Cooking for all!

BBC Learning English

People and Places

Cooking for all!

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

decided¹ that teenagers are to receive compulsory² 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 shortage³ 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
 
question: how many Britons are expected to be obese⁴ – 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 obesity⁵ 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.
 
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

crisis⁶ 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 clip⁷ 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?
 
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!

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

3 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

4 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

5 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

6 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

7 clip   

n.夹子，别针，弹夹，片断；vt.夹住，修剪

参考例句：

• May I clip out the report on my performance?我能把报道我的文章剪下来吗？
• She fastened the papers together with a paper clip.她用曲别针把文件别在一起。