photo Tara Benwell 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: 28 March 2018

NB! For WEEKLY audio stories check out LISTEN & LEARN 🔈

Ski Resorts Blanketed with Orange Snow

Pre-Listening Vocabulary

  • blanketed: covered as if with a blanket
  • tint: a colouring
  • run: a pathway that skiers and snowboarders use to go down a mountain
  • observatory: a building with telescopes for looking at space
  • transfer: to move from one place to another

Ski Resorts Blanketed with Orange Snow

A massive dust storm originating in North this week caused sand from the Sahara Desert to mix with rain and snow. When the snow fell over parts of Eastern Europe it had an orange tint. The orange snow fell on ski resorts in Sochi, as well as in , Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova. In the mountains, many skiers and snowboarders took photos of their runs, saying it felt like they were skiing on Mars. The sandstorm next made its way to Greece. According to the Observatory, the sandstorm was one of the greatest transfers of desert sand to ever seen.

Comprehension Questions

  1. What is the report mainly about?
  2. What caused this odd experience for skiers and snowboarders?
  3. Why does the report mention Greece?

Discussion Questions

Do you think humans will ever ski on Mars?

show Answers

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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