Download the full PDF transcript here: AEVB EP03- The Tasmanian Floods.

In this episode I show you a news story from The Feed SBS on the recent flooding in Tasmania, and then break down some of the more complicated idioms and terms used in it. Watch the video below with full subtitles on YouTube, and the vocabulary breakdown at the end.

AEVB EP03: The Tasmanian Floods

Introduction:

G’day guy’s and welcome to this episode of Aussie English Video Breakdowns. Today I’m not going to break down the video line by line. It’s more going to be showing you the video and then highlighting a few of the phrases to listen out for and give you a bit of a definition, an easier definition of what these things mean.

So, the story today’s a news story from Tasmania, and Tasmania’s the state off the mainland of Australia. It’s the only state that isn’t on the mainland. It’s an island, a small island, in the southeast area of Australia. And there’s been a lot of flooding down there recently. So, there’s been a lot of rain over the east coast of Australia and as a result a lot of water has ended up in the rivers in the top of Tasmania, so, in the northern part of Tasmania. So in this video you’re going to hear about the major city in the north their called Launceston as well as the Mersey River and that area. And you’re going to hear from some dairy farmers, a senator and a CEO from the Tasmanian Farmers and Growers Association.

So, I’m going to play the video for you first guys. There’ll be subtitles on the YouTube video so that you can read what you’re hearing, what you’re listening to, at the same time. And then I’m going to define a bunch of the different phrases and words that may be a little more difficult to understand in this video. So, I’ll put that at the end of the video. You can hear it and then listen and watch it again and keep practicing your English. Enjoy.

Video Transcript:

Well in some places it’s been catastrophic.

I can’t believe there hasn’t [haven’t*] been more lives lost. We had no warning, no indication that it was going to be this big a flood.

In a few weeks time this’ll all be forgotten about and we’ll be left here holding the cherry.

The same storm that battered Australia’s east coast two weeks ago just flooded northwest Tasmania with the same ferocity.

Tasmania continues to endure major flooding…

Evacuations have begun Northern in Tasmania…

Four people have died in the disaster…

Launceston city was largely saved by a levy bank that was only completed eight months earlier. Whilst not everyone was untouched the city had just averted a potential disaster, but at the same time around 100 kilometres west on the Mersey river a tragedy was unfolding.

We got a knock on the door at um… twenty past two on Monday morning from SES um… that it’s time to evacuate. Like, it was up to the doors but we thought we’d be ‘right and we came back to get some more stuff but by the time we got back inside it was coming in the doors and up through the floors. My name’s James Cameron, we’re in Twist street, Latrobe, Tasmania. This is the… what’s left of the kid’s room.

Almost every house on Twist street was flooded.

[You’d] Like to own your own home and… and to… to have it like this, and to be homeless so… yeah we just want to get in and fix it.

Senator Jacqui Lambie was born and raised on the northwest coast of Tasmania. These floods have quite literally hit very close to home.

I drove around the northwest coast on Tuesday as soon as I could get out there, and I tell you what, it’s pretty messy up there. So this is very very difficult times for us um… and I’m not sure what sort of package the Government is going to offer, but I tell you what, we don’t have um… days to wait. We need those packages and those offers in Tasmania and we need them today.

Peter Skillern is the CEO of The Tasmanian Farmers and Growers Association.

We do know that we’re talking damage in the 10s of millions of dollars. Ah… perhaps even exceeding 100 million dollars or more. Just infrastructure alone. Fencing can run to, you know, 18 thousand dollars a kilometre. You know, it’s not a particular big farm that can have 10 kilometres’ worth of ah… fencing. Well there’s 180 thousand before you start.

To many farmers this flood couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Oh… it’s probably been one of the worst seasons that we’ve ever had. Um… as far as um… a really dry September/October coupled with, you know, bad milk prices this year, it’s um… and then topped off with this, it’s been one of the worst years that we could ever have.

My name’s Luke Bloomfield. I’m a fourth generation dairy farmer on the Mersey Valley here at Kimberly. I’ve had 500 cows in on Sunday and um… yeah I had 320 cows washed away on Sunday night. Yeah, and I’ve retrieved 120, about 130 of those cows back. So I’ve still lost about 180 cows, 190 cows, yeah. Oh… the herd’s the biggest concern to me because dairy cows aren’t just like beef cows. You can’t just go to sales yards and buy them. Like, there’s, you know, 30 years of breeding, genetics…

So, needless to say, every cow is worth saving, and Luke’s father David has done his best to save the remaining herd.

