Real Easy English: Talking about nature
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Hello and welcome to Real Easy English, the podcast where we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I'm Beth. And I'm Georgie. You can read along with this podcast and find a worksheet to help you learn on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

Hi Georgie, how are things? Things are good, thank you Beth. How are you? I am very good, thank you. I've been enjoying the fresh air outside on my lunch break. Me too. And today we're talking about nature. We'll talk about the natural world and what we like about it. Sounds good. Let's get started.

So Beth, you said you went for a walk in your lunch break, but we're in the centre of the city here. Do you like walking in the city or do you prefer to find nature? Well, I have to walk in the city when I'm here, but ideally, definitely, I would rather be in the countryside with the fresh air, some sheep, some cows, some mountains. Me too. I'm from the countryside and

And where I'm from, I live in the middle of a national park. There are lots of hills, lots of trees. There's a park near my house with two lakes as well and lots of deer as well.

What about where you're from? Well, I am from Cumbria and Cumbria also has another big national park, the Lake District. So, yeah, I grew up surrounded by a lot of mountains and a lot of lakes and we really lived in the middle of nowhere. So, yeah, lots of wildlife around and rivers, lakes, streams.

That sounds so beautiful. What do you like most about nature? I really like having a good walk and especially reaching the top of a hill where you can then just look out and see how far you've come and see all the fields around you.

It gives me a great sense of satisfaction. So Beth, you said you grew up near mountains. You're very lucky. I didn't have any mountains where I'm from. Do you like going for hikes in the mountains? I really do, but it depends on how big the mountains are, to be honest. They can be very dangerous. I mean, it's good to get some exercise, but I don't like doing too much hiking. Yeah, I'm the same.

Georgie, are there any other ways that you like to enjoy nature? Well, I've only done it a couple of times, but I quite enjoy wild swimming, which is where you go swimming in a wild place like a lake, a river or the sea. Wild.

One time in January in England, which is a very cold time of year, I went swimming in the sea only for about five minutes and then I ran out. It must have been so cold. It was freezing, but my dog came swimming with me. It was really cute. Okay, let's recap some of the language we heard during the conversation. We had river, which is a flow of water from the land to the sea.

We had mountain, which is a raised part of the Earth's surface and it's much larger than a hill. We had hike, a long walk, especially in the countryside. And wild swimming, swimming in nature, like in a lake or a river.

And that's it for this episode of Real Easy English. To test what you've learned, try the worksheet on our website. You can find a link in the notes for this episode. And next week, we'll talk about relationships. See you then. Bye. Want to learn English through song? In our new music series, My Song, My Home, we meet musicians around the UK and listen to their music.

We'll hear how the place they live shapes the music they make and learn vocabulary from their lyrics. Find the podcast series on our website and watch videos of the songs too. Visit bbclearningenglish.com. Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by.

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