【英语听和读】为所有人做饭

 Jackie: Hello and welcome to People and Places with bbclearningenglish.com

and me, Jackie Dalton. Food and eating habits are a big issue in Britain
at the moment – everyone seems to be worrying that the nation is
getting too fat and people don’t know how to feed themselves properly.
So the government decided 1 that teenagers are to receive compulsory 2
cooking lessons in schools. What’s that word? Compulsory – it means
something that you have to do, that you don’t have any choice about.
Most the subjects that were compulsory when I was in school were
things like Maths and Science – I never had had compulsory cooking
lessons though, which sound much more fun! We’re going to hear part
of a report by the BBC’s Jon Devitt. To practise your listening
comprehension skills, try to answer this question: why might it be
difficult for some schools to start teaching cookery in September? Try
to spot two reasons.
Jon
The new lessons are due to start in September but some schools without kitchens will
be given longer to adapt. There is also likely to be a shortage 3 of teachers with the right
skills, since the trend has been to teach food technology rather than practical cooking.
Jackie: Did you get those? One problem is that there might be a shortage of
skills – not enough people who know how to teach cooking. The other
is that some schools won’t have kitchens, so they’ll need some time to
sort that out. In the next part of Jon’s report, he’ll tell us why cooking
has become such a big issue in Britain. This time, try to answer this 
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question: how many Britons are expected to be obese 4 – or very fat – in
25 years if people don’t change their habits?
Jon
The renewed interest in cooking is primarily a response to the level of obesity 5 in
Britain which is amongst the highest in Europe, and according to government figures
half of all Britons will be obese in 25 years if current trends are not halted.
Jackie: Did you get the answer? Jon said half of Britons will be obese in 25
years time if current trends are not halted, in other words, if people
don’t change their behaviour. Next we’re going to hear from Ed Balls -
the minister in charge of schools. Try to answer this question: what
does Ed Balls want young people to be able to do?
Ed Balls
What I want is for young people to be taught how to do basic, simple recipes which
they can use then at home and in their later life, experiment with, discover the joy of
food, having got the basics under control.
Jackie: Did you catch that? Ed Balls talks about basic, simple recipes – a
recipe is a set of instructions for preparing food. So he wants teenagers
to be able to cook basic, easy things. He says that should be able to
enjoy food, once they’ve got the basics under control. To have
something under control means to be comfortable with it and able to
do it. I’m not quite sure if I’ve got the basics of cooking under control.
Listen again and try to spot those three terms: recipes, basic, to have
the basics under control.
Ed Balls
What I want is for young people to be taught how to do basic, simple recipes which
they can use then at home and in their later life, experiment with, discover the joy of
food, having got the basics under control.
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Jackie: Next we’re going to hear the views of a well known cookery writer in
the UK, Pru Leith. Now try to answer this question: does Pru think
making teenagers to learn to cook is a good thing or a bad thing?
Pru Leith
If we'd done this thirty years ago we might not have the crisis 6 we've got now about
obesity and lack of knowledge about food and so on. Every child should know how to
cook, not just so that they'll be healthy, but because it's a life skill which is a real
pleasure and we deny children that pleasure.
Jackie: Well, it’s clear from what Pru says, she thinks cooking lessons are a
good thing. In fact, she says, if this had been done 30 years ago it
could’ve prevented the situation the country has now. She uses a very
strong word to describe the problem…she calls it a ‘crisis’. A crisis is a
situation where there are a lot of problems that need to be dealt with
quickly so the situation doesn’t get worse. So she obviously thinks that
there is a very serious problem with obesity and lack of knowledge –
she calls it a crisis. Before we hear that clip 7 again, another term she
uses worth looking at is ‘life skill’. A life skill is something you can do
which will be useful and important throughout your life – such as
driving, or doing well in job interviews or, as Pru says, cooking. Listen
again and listen out for those terms: crisis and life skill
Pru Leith
If we'd done this thirty years ago we might not have the crisis we've got now about
obesity and lack of knowledge about food and so on. Every child should know how to
cook, not just so that they'll be healthy, but because it's a life skill which is a real
pleasure and we deny children that pleasure.
Jackie: Let’s end with a quick quiz to see if you can remember some of the
phrases we’ve looked at.
What do you call a set of instructions telling you how to prepare food? 
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A recipe
What do you call an ability, like cooking or driving that is useful
throughout your life?
A life skill
What word did we look at meaning a situation where there are lots of
problems and something needs to be done urgently?
A crisis
What expression did we look at that means to be comfortable with
something and able to do it?
To have it under control
Well, that’s all for this week, I hope you learned some useful phrases.
Join us again for more People and Places!