English Globe understanding the world

Open menu
 

Unit 4. The Universe




LISTENING WARM-UP
flag.jpgDiscuss these questions as a class. Make a guess if you are not sure of the answer.
Key.1A  2B  3C 
1 What's the name of the galaxy that the Solar System is in?
      A   The Milky Way
      В   The White Way
      С   The Lunar Way
2 Who was the first human to go into space?
      A   Neil Armstrong
      В   Yuri Gagarin 
      С   Buzz Aldrin
3 When did a human walk on the Moon for the first time?
      A  1949
      В   1959
      С  1969 

DEVELOP YOUR LISTENING SKILLS
Listening know-how NOTE TAKING AND BLANK FILLING
При заполнении пропусков в тексте четко следуйте инструкциям, данным в задании. Некоторые ответы можно записать в виде цифр, отдельных слов или словосочетаний.

flag.jpgListen to some facts about the universe. For each fact, write a word, short phrase or number to complete each note.
Key.1    1957
2    Yuri Gagarin
3    the Moon 
4    1969
5    one/1
6    twenty-four/24
7    240 km a second
8    225 million years
  
1   year first man-made satellite left Earth: ________________________     
2   first person to travel into space: ________________________   
3   name of the Earth's natural satellite: ________________________   
4   year a human first walked on the Moon: ________________________   
5   number of moons Pluto has: ________________________   
6   number of moons Saturn has: ________________________   
7   speed of Sun moving through space: ________________________   
8   length of time for Milky Way to revolve: ________________________  

Tapescript 

  1 

   The space age began on October 4th 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the world's first man-made satellite. Called Sputnik 1, it was about the size of a basketball, and took only 98 minutes to go all the way round Earth.

  2 

    Although several animals had travelled into space beforehand, including a dog called Laika, the first human to travel in space was a Russian astronaut called Yuri Gagarin. His incredible trip around the world took place in 1961.

  3 

   Today, there are thousands of satellites outside the Earth's atmosphere. We use them to send phone calls, TV programmes and other kinds of information all round the world. The Earth only has one natural satellite, though: the Moon, which is about 385,000 kilometres away.

  4 

    The first person to set foot on the Moon was Neil Armstrong, an American, in 1969.

  5 

    Pluto is similar to the Earth in that it only has one moon.

  6 

    Although Pluto and the Earth only have one moon each, Saturn has lots of moons - twenty four, in fact! No other planet in the Solar System has so many moons.

  7 

    The Sun - and the Earth, the planets, and everything else in the Solar System - are constantly moving through space. And they're moving fast: 240 kilometres a second!

  8 

    The Moon goes round the Earth once a day and the Earth goes round the Sun once a year. But the Sun, and in fact the whole Solar System, is also revolving, as part of a galaxy called the Milky Way It takes a bit longer than a day or a year to go round, though. In fact, it takes 225 million years to go round once!
pair.jpgLook at these sentences. In pairs, discuss whether you will probably need to write a word, phrase or number in each gap. Note down any answers you think you can remember from Exercise A.
1    Sputnik I took ______________ minutes to travel once round the Earth.
2    The first human travelled into space in ______________.
3    It is about ______________ kilometres away from the Earth.
4    He first went there in ______________.
5    Pluto and ______________ are similar because of this.
6    Saturn is the only ______________ with that many.
7    Everything in the ______________ is moving at this speed.
8    The Solar System is part of a larger ______________.

pair.jpgListen again and complete your answers to Exercise B.
Key.1 98    2 1961    3 385,000    4 1969    5 the Earth 6 planet   7 the Solar System    8 galaxy  
Tapescript 

  1 

   The space age began on October 4th 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the world's first man-made satellite. Called Sputnik 1, it was about the size of a basketball, and took only 98 minutes to go all the way round Earth.

  2 

    Although several animals had travelled into space beforehand, including a dog called Laika, the first human to travel in space was a Russian astronaut called Yuri Gagarin. His incredible trip around the world took place in 1961.

  3 

   Today, there are thousands of satellites outside the Earth's atmosphere. We use them to send phone calls, TV programmes and other kinds of information all round the world. The Earth only has one natural satellite, though: the Moon, which is about 385,000 kilometres away.

  4 

    The first person to set foot on the Moon was Neil Armstrong, an American, in 1969.

  5 

    Pluto is similar to the Earth in that it only has one moon.

  6 

    Although Pluto and the Earth only have one moon each, Saturn has lots of moons - twenty four, in fact! No other planet in the Solar System has so many moons.

