Work in pairs. Ask and answer the following questions, (Làm việc từng đôi. Hỏi và trả lời những câu sau.)
LISTENING
❖ Before You Listen
Work in pairs. Ask and answer the following questions, (Làm việc từng đôi. Hỏi và trả lời những câu sau.)
1. What is a desert?
2. How is a desert formed?
3. Can human beings make a desert? Why/Why not?
Answer:
1. A desert is a large area of land where it is always very hot and dry and there is a lot of sand.
2. A desert can be formed by various causes, the major of which is global climatic change. The second cause is the misulilisation of land by humans such as poor land management and poor water management, and at present the deforestation.
3. Yes. They can make a desert by the misutilization of land, and by the deforestation or overcultivation and incorrect irrigation methods.
❖ While You Listen
Task 1: You will hear an expert talking about deserts, what they are and how they are formed. Listen to his talk and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). (Em sẽ nghe một chuyên viên nói về sa mạc, chúng là gì và được tạo thành như thế nào. Nghe bài nói chuyện của ông và quyết định những câu nói đúng (T) hay sai (F)
1. In a desert, everything is hard.
2. Only trees with hard needles can grow in deserts.
3. Space seems to have no limit in the desert.
4. Nature causes the change in the size and location of the world’s deserts.
5. Rabbits are one of the agents that help make deserts in Australia.
1. F 2.T 3.T 4. F 5. T
❖ Tapescript
Hello, everybody. In today’s talk, I’m going to tell you something about deserts, what they are and how they are formed.
Desert is a hot, dry, sandy place. A desert is also a beautiful land of silence and space. The sun shines, the wind blows, and time and space seem endless. Nothing is soft. The sand and the rocks are hard, and many of the plants, such as the cactus, have hard needles instead of leaves.
The size and location of the world’s deserts are always changing. Over millions of years, as climates change and mountains rise, new dry and wet areas develop. But within the last 100 years, deserts have been growing at a frightening speed. This is partly because of the natural changes, but the greatest desert makers are humans.
In the 19th century some people living in English colonies in Australia got rabbits from England. Today there are millions of rabbits in Australia, and they eat every plant they can find. The great desert that covers the centre of Australia is growing.
Farming first began in the Tigris-Euphrates, but today the land there is a desert. In dry areas, people can plant crops on dry and poor land. When there are one or two very dry years, the plants die, and the land becomes desert
In developing countries, 90 percent of the people use wood for cooking and heat. They cut down trees for firewood. But trees are important. They cool the land under them and keep the sun off smaller plants. When leaves fall from a tree, they make the land richer. When the trees are gone, the smaller plants die, and the land becomes desert.
Humans can make deserts, but humans can also prevent their growth. Algeria planted a green wall of trees across the edge of the Sahara to stop the desert sand from spreading. Mauritania planted a similar wall around its capital. Iran puts a thin covering of petroleum on sandy areas and plant trees. Other countries build long canals to bring water to the desert areas.
Task 2: Listen again and answer the following questions. (Nghe lại và trả lời các câu hỏi sau.)
1. What central theme does the talk examine?
2. What is a desert?
3. What causes the growing of the world's deserts?
4. In what way do rabbits contribute to the growing of deserts in Australia?
Answer
1. It examines deserts, what they are and how they are formed.
2. It is a hot, dry and sandy place. It is also a beautiful land of silence and space. The sun shines, the wind blows and time and space seem endless.
3. They are nature and humans.
4. They do it by eating every plant they find. This makes the land become desert.
Task 3: Listen to part of the expert’s talk again and fill in the missing word(s). (Nghe một phần của bài nói chuyện của chuyên viên một lần nữa và điền (những) từ thiếu.)
In developing countries, (1)……………of the people use wood for cooking and heat. They cut down trees for firewood. But trees are important. They cool the land under them and keep the sun off (2)……………... When leaves fall from a tree, they make the land richer. When the trees are gone, the smaller plants die and the land becomes desert.
Humans can make deserts, but humans can also (3)…………..their growth. Algeria planted a green wall of trees across the edge of the Sahara to stop the desert sand from (4) …………... Mauritania planted a similar wall around its (5) ……….. Iran puts a thin covering of petroleum on sandy areas and plant trees. Other countries build long (6)…………to bring water to the desert areas.
1. 90% 2. smaller plants 3. prevent
4. spreading 5. capital 6. canals
❖ After You Listen
Work in groups. Summarize the main ideas of the expert's talk. Use the following suggestions.
• What is a desert?
• What causes the growth of a desert?
• What should humans do to prevent the growth of deserts?
(Làm việc từng nhóm. Tóm tắt những ý chính của bài nói chuyện của chuyên viên. Dùng những ý đề-nghị sau.
- Sa mạc là gì
- Điều gì gây ra sự bành trướng của sa mạc?
- Con người nên làm gì để ngăn chặn sự bành trướng của sa mạc?)
A. We all know a desert is a hot, dry and sandy place as well as a beautiful land of silence and space full of sunshine and wind.
B. The size and location of a desert is always changing.
C. Deserts in the world are countries growing due to humans’ destruction to his living environment: cutting down trees and destroying forests.
D. Facing this event, peoples on the earth are trying to prevent it. They plant green walls of trees across the edges of deserts.
A. Some governments have banned burning forests for farmland or cutting trees for firewood.
B. In other parts, people use other techniques such as pouring a covering of oil on sand areas, or building long canals or water-pipes to desert areas.
