BBC: Lost Maya city found in Mexico

In this programme, hidden city found in Mexican jungle. 

Hello, I'm Beth. And I'm Pippa. In this programme, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it. 

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episodes as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish. com. 

So, Pippa, let's hear more about this story. 

A huge lost city has been found in the jungle in Mexico. The city was built by Maya people hundreds of years ago. 

And it was PhD sutdents that found the city when they looked again at an old laser survey of the jungle that they found online. 

The survey had originally looked at the environment of the jungle but actually showed evidence of a city underneath the jungle which hadn't been spotted. 

OK, so let's have our fisrt headline. PhD student finds lost city in Mexico jungle city accient. And that's from BBC News. 

That headline again from BBC News. PhD student finds lost city in Mexico jungle by accient. So, Beth, this headline is talking about the discovery of the Maya city, but we're looking at the expression by accident, and it's quite important for the story, isn't it?

Yes, an accident is something that happens that is not expected or intended, so if you do something by accidnet, then you do it without meaning to or intending to. 

Right, so in the story, the PhD students found the city by accident. They weren't intending to find it. Remember, they found an old survey online. They didn't plan their own survey of the jungle. 

So, another example. Um, I didn't mean to spill your coffee on you, Pippa. I'm sorrey. I did it by accident. Sorry. 

Oh, that's OK, Beth. So, we can also talk about doing something without intending to using the adverb accientally. So, we could say the PhD students found the city accidentally, but by accident is a very common way to say it too. 

And interestinglyk, we also have a pharase that means the opposite, on purpose. So if you do something on purpose, then it means you intend to do it. 

We've had by accident, without intending to. 

For example, I read her diary by accident. I was only looking for a book she borrowed. This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines. Today we're talking about an old city found in the Mexican jungle. 

The jungle where scientists found the city might appear wild, but archaeologists believe up to 50,000 people could have lived in the city before Maya civilizations began to collapse in 800 AD.

The scientists research found evidence of temple pyramids and a court where people would have played an ancient ball game. 

The city named Valeriana by scientists, is only 15 km from a main road where Maya people still live today.

So, let's have another headline. Mayan City, with buildings and plazas hiding in plain sight, has only now been found. And that is from the online media organisation World is One News. 

Let's have that headlien again. Mayan City, with buildings and plazas hiding in plain sight, has only now been found. And that's from World is ONe News. 

This headline is taling about what archaeologists have discovered in the city. Buildings, plazas, open areas, town squares, lots of things, Pippa. 

Yes, and we're looking at the expression hiding in plain sight. 

OK, so let's break it down. First off, Hiding. This comes from the verb hide, and if you hide something, you put it somewhere that it can't be seen or found by others. And you can also hide yourself, so go somewhere that you can't be seen or found. 

Okay, and the second part of the expression is In plain sight. And so this is a way to say that something can be clearly seen by people. So, for example, Beth, I might advise you not to leave your valuable items in plain sight because somebody might steal them. 

Good advice. 

But I'm confused because hiding means something can't be seen, but in plain sight means it can be seen clearly. So how can it be both?

Well, the expression hiding in plain sight means that even though somehting is clear to see, people didn't see it before. Remember, the Maya city was only 15km away from where people lived, and people had scanned the area before but not seen the huge city underneath the jungle. The city was hiding in plain sight. 

OK, so we use the expression hiding in plain sight to talk about things that are concealed or unseen even though we can see them easily. For example, I could say I've hidden my favorite sweets in plain sight in the office and I hope nobody eats any of them. 

We can also use hiding in plain sight to talk about somebody well known doing something bad, but not many people talk about it or realize at the time. 

We've had hide in plain sight, be concealed or unseen even though it can be clearly seen.