Global Warming


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To see more pictures you can go to : Global Warming

Speaking Task

If you click here, you will find an example of a Speaking Task:

Speaking

Writing Task

You will find an example of a Writing exam here:

Writing

Use of English Task

You will find an example of a Grammar/Vocabulary exam here:

Use of English

Reading task

You will find an example of a reading task if you click here:

Reading

Listening task

You will find an example of a listening exam if you click here:

Listening

Germany fingerprint shopping

Read the following questions and listen to the radio report.

Say if they are true or false and correct the false ones:
1. The customer pays by credit card.
2. The customer hurts her finger.
3. The customers give their bank details to the shop.
4. With the system described, errors are likely to be made.
5. Shops give you points when you show them your finger.
6. Students in Germany now can eat their food with their fingers.

Listen to the report here: bbc

Now check your answers reading the script:


Germany fingerprint shopping

German consumers are ditching cash and plastic in favour of fingerprint shopping. Specially registered shoppers can pay by placing their finger on a checkout scanner, avoiding the need for cash or payment cards. This report from Steve Rosenberg:
Listen to the story
A supermarket in southern Germany is the setting for a retail revolution. What is changing is not what people are buying, but how they're paying for it. I watch as one customer completes her shopping at the checkout. Instead of reaching for the handbag and taking out cash, or credit cards, or a cheque book, she puts her finger into a scanner and takes a receipt.
She's one of a quarter of a million Germans who now foot their bills with their fingerprints. Turning your digit into a debit card is simple - you just register your bank account details together with your fingerprint in the shop's database. But how safe is it? Ulrich Kipper is the IT manager who developed the system:
ULRICH KIPPER: The probability that fingerprints can be mixed up is one to 10 million. So it's a fairly low probability that we make an error. If you compare it to the likeliness of being out in the night and being robbed, I would say this happens rather frequently, and I would say with the fingerprint system we are fairly on the safe side.
Your digit can also double up as a loyalty card - so as well as paying with your finger, you can also earn points with your pinkie. And it's not just supermarkets. At some German schools, students are now using biometrics to buy their school dinners. Finger food - German style.
Steve Rosenberg, BBC News, Berlin
Listen to the words
a retail revolution
a very significant change in the way that people do their shopping
checkout
the place in a shop, especially a supermarket, where you pay for the things you are buying

foot their bills with their fingerprints
pay for their goods by scanning their fingertips at the checkout
digit
a thumb, toe or, as in this case, finger
mixed up
incorrectly identified (by thinking that someone/something is someone/something else)
double up
have a second use/function
a loyalty card
a special card which you can use in a particular store or supermarket to collect reward points or receive discounts with every purchase
pinkie
a very informal word for little finger
biometrics
analysis of certain biological features using modern technology (in order to identify a person)
Finger food
this is a play on words: literally, finger food is food that you can eat without using knives, forks or spoons; here, food that you pay for using your fingerprint

Global warming







You can watch this report on VOA and answer some questions. Then you can check your answers looking at the script.

First read the questions:

Say if the following sentences are true or false:

1. The change in climate is not due to human causes.
2. The sea level will increase 1 metre by the end of the century.
3. The situation can still be reversed.
4. Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for 50-100 days.
5.America is the leader of the Kioto Protocol
6. Ebell says that Global warming is not as serious as people say.
7. Richard Somerville says the Kioto Protocol lacks something.
8. Ebell says the crops will be weaker.
9. Anthony Broccoli says people will not survive.
10.He also says the world won't be as different as some people predict.


Now watch the report:

report

You can check your answers looking at the script:

Script:

