Level II
Chapter 2
Listening Speaking
OLD
English | Vietnamese
IC3, IT, TOEFL, Best Answer
English | Vietnamese
Assessment
Your life: does a river run through it?
Có dòng sông nào chảy qua cuôc đời của bạn không?
In this chapter we will listen to a news broadcast. You may have already been listening to English on the radio or on TV. There are some opportunities to practice English skills. Perhaps you listen to News in simple English. In this chapter we will highlight news items in Vietnam and the region and teach skills that will help you be a better listener and to find meaning in what you hear.
Vocabulary
Terms for Broadcasting
Broadcasting refers to those things that come over the airwaves such as radio and television. These things come to us from a broadcasting station. The person who reports the news is called a reporter. Some reporters speak from the studio which is located at the station. The studio is the room that is equipped with the technology for putting the broadcast on the airwaves. It is equipped for sound and cameras. The main reporter is often called the anchor and in Western broadcasts the anchor reporter will introduce the news item and then transfer the listening audience to hear reports from the field. A field reporter goes to the place where the news item is taking place. For example, if the field reporter is telling the listening audience about a flood, they may actually stand by the floodwaters and in the rain to relay their report. Other terms and phrases that we will hear in the broadcast in this chapter appear below with a brief explanation:
headlines--the title of the report. Headlines are found in bold print on newspapers and broadcast news borrowed this term from the printed media. A headline usually is not a complete sentence and is designed to capture the attention of the reading, listening or viewing audience.
“back to you” or “back to you in the studio”--because an anchor reporter is used, after each report the anchor speaks. To make the transition from the field to the studio, this expression is often used.
“still coming up”--in Western broadcasts the anchor often reminds us of what news items are yet to be reported on. This is done because there are competing news broadcasts from other stations and one particular station wants to keep your attention on what news items will come so that you will not change stations. Often the most interesting news items are saved for last so that the stations can keep its audience, so the anchor reporter may say, “Still coming up in this report is news of pirates in the South China Sea and the Troubles Michael Jackson faces in Court.”
Re-cap--At the end of the broadcast the main headlines are repeated. This is called a re-cap.
To introduce you to some of the vocabulary used in this chapter’s news report, discuss the meaning of the following sentences. You may do this as a class or in small groups. Or, perhaps, each group can discuss two or three sentences and share their findings with the class.
Rewrite the following sentences in your own words. Avoid using the dictionary. Try to find the meaning of each sentence by making an educated guess. Compare your answers with your classmates or with other groups. You may want to check in a dictionary if there are important differences among your answers.
1. Today’s headlines: the National Parliament convenes today and high on the agenda: a hydro-electric plant; the Red River Delta is the latest to fall victim to arsenic contamination of drinking water, and death toll from flooding in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta hits 170.
Example: The main stories today: the National Parliament meets today and one of the first things they will discuss is a dam that produces electricity, the Red River Delta has the latest findings of poisoned drinking water from arsenic, and there are 170 people that have died because of flooding from the Mekong River.
2. Initial plans for the dam were scaled down following criticism over the human and environmental impact.
3. The National Assembly will now consider the project because some 100,000 people will be relocated.
4. International headlines have reported massive arsenic contamination of drinking water supplies in Bangladesh, especially those regions heavily reliant on groundwaters.
5. Bangladesh may have been just the tip of the iceberg, and arsenic is poised to become the key environmental health problem of the 21st century in developing countries.
6. The latest region to fall victim is Vietnam.
7. Arsenic levels in groundwaters around Hanoi is on a scale comparable to those found in Bangladesh.
8. Eighty-Five million people are at risk of developing cancer from chronic arsenic exposure.
9. People have switched from using surface water sources such as rivers in favor of tube-wells that tap into groundwaters aquifers.
10. This is the third successive year the Mekong Delta region has been inundated with deadly floods.
11. In addition to the death toll, floodwaters have cause damage to Vietnam’s primary rice-growing region.
12. Meteorologists have attributed the pattern to “El Nino”’, the warming of tropical waters in the Pacific Ocean that can disrupt weather thousands of miles away.
13. In 2000, the nutrient-rich region was hit by the worst floods in nearly four decades.
14. This year’s lower-than-expected death toll is due to raised dykes and roads, coordinated efforts to educate Delta residents in life-saving techniques and the construction of government resettlement areas.
Listening Skill A:
Anticipation
A helpful skill to develop when listening to lectures and broadcasts is to learn to anticipate what may be said by the speaker.
