UNIT 9 The world's highest mountain
is 8,844 meters high.
SECTION B
1 How do animals compare with man?
Use the language in the box to make comparisons.
A is three times as strong as B.
A is more than ten times bigger that B.
A is not nearly as strong as B.
A can eat a little more than B.
A is ten centimeters longer than B.
A turtle
weighs 150 kilos.
is 100 centimeters long.
lives for 150 years.
An elephant
weighs 5,000 kilos.
is 500 centimeters long.
eats 250 kilos of food per day.
A man
weighs 70 kilos.
is 170 centimeters tall.
can run 15 kilometers per hour.
lives for 70 years.
sleeps 8 hours per day.
A cheetah
weighs 60 kilos.
is 150 centimeters long.
can run 100 kilometers per hour.
A giant panda
weighs 120 kilos.
is 60 centimeters tall.
eats 20 kilos of food per day.
lives for 25 years.
2a Listen and complete the sentences.
Does anyone know how heavy a cat is?
I think an ordinary cat
weighs about a few kilos.
And how much does an insect weigh?
Only a few grams, I'm sure.
Right. So... a cat weighs many times
more than an insect.
And what about the difference in size
between a dog and a giant panda?
Well, it depends on what kinds of dog.
But I would say that a big dog is just
less than half the size of a giant panda.
I have a question!
Is man the longest living animal in the world?
No, that's a giant turtle.
But a man can live for nearly a hundred years
nowadays.That's quite long.
And how long can a butterfly live?
Can it live as long as a man?
No, a butterfly only lives for three days.
What a short life!
Yes,many insects have very short lives.
2b Listen again.
Check (√) the other animals you hear.
2c PAIRWORK
Compare facts about animals
using the information in activity 1.
Look!A giant panda weighs 120 kilos.
That means it weighs 50 kilos more than a man.
Yeah.A man only weighs 70 kilos.
3a Read the article about disasters.
Fill in each blank with a correct word from the box.
Flooding is one of the biggest problems in the world.
In August 2005,
there was a serious flood in northeastern China.
In Fushun more than 100 millimeters of rain fell
and the water level became very high.
Eventually about 6,800 homes disappeared under water.
Soldiers worked hard to save people,
and tried to prevent the water from rising
higher by using bags filled with sand.
At the same time on the other side of the world
a typhoon caused a flood that covered the city
of New Orleans in the United States.
Much of this city lies three meters below sea level.
Many people got away from the city early enough
but about 30,000 stayed to try to
save their homes.
Then things went from bad to worse.
The longer people waited for help,
the more dangerous the situation became.
In the end about 1,000 people died in the flood.
This was one of the worst natural disasters
in the history of the United States.
However, this was a lot fewer than the number
of people who died in the tsunami in Asia
in December 2004 --about 300,000.
3b Answer the questions.
4 What other disasters do you know?
Find information about one and write an article for a news magazine.
Use at least two comparisons.