In the past year, several scientific reports have alerted the world to increasing glacier melting in Alaska, Greenland, and Antarctica, reducing habitat for polar bears and other forms of life.
The habitat for beetles that ravage trees has expanded from the normally warm U.S. southwest into the evergreen forests of British Columbia.
Warmer tropical waters seem to be bleaching coral reefs.
The general scientific view is that these changes are caused by a heat-trapping blanket of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere emitted by coal, natural gas, and gasoline burning.
Richard SomervilleRichard Somerville of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego says the current warming trend is different from ones that have occurred earlier in Earth's history. "We know enough now to be able to say that the current warming, the warming that we've seen in the last decades of the 20th century, is primarily due to human causes."
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the atmosphere has 30 percent more carbon dioxide than a century ago and Earth's average surface temperature has risen nearly one degree Celsius in that time. The group warns that it can be expected to go up much more in the next 100 years -- between one-and-a-half and nearly six degrees.
The panel says this could mean a sea level rise of up to one meter by the end of this century, possibly engulfing coastal regions and island countries.
James HansenU.S. space agency climate expert James Hansen was one of the first scientists to warn of global warming in the 1980s. He says the world is nearing the time when it cannot be reversed. "We're getting very close to a tipping point in the climate system. If we don't get out of our business-as-usual scenarios and begin to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, we are going to get big climate change."
But scientists say arresting global warming is a daunting challenge. For one thing, carbon dioxide has a lifetime of 50 to 100 years in the atmosphere. Rutgers University climate researcher Anthony Broccoli says ocean warming compounds the problem. "Heat is going into the ocean and gradually the effect of that heat going into the ocean would be to make the climate warmer, even if we stopped raising atmospheric CO-2 levels today."
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol commits more than 120 signing nations to limiting greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels. The United States is not part of the agreement because President Bush withdrew the country from it soon after taking office in 2001.
Myron EbellThis was the correct move, according to Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington public policy research group promoting government deregulation. "There is just so much exaggeration involved in these claims about the impacts of climate change."
Ebell does not believe global warming is a serious threat. But he says even if it were, the Kyoto Protocol is bad politics. He believes restricting energy use to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will hurt national economies. "All of this effort is going for nothing. The reason I believe that is because the world cannot afford to go on the kind of energy diet that the Kyoto Protocol is the first step of."
Factories are one source of pollutants adding to climate changeRichard Somerville at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography agrees that the Kyoto Protocol is flawed. But he believes the flaw is its insufficient limits on greenhouse gas emissions. He says they will make only a negligible difference, but argues that the accord is better than nothing. "Kyoto keeps the issue alive. One of the advantages of signing Kyoto is it gets you to the point where you can look past Kyoto, where the nations of the world can come together with the experience of Kyoto, which involves large industries, and decide what does it make sense to try next?"
But opponents of the Kyoto accord say the next step should be nature's. Myron Ebell says glaciers have been melting since the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago, yet people have adapted. He argues that global warming has benefits, such as a longer growing season and hardier crops."Carbon dioxide is necessary for plants to photosynthesize, so if there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, plants should grow more quickly, more vigorously and they should be more resistant to things like drought," says Ebell.
Rutgers University's Anthony Broccoli disagrees that global warming will bring about an overall benefit. Yet he is also not willing to say the world will become uninhabitable -- just not the same. "Based on our best projections, we would find it to be a very different world."

Lie Lay Lain

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol



We'll do it all
Everything
______ our own

We don't need
_________
Or anyone

If I ________ here
If I just ________ here
Would you _________ with me and just forget the world?

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are ______ too much
They're not enough

If I _____ here
If I just ________ here
Would you _______ with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're ______
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into ______

[Chasing Cars lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]

Let's _____ time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To __________ me
To find my own

If I ________ here
If I just __________ here
Would you ________ with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're ______
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into _________

All that I am
All that I _______ was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see

I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will _______ change for us at all

If I ______ here
If I just _________ here
Would you __________ with me and just forget the world?


Now check your answers:


We'll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don't need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

[Chasing Cars lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see

I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Used To

We use "Used To" to talk about habits in the past . You are going to watch a video in which some people talk about things they used to do in the past, but which they hardly do or don’t do at all now. Can you complete the sentences below about all the people in the video?





1. Elizabeth used to …………………………………..
2. Pamela’s dad used to …………………………………..
3. Andrew used to …………………………………..
4. Billie used to …………………………………..
5. Courtney used to …………………………………..
6. Jennifer used to …………………………………..
7. Ingrid used to …………………………………..
8. Karina used to …………………………………..
9. Richard used to …………………………………..
10. Mike used to …………………………………..
11. Neil used to …………………………………..
12. Sue used to …………………………………..
13. Robin used not to ………………………………….., but now she does.
14. Rebecca used to …………………………………..
15. Mia used to …………………………………..
16. Patricia used to …………………………………..

