A student discussion

A student discussion

Listen to two students comparing Mars and Earth to practise and improve your listening skills.

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

Preparation

Transcript

Teacher: So you've got a few minutes to discuss with your partner.

Student 1: So, as far as I know, the main similarity between Mars and Earth is that they can both support human life.

Student 2: Yeah, but do we know that's actually true? I mean, Mars is much colder than Earth, isn't it? It says here it's about minus 55 degrees most of the time, whereas on Earth only places like Antarctica get that cold.

Student 1: True. Well then, I suppose you could say both planets are a similar distance from the Sun?

Student 2: No way! Mars is much further away! It says here it's about 228 million kilometres, while Earth is about 150 million.

Student 1: Yes, but in space that's not that far. Jupiter is, like, almost 780 million kilometres. That's why we use astronomical units when we talk about distances in space. Earth is 1 astronomical unit from the Sun and Mars is 1.3. The difference doesn't sound so big when you look at it that way.

Student 2: I see what you mean. Jupiter is 5.2 astronomical units so I guess you're right. What other similarities are there between the two planets?

Student 1: Let's see … not the colour, obviously!

Student 2: Yeah! Earth is called the blue planet and Mars is called the red planet for pretty obvious reasons!

Student 1: Their sizes are pretty different. Mars is about half the size of Earth.

Student 2: What about this? It looks like the days on both planets are almost the same length. Earth's day is 24 hours but Mars's is about half an hour longer.

Student 1: You're right. OK, any other things they both share?

Student 2: I suppose you could say they have water in common.

Student 1: Could you? How?

Student 2: Well, Earth is 70 per cent water and Mars probably had huge oceans in the past. It's just that most of the water there now is probably frozen.

Student 1: Ah, I see. I don't think we can say the air is the same, though. Most of Earth's air is nitrogen and oxygen, but Mars …?

Student 2: Mars doesn't really have air, not compared with Earth. It's got about one per cent as much air as Earth.

Student 1: Right, and it's mostly carbon dioxide.

Student 2: Gravity is another difference. I didn't know this, but Mars has higher gravity than the Moon. But it's much less than on Earth, of course.

Student 1: Oh, yes. It says Mars has about 38 per cent of Earth's gravity.

Teacher: OK, let's see what you've found …

Discussion

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Submitted by kseniwerdy on Sat, 24/08/2019 - 03:43

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I wonder about this sentence: "It's got about one per cent as much air as Earth." Doesn't it mean that "There is 1 percent of air more on Mars than on Earth."?..

Hello kseniwerdy,

'It has one percent as much... as...' means it has 99% less.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by _maryam_ on Mon, 19/08/2019 - 09:19

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I think it's impossible. this is so expencive and the earth is our home.We can't leave it and go forever. Poor earth! We destroy it and now we are looking for another home for take down!

Submitted by Afki on Fri, 16/08/2019 - 14:41

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When you see the speed of knowledge and tegnology its possible one day to see some people that imigrate to the mars.

Submitted by starfish2019 on Thu, 08/08/2019 - 18:02

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Do you think people will live on Mars one day? Yes, I also believe that certain portion of the Earth's Population will definitely live on Mars one day, because certain parts of our World's Natural Resources are depleting and overuse, therefore people will always look for alternative or replacements elsewhere, as part of our human nature. May be NASA Mars missions will find some kind of precious metals, minerals or elements on Mars to give great incentive for people to colonize the Mars and will be helped by great people like Elon Musk :)
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Submitted by Caterina Siligardi on Fri, 02/08/2019 - 18:15

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Why not? But it has to be clear that human life on Mars will be different. I love you, Earth !!
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Submitted by Anaitat on Thu, 01/08/2019 - 12:51

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Today Mars is the most and in more depth studied planet of the Solar System. For the idea, people will live on Mars, I can response that nowadays the people can use the Red Planet for scientific research and development only. As far ahead as anyone can see there is no such possibility.

Submitted by Mamai on Tue, 30/07/2019 - 09:53

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I think is possible for human to life in Mars. But is better if they didn’t because humain will destroy evrething he touch.