Facts and figures

Facts and figures

Listen to the lecturer giving some facts and figures to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

… and the next part of this talk is on the Panama Canal. It's amazing how this one small section of a small country can be so important to the world. Let's learn a little bit about the canal itself, before we look at how it connects to everything else.

The Panama Canal is an artificial waterway in the Central American country of Panama that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. It is only 82 kilometres long. If you go around South America by ship then you need to travel another 15,000 kilometres. So the canal saves a lot of travel time. It takes around 8 to 10 hours to cross the canal.

The French started building the canal in 1881, but they couldn't finish it. The project was started again in 1904 by the United States and the canal was finally finished in 1914. Many people died while they were building the canal, some say up to 25,000. For the rest of the 20th century, the United States controlled the canal, but gave control back to Panama in 2000.

Every year, around 40,000 ships come through the canal. These are mostly commercial ships. They transport goods for trade between Asia and America, or Europe. In 2016 the government of Panama made the canal bigger, so that now 99 per cent of ships can pass through it.

Let's now turn to the role of the Panama Canal in the global economy …

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

Download
Worksheet78.61 KB

Language level

Average: 4 (57 votes)
Profile picture for user browwnie

Submitted by browwnie on Tue, 08/10/2024 - 09:12

Permalink

Hello my name is angel, I'm from Indonesia and i'm an education English student 

Are you good with numbers?

I am quite confident in my ability to remember numbers, as evidenced by my 100% correct result in task 2, but I have a weakness in remembering and grouping topics accordingly as in task 1, I have tried 3 times but still made mistakes in answering the questions. Do you guys have any tips for me? thank you!

Hello browwnie,

Often the problem is recognising the different ways in which a particular point or topic may be described. For example, one of the points in Task 1 is How many ships cross the canal. To answer this you need to listen not for the word cross but rather a synonym come through. If you recognise that come through means the same as cross here then you should be able to do the task. My tip, then is before you listen to think about synonyms and alternative ways to say the things you are listening for.

Also, remember that if you get one item wrong (say, putting the fourth item first) it may mean that the others are all wrong even though they are in the correct order. Sometimes the answers are wrong but not as bad as they look!

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Dr Sabra on Sun, 29/09/2024 - 13:19

Permalink

Memorizing numbers are a good manner to activate memory.

Submitted by hatice2 on Fri, 30/08/2024 - 15:07

Permalink

Are you good with numbers?

No I'm not at numbers. Especially with another language like Arabic and English its so confusing for me. And ı hate math .

Profile picture for user bero414

Submitted by bero414 on Thu, 29/08/2024 - 07:34

Permalink

 No, I'm not good with numbers, I have problem with memorize the numbers.

Profile picture for user zino

Submitted by zino on Tue, 13/08/2024 - 11:08

Permalink

You asked me if I'm good with numbers.

Yes, I'm good with numbers, and I am always learning how to improve my memory with numbers and phone numbers.

It's an interesting thing!

Profile picture for user afredo_954

Submitted by afredo_954 on Wed, 10/07/2024 - 14:34

Permalink

I'm no bad, but it isn't my best.

Submitted by KelvinDo on Thu, 13/06/2024 - 05:22

Permalink

Are you good with numbers?

I am just normal with numbers, but I am not scared about math, I can calculate fast math like add, minus, times, and divide in business but I am not good at geometry. I felt I could work with the number because I was patient with it.

Submitted by ubaid332 on Wed, 15/05/2024 - 08:22

Permalink

Yes, I am good at numbers while listening it is difficult for me to understand it. I am now trying to listen more to numbers by practicing listening tasks and will be able to increase my listening skills.

Profile picture for user CanVD11

Submitted by CanVD11 on Wed, 20/03/2024 - 08:11

Permalink
Discussion:

Are you good with numbers?

I'm good with numbers and figures. My math, and physics are good, in fact, I often receive high scores in these subjects. Moreover, currently, I work as an electrical engineer, so you know my job requires math skills to calculate and handle technical problems that I have to deal with. If it is English numbers and figures, I can understand if you speak slowly, sometimes, I misunderstand them when trying to remember all of it. 

I will try my best to enhance my number skills by listening more and using frequently in my tasks and my daily communication