5th November

To learn about Guy Fawkes you can go to: link

Future Plans and Arrangements

Going to vs Will:

Exercise 1
Exercise 2

Now you can listen to a very clear explanation from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1649_gramchallenge34/



Nuala’s Grammar Explanation
Today we’re looking at and contrasting two ways to talk about future plans, using ‘going to’ and
‘will’.
In an earlier programme we saw that ‘going to’ can be used to talk about your intentions or
decisions for the future.
Example sentences
I’m going to study medicine at university.
I’m going to visit my mother at the weekend.
I’m going to get a new car on Saturday.
‘Will’, on the other hand, can used to talk about future decisions made at the moment of
speaking for things that aren’t planned. Listen:
Diarmuid: I’ll go up to bed now.
In this example, the speaker hasn’t planned to go to bed early but because he suddenly feels tired
he decides to go to bed. Mary, on the other hand, has planned to finish reading part of her book
so says:
Mary: I’m just going to finish reading this chapter.
‘Will’ is a modal form and doesn’t change whatever the subject and it’s followed by the
infinitive without ‘to’. In spoken English we tend to contract will (I will, I’ll, you will, you’ll
and so on). Listen:
Diarmuid: I’ll go up to bed now.
Mary: … then I’ll come right up.

So, to recap then: We can use ‘going to’ to talk about intentions or decisions for the future and
we can use ‘will’ to talk about decisions made at the moment of speaking.
Find out more
Subject will base infinitive
I
s / he
you
we
they
will
'll
go to bed now.
have an early night.
go to the shops, if you like.
answer the door.
bring a cake.
look after it for you.

Practice activities


Will and going to
Exercise 1:
Some friends are going to have a party and they are discussing the arrangements. Match the
beginnings and ends of the suggestions they make.
1. I’ve got a printer so a. I’ll bring my guitar.
2. I’m good at baking so b. I’ll make the invitations.
3. I’ve got loads of CDs so c. I’ll supply the flowers.
4. I live near the supermarket so d. I’ll bring them.
5. I’ve got a big garden so e. I’ll buy the drinks.
6.
I’ve just had a party and I’ve got
some left-over paper plates.
f. I’ll bring some sausages.
7. I work in a butchers shop so g. I’ll make a cake.
8. If we want to have some live music
h. I’ll organise the music.


Will and going to
Exercise 2:
Read the sentences and choose the best option from the choices below to complete the text.
I.
A: I’ve booked the tickets. I’m so glad (1)__________ to Spain on holiday.
B: When (2)__________ ?
II.
A: I’m off to the shops. Do you want anything?
B: Let me think … oh yes, I need some stamps.
A: OK, no problem, (3) __________ to the post office anyway to send Mum’s birthday present
so I’ll get some while I’m there.
III.
A: Does anyone want to come to the cinema with me tonight?
B: Sure! (4)__________ with you. I haven’t got any plans for this evening.
IV.
A: What are you doing this weekend?
B: I don’t know. Maybe (5)__________ some studying or I might not!
A: I’ve booked a tennis court but can’t find anyone to play with me.
B: (6)__________with you. That’s sounds much more fun than studying!
Options
(1) I’m going to visit / I’ll visit
(2) will you go / are you going
(3) I’ll pop in / I’m going to pop in
(4) I’m going to come / I’ll come
(5) I’m going to do / I’ll do
(6) I’ll play / I’m going to play



Will and going to
Exercise 1: ANSWERS
Some friends are going to have a party and they are discussing the arrangements. Match the
beginnings and ends of the suggestions they make.
1. I’ve got a printer so b. I’ll make the invitations.
2. I’m good at baking so g. I’ll make a cake.
3. I’ve got loads of CDs so h. I’ll organise the music.
4. I live near the supermarket so e. I’ll buy the drinks.
5. I’ve got a big garden so c. I’ll supply the flowers.
6.
I’ve just had a party and I’ve got
some left-over paper plates.
d. I’ll bring them.
7. I work in a butchers shop so f. I’ll bring some sausages.
8. If we want to have some live music,
a. I’ll bring my guitar.
BBC Learning English – Grammar Challenge
Grammar Challenge © BBC Learning English 2007
Page 5 of 5
bbclearningenglish.com
Will and going to
Exercise 2: ANSWERS
Read the sentences and choose the best option from the choices below to complete the text.
I.
A: I’ve booked the tickets. I’m so glad (1)__________ to Spain on holiday.
B: When (2)__________ ?
II.
A: I’m off to the shops. Do you want anything?
B: Let me think … oh yes, I need some stamps.
A: OK, no problem, (3) __________ to the post office anyway to send Mum’s birthday present
so I’ll get some while I’m there.
III.
A: Does anyone want to come to the cinema with me tonight?
B: Sure! (4)__________ with you. I haven’t got any plans for this evening.
IV.
A: What are you doing this weekend?
B: I don’t know. Maybe (5)__________ some studying or I might not!
A: I’ve booked a tennis court but can’t find anyone to play with me.
B: (6)__________with you. That’s sounds much more fun than studying!
ANSWERS
(1) I’m going to visit
(2) are you going
(3) I’m going to pop in
(4) I’ll come
(5) I’ll do
(6) I’ll play


