Sweden, traditionally neutral,
joins Nato. This is News Review from BBC Learning English where we help you
understand news headlines in English. I'm Neil.
and I'm Phil. Make sure you watch to the end
to learn the vocabulary that you need to talk about this story. Don't forget to subscribe
to our channel so you can learn more English
from news headlines. Now, the story. Sweden is to join NATO after two hundred years
of neutrality. The nation applied to join
the defence alliance after Russia invad
ed Ukraine
in 2022. All Nato members
are expected to help an ally if attacked. Hungary was the final
Nato member to approve the invitation. You've been looking at the headlines Phil. What's the vocabulary people need to understand
this news story in English? We have clears path, final hurdle
and farewell. This is News Review from BBC
Learning English. Let's have a look
at our first headline. This is from
the BBC. Hungary's parliament clears path
for Sweden's Nato membership. So, Hungary was the
last member
of Nato to approve Sweden's membership. It clears a path for Sweden. That's the expression that we're looking
at. It contains that word path. Now a path is another word for a route
a way from one place to another, often in a park
or in the countryside. Yes, it is. And clear - it's often
an adjective, but in this case, it's a verb and it means
to physically remove the obstacles that are stopping you
from walking on the path. OK. Now let's use
our imaginations, Phil. Here we have Swede
n and here we have NATO
and there is a path between the two. But imagine that path is covered
with trees and bushes. Hungary comes along and clears the path is
a useful way of thinking about it. It's a very literal way
of looking at it. Here the obstacles are political. They are to do with votes
and decisions and Hungary's decision has cleared
the path for Sweden to join Nato. Now, I think there's another way we could use
this to talk about the world of work, isn't there, Neil? Yes so imagine at
work, you want to get a promotion. There's an opportunity
for a promotion. But there is somebody else who has more
experience and qualifications than you. However, that person decides to leave
the organisation and that act clears the path
for you to get the promotion. Let's look at that again. Let's have a look at our
next headline. This is from the Financial Times. Sweden overcomes final hurdle
to join Nato in historic shift. OK, so it says
that Sweden overcomes something. It means they have s
olved a problem.
And in this case, it's a hurdle.
But what's a hurdle? We need to know what a hurdle is
to understand this headline. Yes, well, a hurdle is one of
those frames that athletes jump over when they are in a hurdle race and actually, I can already see
a link between this headline and the last one because that was all
about removing obstacles. And a hurdle is an obstacle, yes. So, Sweden's final hurdle
or final obstacle to joining NATO was Hungary's vote
to approve them and they overca
me it. Can you give us another example? Well, the reason that
we make News Review is to help you overcome any hurdles
in understanding the news in English. The words and phrases
that we teach you will help you overcome
those hurdles. Let's look at that again. Let's have our next
headline. This is from the Guardian. Sweden will complete
its long farewell to neutrality with Nato accession.
So here in this headline neutrality means that Sweden hasn't taken sides
in any war or conflict for two hundr
ed years. But now, they are abandoning that neutrality. The word, though,
that we're looking at is farewell. What can you tell us about farewell Phil? OK, well this is
quite an old formal English word. Historically,
it meant go well or travel well. But, really, it's just another way
of saying goodbye, but Phil is it the same
as saying goodbye? I've never heard you say
at the end of a working day "farewell!" Well, you can say farewell at the end of the working day,
but it would sound a bit strang
e. We tend to use farewell
for something that's kind of an emotional goodbye
an important goodbye, or something that's very
final. Yeah. So if I was going to move
to a different country, I might have a farewell party
and I might make a farewell speech at that party,
but I wouldn't do those things If I was just going home. No. It has this kind
of poetic and romantic sense. So we could talk about a
fond farewell, an emotional farewell. And if you want a really old fashioned
formal English way of s
aying goodbye, you could say I bid you farewell. Now it's nearly time for us to say goodbye. Not farewell because we will be back
next week. Let's look at that again. We've had clears path makes something easier
to achieve. Final hurdle The last thing stopping you
from doing something and farewell another way of saying goodbye. Now, if you like things about making important decisions, why not check out our leadership playlist? Don't forget to click here to subscribe to our. channel, so you never
miss another video. Thank you for joining us and goodbye! Goodbye!
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