Listening

Overview of Earth

Earth is where we all live.

It is our home in the solar system. 

There is no other place for us to live. 

Earth isn't just any planet.

It's a very special place.

It's special because we depend on it for many things. 

Because of its importance we need to take care of it.

We depend on the Earth for its air, its water and many of its natural resources. 

Natural resources, such as coal and oil, give us energy.

Other natural resources we depend on include forests and soil. 

Forests provide clean air and wood for building houses.

Soil is needed to grow plants and keep them healthy.

We need to take care of these resources and not waste them.

The Earth is a large, rotating sphere, about 4.5 billion years old.

The equator, which divides the earth into two hemispheres, is about 40000 kilometers long. 

The Earth's diameter is 12756 kilometers.

Its radius is half that, or 6378 kilometers.

The radius is the distance from the Earth's center to its surface. 

Most of the Earth's surface is covered by water.

About 75% of the earth's surface is covered by water. 

The rest of the earth's surface is land.

Just above the Earth's surface is the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is a layer of gases about 500 kilometers thick. 

These gases include oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

This mixture of gases is the air that we breathe.

As we move about the Earth's surface, the air gets thinner. 

At high altitudes, the air is too thin to breathe.

At the edge of the atmosphere is space. 

There is no air at all in space.

Water on Earth

Most of the earth's water is in the oceans.

The two largest oceans are the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. 

Unfortunately, we can't drink ocean water.

This is because ocean water has too much salt. 

Fortunately there is also water in lakes and rivers. 

These water isn't salty so we can drink it.

Only about 2% of the world's water is fresh water. 

Without fresh drinking water we can't live.

A person can't live for more than a few days without water.

One problem with ocean water is that we cannot drink it.

Rivers are important.

Most rivers begin in mountains and end in the oceans. 

The water flows from high ground to low ground.

At first rivers are small and are called creeks or streams. 

As water enters from other streams, a river grows.

Some rivers become very large and long.

The longest river in the world is the Nile River, in Africa. 

It's almost 6500 kilometers long.

As for water volume, the Amazon is the largest river.

The volume of water flowing through it per second is more than in any other river.

Another use of rivers is for energy.

The energy of falling water is used to produce electricity. 

This use of water supplies over 20% of the world's electricity. 

Rivers are also important for agriculture.

Without water, farmers cannot grow food.

And of course rivers can be used for transportation. 

Riverboats are used to carry things to inland cities or lakes.

Vocabulary

Thing We Enjoy Doing

This man goes running 5 days a week if the weather is good.

On the weekends he runs 10 kilometers unless the weather is bad. 

This woman really enjoys reading, especially works of fiction.

She has read hundreds of books.

This young couple enjoys watching old movies, such as Titanic.

They both cried when it sank and many people went down with the ship. 

These young boys enjoy playing sports on the weekend.

Sometimes they play basketball and sometimes they play football. 

This young man eats too much sweet so he is overweight.

He need to eat fewer sweets and exercises more.

He is overweight because he eats too many sweets.

Continents

Here are 6 of the Earth's 7 continents.

Asia is the largest continent, both in land and in population. 

Asia covers 30% of the Earth's  land area.

Africa is the second largest continent.

Of all the continents, Africa has the youngest population. 

Europe is to the west of Asia and is the second smallest continent.

Europe is the birthplace of classical music and some of the world's greatest art and literature.

North and South America are bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. 

The first human beings to live in the Americas came from Asia more the 15000 years ago.

Australia is the world's smallest continent and the world's largest island. 

Australia is surrounded by the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Dialogue

A Driverless Car

M1：Hey, look at that. M2：Look at what?

M1：Look out the window. Do you see the young lady in the red dress?

M2：Yeah, I see her. Wow, she is beautiful and hot. Look at the way she walks. 

M1：Yes, no one behind her. Look in the car that's following her.

M2：I'd rather look at the young lady.

M2：So what's so special about the car? 

M1：Look at the driver, do you see one?

M2：No, I don't. There isn't anybody driving the car. 

M1：Right. It's one of those new driverless cars.

M2：Maybe it's the woman's car. It's following her. 

M1：I don't know. Maybe you are right.

M2：Now that's a smart car. Maybe I'll go outside and follow her too. 

M1：Hey, get back to work.

-Who is driving the car? –no one.

-What is the car following? –a young lady.

Calling Customer Service

Answering machine：Thank you for calling our customer support. 

Please listen to the following menu to help us direct your call. 

Please say or press 1 to pay your bill. 

Please say or press 2 to upgrade your service plan. 

Please say or press 3 to report a technical problem. 

Please say or press 4 if you want to hear this choice again.

Customer：I don't want any of these choices.

Answering machine：You may also go to our website for help.

Customer：I went to your website but it didn't help. I want to speak to a human being.

Answering machine：Your business is very important to us.

Answering machine：Please say or press 5 or hang up to end this call. 

Customer：None of these. I want a human being. I want to cancel my service.

Answering machine：Please wait while we connect you to a service representative.

Customer：Finally. This is what they call customer service?

Answering machine：To assist our representative, please say your first and last name.

Customer：Tom Smith.

Answering machine：We hear Tom Smith. If this is correct, say or press 1. If this is not correct, say or press 2. 

Customer：1.

Answering machine：Thank you. For security purpose, what was your father's middle name? 

Customer：he didn't have a middle name.

Answering machine：Thank you. A customer service representative will be with you shortly.

Answering machine：I'm sorry but our offices are closed. Please call back during business hours. Our business offices are open Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm. Thank you for calling.