The Reading / Listening - Freshwater - Level 5

NASA has said that human activity is causing a huge redistribution of freshwater across Earth. The redistribution is continuing as populations shift and demand for food increases. NASA said equatorial regions are drying, while tropical areas and higher latitudes are getting wetter. If this trend continues, many highly populated areas could struggle to find enough water in the future. NASA spent 14 years studying the shifting availability of freshwater. It was part of a mission called GRACE, which is an acronym for Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment.

Jay Famiglietti, a co-author of the research and NASA's Senior Water Scientist, said: "The study shows that humans have really drastically altered the global water landscape in a very profound way. The human fingerprint is all over changing freshwater availability." He warned that: "We see it as a driver of climate change." Professor Famiglietti said that at least 40 per cent of the 34 hot areas looked at in the research were drier than twenty years ago because of human activity. One big reason was the excessive pumping of groundwater for farming.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Freshwater - Level 4 or  Freshwater - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/05/16/humans-are-causing-massive-changes-in-the-location-of-water-all-over-the-earth-nasa-says/
  • https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2018-05-17-nasa-satellites-human-fingerprint-shifts-global-freshwater
  • https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-satellites-reveal-major-shifts-in-global-freshwater


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. a huge redistribution
  2. The redistribution is
  3. as populations
  4. demand for
  5. equatorial
  6. tropical areas and
  7. highly populated areas could
  8. It was part of a mission
  1. higher latitudes
  2. food increases
  3. called GRACE
  4. continuing
  5. struggle
  6. of freshwater
  7. shift
  8. regions are drying

Paragraph 2

  1. a co-author of
  2. drastically
  3. the global water
  4. in a very profound
  5. We see it as a driver
  6. because of human
  7. one big
  8. the excessive pumping
  1. altered
  2. reason
  3. of climate change
  4. of groundwater
  5. landscape
  6. the research
  7. way
  8. activity

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

NASA has said that human (1) ___________________ a huge redistribution of freshwater across Earth. The redistribution is continuing as populations shift and demand (2) ___________________. NASA said equatorial regions are drying, while tropical areas (3) ___________________ are getting wetter. If this trend continues, many highly populated (4) ___________________ to find enough water in the future. NASA spent 14 years studying (5) ___________________ of freshwater. It was part of (6) ___________________ GRACE, which is an acronym for Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment.

Jay Famiglietti, a co-author (7) ___________________ and NASA's Senior Water Scientist, said: "The study shows that humans (8) ___________________ altered the global water landscape in a very profound way. The human fingerprint (9) ___________________ changing freshwater availability." He warned that: "We see it (10) ___________________ of climate change." Professor Famiglietti said (11) ___________________ 40 per cent of the 34 hot areas looked at in the research were drier than twenty years ago because of human activity. One big reason (12) ___________________ pumping of groundwater for farming.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

NASAhassaidthathumanactivityiscausingahugeredistributionoffres
hwateracrossEarth.Theredistributioniscontinuingaspopulationsshift
anddemandforfoodincreases.NASAsaidequatorialregionsaredrying,
whiletropicalareasandhigherlatitudesaregettingwetter.Ifthistrendc
ontinues,manyhighlypopulatedareascouldstruggletofindenoughwat
erinthefuture.NASAspent14yearsstudyingtheshiftingavailabilityoffr
eshwater.ItwaspartofamissioncalledGRACE,whichisanacronymforG
ravityRecoveryandClimateExperiment.JayFamiglietti,aco-authoro
ftheresearchandNASA'sSeniorWaterScientist,said:"Thestudyshows
thathumanshavereallydrasticallyalteredtheglobalwaterlandscapein
averyprofoundway.Thehumanfingerprintisalloverchangingfreshwat
eravailability."Hewarnedthat:"Weseeitasadriverofclimatechange."
ProfessorFamigliettisaidthatatleast40percentofthe34hotareaslooke
datintheresearchweredrierthantwentyyearsagobecauseofhumanac
tivity.Onebigreasonwastheexcessivepumpingofgroundwaterforfar
ming.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

Help Support This Web Site

  • Please consider helping Breaking News English.com

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You