We know that this chapter is about water and rivers. At the beginning of this chapter (where it says “Skills: In this chapter you will do these things), we know that the news broadcast will report on a dam, floods, and contamination of drinking water. To anticipate what will be lectured or reported on, we should think about what we already know about dams, floods, and water contamination. We should think about the vocabulary we already know about these subjects. We have done this already with our vocabulary exercises.
We should also anticipate questions that are related to the subject. Maybe the broadcast will answer these questions.
Eventually with practice, you will be asking your own questions that come from your own experience. But in this chapter, some questions have already been created. Not all of these questions will be answered by the broadcast, but having questions in mind will enable you to be a better listener in the English language.
For example, we might guess that a dam or hydro-electric plant news item may have to do with one of the rivers in Vietnam. So we may ask such questions as:
1. Which river has a dam or which on which river will a dam be constructed?
2. Is the dam built or is this a report about the construction of a dam?
3. Are dams good or bad? Are dams good and bad?
4. How do dams affect people?
5. How do dams effect the environment?
Another news item has to do with drinking water contamination.
6. Where do we get drinking water?
7. Do we know if our drinking water is safe?
8. What contaminates drinking water?
9. Is contamination man-made or can nature contaminate water?
10. What happens to people who drink contaminated water?
The third news item is about flooding from the Mekong River.
11. How has flooding affected my life?
12. Did anyone die in the flood?
13. Why does the river flood?
14. Is flooding this year worse or better than other years?
15. Do I know anyone who has been touched by this flood? Have I been to the places that are flooded?
16. What can be done to protect people from flooding?
Having such questions in your mind makes you a better listener because you are listening for meaning. You are listening to get meaning for your own questions.
Lecture/Presentation:
Listen to the news broadcast. To better prepare yourself for the broadcast, do all the exercises in Skill A and Skill B. Listen to the broadcast as many times as you wish.
Transcript:
Jane: From National Radio Service in Hanoi, I’m Jane Doe. Today’s headlines: the National Parliament convenes today and high on the agenda: a hydro-electric plant in a Mekong Delta Province, the Red River Delta is the latest to fall victim to arsenic contamination of drinking water, and death toll from flooding in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta hits 170.
Vietnam’s parliament convenes today with legal reform and the approval of a controversial hydro-electric power project high on its agenda. At the parliament building with that story is Mr. Adams.
Mr. A: Initial plans for a 265-meter high dam in a northwestern province of the Mekong Delta were scaled down to 215 meters following criticism last year from MPs over its human and environmental impact. The project would have required that some 100,000 people being relocated. But National Assembly official say legislators will now consider a revised plan for the 1.7 billion dollar project. During the month-long session, the 498 deputies will also approve the government’s socio-economic development plant for 2005.
From the Parliament building in Hanoi, this is Mr. Adams. Now back to you, Jane, in the studio.
Jane: Thank you for that report. Following the headlines of massive arsenic contamination of drinking water supplies in Bangladesh in the mid-1990s, researchers have been on the lookout for other regions heavily reliant on groundwaters that might be similarly contaminated. Now it seems, Bangladesh may have been just the tip of the iceberg, and arsenic is poised to become the key environmental health problem of the 21st century in developing countries. The latest region to fall victim is Vietnam. Here with that story is Ms. Binh reporting from Hanoi.
Ms. B: Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology and Vietnam National University have discovered arsenic levels in the groundwaters around Hanoi on a scale comparable to those found in Bangladesh, where some 85 million people are at risk of developing cancer.
Although the affected area seems to be much smaller in Vietnam than in Bangladesh, approximately 11 million people living in the Red River Delta are currently at risk of chronic arsenic exposure. Over the past 5-7 years people have switched from using surface water sources such as rivers for drinking water in favor of tube-wells tapping into groundwaters aquifers. This water is free of the microbial contamination found in surface waters, but researchers speculate that oxidation of buried organic matter may be helping to release naturally occurring arsenic into the groundwaters aquifers.
Curiously, no signs of the devastating and debilitating skin afflictions associated with arsenic poisoning so commonly observed in Bangladesh have shown up in Vietnam as of yet, but it may be only a matter of time. Will the Red River Delta be able to avoid the chaos and panic that occurred in Bangladesh following the discovery of the arsenic problem?
This is Ms. Binh reporting from Hanoi.
Jane: Thank Ms. Binh. Severe flooding in Vietnam’s southern Mekong Delta region has claimed 170 lives, including those of 151 children, over the past three months, disaster relief officials said Thursday. Reporting from Long Xuyen in An Giang Province is Mr. Christopher Clarke.
