WEBVTT FILE

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Is the global economy slowing
down? The World Bank

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thinks we're heading for recession.

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This is News Review from BBC
Learning English.

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I'm Neil. And I'm Beth.

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

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And don't forget to subscribe
to our channel, like this video

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and try the quiz on our website.

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Now, the story.

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As prices continue to rise,

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the global economy is getting closer
to a recession.

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That's according to a prediction
by the World Bank.

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This year, the economy is expected
to rise by the smallest percentage

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since 1991. Reasons
for slow growth

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include Russia's invasion of Ukraine
and the impact of the pandemic.

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You've been looking
at the headlines,

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Beth, what's the vocabulary?

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We have 'overcoming', 'doom and gloom'
and 'turbulent'.

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This is News Review from BBC
Learning English.

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Let's take a look
at our first headline.

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This is from the Daily Star
in Bangladesh.

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Overcoming looming
economic challenges

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in 2023.

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OK. Let's start
with a definition of 'recession',

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because that's what this story is
about. 'A recession' is a period

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of two or more quarters –

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that's three-month periods –
when the economy shrinks.

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Now, in this headline, it's saying
that hard economic times are coming.

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But the word

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we're looking at is 'overcoming' and it's
made up of two parts, 'over' and 'coming'.

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I know both of those parts,

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but when we put them together,

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what's the sense?

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Well, 'overcome' means you successfully
deal with a problem, and a problem

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that is quite difficult to cope with.
So, in this case, 'economic challenges'.

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OK. So, 'overcoming' is similar
to 'defeat' or 'control'.

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Yeah, that's right.
So, if you are very shy,

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you might overcome your shyness –
you gain control of it

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and become more confident.

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Yeah, or you might
be playing sport,

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let's say football,

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and if you 'overcome' the opposition,

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it means you beat them. But
it's not just beating. With 'overcome',

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there is a sense of real struggle –

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it wasn't easy to win.

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Yeah, that's right.
And we also use this in the passive,

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but it has a slightly
different meaning, doesn't it?

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Yes. If you are overcome by emotion,

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it means you have a very strong
reaction – you feel it very strongly.

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You might have a physical reaction.

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You might shake with fear or cry.

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Yeah. And it's not only used
with negative emotions,

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it's used with positive ones as well,

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like joy or excitement.

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OK, let's look at that again.

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Let's take a look at our next
headline.

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This is from Business Live.

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It's far from being all doom

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and gloom on the economy.

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So, the headline
is saying that, actually,

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it's not as bad as you think. It's
not all doom and gloom.

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Now, 'doom and gloom' is the
expression we're looking at.

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I like this expression –

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it's got two words
and they both rhyme.

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But, what do they mean?

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Well, it's a general bad feeling

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really. So, 'doom' actually means

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death and destruction. 'gloom'
is to do with darkness –

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imagine a miserable,
grey, rainy day

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so it's really quite a negative thing.
But in this headline it's saying

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that the opposite is true.
It's saying that

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it's not all 'doom and gloom'.

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Yes. And we use the
expression in this way

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quite often to say that something,
isn't as bad as you think. So,

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for example – at the moment, Beth,

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I'm actually not
feeling very well.

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It's freezing cold
outside, my train was late again...

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But the sun is shining,
so it's not all doom and gloom.

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Now, a word about this expression –

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we don't say 'I'm doom and gloom'.

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We use it to comment on how bad

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a situation is.

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That's right.
So we can list

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a number of things
that are bad or wrong

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and then comment on that by saying 'it's
all doom and gloom' or 'it's a bit,

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it's a bit doom and gloom, isn't it?'

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Let's have a look at that again.

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Time for our next headline.

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This is from the New Straits
Times. Global recession imminent

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after turbulent 2022.

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OK, so a recession
is 'imminent' –

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it means it's just about
to start. The word

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we're looking at,
though, is 'turbulent'.

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Now, this word, Beth,

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reminds me of a situation

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you can experience on a plane.

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Yeah. You're probably thinking
about 'turbulence' – that's a noun.

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So, if you're on a plane
and the pilot says'

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'put your seatbelt on', the plane
is going to get a bit unsteady,

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things might start falling down.

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This is 'turbulence'.
Yes, that is 'turbulence' –

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I really don't like turbulence.

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The word we're looking at though,
is 'turbulent', which is the adjective.

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Tell us more.
So 'turbulent' describes

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something that isn't calm,

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it might be unstable.

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Now, we often use this
in relation to the state

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or maybe the history of a
country or a place.

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So, if we are describing that
country as 'turbulent',

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they might have experienced
some conflict, maybe some violence.

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And so the headline describes
2022 as 'turbulent'.

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Last year was very turbulent – we had
the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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We had various
environmental disasters.

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We had famine.

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We had lots of protests
around the world.

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Yeah, you're right. There
were lots of issues

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that made it an unstable or a
turbulent year.

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Let's look at that again.

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We've had 'overcoming' – dealing

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with a difficult problem.
'doom and gloom' –

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we use this to describe
a generally bad situation.

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And 'turbulent' – not calm; unstable.

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Don't forget, there's
a quiz on our website

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at BBCLearningEnglish.com.

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Thank you for joining us

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and goodbye.
Bye.