Listening Tasks for Intermediate Learners of English

Sulinet Digitális Nyelvi Tananyagbank ()

Moon and Mars

Listening tasks for intermediate learners of English

Before listening to the recording do the following tasks.

1What comes into your mind when you hear the word: ’star’?

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2Why do we call famous people ’stars’?

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3Can you explain what ’the solar system’ is?

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4Can you list the 9 planets of the solar system? (The planets are ordered according to their distance from the Sun. The first letters are given for you.)Write the names of the planets first in English thenin Hungarian!They aren’t very different, are they?☺

1 M...... 4 Ma...... 7 U......

2 V...... 5 J...... 8 N......

3 E...... 6 S...... 9 P......

5Where did most of the planets get their names from?

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6Can you match the gods with the phenomena they refer to? These are the Roman names, the Greek ones are given in brackets.

Mars ( ~Ares ) / god of agriculture
Pluto ( ~Hades ) / god of heaven and sky
Venus ( ~Aphrodite ) / god of underworld
Saturn ( ~Cronus ) / god of sea
Uranus / goddess of love
Neptune ( ~Poseidon ) / god of war
Jupiter ( ~Zeus ) / god of trading and thieving
Mercury (~Hermes ) / god of thunder and lightning

7Answer the questions.

a Which planet is the biggest one? ......

b Which planet is red? ......

c On which planet can water and life be found? ......

d Which planet is the smallest one? ......

e Which one is famous for its rings? ......

f Which planet is the furthest one from the sun? ......

Now please go to the following website and listen to the text.

8Please try to fill in the gaps in the following extract from the text.

It's visible only in the ….. before dawn. But Mars will be getting …….. as this year passes. And you can …….. Mars now and watch its brightness increase as Earth ……. up to Mars in our smaller, faster ….. around the sun. Mars will be brightest this year in November. By then it'll be up all night. This ….., Sunday or Monday mornings -April 3 and 4- are good times to look for Mars. That's because then the …… will be near the waning …….. …. in the predawn sky. Just go outside before sunup and look for the moon.

9 The following words are from the text. Can you match them with their Hungarian equivalents?

1 predawn sky / a látható
2 crescent moon / b tűzvörös
3 visible / c napkelte
4 fiery red / d emelkedni
5 to increase / e félhold
6 sunup / f csökkenő
7 waning / g hajnal előtti égbolt

10 ADecide whether the following statements are TRUE (T) or FALSE (F)?

1.☺ Mars is close to Earth. ___

2.☺ Mars was very bright in the end of the summer in 2003. ___

3.☺ Mars is just as bright now as it was in 2003. ___

4.☺ Mars seems very much different from the other stars now. ___

5.☺ Mars can perfectly be seen at night now. ___

6.☺ The shine of this planet will be gradually stronger as the year 2005 passes.___

7.☺ Mars could be best seen in the middle of April. ___

8.☺The colour of Mars is blue. ___

B And now, please correct the false sentences!

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After listening to the recording, do the following tasks.
11 This is a picture of the ’Eye of God’, taken by a NASA satellite. Can you guess why is it called like this?☺
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12Can you match the words with their definitions?

1 light year / a a large round object in space that moves around a star
2 Milky Way / b the round object that moves around the Earth and shines at night
3 planet / c to move in a curved path around a planet or star
4 comet / d a piece of rock from outer space that hits the Earth’s surface
5 moon / e ice and dust that moves around the sun and looks like a star with a tail
6 to orbit / f the system of stars that contains our sun and its planets; bright at night
7 meteorite / g the distance that light travels in one year; 94.607x1012 kilometres

13The following adjectives are in the text. Can you fill in their comparative and superlative forms?

Comparative form / Superlative form
small
fast
bright
close

And what about these adjectives?

good
bad
far(two types of spelling!)

14 Choose the correct answer.

1 A scientist who studies the sun, moon, stars and planets is a(n)

aastronomer

bpsychologist

castrologer

2 The verb used for the act of moving around a planet or star is

ato run away

bto follow sb

cto orbit around sth

3 The time of the day when light first appears is

asunset

bdawn

cnoon

4 The synonym for twilight is

asunset

bmorning

csunrise

Moon and Mars - Sághy