– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Georgie. And I'm Phil.

Did you have any breakfast today, Georgie, or did you skip it?

I did have some breakfast.

On the way to the office, I got myself a pastry and a coffee.

What about you?

I had a big bowl of porridge,

but it was at six o'clock this morning so I'm hungry again now.

And you might soon be hungry as well

because we're going to talk about breakfast.

How important is it?

Let's start by hearing from Professor Alexandra Johnstone,

a nutrition scientist who spoke to Ruth Alexander, host

of BBC World Service programme The Food Chain.

I am supporting the meme, breakfast like a king and dine like a pauper.

For you then, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

I agree. So it's really important, particularly for people who are trying

to maintain a healthy weight and people who are trying to lose weight.

Alexandra says that you should breakfast like a king and dine like a pauper.

Pauper is an old-fashioned word for a very poor person.

The expression means have a big breakfast and a small dinner.

We're going to find out some of the reasons

that Alexandra and other experts recommend doing this.

And as usual, we'll learn some useful new words and phrases.

And remember – you'll find all the vocabulary

and a quiz on our website,

bbclearningenglish.com.

OK. But first I have a question for you, Phil.

According to a recent survey,

which of the following is the most popular breakfast in the UK?

Is it: a) eggs, b) toast, or c) cereal?

Well, I think people like to keep it simple so I'm going to say toast.

OK. Well, we'll find out the answer later in the programme.

Let's hear some reasons for why we should breakfast like a king or queen.

Courtney Peterson, who researches eating behaviours,

explains how the time of day affects how our bodies process food,

on BBC World Service programme The Food Chain.

And so, if you can eat a large breakfast in the morning,

and/or I would even say a large lunch in the morning,

your body's going to be better at metabolising that food.

And what that means is your body is going to actually...

your blood sugar levels won't spike as high, you might burn slightly more fat,

you might burn slightly more calories from eating earlier in the day.

Whereas if you had...

if you eat most of your food later in the day,

your metabolism is actually slower later in the day.

So, for instance, if you ate the same, I don't know, bowl of ice cream

in the morning, the afternoon and the evening,

your blood sugar levels will spike significantly higher

in the afternoon and the evening.

We heard the noun metabolism.

This is a word that refers to the chemical processes in your body,

and we most often use it to talk about those that convert food into energy.

And we also heard the verb form – metabolise.

Courtney talked about blood sugar levels spiking.

A spike is a sharp, pointed shape.

If you see it on a line graph,

it means that something has increased very rapidly.

We often use the noun spike to mean a sudden increase

in a value that is being measured.

The verb spike means to suddenly increase.

We've heard that eating earlier in the day can be healthier for us.

Now, people often don't eat breakfast, sometimes because they don't have time

and sometimes because they're trying to save money.

Let's hear again from Professor Alexandra Johnstone,

talking to BBC World Service's The Food Chain.

Now, breakfast skipping is interesting because

my own work would tend to suggest – and that sort of observational,

large-scale, epidemiological studies would also support this –

that people who have a regular breakfast are actually leaner.

And my own work would tend to suggest that having your largest meal of the day

in the morning period gives you a much better appetite control,

which then means it's much easier to control food intake later in the day.

Alexandra starts by mentioning breakfast skipping.

If you skip something, then you don't do it.

Bad students might skip lessons – they don't go to them.

If you skip a meal, it means that you don't eat it.

We also heard that people who have a regular breakfast are leaner.

If someone is lean, then they're not fat.

And one of the reasons given why people might be leaner

is that they have better appetite control.

Appetite control is where your brain decides how much you should eat.

Thanks, Georgie.

Now, I think it's time that we heard the answer to your question.

Yes it is. OK. I asked:

According to a recent survey, what is the most popular breakfast in the UK?

And I said toast.

...which was the most popular in London,

but the most popular in the country as a whole was cereal,

and that's according to a survey by a cereal manufacturer.

So, I'm afraid you got it wrong. OK.

Let's recap the vocabulary we've learned, starting with pauper,

which is an old-fashioned word for a very poor person.

When we're talking about data, it spikes when it increases suddenly.

Metabolism refers to the chemical processes

inside your body, especially those which process food.

If you skip something, you miss it – you don't do it.

If someone is lean, then they are not fat.

