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Hello and welcome to 6 Minute
English from BBC Learning English.
I'm Neil and
today we're joined by Hannah
from the What in the World podcast.
Hey Neil! It's great to be back.
So, Neil, do you think you're good
at preparing for the future
or for unexpected events?
Hmm... Reasonably good, I suppose.
It depends what kind
of event we're talking about.
All kinds of events.
Now, I think I'm pretty organised,
but I only have
enough food to last me about a week.
And today we're talking all
about preppers.
A prepper is someone who believes
that disaster is likely to happen soon,
and so they prepare for it.
A prepper might learn survival skills
or they might build a bunker –
an underground shelter.
Yes, and recently,
many famous billionaires
from the tech industry have made
the news for building luxury bunkers.
So, what these bunkers need to do
is to keep you safe from danger,
but they're also
like something out of a spy film.
They're huge and they've got cool
features, like gyms or home cinemas.
They allow someone to live a comfortable
life while staying safe from danger.
A very comfortable life.
We're going to be talking
about these luxury bunkers,
the people building them and
what they're so afraid of.
But first,
Neil, I've got a question for you.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which
owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp,
is building a property in Hawaii
which is reported to include
a huge underground bunker.
So, Neil, how much is he
reportedly spending on the project?
Is it: a) $10 million,
b) $50 million, or c) $100 million?
Well, Hannah, I don't know,
but he's a pretty rich guy
so I think 100 million.
Well, I will reveal the answer
at the end of the programme.
Hannah, you've been looking
into these luxury bunkers,
like the one Mark Zuckerberg is reported
to be building, on What in the World.
What have you discovered?
Well, I was joined by BBC reporter
Nathalie Jimenez to talk about preppers,
and I started off by asking whether she
had ever considered building a bunker
and preparing for disaster.
I love this question because
I've actually been thinking about it
for a while.
Fun fact...
Have you? You're a prepper!
Yes! When you watch TV in the US –
when you turn on a, kind of,
US TV channel – what happens is
that there's usually some ads about
freeze-dried food. I'm not kidding.
They pop up quite regularly and
it's all about,
kind of, the prepper mentality.
What are you going to do
when the apocalypse happens?
Nathalie has thought about building
a bunker and getting prepared because
she sees adverts for freeze-dried
food that would last a long time,
on TV in the US.
When she talks about the adverts,
she says, I'm not kidding,
which means I'm not joking.
Nathalie says that these adverts are
part of the prepper mentality.
A mentality is a person's way
of thinking about things.
So, the prepper mentality would mean
thinking about things like a prepper.
Part of the prepper mentality
is to question what you would do
if the apocalypse happens.
An apocalypse refers to a serious event
which causes destruction and change.
So, lots of people do think
about preparing for bad things.
Nathalie's thought about it,
and for tech billionaires
like Mark Zuckerberg,
they're able to spend a lot of money
preparing for disaster.
So, do you think
they know something we don't?
What are they preparing for?
Let's hear from Nathalie again,
speaking to me on What in the World.
So, the reasons include nuclear
tensions, AI risk, climate disaster –
essentially any world-ending event.
But secondly,
it's also a mark of societal status.
So, no matter what happens,
no matter what comes our way,
if you're a tech billionaire,
you're going to be able to live
through that comfortably
without compromising your lifestyle,
without compromising the standard
that you have.
So, because these tech billionaires
are essentially building the future,
the fact that
they're so afraid of it,
quote-unquote,
is telling within itself.
So, while tech billionaires are worried
about things like climate disaster
or AI, Nathalie says that luxury bunkers
are also a mark of social status,
or status, as we would say in the UK.
Someone's status is the amount
of respect or importance
given to them by other people.
With their bunkers, tech billionaires
would be able to survive
without compromising
their luxury lifestyle.
That means without lowering
their standard of living.
OK. So, now I need to know the answer to
that quiz question you gave me, Hannah.
Yes, Neil.
So, my question was:
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta,
is building a property
in Hawaii, which is said to include
a huge underground bunker –
how much is he reported
to be spending on the project?
Well, I think I gave option c)
which was $100 million.
You're right Neil!
The property is said to include
a large underground bunker,
although Zuckerberg says
it's just a little shelter.
OK. It's time to recap the language
we've learnt during the programme,
starting with prepper – someone who
thinks disaster is likely to happen soon
and so prepares for it.
Kidding means joking.
Your mentality is the way you think
about things.
An apocalypse refers to a serious event
which causes destruction and change.
Your status, or status,
in society
is the amount of respect
and importance other people give you.
And if you compromise something,
like your lifestyle,
you lower the standard of it.
That's it for this episode
of 6 Minute English.
But Hannah, where can people find
more What in the World?
Well, you can listen to us
wherever you get your BBC podcasts,
or you can watch us on the BBC
World Service YouTube channel.
Just search for
What in the World in the studio,
or click on the link in the notes
for this programme.
And don't forget to test
what you've learnt in this programme
with the quiz on our website,
bbclearningenglish.com.
Goodbye for now.
Goodbye! And if you're a prepper...
good luck!
Vocabulary
Word 1 of 15unexpected events
collocation
0:22
"things that happen without warning."
More Listening Practice
About this lesson
Find out why the world's wealthiest people are investing in underground bunkers and what it reveals about modern anxieties in this 6 Minute English episode.