BBC Learnings · Section 9

Fake or real What's the best tree to have at Christmas

So Sam, are you feeling excited about Christmas? Of course. Time with friends and family,

Level: B2 · 123 sentences

Transcript

1. So Sam, are you feeling excited about Christmas?
2. Of course. Time with friends and family,
3. eating lots, partying, presents and generally indulging.
4. What's not to like?
5. Indulging. Allowing yourself to have perhaps
6. too much of something you enjoy.
7. Well, it only happens once a year, Sam.
8. But for those of us who do celebrate
9. Christmas, it comes at a price.
10. Yes. Well, buying all those presents can be expensive.
11. Not just that, Sam.
12. I mean it comes at a cost
13. to the environment, as we'll explain shortly.
14. But let's start off with a quiz question for you to answer.
15. In 2010, a Christmas tree in Belgium was awarded the world record
16. for having the most lights on it.
17. But do you know how many?
18. Were there... a 19,672 b 94,672 or c 194,672?
19. What do you think, Sam?
20. Well, I don't think you could fit 194,673 lights
21. on a Christmas tree, so I'll say a 19,672.
22. OK, well, we'll find out how bright
23. you are at the end of the programme.
24. Of course, Christmas trees are the ultimate Christmas decoration.
25. It's part of the Christmas tradition
26. and millions are bought around the world each year.
27. But what impact do Christmas trees –
28. real and artificial – have on the environment?
29. Well, before we answer that, let's hear
30. from some of the BBC Learning English team
31. who chose to have a real Christmas tree
32. in their home and find out why.
33. Well, you've got the smell of it,
34. you've got the look of it,
35. but more importantly, Christmas trees are supposed to be symbolic, aren't they?
36. So the idea of something that stays green all year,
37. so bringing that into your house, it means something.
38. I just think a real Christmas tree
39. is more festive and more Christmassy,
40. and it's just the tradition to get
41. a real Christmas tree, that's all.
42. There's something more beautiful about the nature,
43. the smell, the feel, the look of the tree.
44. And I like it to be sustainable.
45. So as long as I get my tree
46. from a person that promises to grow
47. two or three in its place, then I'm really, really happy.
48. Yes, I agree.
49. You can't beat having a real Christmas tree.
50. And as Phil said, it's symbolic – it represents something important.
51. And here a Christmas tree is the symbol of Christmas.
52. And as Jiaying mentioned, it's a tradition –
53. something that's done regularly and has become the expected thing to do.
54. And I'd agree – it makes things more festive.
55. A word to describe the joyful feeling you
56. get when celebrating something like Christmas.
57. But of course all these trees
58. are often thrown away, which is wasteful.
59. That's why Roy mentioned his tree being sustainable,
60. which means they can continue to be grown
61. and cut down over a longer period
62. and so it's less harmful to the environment.
63. Well, an alternative to a real Christmas tree
64. is a fake or artificial one,
65. which is what Feifei from our team has in her house.
66. What are the reasons why?
67. We have a plastic Christmas tree
68. which we've had for about nine years.
69. So it's plastic so you can reuse it every year
70. and it's more economical and we
71. don't have to keep buying new trees.
72. So Feifei's fake tree is made
73. of plastic so that's not great for recycling
74. but the good thing is she uses it year
75. after year which makes it economical.
76. which means it doesn't cost a lot of money.
77. It's good value.
78. Ah, but even Feifei admits it doesn't have the smell
79. and feel of a real tree.
80. It's a dilemma, isn't it, Neil?
81. Yes, what's best for us and what's best for the environment?
82. The BBC's Reality Check programme found that real trees
83. take about 12 years to grow
84. and as they do, they absorb carbon from the atmosphere
85. and nitrogen from the soil, so a good thing.
86. But when it's chopped down, it starts to release emissions
87. back into the atmosphere,
88. especially if you have to transport it to your home.
89. And when Christmas is over, if it ends up in landfill,
90. the tree's carbon footprint will be higher.
91. But its carbon footprint will be lowered if it's recycled or composted.
92. That's the process of allowing it to decay
93. and then adding it to the ground to improve soil quality.
94. A fake tree, on the other hand,
95. is usually imported and can't usually be recycled
96. but, as Feifei mentioned, it can be reused.
97. But without any type of Christmas tree,
98. where would we put all those lights I mentioned earlier, Sam?
99. I asked you, in 2010 a Christmas tree
100. in Belgium was awarded the world record
101. for having the most lights on it,
102. but do you know how many?
103. What did you say, Sam? I think I said 19,672.
104. Oh dear, not very bright I'm afraid.
105. They were in fact... 194,672. Wow!
106. Think of the electricity that must have used!
107. Indeed.
108. Well, let's enlighten everyone with some of the vocabulary we've discussed today.
109. OK. Well, we started talking about indulging.
110. That means allowing yourself to have perhaps
111. too much of something you enjoy.
112. When something is symbolic, it represents something important.
113. And the word festive describes the joyful feeling you
114. get when celebrating something like Christmas.
115. Like the festive jumper you're wearing today, Neil.
116. Very jolly! OK, next we mentioned sustainable,
117. which means the ability to do something
118. over a long period of time without harming the environment.
119. Economical describes doing something that doesn't
120. cost a lot of money, it's good value.
121. And when something is composted, it is allowed to decay,
122. and it turns into compost, which can be added back
123. into the soil to improve its quality.