Following
the news
1 SHARE YOUR IDEAS
Following the news
How often do you read a newspaper or watch the news on TV? What’s been in the news recently?
2 READING
A Read the text below. Who is the article for?
Places in the news
YELLOWSTONE’S HOT SECRET
Visitors to America’s world-famous Yellowstone Park have always been fascinated by its thousands of hot springs and geysers. But they have only just begun to understand what they’re looking at. Every year, more than three million people walk over one of the largest active volcanoes in the world.
Yellowstone is a supervolcano. After the last big eruption 640,000 years ago, ash covered most parts of North America, and the Earth’s climate changed. During the ‘volcanic winter’ that followed, clouds of dark ash hid the sun. It was so cold that many types of animals and plants died. The eruption made such a huge hole that we can only see it from the air. It is 85 km long and 45 km wide.
The volcano is still alive. Tests have shown that thousands of earthquakes happen every year at Yellowstone. They are usually so small that people can’t feel them, but they are signs of volcanic activity. Recently, the number of earthquakes has increased and, in some parts of the park, the level of the ground has risen.
During recent summers, heat rising from under the surface of the Earth has created new hotspots in the park – the temperature is so high that the road has melted, and pockets of boiling water have appeared. Geologists believe that the Earth’s crust is less than forty miles thick in Yellowstone, compared to ninety miles in most other places. In 2014, Yellowstone was shaken by its worst earthquake in thirty years. The Yellowstone Volcanic Observatory is using sensitive new equipment to find out more about these movements.
Yellowstone has had three super eruptions in the last 2.1 million years. Most experts believe there is no immediate danger of another giant explosion, but it’s impossible to be sure. They believe that, if there is a super eruption, most of the USA will become uninhabitable.
Alan Stewart, a London scientist, says: ‘There’s going to be another super eruption somewhere on the planet. They’ve already happened in the past. They aren’t going to stop happening because humans have appeared!’
B Comprehension check
Listen, and read the text again. Then answer these questions.
C Reading skills Understanding the main idea
3 WORD WORK
so … that … ; such a/an … that …
Look at the examples.
The hole is so huge that we can only see it from the air.
It is such a huge hole that we can only see it from the air.
Join the sentences using so + adjective + that … or such a/an + adjective + noun + that … .
Remember!
It was so cold that many animals died.
It’s impossible to be sure.
It took two hours to get home.
4 WRITING
A school newsletter
Use what you know
Think of things that have happened recently at your school. Write a description of at least one event (real or imaginary) for a school newsletter. You can use these ideas or think of your own.
- a class trip
- a school concert or social event
- a problem that the school has had
If you prefer, write about an event that’s in the national news at the moment.
WRITING GUIDE
Writing a newsletter
- For each event, say what has happened. Use the present perfect.
Class 9C has been on a science trip.
Have you heard about the exciting new after-school club - the Apollo Dance Company? It’s just started. - Give more details. Use the past simple.
They went to the Science Museum in ... last Wednesday.
This all-male company was inspired by a visit to the dance performance of ‘Lord of the Flies’ last term.