Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Say goodbye to your white sand beaches and tropical rainforests. Adios to crowded city streets, the brilliant sunrise, gravity: Mankind is going to the moon.
In a recent speech in Hong Kong, renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said that the human race is at risk of being wiped out, whether through disease, nuclear war, or global warming. In order to survive, we need to look to the stars. Hawking says that humans could have a colony on the moon within the next 20 years, and another on Mars within the next 40 years.
Listen to Kevin and Logan talk about humankind’s race to the stars.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
Kevin |
Kevin: Stephen Hawking was speaking recently in Hong Kong about, um, a doomsday prophecy, I guess, if you will, about how in twenty years we’ll be living on the moon, or we have to be, right?
Logan: I know that there’s an issue in the world with population and, just, babies being born daily and all that, but it just seems a little far-fetched to say that we need to live on a different planet in twenty years. I mean, we already know this population is going to keep rising and what not. But, I don’t think that’s really going to solve anything.
Kevin: Yeah, I guess, I mean, it seems so, you know, kind of sci-fi, you know, out there, craziness, you know, you never know. Who knows?
Logan: Hey, if it does, somehow, in some way, in twenty years if we’re actually doing that, then great.
Kevin: You know, I think one of his thoughts is, like, there’s this possibility of a nuclear war, um, and him thinking it that way, you know, which, listening to the news every morning on NPR, it seems possible.
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Discussion
Many scientists think that it will take a lot longer than 20 years for humans to begin living on the moon, though most agree that, if the human race wants to survive the coming centuries, we need to start colonizing other planets.
So far, the only permanent human presence in space is on the International Space Station. The International Space Station is a joint project of space agencies in the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe. The space station, which will not be completed until 2010, can only support a crew of three people.
Do you think people will be living on the moon in twenty years? What reasons do you think will drive people to move into space? (i.e. nuclear war, famine, etc.)
Comments
Russian Federation |
Argentina |
Iran, Islamic Republic Of |
Algeria |
China |
United States |
Poland |