Present Continuous:
Notes
Notes and exercises

The Sounds of English

You can practise your pronunciation listening to the sounds. Link

Dear Mr President






Listen to the song and fill in the gaps

Dear Mr. President
Come take a ______ with me
Let's _______ we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we ______ speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray _______ at night before you go to _______
What do you feel when you look in the _______
Are you _______

How do you sleep while the rest of us _______
How do you dream when a mother has no ________to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held _____
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a _______ boy
Are you a _______ boy
Are you a _______ boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not ________and we're not ______
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to ______

What kind of father would take his own __________ rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she _______ gay
I can only imagine what the first lady _______ say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to _____ goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye

Let me tell you about hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you about hard work
Rebuilding your house after the ________ took them away
Let me tell you about hard work
Building a bed out of a __________box
Let me tell you about hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing about hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
__________?

Now check your answers

Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why

Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye

Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh

How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
Would You?

Write an email to the future You

Here you have the possibility of sending yourself a message. It may be a good idea to receive it at the end of this academic year (May) and see if you have met your expectations. Link

Elizabeth

Astrologer: When the storm breaks, some are dumb with terror and some spread their wings like eagles and soar.
Elizabeth: You are a wise man.
Astrologer: … You, Madame, are a very great lady. Link

(You Want to) Make a Memory

Listen to the song and fill in the gaps:
(You Want To) Make a Memory



Hello again, it's you and me Kinda always like it ________ be Sippin' wine, killing time Trying to solve life's mysteries How's your life, it's been a while God it's good to see you _______I see you reaching for your keys Looking for a reason not to leave If you don't know if you ________ stay If you don't say what's on your mind Baby just breathe There's nowhere else tonight we _________ be You wanna make a memory? I dug up this old photograph Look at all that hair we had. It's bittersweet to hear you _______Your phone is ringing I don't wanna ask [(You Want To) Make a Memory lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]If you go now, I ____________ If you stay, hey, I've got a plan We're ___________make a memory You _________ steal a piece of time You can sing the melody to me And I can write a couple of lines You wanna make a memory? If you don't know if you ________ stay And you don't say what's on your mind Baby just breathe There's nowhere else tonight we __________ be We Should beYou ________make a memoryYou ________ steal a piece of time You can sing the melody to me And I can write a couple of lines You wanna make a memory? (x2)
Hello again, it's you and me Kinda always like it used to be Sippin' wine, killing time Trying to solve life's mysteries How's your life, it's been a while God it's good to see you smile I see you reaching for your keys Looking for a reason not to leave If you don't know if you should stay If you don't say what's on your mind Baby just breathe There's nowhere else tonight we should be You wanna make a memory? I dug up this old photograph Look at all that hair we had. It's bittersweet to hear you laugh Your phone is ringing I don't wanna ask [(You Want To) Make a Memory lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]If you go now, I'll understand If you stay, hey, I've got a plan We're gonna make a memory You wanna steal a piece of time You can sing the melody to me And I can write a couple of lines You wanna make a memory? If you don't know if you should stay And you don't say what's on your mind Baby just breathe There's nowhere else tonight we should be We Should beYou wanna make a memoryYou wanna steal a piece of time You can sing the melody to me And I can write a couple of lines You wanna make a memory? (x2)

Relax, Take it Easy

You can find the lyrics and some exercises here

You can find the translation here

Question Tags

Now you can practice:
Quiz

Question Tags

You can read the grammar section of this site:
Grammar

Present Perfect

You can practise on this site:

Form, use and exercises

This slide show may also help you.

Present Perfect Simple or Continuous

This site tells you the forms and uses:

Click here

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Listen to the song and fill in the gaps:




I ________ highest mountain
I __________ through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you

I _______
I ___________
I __________ these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still __________ what I'm looking for
But I still __________ what I'm looking for

I __________ honey lips
Felt the healing in her fingertips
It burned like fire
This burning desire

I __________ with the tongue of angels
I __________ the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone

But I still __________ what I'm looking for
But I still ____________ what I'm looking for

I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds and you
Loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Of my shame
You know I believed it

But I still _________ what I'm looking for
But I still _________ what I'm looking for
But I still _________ what I'm looking for
But I still _________ what I'm looking for...

Now check your answers:

I have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you

I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in her fingertips
It burned like fire
This burning desire

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds and you
Loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Of my shame
You know I believed it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for...



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