BBC Podcasts

Vocabulary at the heart of to be the most important part, or main cause, of something can-do attitude showing determination and confidence to take action and achieve results The American dream the idea that everyone in the United States of America has the chance to be successful and happy if they work hard long-standing having existed for a long time a take on (something) a variation of, or new way of presenting, something which already exists the final nail in the coffin (idiom) an event that causes the final end of something that had already started to fail

Introduction How did fast food spread around the world? Beth and Phil discuss this and teach you some new vocabulary. This week's question Roughly how many fast food restaurants are there in the UK? Is it: a) 4,000 b) 42,000 c) Four million Listen to the programme to hear the answer.

Key words and phrases: 🔻freaking out losing emotional control I freaked out when my favourite actor walked past me in the street. 🔻spook create a sudden sense of fear or nervousness The government’s sudden tax cuts spooked the markets. 🔻shake-up a change The football team kept losing, so the coach decided to have a shake-up of the squad.

The story A Chinese artificial intelligence app called DeepSeek has caught the attention of the global tech industry. It was released on the 20th of January, and has quickly risen to the top of the Apple store’s download charts. DeepSeek claims the latest model was built using only $5.6 million, whereas ChatGPT’s developer OpenAI spent $5 billion last year alone. The market value of tech company stocks, like Nvidia, has since fallen dramatically. News headlines Why is the AI world freaking out over China's DeepSeek? The Japan Times Nvidia shares sink as Chinese AI app spooks US markets BBC News AI Market Shake-Up: Global Giants Tumble As Chinese AI Model DeepSeek Disrupts Markets Business Today

Vocabulary contentious argued about, controversial outpace go faster than rival a competitor knowledge economy a service economy based on highly skilled industries such as IT, finance or advanced engineering regardless without considering, or being influenced by segregate separate and keep apart

Introduction How do you compare education systems? Beth and Phil discuss this and teach you some new vocabulary. This week's question In 2022, Singapore was top of the reading rankings. But which of these countries came second? Was it: a) The USA? b) Ireland? or c) The UK? Listen to the programme to hear the answer.

News headlines Donald Trump vows new ‘golden age’ for US as he moves to unwind Joe Biden era Financial Times Trump grants clemency to all charged over January 6 US Capitol attack Al-Jazeera Best of 'frenemies': Trump's relationship with Europe this time may be very different BBC News Key words and phrases golden age a period of time when everyone is happy or successful Some people say the golden age of television is over. grant clemency give a smaller or kinder punishment The judge granted the criminal clemency. She only got a small fine. frenemy both friend and enemy at the same time The film director has lots of frenemies in Hollywood. She can’t trust anyone.

The story President Donald Trump has started his second term as president with lots of executive orders about what he wants to do. Executive orders are written orders which don’t require Congress, that’s the US parliament, to approve them. Among Trump’s first acts as president are: starting to withdraw from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate agreement, which is an international agreement to fight Climate change. He also threatened to put tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico and reversed many of his predecessor President Biden’s policies.

Vocabulary family tree diagram that shows all the members of a family, usually over a long period of time, and how they are related to each other ancestry the origins of your family; your ancestors who lived a long time ago take (it) with a pinch of salt do not believe that something is completely accurate or true; be doubtful or sceptical about something forebears relatives who lived in the past ethnicity social, cultural and linguistic characteristics shared by a large group of people blow your mind be extremely exciting or surprising

Introduction Are DNA ancestry tests a reliable way to trace your ancestry? Neil and Beth discuss this and teach you some new vocabulary. This week's question How much DNA do humans share with each other? a) 79.9% b) 89.9% or, c) 99.9? Listen to the programme to hear the answer.