Live on

“Live on” is used to describe how something survives.

Today's story: Brood X of cicadas
Explore more: Lesson #364
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Live on

Today’s expression is to “live on.” It’s a phrasal verb that’s used to describe how something survives. “Live on” can be used with either humans or animals. With humans, we usually talk about money. With animals we usually talk about food sources.

Today we talked about the cicada Brood X that’s coming to the surface this year .

Cicadas spend seventeen years below the surface of the earth. Shortly after hatching, they go underground and they stay beneath the surface for seventeen years. How do they live beneath the surface of the earth? What do they eat to stay alive? They suck the fluids out of tree roots when they’re down there. That’s how they get the nutrients they need to stay alive. So we say they live on the fluids from tree roots.

You can say “live primarily on” if you want to talk about what a creature eats the majority of the time. I told you about my vacation to Yellowstone National Park . Before I went, I had to learn a lot about bears—specifically, how to protect myself from bears in case I ever saw one. But one thing I learned is that bears live primarily on grasses, berries, roots, and insects. They do sometimes eat fish and small mammals. But the live primarily on things that don’t move.

So that’s animals. You can use this with humans, too, usually when talking about a person’s diet. College kids can live on ramen noodles and microwave meals. One nutritionist, in a famous study, decided he would live on just Twinkies, cupcakes, chips, sugary cereals, and cookies for ten weeks. He did it to prove that you can lose weight by limiting your calories, even if those calories are all junk foods. It wasn’t a recommendation: he did it to prove a point. After living on just junk food for ten weeks, he lost 27 pounds.

With humans, though, it’s much more common to talk about money, and especially an amount of money needed to survive or live. About a billion people in the world live on less than $1 per day. That’s a common measure of extreme poverty.

Most places in the US have a minimum wage of about $10 to $15. It’s hard for a whole family to live on a minimum wage job. That means it’s very hard for a whole family to survive with just a minimum wage job.

It’s common in many families for two parents to work. But some families have decided they will live on just one income, while the other parent stays home. Those families that live on just one salary might have one parent that earns a lot of money, or they might have decided to adjust their budgets so that they can live on just the one income.

Quote of the Week

Today’s quote of the week is by the author Celeste Ng. She has written two great books—one called “Everything I Never Told You” and the other called “Little Fires Everywhere.” Both great books; so here’s the quote. She said, “The things that go unsaid are often the things that eat at you.”

When something eats at you, it bothers you. So her quote means that the things you choose not to say—to another person—are the ones that bother you, probably more so than the things you do say. Food for thought today, “The things that go unsaid are often the things that eat at you,” says the author Celeste Ng.

See you next time!

That’s all for today. Congratulations on making it to the end of another Plain English lesson. Remember, the full lesson is available at PlainEnglish.com/364. And that includes the full transcript, translations, video, fast audio and more. PlainEnglish.com/364. And we’ll see you right back here on Thursday.

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Story: Brood X of cicadas