Mr. C: This is the third successive year that the Mekong Delta region has been inundated with deadly floods. In addition to the death toll, the floods have caused 29.9 million dollars worth of damage to Vietnam’s primary rice-growing region, said an official from the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control. Although the floodwaters have largely receded, water levels in the worst affected provinces of An Giang and Dong Thap along the Cambodian border still remain at alarm level one status.
Meteorologists have attributed the pattern to “El Nino”, the warming of tropical waters in the Pacific Ocean that can disrupt weather thousands of miles away. Others have blamed global environmental pollution. Last year, over 320 people were swept to their deaths across the Mekong Delta, while in 2000 the nutrient-rich region was hit by the worst floods in nearly four decades, resulting in around 400 deaths. International aid agencies say this year’s lower-than-expected toll is due to raised dykes and roads, coordinated efforts to educate Delta residents in life-saving techniques and the construction of government resettlement areas. From Long Xuyen, this Christopher Clarke reporting.
Jane: Thank you, Mr. Clarke. To re-cap the top news items: : the National Parliament convenes today and high on the agenda: a hydro-electric plant in the Mekong Delta, the Red River Delta is the latest to fall victim to arsenic contamination of drinking water, and death toll from flooding in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta hits 170.
Still coming up in this broadcast is the weather and sports report. . .
Exercises and Activities for Speaking Skill A:
Do you have any questions to add to those above to help you anticipate what the reports on the broadcast news will report?
Listening Comprehension
Read the following questions and answer those questions you already know.
1. How many news items are in this report?
2. How many reporters report the news in this report?
3. What item will the National Parliament discuss today?
4. Why is the construction of the dam controversial?
5. What is contaminating drinking water?
6. What country is famous for having contaminated drinking water?
7. Is the contamination man-made?
8. Where in Vietnam is there such an environmental health problem?
9. Have many lost their lives in the flooding?
10. Why do meteorologists say there is so much flooding?
11. Why is this year’s death toll lower than expected?
Study Skill B:
Paraphrasing
In the first vocabulary exercise in this chapter, you were asked to rewrite sentences in your own words. We call this “paraphrasing,” and it can be a useful study skill. Instructors from the west will often ask students to restate something read or heard in their own words. When an explanation is given in one’s own words based on what someone else has said or on something read, it is paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is similar to summarizing, but one purpose for summarizing is to shorten the material. A paraphrase may be the same number of words or similar in length to the original material. Paraphrasing will also help the student of English think in English.
Exercises and Activities for Listening Study Skill B:
Exercise B-1:
Sentences from the Vocabulary section will be spoken here. Listen to the sentence, and then repeat.
Transcript:
1. Today’s headlines: the National Parliament convenes today and high on the agenda: a hydro-electric plant; the Red River Delta is the latest to fall victim to arsenic contamination of drinking water, and death toll from flooding in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta hits 170.
(pause for student to repeat)
2. Initial plans for the dam were scaled down following criticism over the human and environmental impact.
(pause for student to repeat)
3. The National Assembly will now consider the project because some 100,000 people will be relocated.
(pause for student to repeat)
4. International headlines have reported massive arsenic contamination of drinking water supplies in Bangladesh, especially those regions heavily reliant on groundwaters.
(pause for student to repeat)
5. Bangladesh may have been just the tip of the iceberg, and arsenic is poised to become the key environmental health problem of the 21st century in developing countries.
(pause for student to repeat)
6. The latest region to fall victim is Vietnam.
(pause for student to repeat)
7. Arsenic levels in groundwaters around Hanoi is on a scale comparable to those found in Bangladesh.
(pause for student to repeat)
8. Eighty-Five million people are at risk of developing cancer from chronic arsenic exposure.
(pause for student to repeat)
9. People have switched from using surface water sources such as rivers in favor of tube-wells that tap into groundwaters aquifers.
(pause for student to repeat)
10. This is the third successive year the Mekong Delta region has been inundated with deadly floods.
(pause for student to repeat)
11. In addition to the death toll, floodwaters have cause damage to Vietnam’s primary rice-growing region.
(pause for student to repeat)
12. Meteorologists have attributed the pattern to “El Nino”’, the warming of tropical waters in the Pacific Ocean that can disrupt weather thousands of miles away.
(pause for student to repeat)
13. In 2000, the nutrient-rich region was hit by the worst floods in nearly four decades.
(pause for student to repeat)
14. This year’s lower-than-expected death toll is due to raised dykes and roads, coordinated efforts to educate Delta residents in life-saving techniques and the construction of government resettlement areas.
(pause for student to repeat)
Exercise B-2:
Listen to the same sentences again, then read the paraphrases that you wrote for each sentence.