And finally, appetite control is how your brain decides

how much you should eat.

Once again, our six minutes are up,

but why not head over to our website, bbclearningenglish.com,

to try the quiz and worksheet for this episode?

See you again soon.

Goodbye! Bye!

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
breakfast /ˈbrɛk.fəst/ A1	noun - the first meal of the day, usually eaten in the morning
nutrition /njuːˈtrɪʃ.ən/ B2	noun - the process of providing or obtaining the food needed for health
metabolism /məˈtæb.ə.lɪzəm/ C1	noun - the set of chemical reactions in living organisms that convert food into energy
metabolise /məˈtæb.ə.laɪz/ C1	verb - to carry out metabolism; to convert food into energy in the body
appetite /ˈæp.ɪˌtaɪt/ B2	noun - a natural desire to satisfy a bodily need, especially for food
control /kənˈtroʊl/ B1	noun - the power to influence or direct behaviour or the course of events
lean /liːn/ B2	adjective - having little body fat; thin and fit
pauper /ˈpɔː.pər/ C2	noun - a very poor person
spike /spaɪk/ B2	noun - a sharp, pointed object or a sudden increase in a value verb - to rise or increase sharply
healthy /ˈhɛl.θi/ A2	adjective - in good health; conducive to good health
weight /weɪt/ A2	noun - the measure of how heavy something is
sugar /ˈʃʊg.ər/ A1	noun - a sweet crystalline substance obtained from plants and used as a food sweetener
skip /skɪp/ A2	verb - to omit or fail to do something; to pass over
meal /miːl/ A1	noun - any of the regular occasions when a portion of food is eaten
survey /ˈsɜːr.veɪ/ B1	noun - a method of gathering information from a sample of people, usually by asking questions
cereal /ˈsɪr.i.əl/ A2	noun - a breakfast food made from processed grains such as wheat, corn, oats, or rice
toast /toʊst/ A1	noun - thinly sliced bread that has been browned by heat; a common breakfast item
regular /ˈrɛɡ.jə.lər/ B1	adjective - occurring at uniform intervals; habitual

Key Grammar Structures

• I did have some breakfast.

  ➔ Emphatic do‑support (present simple)

  ➔ The auxiliary verb "did" is added to the past‑simple verb “have” to give extra emphasis.

• And you might soon be hungry as well because we're going to talk about breakfast.

  ➔ Modal verb “might” + future intention with “going to”

  ➔ The modal "might" expresses a possibility, and "going to" shows a planned future action.

• You should breakfast like a king and dine like a pauper.

  ➔ Modal verb “should” + bare infinitive (suggestion) with parallel structure

  ➔ "Should" gives advice, and the verbs “breakfast” and “dine” are in the bare infinitive form, creating a parallel pattern "breakfast … and dine …".

• If you eat most of your food later in the day, your metabolism is actually slower later in the day.

  ➔ First conditional (if + present simple, present simple)

  ➔ "If" introduces a realistic future condition; both clauses use the present simple to talk about a cause‑effect relationship.

• Your blood sugar levels will spike significantly higher in the afternoon and the evening.

  ➔ Future simple with “will” + comparative adverb “higher”

  ➔ "Will" marks a definite future event, and "higher" is the comparative form indicating a greater increase than usual.

• If you skip something, then you don't do it.

  ➔ Zero conditional (general truth)

  ➔ "If" introduces a universal truth; both clauses use the present simple because the result always occurs when the condition is met.

• Let's hear some reasons for why we should breakfast like a king or queen.

  ➔ Imperative with “let’s” + base verb

  ➔ "Let's" (let us) includes the speaker and listener in a suggestion, followed by the base form of the verb “hear”.

• Now, people often don't eat breakfast, sometimes because they don't have time and sometimes because they're trying to save money.

  ➔ Negative present simple + “because” clauses

  ➔ "Don't" forms the negative of the present simple verb “eat”. The two "because" clauses give reasons for the lack of breakfast.

• Once again, our six minutes are up, but why not head over to our website to try the quiz and worksheet for this episode?

  ➔ Rhetorical question with “why not” + infinitive

  ➔ "Why not" introduces a suggestion in the form of a question; it is followed by the infinitive verb “head” indicating the proposed action.