Unit 3 Listening

Listening P23 □ canyons □ forests □ valleys □ mountains □ fish □ waterfalls □ floods □ horses □ Laos □ Thailand □ Tibet □ Dali

TopicSouthwestLaos Local name of the river The sea of Laos Uses of the river 2. Listen to the tape again. The water of the rocks Washing, fishing and transport

TopicSouthwestLaos What to see Small villages along the river Many different animal, plant and bird species

TopicSouthwestLaos Scenery Waterfalls and rapids River passes through mountains and forests; temples, caves and a waterfall

Listening Text On the way to meet their cousins, the two travellers see a girl (G) walking along the road. Wan Kun (WK) stops to speak to her. WK: Hello! G: Hello! Are you travelers? Where are you going?

WK: Yes, we are. We’re following the Mekong River from its start to where it joins the sea. We’ve been all through China and now we are going to follow the river in Laos.

G: I come from Laos. That’s our most important river. Do you know that it even appears on our national flag. WK: Really? G: Yes. We use the river for everything including washing, fishing and moving things around the country. We would be lost without it. It’s better than a road.

WK: Well, I suppose that’s why I’ve seen boats going up and down- they’re transporting goods and people. G: Yes. We call it “the sea of Laos” because it is so useful and we are not close to the see.

WK: How interesting! In Tibet the river was called “The water of the rocks” and in Vietnam it is known as “the river of the nine dragons”. Those names sound so beautiful.

G: Well, the Mekong River is very beautiful, especially when it enters Laos from Tibet. It goes through so many lovely places with mountains and thick forests. The scenery can take you breath away.

WK: I never realized that! In Tibet it was all waterfalls and rapids. G: There are other beautiful sights along the Mekong River in our country. They include temples, caves and a waterfall. It is a protected area so you know it’s very special.

WK: Can we sleep by the river? G: Yes, of course you can. They are many small villages along the river. You can stay there if you wish. They fish in the river and you can eat some wonderful soup there.

WK: We’ve already seen many different kinds of animals, plants and birds along the riverbank. We were happy to see them. G: Well, there are many other things to discover about the Mekong River in Laos.

WK: Thank you so much for telling us so many things. Goodbye. G: Goodbye.

Listening P55 □ Dali □ Cambodia □ moonlight □ mountains □ yaks □ cows □ Laos □ coats □ border □ ducks □ floods □ Africa

1. Who’s telling the story? Wang Kun is telling the story. It’s his travel journal. 2. When did Wang Wei meet her cousins? She met her cousins in October in Dali, a city in western Yunnan Province. 2. Listen to the tape again.

3. Why didn’t they begin the journey in Tibet with Wang Wei and Wang Kun? They wanted to begin their journey from the source of the river.

4. Find a word that describe how the person telling the story feels about travelling in Laos? 5. Find an adjective to describe how you think Dao Wai and Yu Hang felt when they heard about Tibet? Excited. Glad.

Listening Text We met Dao Wei and Yu Hang in Dali. They were glad to join us for the second week of our journey down the great river. Before we set out, we went to a small outdoor cafe and told them about what we had seen in Tibet.

Along the way, children dressed in long wool coats stopped to look at us. I told them how it was so cold in the late evening that the water in our bottles froze. The lakes shone like glass in the moonlight. Few trees could be seen.

I said we were so high in the mountains that we cycled through clouds. In the valleys, colorful butterflies flew around us. We saw many yaks and sheep eating green grass. That night we were too tired to make camp, so we slept in an inn for truck drivers.

They told us many wonderful stories about life in this part of China. The next day we went across the border into Laos. Most of its western border is made by the Mekong River. Laos, we learned, has the smallest number of people of any country in Southeast Asia.

Much of the world knows little about it. As we cycled across the plains where rice grew, we could see many low mountains covered in trees. We had planned our trip well. We were told that autumn was the best time to be traveling here and it was true. It was cool and dry so there was no need to worry about floods along the river.

Listening Task P58 1. In the village the cyclists saw_____. A. electric lights B. candle lights C. Kerosene lights ( 油灯 ) 2. After lunch they went to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos by_____. A. bike B. bus C. truck

3. They greeted an old man by ____. A. putting their hands together B. moving their hands C. waving their arms 4. In Vientiane, they saw____. A. trucks, buses and bicycles B. cars, motorbikes and buses C. trucks, buses, jeeps and motorbikes

5. The Mekong River is very rich in____. A. gold B. pearls C. fish

2. Listen to the tape again. Topic Laos The river Methods of land transport more kinds of fish than any other river in Asia, a big waterfall travel by buses (tuk-tuk), trucks, jeeps and motorbikes

Life in the village Food No electricity, sleep on pieces of wood, close to the river Special noodle soup, probably chicken and fish as well

Listening Text On our third night in Laos, we slept in a village on little pieces of wood. The village had no lights. In a few houses, however, we could see candles. On the small road near the village, we heard only one truck all night.

The river was also quiet, like a man singing in a low voice from a boat as it slowly passed us. The next morning we made an early start and traveled quite far before lunch. Along the way, strange buses called tuk-tuks passed us. For lunch we ate a special noodle soup.

After lunch we were tired, so we put our bikes next to many other bikes on a bus and we were driven to Vientiane. A cage of chickens sang for us all the way! The capital city of Laos was very busy. Trucks, buses, jeeps and motorbikes filled the streets. We got on our bikes again and went to see a famous Buddhist temple.

Early that evening we cycled south of the city and followed the river to a big waterfall. As it got dark, a bright orange moon appeared in the sky. The next morning we stopped to talk to an old man fishing on the Mekong. We greeted him with our hands put together, in the way of his people.

He smiled and moved his head down a bit. He told us that during the rainy season the river became much larger. But, he said, the river is always rich in fish life. Indeed, he said, it has more different kinds of fish than any other river in Asia. He also told us about the

changes on the river he had seen over the years. For him, the river was part of the only way of life he had ever known. Later that afternoon we cycled faster and farther, hoping to reach the border with Cambodia in two days.