  7 

    The Sun - and the Earth, the planets, and everything else in the Solar System - are constantly moving through space. And they're moving fast: 240 kilometres a second!

  8 

    The Moon goes round the Earth once a day and the Earth goes round the Sun once a year. But the Sun, and in fact the whole Solar System, is also revolving, as part of a galaxy called the Milky Way It takes a bit longer than a day or a year to go round, though. In fact, it takes 225 million years to go round once!




PRACTISE YOUR 
LISTENING SKILLS

pair.jpgYou are going to listen to a radio programme about the universe. Look at the notes. In pairs, discuss possible answers.

Name of programme: (1) _____________ Truth.
Guest: Jan Davis, (2)  _____________ Professor, Middleton University.
Number of solar systems in universe: (3) _____________. 
Solar system: one star, plus planets, comets and (4) _____________. 
Gravity is a/an (5) _____________ between two objects.
The Milky Way revolves in a large (6) _____________. 
There are (7) _____________ stars in the Milky Way.
The distance across the Milky Way is 100.000 (8) _____________.
flag.jpgNow listen to the radio programme. Write a word, short phrase or number in each gap to complete the notes in Exercise E.
Key.1 Universal   
2 Astronomy  
3 billions  
4 asteroids 
5 attraction   
6 circle   
7 100,000,000,000/100 billion 
8 light years
  
Tapescript
Man  
  Hello, and welcome to another edition of Universal Truth, the show that explores the incredible universe we live in. I'm very pleased to have with me today Jan Davis, Professor of Astronomy at Middleton University Jan, thanks for coming on the show.
Woman    My pleasure, Carl. In fact, I often listen to the programme. I think it's very informative and interesting.
Man    Well, thank you very much! Now, Jan, let me start by asking you about the Solar System. I wonder if you could explain exactly what the Solar System is.
Woman    Yes, of course! Well, first of all, there's something I'd like to point out. There are billions of solar systems in the universe. There isn't just one. A solar system always has a big star at the centre. Lots of other smaller things, like planets, comets or asteroids, all go round that star. Now, our star is the Sun, and so our solar system is everything that goes round the Sun - the Earth, our Moon and the planets, for example.
Man    Okay. Now, this may be a silly question, but why do they go round the Sun?
Woman    It's not a silly question at all! It's a very good question. When you drop something, it falls on the floor, doesn't it?
Man    Yes, because of gravity.
Woman    Well, it's exactly the same thing here. Nobody's sure exactly what gravity is, but we do know it's an attraction between two things, two objects. The thing you drop on the floor is attracted to the Earth. It falls to the ground because the Earth is heavier than it is. Now, the Moon is also attracted to the Earth, which is why it doesn't fly away into space! And the Earth and the planets are attracted to the Sun, because they're much lighter than the Sun.
Man    Oh, I see! Right! Now, the Solar System's part of the Milky Way, isn't it? What's that exactly?
Woman    Well, we've talked about solar systems. Now we have to talk about galaxies. A galaxy is a huge group of stars and solar systems, which move around together. The Milky Way is the galaxy that we are part of. And the Milky Way is going round in a big circle. It takes 225 million years to go all the way round!
Man    That's a long time!
Woman    It certainly is. We often have to think about big numbers when we talk about the universe. If you think, our Sun is a star - the only star in our solar system. And, in the Milky Way, there are approximately a hundred billion stars, that's a hundred thousand million stars. If we write that down, that's a 'one' and then eleven zeros after it - a huge number!
Man    That is huge!
Woman    Yes. You see, the galaxy is enormous. Astronomers usually measure distance in space by something called 'light years'. A light year is the distance that light can travel in one year, which is nearly 10 thousand billion kilometres. Well, the Milky Way is 100,000 light years across!
Man    Wow! And how many galaxies are there in the universe?
Woman    Well, we don't know for sure, of course, but we think there are billions of them.
Man    So we live on one planet which goes round one star, in a galaxy which has billions of stars, and the universe itself has billions of galaxies.
Woman    That's exactly right. It does make you think, doesn't it?
Man    It certainly does. Jan, thanks so much for talking to us today.
Woman    Thank you!
flag.jpgDiscuss these statements. Give reasons for your opinions.
Being an astronaut is just like being a bus driver or pilot.
In the future, humans will live on lots of different planets.
It's very important for governments to spend money on space research.

  

back.jpg
Unit 3     Unit 4     Unit 5forward.jpg


Индивидуальные занятия являются наиболее эффективной формой обучения английскому языку. Предлагаем всем тем, кто заинтересован в качественном обучении, английский по скайпу с высококвалифицированными преподавателями.