BBC: Life expectancy

Hellow and welcome to 6 Minute English- the show that brings you an interesting topic, authentic listening practice and vocabulary to help you improve your language skills. I'm Dan...

And I'm Catherine. In this programme, we'll be discussing life expectancy, as well as teaching you 6 new items of vocabulary, of course. 

ZZZZzzzz...

Dan? Dan! We're doing a show, Dan. Wake up!

Sorry, sorry, Catherine. Sorry, everybody, I was at a party last night and I didn't get much sleep.

Another party, Dan?

Yeah.

That's the third this week! You look dead on your feet, which is an expression meaning 'extremely tired'.

Ah, well, live fast, die young. That's my motto. 

A motto is a short which reflects the beliefs of an organization or person. And it's interesting that you mention dying young. Dan, because our topic this show is life expectancy. 

Life expectancy is how many years a person is likely to live. I suppose you have a question about it too?

Funny you should say that, Dan. By the year 2030, will the USA's life expectancy be a) in the top third b) the middle third or c) the bottom third compared to the rest of the world?

The USA is quite a rich country, so I'm going to say a) the top one third. 

And we'll find out later in the show if you're right or not. Now, Dan, life expectancy, so which country do you think has the current highest life expectancy?

Everybody knows that's Japan, come on!

Aha, yes, but new analysis by the World Health Organizationand Imperial College London predicts that it won't always be so. Now, they analyzed 35 industrialized countries and found that by the year 2030 South Korea will be the leaders- with an average life expectancy of a whopping 90 years!

Wow. How did they do that?

Well, let's find out by listening to Professor Majid Ezzati, Chair in Global Environmental Health at Impferial College London. 

It seems to be actually dealing with diet better than other places, being very good at taking up new medical knowledge technology and using it and, perhaps most importantly, doing this in a relatively equitable way compared to western countries. 

So, basically, good diet, using new medical technology and knowledge, and being more equitable- or fair and impartial- in society. So how did the UK do?

Well, not too well actually. We were thoroughly beaten by our closest neighbour, France. 

What? How comes?

I'll let Professor Majid Ezzati explain that too. 

So France has had some of the lowest obesity rates among western countries, France women especially. UK has had some of the highest ones. And alcohol in France, at least until now, has been consumed...it's much more healthy patterns, and in the UK there has been a lot more being drinking. 

So, France has low obesity, which is a state of being very overweight, compared to the UK's high obesity.

And France drinks alcohol much more moderately than the UK, which tends to binge. 

Binging is when you consume a large amount of something in a short time- especially food or alcohol. So, confession time, Dan! How many drinks did you have last night?

It was only juice, I swear! So, come on. Did I get the question right? You asked me by the year 2030, will the USA's life expectancy be a) in the top one-third  b) the middle-one-third   or   c) the bottom third compared to the rest of the world?

And I said the USA's quite a rich country, so it's probably a) in the top one-third. 

Sorry Dan. Nice logic, but actually the USA is one of the least equitable places in the world. So, their life expectancy suffers, and  the answer was actually c) the bottom third.