Academic English
"World News Stories"
| Level: | Topic: | Speakers: | Length: |
| difficult | news headlines | man | 01:04 |
Pre-Listening Exercise
You can learn to understand local and world news reports by predicting the main ideas based on the news headlines. Read the possible headlines below for the four news stories and predict the content for each. Try to guess what key words that would come up in each story.
Idioms
A. Listen to the news report and select the best title for each news story.
Listening Exercise
"catch someone red-handed" = catch someone in the middle of doing something wrong
"Some of the employees caught the president red-handed lying to the media about the company's financial problems."
"have a strong stomach" = have a strong ability to endure unpleasant things
"With so much violence in world, you need to have a strong stomach to listen to the news today."
News Story One:
A giant crocodile attacked a man walking his dog along a river in Australia.
News Story Two:
The woman suffered a broken leg and minor neck injuries, but she was more worried about her cat swept away by the storm. She's offering a $1,000 reward for her feline friend.
News Story Three:
In another part of the world, a man gets his hand stuck in a kitchen garbage disposal and is trapped for three days.
News Story Four:
And finally, a Canadian family of four gets lost trying to drive across a mountain pass in a blizzard and is stranded for a week.
Post-Listening Exercise
The Internet now allows people to search for news stories around the world much easier than before. Use any online service or search engine to find an unusual news event or story in English from a different country than where you presently live. Summarize the main ideas and share it with a partner. Discuss why the event would be of particular local or international interest.
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