They can’t stand. They’ve been sort of half paralysed in the… in the back legs. We… we try to give them every chance we can. Oh… this particular cow here, yes, I got to rescue her. Ah… when I got there she was pretty angry with me. She wanted to kill me like she’d like to do now. ‘Cause she’s still not very happy with me.

The cow that we saw in the barn, back at the farm, she was lodged in there amongst those two cows in there. Now, you can see that cow with the udder up, she was resting her head on the cow’s udder. Uh… it’s a minor thing that I’ve saved one when the boys, you know, they’ve saved 120. Ah… but you, you know, just the… just to save one cow it just does make you feel a bit better, you know.

Whilst saving cattle is a grueling task, David says some of the damage caused by these floods could have been avoided.

We’ve got problems on this river that we shouldn’t have. Engineers sometimes they stagger me how they can’t understand reality. Well this is where the river came down through here, and um… and she’s torn out underneath the railway line there. But one of the other problems when you’ve got stupid setups like this put in, when they do bust, you know, it sends another big volume of water down… down stream. Things like this just should not be… just shouldn’t even be thought about putting in. Why would you put a weir across a river? To stop a river!

But regardless of the current situation David says the show must go on.

I don’t know if farmers are resilient or silly. They’re one or the other you know. I could be sitting down at me [my*] sofa sobbing and crying and saying, “Look what’s happened!”, right? It don’t [doesn’t*] work like that. If you’re going to fix it, fix it. If we go broke fixing it, we go broke fixing it.

I don’t know where it’s all going to… where it’s all going to end really. You’ve just got to battle through and clean it up.

Well it’s either laugh or cry really isn’t it? There’s no good sitting down and feeling sorry for yourself. There’s always someone worse off than you. So, just get in and help each other out, and stay busy, and get on it with.

Oh… Tasmanians will bounce back. You can keep knocking them down, and knocking them down, but they’ll just keep getting straight back up mate. That’s their resilience. I love them.

Vocabulary:

And now I’ll define some of the more difficult phrases in this video guys.

Live’s lost. To lose one’s life means “to die.”

To be left holding the cherry. I’d never heard this before but I think it pretty much means, “to be left holding the cherry, to be left here to clean up or to deal with the consequences of something that’s happened.”

Ah… Unfolding. If something unfolds or to unfold it means “for something to have occurred or to occur, to take place, to happen.”

We’d be ‘right. To be ‘right means, in this sense, “to be okay, to be alright, to be all good.”

To hit close to home or to hit very close to home. To hit close to home means “for an event, a joke, an insult or a story to end up being very personal or affect someone personally.”

Worth of. To be something worth of something is “to be a quantity of something of a specified value.” So, if you have five dollars worth of lollies you’re not talking about how many lollies you’ve got, the actual literal number. You’re saying you spent five dollars and that’s the amount of lollies you’ve got. Five dollars worth of lollies.

To come at a worse time. To come at a worse time. This means “to not have been able to happen at a worse time.” So, to happen at the worse possible time.

Coupled with means “together with, paired with, along side, at the same time as”.

Topped off with. To top it off or to top something off. It means “to make it as good or as bad as it could possibly get.” So, to take something to its final extreme, whether it’s good or bad.

Needless to say. Needless to say means “obviously or it’s so obvious that no one needs to say it, but…”

A grueling task. A grueling task is “a physically and/or mentally exhausting task.” So, something very difficult that takes a toll on you when you do it.

To stagger me or staggers me. To stagger someone is “to shock or surprise someone” in this sense.

She’s torn out. She’s in this sense means “it.” And to tear out, or to… she’s all torn out, she’s torn out. To tear out means “to rip up, to rip out, to pull apart.”

The show must go on. The show, i.e. show business, must go on. So, this means that “regardless of what happens the show, or things, it, something, whatever it is you’re referring to, has to continue or has to persevere.“

To get on with it. To get on with something means “to give your time to something and make it progress.” So, to finish a task, to finish the task at hand.

And finally, to bounce back. To bounce back means “to recover.” So, you can bounce back from something. You can recover from something.

Vocabulary List:

“Lives lost”

Definition: To lose your life = To die.

I can’t believe there hasn’t been more lives lost.
I can’t believe there weren’t more deaths.