Transcript:
1. Today’s headlines: the National Parliament convenes today and high on the agenda: a hydro-electric plant; the Red River Delta is the latest to fall victim to arsenic contamination of drinking water, and death toll from flooding in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta hits 170.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
2.Initial plans for the dam were scaled down following criticism over the human and environmental impact.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
3. The National Assembly will now consider the project because some 100,000 people will be relocated.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
4. International headlines have reported massive arsenic contamination of drinking water supplies in Bangladesh, especially those regions heavily reliant on groundwaters.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
5. Bangladesh may have been just the tip of the iceberg, and arsenic is poised to become the key environmental health problem of the 21st century in developing countries.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
6. The latest region to fall victim is Vietnam.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
7. Arsenic levels in groundwaters around Hanoi is on a scale comparable to those found in Bangladesh.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
8. Eighty-Five million people are at risk of developing cancer from chronic arsenic exposure.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
9. People have switched from using surface water sources such as rivers in favor of tube-wells that tap into groundwaters aquifers.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
10. This is the third successive year the Mekong Delta region has been inundated with deadly floods.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
11. In addition to the death toll, floodwaters have cause damage to Vietnam’s primary rice-growing region.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
12. Meteorologists have attributed the pattern to “El Nino”’, the warming of tropical waters in the Pacific Ocean that can disrupt weather thousands of miles away.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
13. In 2000, the nutrient-rich region was hit by the worst floods in nearly four decades.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
14. This year’s lower-than-expected death toll is due to raised dykes and roads, coordinated efforts to educate Delta residents in life-saving techniques and the construction of government resettlement areas.
(pause for student reads paraphrase)
Exercise B-3:
Listen to the sentences a third time. Try to paraphrase without reading what you have already written as a paraphrase. Do not memorize a response, rather try to spontaneously paraphrase.
Transcript:
1. Today’s headlines: the National Parliament convenes today and high on the agenda: a hydro-electric plant; the Red River Delta is the latest to fall victim to arsenic contamination of drinking water, and death toll from flooding in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta hits 170.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
2.Initial plans for the dam were scaled down following criticism over the human and environmental impact.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
3. The National Assembly will now consider the project because some 100,000 people will be relocated.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
4. International headlines have reported massive arsenic contamination of drinking water supplies in Bangladesh, especially those regions heavily reliant on groundwaters.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
5. Bangladesh may have been just the tip of the iceberg, and arsenic is poised to become the key environmental health problem of the 21st century in developing countries.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
6. The latest region to fall victim is Vietnam.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
7. Arsenic levels in groundwaters around Hanoi is on a scale comparable to those found in Bangladesh.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
8. Eighty-Five million people are at risk of developing cancer from chronic arsenic exposure.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
9. People have switched from using surface water sources such as rivers in favor of tube-wells that tap into groundwaters aquifers.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
10. This is the third successive year the Mekong Delta region has been inundated with deadly floods.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
11. In addition to the death toll, floodwaters have cause damage to Vietnam’s primary rice-growing region.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
12. Meteorologists have attributed the pattern to “El Nino”’, the warming of tropical waters in the Pacific Ocean that can disrupt weather thousands of miles away.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
13. In 2000, the nutrient-rich region was hit by the worst floods in nearly four decades.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
14. This year’s lower-than-expected death toll is due to raised dykes and roads, coordinated efforts to educate Delta residents in life-saving techniques and the construction of government resettlement areas.
(pause for student to paraphrase)
Classroom Broadcast
Divide the class in small groups of four students each. Each group will prepare a news broadcast that will include one anchor reporter and three field reporters. Each field reporter will paraphrase a report for the news articles below. Each anchor person will open and close the broadcast and introduce each story. The news broadcast should follow a pattern similar to below:
Anchor Reporter opens the broadcast with the headlines for today.
Anchor person will introduce the story: Vietnam Flood Victims Face Crocodile Threat and introduce the first Field Reporter.
First Field Reporter reports on the Crocodile story.
Anchor Reporter introduces the story: Ha Tien Residents Learn Water’s Value
Second Field Reporter reports on the Value of Water story.
Anchor Reporter introduces the story: 43 Die in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta Flood
Third Field Reporter reports on flood story
Anchor Reporter re-caps today’s stories and says good night.
Enhance the stories as you wish.
Story #1:
Vietnam Flood Victims Face Croc Threat
(Excerpts from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/957273.stm)
Victims of flooding in southern Vietnam are face with a new threat--the arrival of crocodiles in the Mekong Delta. Unusually high floodwaters have already forced nearly 200,000 people to abandon their homes. Many have died and more than 10,000 families in the region are suffering from malnutrition. To add to problems, now there have been numerous sightings of crocodiles. An aid worker who saw one of the crocodiles said it was 2 meters long and was now being kept in a pond at a police post close to the Cambodian border.
