Listen to News with Tara Benwell - Instructions:
1. Preview the vocabulary and read the gapfill text.
2. Play the news report and try to fill in the blanks.
3. Answer the comprehension questions by writing full sentences.
4. Use the discussion question to write an essay or discuss the story with other students.
5. Click "show Answers" to see the full text.
6. Pretend to be a news anchor by reading each story out loud.
dateline: 19 April 2017
NB! For WEEKLY audio stories check out LISTEN & LEARN 🔈
Coral Reef Bleaching Alarms Scientists
Pre-Listening Vocabulary
- coral: thousands of polyps that create a stony skeleton and form reefs in warm waters
- aerial: from above in the air
- devastating: very harmful
- consecutive: one right after another
- bleaching: becoming white
- alarm: to cause to become very worried
- recover: to get better
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Coral Reef Bleaching Alarms Scientists
Comprehension Questions
- What did the aerial survey reveal?
- Why does the report mention global warming?
- Why are scientists so worried?
Discussion Questions: Do you think that humans have the ability to both destroy and save the Great Barrier Reef? What needs to be done?
show Answershide Answers
Coral Reef Bleaching Alarms Scientists
An aerial survey of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef revealed mass coral bleaching for a second year in a row. The bleaching is a result of rising temperatures caused by global warming. The back-to-back bleaching events have affected 1,500 kilometres, or two-thirds, of the reef. The results of the survey alarmed scientists and water quality experts. Some fear that the damaged coral will not be able to survive. Previous mass bleaching events took place ten years apart, giving the reef time to recover.
- The aerial survey revealed that there was a second year of mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef.
- Rising temperatures caused by global warming created the stress that caused the coral to turn white.
- Scientists are worried because the mass bleaching events took place without any recovery period in between.
Written and recorded by Tara Benwell for EnglishClub
Tara Benwell is a Canadian freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry.
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