“Left here holding the cherry”

(This is the first time I’ve ever heard this expression so I’m guessing at the definition)

Definition: To be left holding the cherry = To be left here to clean up/deal with the consequences of what happened.

In a few weeks time this’ll all be forgotten about and we’ll be left here holding the cherry.
In a few weeks time this’ll all be forgotten about and we’ll be left here to clean everything up.

“Unfolding”

Definition: To unfold = To occur; to take place; to happen.

Whilst not everyone was untouched the city had just averted a potential disaster, but at the same time around 100 kilometres west on the Mersey river a tragedy was unfolding.
Whilst not everyone was untouched the city had just averted a potential disaster, but at the same time around 100 kilometres west on the Mersey river a tragedy was happening.

“We’d be right”

Definition: To be right = To be okay; alright; all good.

Like, it was up to the doors but we thought we’d be ‘right and we came back to get some more stuff but by the time we got back inside it was coming in the doors and up through the floors.
Like, it was up to the doors but we thought we’d be okay and we came back to get some more stuff but by the time we got back inside it was coming in the doors and up through the floors.

“Hit very close to home”

Definition: To hit close to home = For an event, joke, insult or story to end up being very personal or effect someone personally.

Senator Jacqui Lambie was born and raised on the northwest coast of Tasmania. These floods have quite literally hit very close to home.
- (“literally”, because her home is in the place where the floods happened).
Senator Jacqui Lambie was born and raised on the northwest coast of Tasmania. These floods have effected her personally.

“Worth of”

Definition: To be something worth of something = to be a quantity of something of a specified value.

You know, it’s not a particular big farm that can have 10 kilometers’ worth of ah… fencing.
You know, it’s not a particular big farm that can have 10 kilometers’ of ah… fencing.

“Come at a worse time”

Definition: To not have been able to happen at a worse time = To happen at the worst possible time.

To many farmers this flood couldn’t have come at a worse time.
To many farmers this flood happened at the worst possible time.

“Coupled with”

Definition: Coupled with = Together with; paired with; alongside; at the same time as.

Um… as far as um… a really dry September/October coupled with, you know, bad milk prices this year, it’s um… and then topped off with this, it’s been one of the worst years that we could ever have.
Um… as far as um… a really dry September/October together with, you know, bad milk prices this year, it’s um… and then topped off with this, it’s been one of the worst years that we could ever have.

“Topped off with”

Definition: To top (it) off (with) = to make (it) as good or as bad as it could possibly get; to take something to the final extreme.

Um… as far as um… a really dry September/October coupled with, you know, bad milk prices this year, it’s um… and then topped off with this, it’s been one of the worst years that we could ever have.
Um… as far as um… a really dry September/October coupled with, you know, bad milk prices this year, it’s um… and then this to make things as bad as they could get, it’s been one of the worst years that we could ever have.

“Needless to say”

Definition: Needless to say = Obviously; It’s so obvious that it doesn’t need to be said, but…

So, needless to say, every cow is worth saving, and Luke’s father David has done his best to save the remaining herd.
So, obviously, every cow is worth saving, and Luke’s father David has done his best to save the remaining herd.

“A grueling task”

Definition: A grueling task = A physically and/or mentally exhausting task.

Whilst saving cattle is a grueling task, David says some of the damage caused by these floods could have been avoided.
Whilst saving cattle is a physically and mentally exhausting task, David says some of the damage caused by these floods could have been avoided.

“Stagger me”

Definition: To stager someone = To shock or surprise someone.

Engineers sometimes they stagger me how they can’t understand reality.
Engineers sometimes they shock me how they can’t understand reality.

“She’s torn out”

Definition: She = it. To be torn out = To be ripped out; To be pull apart.

Well this is where the river came down through here, and um… and she’s torn out underneath the railway line there.
Well this is where the river came down through here, and um… and it’s ripped out [everything: soil/rocks/infrastructure] underneath the railway line there.

“The show must go on”

Definition: The show [i.e. show business] must go on = Regardless of what happens the show [things/it/something] must continue/persevere.

But regardless of the current situation David says the show must go on.
But regardless of the current situation David says they have to persevere.

“Get on with it”

Definition: To get on with something = To give your time to something and make progress with it; to finish the task at hand.

So, just get in and help each other out, and stay busy, and get on with it.
So, just get in and help each other out, and stay busy, and finish the task of cleaning everything up.

“Bounce back”

Definition: To bounce back (from something) = To recover (from something).