Improve Your English Fluency FAST Reading Listening Method with the News

In this Learn English with the news lesson, we'll read science article together to help you improve your English vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, listening, and of course, your speaking. Welcome back to JForrest English. Of course, I'm Jennifer. Now, let's get started. Our headline, your kitchen is full of microplastics. Here's how to eat less of them. Notice here, this is written as statement. is full of microplastics. Full meaning every area, every part of your kitchen. Now, often headlines may use language like may your kitchen may be to suggest there's possibility. But in this case, they're stating it as fact. Now, here's here is. So, this is used to provide instructions. Here's how. After this, we need the infinitive. might say to you, here's how to use the gerund verb. Here's how to use infinitives. I'm providing that as an instruction and then will give you the steps to follow. So, here's how to eat less of them. Now, this is an important thing that native speakers do and you can too to sound more advanced is to replace nouns that have already been mentioned with the pronoun them. Now, in this case, you would say less of and then the pronoun them because it's plural. If you repeated the noun, it would sound more basic, but you also would not use the preposition of. You would say, "Here's how to eat less microlastics, less of them." Don't worry about taking these notes. summarize everything in free lesson PDF. You can find the link in the description. Now, let's keep reading together. Microlastics gush out of our taps and flake off cookware. So, here we have two phrasal verbs. Gush out of flake off. Notice when you specify the noun gush out of where taps. So this is the object. You must use an additional preposition of. So gush out. Microplastics gush out. But when you say wear, gush out of our tops. And if something gushes out, it means it comes out quickly. So if you cut yourself, you might say the blood was gushing out. Hopefully that doesn't happen. Now, things like water out of tap. If maybe if there's leak in your tap, you can say, the water was gushing out everywhere." Now, notice didn't use of because didn't specify the object. So, that's gush out of, come out quickly, large volume. Now, flake off cookware. If something flakes off, it means small thin pieces come apart from the surface. So for example, for women who wear nail polish, one of the complaints is that it easily flakes off. So you paint your nails, it looks beautiful, and then the next day you have chips, you have areas where there's no nail polish because it flaked off. So paint can flake off wall your nails and on cookware you can imagine that small pieces of the surface can flake off. So replacement would simply be come off. And here replacement could be come out of our taps. And cookware is collective noun so you never add an to it but it's group. So cookware as the category represents pots, pans, dishes, dishes that go into the oven. So oven safe dishes, not necessarily plates, which is also dish. So that would be cookware, collective. So do not add an to cookware, but you can add an to the individual items in that category. Pots, pans, dishes. They meaning microplastics they find their way into the yolks of eggs. Okay. They find their way into this simply means they enter. But if something finds their way into it sounds like they enter secretly, sneakily without permission. So more of mysterious way of entering. They find their way into the yolks of eggs. Okay. What did you notice about my pronunciation? Into the yolk. Yolk of egg. The yolks of eggs. There's no It's totally silent. So, this means it is silent letter. It's there for spelling. Don't ask me why, but do not say it. So, when you pronounce it, just pretend it's not there. Yoke. Just like yoke but y-y yolk. Yolks of eggs. So yolk of course is the yellow part in the center of the egg. The rest is called the whites. So you have the yolk and you have the whites. And deep into meat. So deep into sounds like the middle of not the outer area. The middle. And deep into meat and vegetables. Vegetables. So, vegetables. Notice that pronunciation. This is silent. Vegetables. There's three sounds. And this is an unstressed tuh. And this is bulls. Bulls. Vegetables. But if we take certain steps, we can eat less of them. So, you already know less of them. them being microplastics. Are you enjoying this lesson? If you are, then want to tell you about the Finally Fluent Academy. This is my premium training program where we study native English speakers from TV, movies, YouTube, and the news, so you can improve your listening skills of fast English, expand your vocabulary with natural expressions, and learn advanced grammar easily. Plus, you'll have me as your personal coach. You can look in the description for the link to learn more, or you can go to my website and click on finally fluent academy. Now, let's continue with our lesson. You can't see them. Remember, them is microplastics, but they are there. are there simply means they exist. Exist in all the previous areas they mentioned, but they are there. Hundreds of minuscule minuscule skew minuscule extremely tiny. So you might say, have stain on my dress." And then