#5: Istanbul Canal Project Pushes Ahead

Episode 5: Today's news in English will look at the president of Turkey, Erdoğan, and his plan to construct a huge canal through Istanbul. Look below for a full transcript:
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Hello my beautiful students and welcome back to English News Pod, the best way for you to learn practical English through the news. I’m your host and teacher, Caroline.

Now, let’s take a look at today’s top news. You can find a full transcript of this podcast episode in the description.

Erdoğan, the President of the country, Turkey, continues to push ahead with plans to create a new canal in Istanbul. The new canal is a mega-project that will be constructed by digging a 45 km long route through the European side of the city to help cargo ships pass through the city easier. Erdoğan argues this project is necessary for the economy to grow, however, a lot of people oppose the project. Opponents claim the country cannot afford to build the canal, and that it eventually will destroy the environment and increase the population of the city.

Let’s take a look at some grammar:

1. Push ahead - “to push ahead with something” is a phrasal verb that means to continue following a plan in a determined way. In this case, Erdoğan is pushing ahead, or continuing his plans to create a new canal in Istanbul.
2. Canal - a canal is like a small river that is built specifically for boats to travel easier.
3. Mega - “mega” is a prefix used to describe something very very large and expensive. In this example, the new canal is a mega-project, or a very large and expensive project.
4. Cargo ship - cargo ships are large boats that carry food, manufactured products, and animals to be imported and exported between different countries.
5. Pass through - “pass through” is a phrasal verb used to describe travelling somewhere or going somewhere for a short period of time. For example, cargo ships pass through, or travel through, Istanbul quickly.
6. Oppose - “to oppose something” has the opposite meaning of “to support something.” In this example, opponents, or the people who oppose the canal project, do not like the project and do not support it.
7. Population - “population” is the amount of people who live in a place. For example, Istanbul’s population is currently more than 15 million people. The opponents of the canal project worry that the population of Istanbul will increase.

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