The Reading / Listening - Nuclear Annihilation - Level 1

We live in difficult times. We have a pandemic, a cost of living crisis, and a changing climate. The UN has warned of another danger – nuclear war. It said one small mistake could lead to war. This is because international tensions are "reaching new highs". Ukraine, Korea, and the Middle East are possible flashpoints. The UN said we are "lucky" to have avoided nuclear war. However, it said luck was not a strategy to stop global tensions.

The UN said the danger is at a level not seen in many years. It warned that: "Humanity is just one misunderstanding…away from nuclear annihilation." The UN Secretary-General said the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty should help the world. He added: "Eliminating nuclear weapons is the only guarantee that they will never be used." There are almost 13,000 nuclear weapons around the world. The risk of nuclear war is growing.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Nuclear Annihilation - Level 0 Nuclear Annihilation - Level 2   or  Nuclear Annihilation - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/world-62381425
  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/02/world-one-miscalculation-away-from-nuclear-annihilation-un-chief-says
  • https://www.dw.com/en/guterres-warns-of-nuclear-annihilation-at-conference-over-nuclear-nonproliferation-treaty/a-62675732


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. We live
  2. a cost of living
  3. The UN has warned
  4. one small mistake could
  5. international
  6. the Middle
  7. we are "lucky" to have
  8. a strategy to
  1. avoided nuclear war
  2. lead to war
  3. stop global tensions
  4. crisis
  5. East
  6. in difficult times
  7. tensions
  8. of another danger

Paragraph 2

  1. a level not seen
  2. just one misunderstanding
  3. help the
  4. Eliminating nuclear weapons is
  5. they will never
  6. There are almost
  7. nuclear
  8. The risk of nuclear war
  1. 13,000
  2. world
  3. is growing
  4. be used
  5. in many years
  6. weapons
  7. the only guarantee
  8. away

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

We live (1) ___________________. We have a pandemic, a cost (2) ___________________, and a changing climate. The UN has warned of another danger - nuclear war. It said one small mistake (3) ___________________ war. This is because international tensions are "reaching new highs". Ukraine, Korea, and (4) ___________________ are possible flashpoints. The UN said we are (5) ___________________ avoided nuclear war. However, it said luck was not a strategy to (6) ___________________.

The UN said the danger is at a (7) ___________________ in many years. It warned that: "Humanity (8) ___________________ misunderstanding... (9) ___________________ annihilation." The UN Secretary-General said the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (10) ___________________ world. He added: "Eliminating nuclear weapons (11) ___________________ guarantee that they will never be used." There are almost 13,000 nuclear weapons around the world. The risk of nuclear (12) ___________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Weliveindifficulttimes.Wehaveapandemic,acostoflivingcrisis,andac
hangingclimate.TheUNhaswarnedofanotherdanger-nuclearwar.Its
aidonesmallmistakecouldleadtowar.Thisisbecauseinternationaltens
ionsare"reachingnewhighs".Ukraine,Korea,andtheMiddleEastarepo
ssibleflashpoints.TheUNsaidweare"lucky"tohaveavoidednuclearwar
.However,itsaidluckwasnotastrategytostopglobaltensions.TheUNsa
idthedangerisatalevelnotseeninmanyyears.Itwarnedthat:"Humanityi
sjustonemisunderstanding...awayfromnuclearannihilation."TheUN
Secretary-GeneralsaidtheNuclearNon-ProliferationTreatyshouldhe
lptheworld.Headded:"Eliminatingnuclearweaponsistheonlyguarant
eethattheywillneverbeused."Therearealmost13,000nuclearweapon
saroundtheworld.Theriskofnuclearwarisgrowing.

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.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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