someone else can be like, don't worry. It's minuscule." Meaning it's so tiny no one will even notice. It's minuscule. Minuscule particles of plastic lurking in your steak. Steak just represents an item of food that is commonly eaten eaten. So you can say lurking in your food. Here they're just making it more vivid. Your steak something that is commonly eaten in North America and elsewhere. So lurking if so the verb is to lurk and if something is lurking it means that it's it's trying to hide and its existence is threatening or potentially dangerous. So, you hear this word lot in movies, books, especially ones that have some suspense or thriller, drama, horror movie. Maybe you'll hear something like there was man lurking in the alley. So, there's man trying to be hidden in the alley, but his presence is threatening or dangerous. So, you can imagine how that could make an interesting movie or book. And notice the pronunciation. Lur. Lurking. Lurking. Lurking. Let's keep reading. These interlopers in our food. Okay. An interloper is someone or something unwanted or uninvited in particular area. So there might be an interloper in your organization or even in your family for example there's some person that doesn't belong in your family but is trying to be there actively. So in this case these microplastics so these interlopers it represents the microplastics that are are unwanted shouldn't be there but are trying to be there. These interlopers in our food are microplastics and nanoplastics. Particles of less than five millimeters or between 1 and 1,000 nanometers, respectively. I'll be honest, don't know what nanometer is. I'm going to guess and then will confirm that it's smaller than millimeter because nano is tiny. So let me confirm. Yes, they are extremely small. In fact, they're thousands of times smaller than millimeter. So drastically smaller. Let's keep reading. But how do they the microplastics and nanoplastics but how do they get into our food? So get into you could just use enter get into our food and in world infused with bits of plastic. So in world infused with bits of plastic it just means in world where plastic is ubiquitous. Plastic is everywhere. So in world infused with bits of plastic, what can we do to reduce exposure in our diets? So exposure to the plastics. If you were to include the noun the plastics, you would need the preposition to exposure to something. So, if you have mild phobia, maybe you're slightly scared of spiders, maybe even just the thought of that. But if maybe if you get small amounts of exposure to spiders, so exposure to something, maybe even just starting with looking at an image of it, not necessarily in person. I've heard of that as therapy for for mild phobias. Let's review these sentences. Maybe if you were exposed. Okay, so here our verb is to be conjugated in hypothetical. If you were is hypothetical were for all subjects. And then expose functions as the adjective. So to be exposed. Maybe if you were exposed, you still need that preposition to two spiders in safe environment. it would help maybe. Now in this case exposure is noun. So I'll write that there so you have it as well. This is the noun form. So exposure it's thing. So maybe exposure the thing to spiders but you still need to maybe exposure to spiders in safe environment would help. So maybe something would help. So all of this represents the something. So maybe something would help. Let's keep reading. If you take closer look around your kitchen. Okay, so here take look and then closer. So, if you're researching or reviewing something or trying to solve problem, someone might encourage you, take closer look at this study, take closer look at this website, review it. If you take closer look around your kitchen, around meaning you're not at something specific. So, if say take closer look at this study, but around an entire room, around your kitchen, your kitchen being the room, you'll start to recognize where microplastics enter our meals. Now, using phrase we learned previously in the article, you could say where microplastics find their way, because it's plural, their way into our meals. Remember, enter our meals indirectly, almost secretly. They're not invited. Find their way into it. Adds more more drama, more meaning than simply saying enter, which sounds quite neutral. Enter our mirror meals. They flake off the spatula. now you know exactly what this means. Imagine you get some egg yolk on your spatula. So the spat your spatula is the kitchen utensil you use to flip an egg or take an egg out of the frying pan which is cookware. So spatula is kitchen utensil and then frying pan is cookware. So you have egg yolk on your spatula and you leave it there overnight. in the morning is going to be dried on and you could go like this and pieces of yolk would flake off. So small thin pieces would come off would leave the spatula. So they but in this case they is microplastics not egg yolk. They flake off the spatula you use to cook breakfast. Leak from the plastic water bottle. So leak means if liquid leaves unintentionally. So we often use this with water leak. So you have your pipe and then small drops or lot of water. Water's gushing out but small drops. You could say, think the the pipe is leaking." That's the verb to leak. Or you could