Chimpanzees Seek Out Medicinal Plants & Iberian Lynxes Recover

BBC Radio 4 broadcaster Mishal Husain interviews Dr. Elodie Freymann on Today programme about how chimpanzees seek out medicinal plants when they feel sick or wounded. The words in this interview clip (4:06) are colloquial, B2 level or so, but radio interviews are usually rather fast for the time pressures of news programmes, which makes it more difficult for foreign learners to segment speech and understand indivual words, so here you can find a listening comprehension task with its key and a follow-up discussion for C1 students. 

The radio recording has no script, but you can use the list of interesting words to follow the interview, after doing the comprehension task: to seek out, a lead [researcher], to tick, wounds, to go out of their way, rare, super [exciting], [plant] samples, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, to expand, [medicinal] repertoire, to clutch [your stomach], to sneeze, to cough, respiratory [infection], non-invasive, [abnormal] metrics, to quantify [parasites], neophobic, to raise alarm bells, [next] wave, self-medication, a step [to start from], [specific pharmaceutical] compounds, to pinpoint, a [fast] recovery.

If you want further information, you can also check out Victoria Gill's report for BBC News "Chimpanzees self-medicate with healing plants",
which provides new details about Dr. Elodie Freymann's research and it is, problably, the original source for the radio interview above. This article is suitable for B2 students.

Another interesting environment story today on BBC News is the report by Malu Cursino "One of the world's rarest cats no longer endangered", which talks about the Iberian lynx and the recovery in the numbers of this "vulnerable" species, after the latest success in conservation efforts. This article can also be accessed by B2 learners.

Dalí's Moustache

Salvador Dalí was a total artist and a flamboyant celebrity.  Myles Burke recently published the article "Salvador Dalí talks about his iconic, 'very aggressive' moustache" on BBC News, where he explains how he creates his celebrated moustache every day. This article with a short video (1:47) can be accessible to B2+ students, who will come across words like: playful, bold, an [artistic] statement, bizarre, a dreamlike [image], flamboyantly, lustrous, whiskers, fittingly, a date, depressing, gay, a wax, a [splendid] upturn, to plough on, gravity-defying [facial hair], to droop down, brisk, to be captivated, cartoonishly [waxed], to sport, hirsute, to embody, [carefully] crafted, shamelessly, a logo, to curl, to bedeck, a [visual] cue, to blur [the boundary], eager, stunned, to embalm. 

Mr. Dalí was a larger-than-life character with a great sense of surrealist humour, as you can see in his appearance as a guest in the TV show "What's my Line? (1962)". This video with Spanish subtitles (9:06) is recommended for B2+ students (C1 for non Spanish-speaking students), who will find rather formal words like: costuming, blindfolded, [to keep] score, folks, self-employed, a performer, a leading [man], misleading, eminence, an exploit, germane [to something], up and down [yes], endeavour, an affiliation, within the compass [of his enjoyment], an all-around [man], to encompass, a dummy, the master of ceremony, to strike upon, a conference, to caricature.

Elections in India, Mexico and South Africa

Three major emerging countries have held general elections recently: South-Africa, Mexico and India.

 India is the largest democracy in the world and the current 2024 elections have taken place in seven consecutive phases, starting from April 19 to June 1 to elect the 543 members of the Lok Sabha, the House of the People. There are two major coalitions vying for power, the right-wing NDA, lead by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the multi-party INDIA alliance, led by the Indian National Congress (INC). Election results are being declared on June 4th, you can follow the tally on "Lok Sabha Election Results", a web page in The Times of India, which includes a short video (3:12) "Lok Jabha Elections 2024: BJP, INDIA Bloc Chase Kingmakers's Nitish Kumar, Chandrababu Naidu",

 

where C2 students will come across interesting words like: to write [someone] off, a pundit, [against] the backdrop, a kingmaker, a [political] camp, the run-up, to fall short of [a majority], infamous, to reach out [to somebody], steadfast [support], to have a say, a portfolio, to implement [key policy changes]. You can also take a look at the New York Times page India Live Election Results and Map 2024, where you will find a national map with the winning coalition in each constituency. Finally, you can check the latest updates like the BBC News article "Modi declares victory in close-than-expected Indian election" or, for a full coverage of the election results and analysis from an Indian perspective, you can check out the news website The Wire.

 

 

AP News covers the elections in Mexico with several articles under the headline "Mexico elections update: Claudia Sheinbaum set to become president". In one of the stories, signed by Sara España, Mexico will have its first woman president, what will that mean?", B2 students and above can find expressions like: a ruling [party], to concede, to break through [200 years of male governments], to go down in history, to break [a longstanding] ceiling, harsh [conditions].

In South Africa a new era began after the African National Congress (ANC) lost its overall majority for the first time in 30 years. The ANC won 40.2% of the vote, down from 58% in the pervious election, and it will have to negotiate a coalition government with other parties, which opens an unprecedented political scenario since democracy started with Nelson Mandela's presidency after apartheid. Mohammed Haddad writes a comprehensive account of the vote in South Africa election results. What happens next?" for Aljazeera, which could be accessible to B2 students and above with 

key election vocabulary like: to surpass, a ballot, ruling, short of [a majority], turn out, to cast [a vote], allocation, a [Parliament] seat, [members of Parliament] to be sworn in, the speaker [of Parliament], to ensure, smooth [transition of power], poor [performance], to rule out [a coalition], to sack, a crackdown, to step down, to appoint, to take over, impeachment, to make up, remaining, to comprise.

If you need some background information about South Africa, you can read Damian Zane's, Dorothy Otieno & Olaniyi Adebimpe's article "South Africa in eight charts ahead of crucial vote", published in BBC News on May 22, where C1 students and above will come across key words like: 

 

[to go to the] polls, a power cut, an opinion poll, to herald, to fall steadily, a high water mark, a survey, to drop below [50%], GDP [per capita], a downward [trend], income, well-off, to mismanage, to be buffeted, a spike [in prices], a household, a driver [of inequality], to hit [young people] hard, to pledge, to tackle [crime], an assault, rape, to wage [a war against women], load shedding, a respite, to blight, outage, to disrupt, a draw, to target, a scapegoat, to demonise.