VOA · As It Is
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed2:462025-03-10public domain
As It Is is VOA Learning English's daily news magazine. Each report covers a current story in clear, learner-speed English with a controlled vocabulary — the closest thing to real news broadcasts that intermediate learners can fully digest, and ideal raw material for dictation.
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01Britain's House of Lords voted recently to make sure that pubs can still serve pints, a liquid measurement of just over half a liter.
02The pint survived even after the country's change to the metric system in 1965.
03Discussions over Brexit, the withdrawal of Britain from the European Union, also saw debates over a return to British imperial measurements.
04These include pounds for weight, feet for length, pints for liquids, and so on.
05The European Union and most of the rest of the world use the metric system.
06After Brexit, the Conservative government decided to keep the metric system.
07Still, other measurements remained in place for beer and some other goods, such as fruits and vegetables, sold in markets.
08The debate in the House of Lords followed Conservative claims that the new Labour government wanted to propose laws to ban pubs from selling pints.
09Tory Lord Andrew Sharp said that one of the most enjoyable questions in the English language is, Fancy a pint?
10The question is a way of asking others if they would like to have a beer in a pub.
11Sharp described the pint as a British institution linked to our history and part of our heritage.
12The government eventually backed an amendment put forward by the Liberal Democrats.
13The amendment would bar passage of any law restricting the use of the pint when selling beer, cider, or milk.
14The government has absolutely no plans to change the rules around the use of the pint measurement, said Labour's Lord Sonny Leong.
15He added that with the weather getting better, it is very much my hope that pubs up and down the country will be full of customers enjoying pints of refreshing beer or cider.
16The pint is safe with us.
17I'm John Russell.
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