say, think there's leak in the pipe. So leak is the noun, but in this case, it's the verb. Leak from your plastic water bottle you put in your child's backpack and float in the cup of tea on your desk. So float means it's on the surface. And do have cup of tea on my desk. Let's hope there aren't microplastics floating in it. And float in the cup of tea on your desk. They're also buried deep within the food we eat. So here, notice the pronunciation. Buried just like strawberry, raspberry, buried. Buried. Eid. Eid. So this is long sound. buried. Eid eat buried buried. They're also buried deep within the foods we eat. From hamburgers to honey. So here you use from to for range. We're open from 8:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. from to. And they chose two very distinct foods to just show that it's wide range from hamburgers to honey food that has nothing in common to show that they're everywhere. They're ubiquitous. Let's keep reading. Once you start looking for them, looking for microplastics, the exposure points. So an exposure point is point, time, situation where you can be exposed, which means where you can experience that thing. So you can be exposed to the sun, of course. So if you're at the beach, you can think of the different exposure points, the points where you will be exposed to the sun. pretty much everywhere except under an umbrella or inside. The exposure points for microlastics can quickly feel overwhelming. So here, notice you have the ing form. You would say feel overwhelmed. Wellelmed. Notice that's the ed form. But something feels overwhelming, which means the something is what causes you to feel overwhelmed. So you would say, feel overwhelmed because dealing with microlastics something is overwhelming." Let's keep reading. But importantly, it is also possible to make changes to reduce the amount of microplastics we are exposed to in our kitchens. Okay. So, here we have the verb plus adjective combo that we already reviewed. So, to be now are because it's we in the present, we are exposed. And then you already learned that you need the preposition to when you specify the something or some somewhere. We are exposed to in our kitchens. So actually here the something has already been identified. It was identified before the amount of microplastics we are exposed. If you just ended it there, imagine in our kitchens does not exist. Okay? So get rid of in our kitchens just remove it. So we have the amount of microplastics we are exposed. That's grammatically incorrect because the the thing the object has been identified. It's the amount of microplastics. It just happened to come before which can be done in English sentence structure and is done in more formal writing or speaking. Now because that object has been identified you must grammatically include two. So even if in our kitchen was not there you have to say the amount of microplastics we are exposed to. Just like you might say the amount of music we listen to. You can't say the amount of music we listen. You can say the amount of TV we watch because watch doesn't take preposition. But listen to listen to you're teacher. Listen to this beautiful song. The amount of music we listen to. So that's why you would still need to in this case and in the example gave. Let's keep reading. One researcher urges against knee-jerk reaction. Okay. To urge is to strongly suggest, advise, or encourage. So, might say, suggest you download the PDF and review everything we learned today." urge you to download the PDF and review everything we learned today. Urge sounds lot stronger. It's strong suggestion. So, when you want someone to pay attention, use the word urge. Well, use it with native speaker who understands the difference, but now you do, too. One researcher urges against. So, against because we're going away from urges against knee-jerk reaction. knee-jerk reaction is very quick and emotional reaction. So, you don't take the time to to think about how you decide. You just decide and act. So if someone cuts you off in traffic, knee-jerk reaction would be to honk your horn and yell at the person because if you thought about it rationally, you probably would decide it's not worth getting so upset over, but your knee-jerk reaction may be maybe one that you later feel bad about. So, knee-jerk reaction of throwing away all your plastic kitchen utensils and appliances. Okay. So, after you read this article, if you are just completely overwhelmed, you're freaked out, you go into your kitchen, you throw everything out that contains plastic, that might have been knee-jerk reaction. You just you acted too quickly without considering all the information. So, you can make more rational, logical decision. So this researcher is strongly suggesting you don't overreact even after writing this paper. So here are quotation marks. So we know this is coming from the mouth of someone meaning they said it verbatim and that person is this researcher. Even after writing this paper do still have certain items in my kitchen that are plastic. So, this is helping to make you feel less overwhelmed because of how common microplastics are in your kitchen where you prepare your food. Now, notice here, do still have certain items. Well, we know, let's get rid of still. We have we have have the