Transcript
Tap a time to jump · select words to save
Hello, this is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.
And I'm Beth.
Neil, do you remember the children's
television show, Lassie?
Oh yes, of course.
The show's hero was
a dog named Lassie.
And Lassie went round helping people
in trouble.
Yes, well,
if you watched Lassie as a child,
you might also remember the TV shows,
Flipper the Dolphin,
and Skippy the Kangaroo.
The stars of these shows
were animals who would also come
to the rescue of humans in trouble.
In this programme,
we'll be discussing
some real-life animals helping people
in trouble.
It might sound strange,
but we'll be hearing how cows
are helping to stop fires in Spain.
Well, now I have a picture in my head
of a cow wearing a fireman's helmet,
but I guess
that's not what you mean, Neil.
Not quite, Beth, but you're right about
the fires or wildfires, to be exact.
Wildfires are unplanned fires,
in areas like forests or grasslands,
which spread out of control.
They often happen in hot,
dry countries like Spain.
So, how could cows help?
We'll be finding out and learning
some useful new vocabulary as well.
And remember, if you like to read
along as you listen to the programme,
you'll find a script on our website,
bbclearningenglish.com.
But now I have a question
for you, Beth.
Some wildfires are caused naturally,
but most are the result
of human activity.
So, according to
the Natural History Museum of Utah,
what proportion
of wildfires is caused by people?
Is it a) two out of every five,
b) three out of every five,
or c) four out of every five?
I'm going to guess three
out of every five, I think.
Let's find out
at the end of the programme.
Thanks to increasing temperatures
caused by climate change,
the wildfires happening today are
more intense, and more destructive,
than ever before.
Here, Craig Langran, reporter
for BBC World Service programme,
People Fixing the World, discusses
the problem with Pablo Schapira
of Rewilding Spain, an organisation
combating wildfires in central Spain.
One of the reasons for this
is that the forests have been left
to grow unchecked,
as there simply aren't enough animals to
feed on all the trees, bushes and grass.
And the more dense this vegetation is,
the more likely it is to catch fire.
What we had before
in our ecosystems here in Europe
is that we had big grazers:
we had bison,
we had tauros, we had wild horses.
And now they are gone from the ecosystem
because of extinction, domestication.
Many European forests
have grown unchecked.
If something is left unchecked,
nobody controls it
or prevents it from increasing.
The problem is that when trees, grass
and vegetation are left to grow,
they're more likely to catch fire.
Hundreds of years ago,
animals known as grazers would
simply have eaten this vegetation up.
To graze means to eat grass
and other wild plants,
and grazers are the animals,
including horses, cows and goats,
which do this.
In English,
you can also say a person is grazing
if they continually eat snacks
or little bites of food.
But in modern times, numbers of
grazing animals have declined sharply
because of extinction,
when a species of animal – the dinosaurs
for example – no longer exist,
and domestication, when
wild animals are controlled by humans
to work or for food.
And as numbers of grazing
wild animals decrease, forest
and grasslands
continue to grow unchecked,
leading to the large wildfires
which now regularly happen in Spain.
And that's where our four-legged
friends, the cows, come to the rescue.
Supported by Rewilding Spain,
Pablo has reintroduced herds
of tauros – the species of cow similar
to the now-extinct wild aurochs, the
ancestor of the modern domestic cow –
into the forests of central Spain.
Here's reporter Craig Langran again
for BBC World Service Programme,
People Fixing the World.
Along with the cows' voracious appetite,
they trample on the vegetation,
and it's that trampling
that helps to open up the forest
so it's not so densely packed full
of flammable vegetation.
Tauros eats everything from grass
and leaves to tree branches and bark.
Craig says the cows are voracious,
or very eager for lots of food.
What's more, by wandering freely
around the forest,
they trample down dead trees,
reducing the amount of flammable,
meaning easily burnt, vegetation.
They don't wear firemen's helmets,
but these four-legged, fire-fighting
friends are really coming
to the rescue in Spain.
OK. Neil, isn't it time to reveal
the answer to your question?
Yes. I asked you, "What proportion
of wildfires are caused by people?"
And I said,
"Three out of five." Was I right?
I'm afraid you're wrong, Beth.
The answer was c).
According to
the Natural History Museum of Utah,
four out of every five wildfires
are manmade.
OK. Let's recap the vocabulary
we've learned from this programme,
starting with
the adjective unchecked.
If something harmful
is left unchecked, nobody controls it
or prevents it from growing.
To graze means to eat grass
and vegetation.
Grazers are animals,
like cows, which do this.
And a person who grazes continually
eats little bites of food.
Extinction is when
an animal species no longer exists.
The dinosaurs and the wild aurochs
are two examples of extinct animals.
Domestication is when wild animals
become controlled by humans
for work, food, or as pets.
The adjective voracious means very eager
for something, especially a lot of food.
And finally, if something is flammable,
it easily burns or catches fire.
Once again, our six minutes are up.
If you enjoyed this programme, why not
check out the accompanying worksheet
and quiz, both available
at bbclearningenglish.com.
Goodbye!
Goodbye for now.
Vocabulary
Word 1 of 15come to the rescue
phrase
0:35
"to help someone who is in trouble or danger."
More Listening Practice
About this lesson
Find out how grazing animals like cows could help prevent devastating wildfires in this 6 Minute English episode.