Joy English · Level C1 · Geologyjoy-english.com
How glaciers carve valleys
Name:Date:
Follow a lecture that explains a process in clear stages.
Listen to each sentence and write what you hear.
Audio and answer checking: https://joy-english.com/listening-lessons/how-glaciers-carve-valleys
Words to know
- glacier
- A huge mass of ice that moves slowly over land.
- bedrock
- The solid rock under soil.
- groove
- A long, narrow cut in a surface.
- scoured
- Cleaned or cut away by rubbing hard.
Answer key
- When a glacier advances, it does not simply slide over the land; it grinds, scrapes and reshapes it.'Glacier' has two common pronunciations: GLAY-sher and GLASS-ee-er. The three verbs 'grinds, scrapes and reshapes' form a list.
- Rocks frozen into the base of the ice act like coarse sandpaper, wearing grooves into the bedrock beneath.'Frozen into' is a reduced clause: rocks that are frozen. 'Coarse' sounds the same as 'course'.
- Over countless centuries, this process widens a narrow river valley into a deep trough with steep sides.'Countless' means too many to count. 'Trough' is said 'trof' and rhymes with 'off'.
- Once the ice melts, a wide rounded valley is left behind, quite unlike the narrow cut made by a river.'Once' here means after. 'Quite unlike' means very different from. 'Rounded' ends with a d.
- Many lakes that visitors admire today began as hollows scoured out by moving ice long ago.'Scoured' is said SKOW-erd. 'Hollows' are empty spaces in the ground.