceless ring.

And it's not something we use much in everyday speech.

It sounds quite literary, so you might see it written in novels or poems.

We often use the concept of weight when talking about emotions.

So if someone's in a stressful and emotional situation, you might say, wow, that sounds heavy.

We also have the expression a weight off my shoulders, which refers to the relief you feel when an emotional problem is solved.

We've had crushing weight, a heavy feeling of pressure which makes life difficult.

For example, my manager gave me the project and now I'm feeling the crushing weight of responsibility to get this right.

That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We'll be back next week with another news story.

Try the worksheet on our website to test what you've learned.

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