Preparing For The Next Pandemic After COVID-19
B2 English listening practice · American English · Curated for upper-intermediate learners
What is a zoonotic disease?
This pandemic-preparedness talk hands you a useful term and defines it on the spot: «the zoonotic disease, which is a fancy name for an animal disease transferred to a human». A zoonotic disease spreads from animals to people, and many of history’s worst outbreaks, from rabies to COVID-19, began exactly this way.
The word joins Greek zoon (“animal”) with the “-otic” ending, and you’ll hear “zoonosis” for the jump itself. The talk sets it beside smallpox, polio, Ebola, and AIDS to make its point: outbreaks recur. A handy, increasingly common word for anyone who follows the news on health.
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this B2 English listening practice listening practice?
General English frequency
Spoken English frequency
Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s B2 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸Global health bodies like the WHO and the CDC.
- ▸English news coverage of outbreaks like Ebola, COVID-19, and bird flu.
- ▸Public-health explainers and science channels on how disease spreads.
- ▸In everyday talk about where new viruses come from.