Vietnamese newspapers have had reports of other crocodile sightings. One carries an account of how a fisherman in Vietnam’s badly flooded An Giang province caught a crocodile weighing 25 kilos. Local people are quoted as saying that the floodwater must have flushed it down from Cambodia.
Environmentalists say they would not normally expect to find wild crocodiles in the Mekong Delta. But they say there are some crocodile farms both in Vietnam and Cambodia, and it is possible that some crocodiles have escaped from flooded farms.
Story #2:
Ha Tien Residents Learn Water’s Value
(excerpts from www.icsea.or.id/sea-span/0598/WM0624LL.htm)
The people of Ha Tien District know the value of water. They have to pay VND 80,000 per barrel or VND 300,000 per cubic meter of rain water, says the Nhan Dan newspaper. Prolonged drought, a tropical storm and some developmental problems have parched the district in the southern province of Kien Giang, undermining the health of the population, particularly women. About 70-80% of Ha Tien women suffer from gynecological diseases due to lack of fresh water, says Lam Hong Xuyen, Chairman of the district’s People’s Committee.
The district is unusual in that it depends mainly on three ponds for its fresh water supply. These ponds have not been sufficient for all the water needs of the area. Some households have tried to tap underground water by drilling wells, but at between VND 30 million each, they are not an option many people can afford.
Ha Tien residents have therefore become dependent on seasonal rains. During the dry season nearly all the reservoirs in Ha Tien dry up, with cracks appearing in their beds. Then the residents have no choice but to buy fresh water. Some people have exploited the situation in Ha Tien by bringing water to the district from the Vinh Te canal about 30km away. The Ha Tien People’s Committee has worked closely with the boat owners to negotiate appropriate prices for the water. Rain water fetches the highest price with a barrel often costing VND 80,000.
The people of Ha Tien have become very careful in their use of water, using rain water for drinking only. They use water from lakes and rivers for cooking and washing.
Story #3:
43 Die in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta Flood
(excerpted from www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/0/7ad7f24c4deb495c1256960003a142e?Open Document)
The most serious floods in 40 years to hit Vietnam’s Mekong Delta have claimed 43 lives, with more provinces affected, officials said. “Most of the deaths occurred in the An Giang and Dong Thap provinces, where a total of 34 people died,” a disaster control official said. The water level rose to alarming levels in An Giang and flooded three more provinces--Vinh Long, Tien Giang, and Can Tho. Officials said nine people died in Long An and Kien Giang provinces. Vietnam’s Mekong delta, home to 16 million people, has been battered by floods since July. Major highways have been cut, 300,000 houses washed away and 25 million dollars worth of damages have resulted in the country’s rice granary. Some 500,000 people lack drinking water, food and medicines. Authorities have ordered a state of alert and the evacuation of nearly 100,000 people from the delta, which is the most fertile region of the country.
NGỮ PHÁP:
Thì hiện tại tiếp diễn (The present continuous tense)
Đang + động từ
“Đang”,an adverb of time, is proceeded a verb to indicate actions or things happening at present.
Ví dụ:
Anh đang làm gì đó? - Tôi đang đọc sách.
Họ đang bơi thuyền trên dòng sông.
Bọn họ đang câu cá.
Note: Unlike in English, the present continuous tense in Vietnamese is not used to express the near future or planned actions in the future.
Luyện tập:
Làm việc theo từng đôi. một bạn ra điệu bộ, một bạn đoán xem người kia đang làm gì. Sau đó đổi vai với nhau.
Nghe bài hội thoại và điền vào chỗ trống với những từ thích hợp:
BÀI HỘI THOẠI
Sarah: Minh, bạn đang làm gì vậy?
Minh: Chào Sarah. Tôi (a)………………………….
Sarah: Bạn bắt được nhiều cá không?
Minh: Cũng (b)…………………….. Sarah xem này.
Sarah: Ôi, nhiều quá! Một con cá (c)……………………………. kìa Minh.
Minh: Cảm ơn Sarah. Mải nói chuyện tôi không để ý.
Sarah: (d)……………………….. này cho nhiều cá thật đấy.
Minh: Ừ. Dân làng tôi (e)………………… nhờ nó đấy.
Làm việc theo từng đôi để kiểm tra kết quả nghe của nhau.
Sau đó thảo luận các câu hỏi sau:
1. Minh câu cá để giải trí hay để kiếm thức ăn?
2. Ngoài cá ra, con sông còn cung cấp cho dân làng Minh những gì?
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