The Reading / Listening - Colonizing Space - Level 4

Demographers are worried about overpopulation, but Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wants to populate our solar system. He hopes that in a thousand years' time, a trillion humans would be living in the solar system. He said if that happened, "we would have at any given time 1,000 Mozarts and 1,000 Einsteins.…Space would be full of life and intelligence". He wants to build the infrastructure that space entrepreneurs will use in the future.

Elon Musk agrees with Mr Bezos. He said: "We want to be a multi-planet species." He warned that: "Population collapse due to low birth rates is a bigger risk to civilization than global warming." Bezos said people would live in giant space stations, and would visit Earth for vacations. He thinks Earth's environment will be pristine again because of factories built in space. He said they could get resources from asteroids instead of from Earth.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Colonizing Space - Level 5 or  Colonizing Space - Level 6

Sources
  • https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jeff-bezos-elon-musk-human-170119555.html
  • https://www.sciencealert.com/bezoss-vision-for-1000-einsteins-doesnt-take-into-account-37000-serial-killers
  • https://futurism.com/the-byte/jeff-bezos-trillion-people-live-cylindrical-space-stations


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. Demographers are worried
  2. populate our
  3. in a thousand
  4. humans would be living
  5. at any given
  6. Space would be full of life
  7. He wants to build
  8. space
  1. and intelligence
  2. the infrastructure
  3. in the solar system
  4. solar system
  5. entrepreneurs
  6. about overpopulation
  7. time
  8. years' time

Paragraph 2

  1. Elon Musk agrees
  2. We want to be a multi-
  3. population collapse due to
  4. a bigger risk to
  5. people would live in
  6. Earth's environment will be
  7. they could get resources
  8. instead
  1. of from Earth
  2. civilization
  3. from asteroids
  4. pristine again
  5. low birth rates
  6. with Mr Bezos
  7. giant space stations
  8. planet species

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Demographers (1) ___________________ overpopulation, but Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wants to (2) ___________________ system. He hopes that in a (3) ___________________, a trillion humans would be living in the solar system. He said if that happened, "we would have (4) ___________________ time 1,000 Mozarts and 1,000 Einsteins.…Space would be full of (5) ___________________". He wants to build the infrastructure that space (6) ___________________ in the future.

Elon Musk agrees with Mr Bezos. He said: "We want to (7) ___________________ species." He warned that: "Population collapse due to low birth rates is a (8) ___________________ civilization than global warming." Bezos said people (9) ___________________ giant space stations, and would visit (10) ___________________. He thinks Earth's environment will be pristine again (11) ___________________ built in space. He said they could get resources from (12) ___________________ from Earth.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Demographersareworriedaboutoverpopulation,butAmazonfounder
JeffBezoswantstopopulateoursolarsystem.Hehopesthatinathousan
dyears'time,atrillionhumanswouldbelivinginthesolarsystem.Hesaidi
fthathappened,"wewouldhaveatanygiventime1,000Mozartsand1,0
00Einsteins.…Spacewouldbefulloflifeandintelligence".Hewantstobui
ldtheinfrastructurethatspaceentrepreneurswilluseinthefuture.Elon
MuskagreeswithMrBezos.Hesaid:"Wewanttobeamulti-planetspec
ies."Hewarnedthat:"Populationcollapseduetolowbirthratesisabigge
rrisktocivilizationthanglobalwarming."Bezossaidpeoplewouldliveing
iantspacestations,andwouldvisitEarthforvacations.HethinksEarth's
environmentwillbepristineagainbecauseoffactoriesbuiltinspace.Hes
aidtheycouldgetresourcesfromasteroidsinsteadoffromEarth.

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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