verb have. have certain items in my kitchen. So imagine it were just something simple like have toaster. toaster is an item in your kitchen. have toaster. You know that's correct. So why is do do have toaster? That's the emphatic present simple. So you add do or does. she does have toaster when there you're clarifying or you want to emphasize. So if someone says, "How can we cook this bread? You don't have toaster." And then you want to clarify that that's incorrect. So you can say, do have toaster." Or you just want to really emphasize it for some specific reason. do have toaster. She does have toaster. So, this researcher is emphasizing that she does still have certain items in her kitchen that are plastic. Let's read this again. Even after writing this paper, writing is in the ing form because of after. Even after writing this paper, do still have certain items in my kitchen that are plastic. She says, I'm not going to just throw everything out and be like, that's it. So, and be like this is very casual way of saying what we said or someone else said. So, if want to talk about conversation had with my friend, can tell you told her that her outfit was beautiful and she was like, "No, it wasn't." And then was like, "Yes, it is." So it's casual way of saying and she said then said and she was like was because it's in the past and then was like yes it is. So you still have the quotation marks. Yes, it is. But she was like, was like is casual way of saying she said, said. And in this case, that's it is like is like that's it. I'm done with plastics. I'm never going to use plastics again. So that's what it means. That's it to say I'm completely done finished with something. So, she says, "I'm not going to just throw everything out and be like, "That's it. No more plastic for me." She adds that there's also no consensus. consensus is shared opinion or understanding. So, if you're deciding on where to go for dinner and there's five people in your group, if three people agree to have sushi, you've reached consensus. you have consensus. She adds that there's also no consensus, no shared opinion, shared agreement on how long plastic stays in the body or whether it accumulates over time. Accumulates means if drink tea and have small amount and then tomorrow, the next day, the next day drink tea, drink tea. Does that small amount increase to larger amount or do just have that small amount overnight? Maybe it goes away. It digests in my body and then start from zero. So that would be accumulate. So the microplastics you've already eaten and drunk. So these are two irregular participles. The third form of the verb because you have this is the present perfect. You have already eaten third form and drunk third form today might not be destined to stay in your body forever. So destined to stay just means they may not stay in your body forever. But destined to stay sounds lot more dramatic. And that's the end of the article. So now I'll read the article from start to finish and you can focus on my pronunciation. Your kitchen is full of microplastics. Here's how to eat less of them. Microplastics gush out of our taps and flake off cookware. They find their way into the yolks of eggs and deep into meat and vegetables. But if we take certain steps, we can eat less of them. You can't see them, but they are there. Hundreds of minuscule particles of plastic lurking in your steak. These interlopers in our food are microplastics and nanoplastics. particles of less than 5 or between 1 and 1,000 nanometers, respectively. But how do they get into our food? And in world infused with bits of plastic, what can we do to reduce exposure in our diets? If you take closer look around your kitchen, you'll start to recognize where microplastics enter our meals. They flake off the spatula you use to cook breakfast, leak from the plastic water bottle you put in your child's backpack, and float in the cup of tea on your desk. They're also buried deep within the foods we eat, from hamburgers to honey. Once you start looking for them, the exposure points for microplastics can quickly feel overwhelming. But importantly, it is also possible to make changes to reduce the amount of microplastics we are exposed to in our kitchens. One researcher urges against knee-jerk reaction of throwing away all your plastic kitchen utensils and appliances. Even after writing this paper, do still have certain items in my kitchen that are plastic." She says, "I'm not going to just throw everything out and be like, that's it." She adds that there is also no consensus on how long plastic stays in the body or whether it accumulates over time. So, the microplastics you've already eaten and drunk today might not be destined to stay in your body forever. Amazing job with this lesson. And if you want to keep learning English with the news, put yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Put yes, yes, yes in the comments below. And of course, make sure you like this lesson, share it with your friends, and subscribe so you're notified every time post new lesson. And you can get this free speaking guide where share six tips on how to speak English fluently and confidently. You can click here to download it or look for the link in the description. And here's another lesson know you'll love. Watch it now.