Full transcript
0:07Neil: Hello. This is 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
0:09Sam: And I'm Sam.
0:10Neil: Now, tell me about your teeth-cleaning routine.
0:14Sam: OK. Well, it’s pretty good, I think.
0:17I brush twice a day and change my brush
0:20every couple of months.
0:21Neil: And what kind of brush do you use?
0:24Sam: Nothing fancy, just a regular, cheap plastic one.
0:28Neil: Oh dear!
0:29Sam: What do you mean?
0:30Neil: Well, imagine all the toothbrushes you’ve
0:33used in your life,
0:34from your first brush as a child,
0:36to the one you currently have.
0:38You do realise that probably they all still exist
0:42in the environment somewhere.
0:44We use them for a couple of months yet
0:46they will last for hundreds of years.
0:48Sam: Oh dear, and I thought I was actually quite
0:51environmentally aware.
0:53But that’s quite shocking. I hadn’t thought of that.
0:56Neil: Well it’s just one of the problems we are
0:58facing with our use of plastics.
1:00A marvellous invention that has given us so much.
1:03But
1:04we are beginning to realise it's causing many
1:07long-lasting environmental problems.
1:09More on this topic shortly, but first, a question:
1:12Plastic has many natural variations
1:14but where was the first artificial plastic developed?
1:17Was it: a) England
1:19b) Germany or
1:20c) Switzerland
1:21What do you think, Sam?
1:22Sam: I’m going to have a guess at Switzerland.
1:25Neil: OK, we’ll find out if you’re right
1:27at the end of the programme.
1:29Environmental issues are, of course,
1:31a big story at the moment.
1:32The topic was featured on the BBC Woman’s Hour
1:35radio programme recently.
1:37Madeleine Murray is from an Irish organisation that
1:39gives advice to businesses and communities
1:42on how to operate
1:43in an environmentally responsible way.
1:46She was asked about what she does in her daily life
1:49that other people could do too.
1:51What food items does she mention?
1:54Madeleine Murray: My personal, like, pet peeve
1:56is multipacks and minipacks.
2:00I buy in bulk now. I buy the biggest yoghurt I can buy.
2:03I buy big cereal boxes. I buy big shampoo bottles.
2:07We can decant stuff into lunch boxes and we can,
2:10you know, refill our pasta and our rice.
2:14Neil: So, what food does she mention, Sam?
2:17Sam: She talked about yoghurt, cereal, pasta and rice.
2:20Neil: And what was she saying about those foods?
2:23Sam: She was saying that she buys the biggest
2:25containers for those that she can
2:27- and not just food - things like shampoo as well.
2:30Neil: And what’s the benefit of that?
2:32Sam: Well, she says that her pet peeve is small
2:35packs of things.
2:36A 'pet peeve' is something that you find
2:38particularly annoying.
2:40She doesn’t like small packs because they use a
2:43lot of packaging for a small amount of product.
2:45Neil: So she buys in bulk.
2:47Buying in bulk means 'buying a lot of something'.
2:50And if you have a lot of something like rice or pasta,
2:53you can always transfer it to different smaller
2:56reusable containers.
2:58She uses the word 'decant' for this.
3:01So that’s one area where we can all be a bit more
3:03environmentally friendly.
3:05Another area is reusing things that are perfectly good
3:08but which we don’t need any more.
3:10Dr Tara Shine is a colleague of Madeleine Murray
3:13and she talked about how new parents often
3:16buy a lot of new things for their babies,
3:18which they then throw away when the child
3:20gets too big or too old.
3:22She suggests that it’s better to pass these things on
3:26- to give them to other people.
3:28Dr Tara Shine: Pass things on.
3:29The hand-me-down, pass-thing-on
3:31culture is really, really important in the world of kids
3:34and there are lots of things that can be passed down,
3:36whether it’s toys or the equipment, or the high chair,
3:40whatever it is, all of that can be passed on
3:43and that’s really important.
3:44It’s saving someone else money.
3:45Most of these things are in good nick
3:47when we need to pass them on.
3:49Neil: She used another expression for passing things
3:51on, didn’t she?
3:52Sam: Yes, she talked about the hand-me-down culture.
3:56When I was growing up,
3:57I had a lot of hand-me-downs.
3:59These were toys and clothes from my older cousins,
4:03which saved us a lot of money
4:05and they were then passed on to someone else.
4:07Neil: And the thing is children grow up quickly so
4:09often everything is in good condition.
4:12Sam: Dr Shine used an interesting expression for
4:14that, didn’t she?
4:16She said most of these things are 'in good nick'.
4:19That expression means 'in good condition'.
4:22Neil: Now, before we recycle today’s vocabulary...
4:25Sam: Oh, very good, I see what you did there!
4:27Neil: It’s time for the answer to today’s question.
4:30Where was the first artificial plastic developed?
4:33Was it: a) England
4:35b) Germany or
4:36c) Switzerland?
4:38What did you think, Sam?
4:39Sam: I guessed Switzerland.
4:41Neil: Well, I'm afraid, you are wrong.
4:44The correct answer is actually, England.
4:47Well done if you got that right.
4:49Extra bonus points if you knew that in 1856
4:53Alexander Parkes patented Parkesine,
4:57the first artificial plastic.
4:59Now, let’s recap today’s words and expressions.
5:02Sam: Yes, a pet peeve is something that someone
5:04finds particularly annoying.
5:07Neil: Buying in bulk means 'buying many of the same
5:10things or a large quantity of something'.
5:12Buying in bulk is usually cheaper
5:14and can be better environmentally.
5:17Sam: And if you have a lot of something, you can
5:19decant it to smaller containers, that is,
5:22you can transfer it to those other containers
5:25to make it easier to use. For example:
5:28I buy huge bottles of liquid soap
5:30and decant it into smaller dispensers
5:33for the kitchen and bathrooms.
5:34Neil: You can pass on clothes, toys and other kids'
5:37stuff to family and friends.
5:39This means 'giving them to other people to use'.
5:42And those things can be described as 'hand-me-downs'.
5:45Sam: But of course you’d only want to pass on
5:47things 'in good nick', that is, 'in good condition'.
5:51Neil: Right, that's all we have time for. We hope
5:52you will join us again soon, though.
5:55And you can always find us on
5:56Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
5:57Instagram, online and on our app.
6:00We are BBC Learning English.
6:01See you soon. Good-bye!
6:03Sam: Bye!