IELTS Topic: Life on Our Planet

Mercury: boring!

Think about our solar system for a moment. The first planet, Mercury, is tiny and boiling hot. It's impossible to live there, but if you could live there, what would you do? There are no trees, no mountains, no forests, no animals, no cinemas, no gyms and no chocolate. Venus is the same, except that it's cloudy all the time and the air is full of poisonous chemicals that would kill you in a few minutes. Mars has a few mountains and some nice coloured dirt, but it's freezing cold and nothing ever happens there.

All the other planets are either made of gas, or made of ice.

Venus: You'll be dead in a minute.

The point is, when you consider how little there is on the other planets, it's quite incredible how much stuff there is on ours. Earth has everything from pyramids to mangoes, from cats to curries, from the Bahamas to the Himalayas. We have Roger Federer, we have novels and bees, we have air traffic control, cappuccinos, smart phones, Norway, physics departments, red wine  and roses ... and of course, I could go on.

Probably the most amazing thing we have, though, is life. Life is everywhere, from the bottom of the oceans to the tops of mountains, and from the heart of the Brazilian rainforest to the table in your kitchen. This is not normal for a planet. In fact, it's extremely unusual.

So what is this thing called "life", and how does it relate to us at this point in our history? What helps life to spread, and what puts it in danger? Why are there so many different kinds of it? And as humans, what is our relationship to other forms of life?

These are all deep questions, but don't worry - in the IELTS exam, the examiner won't suddenly say "What is life, and where did it come from?". However, there are often reading texts about related topics. You may also get speaking questions about animals, natural places, or humans' effect on nature and how we can protect it.

So let's have a look at some videos and other resources that cover this topic.

We'll start with a video from Kew Gardens, a famous Botanical Garden in the UK. Before you do any of the exercises below, just watch the video, enjoy the pictures, and try to understand the main ideas.

Kew Gardens Exercises 

1: Useful Verbs

Read these excerpts from the first section of the video. From memory, choose the right word for each space. Then listen and check.

a) All of us really need plants. If you just  ---    provided    care for    reflect on    generate    estimate    what you had for breakfast this morning, on medicines you may have taken, all of these things are  ---    provided    care for    reflect on    generate    estimate    by plants. They  ---    provided    care for    reflect on    generate    estimate    clean soil, clean air, and a healthy existence for people.

b) Some people  ---    provided    care for    reflect on    generate    estimate    that many thousands of plants are endangered. They're threatened, and who knows what sort of help they could give to people in the future if we  ---    provided    care for    reflect on    generate    estimate    them.


Now use these verbs in other sentences.

c) Governments have a responsibility to  ---    provided    care for    reflect on    generate    estimate    people who can't work because they are ill.

d) Nowadays people don't often  ---    provided    care for    reflect on    generate    estimate    the real meanings of national and religious holidays. They just eat and drink a lot on those days!

e) Some people simply don't believe that solar energy can  ---    provided    care for    reflect on    generate    estimate    enough electricity for the needs of modern societies.

f) Scientists  ---    provided    care for    reflect on    generate    estimate    that, in the next 50 years, global average temperatures may increase by up to six degrees celsius.

g) Some medical services are  ---    provided    care for    reflect on    generate    estimate    free by the government, but you have to pay for others.


2: Helping Plants in Danger

Match these sentences from the video to their meaning.

a) "There is an urgency associated with plants."
                 ---            All of them are dying. Soon there will be none left.  We thought there was almost no chance of success.          By paying some money to help people do something good.          There's a possibility that all of them will die.          We've invented new ways of doing this.          We'll take the seeds into a natural environment and plant them there.     The last word means 'all the examples of this thing in the world'.      We need to do something now. We can't wait.      We can save them at the last possible moment.      We close them very tightly, so no air can get in.      

b) Some people estimate that many thousands of plants are endangered.
    They're threatened.
                 ---            All of them are dying. Soon there will be none left.  We thought there was almost no chance of success.          By paying some money to help people do something good.          There's a possibility that all of them will die.          We've invented new ways of doing this.          We'll take the seeds into a natural environment and plant them there.     The last word means 'all the examples of this thing in the world'.      We need to do something now. We can't wait.      We can save them at the last possible moment.      We close them very tightly, so no air can get in.      

c) Even on the continents, on the mainland, plants are going extinct.
                 ---            All of them are dying. Soon there will be none left.  We thought there was almost no chance of success.          By paying some money to help people do something good.          There's a possibility that all of them will die.          We've invented new ways of doing this.          We'll take the seeds into a natural environment and plant them there.     The last word means 'all the examples of this thing in the world'.      We need to do something now. We can't wait.      We can save them at the last possible moment.      We close them very tightly, so no air can get in.      

d) We now have enough plants to work with our partners on Rodriguez
    Island, and get this plant back into the wild.
                 ---            All of them are dying. Soon there will be none left.  We thought there was almost no chance of success.          By paying some money to help people do something good.          There's a possibility that all of them will die.          We've invented new ways of doing this.          We'll take the seeds into a natural environment and plant them there.     The last word means 'all the examples of this thing in the world'.      We need to do something now. We can't wait.      We can save them at the last possible moment.      We close them very tightly, so no air can get in.      

e) We've developed methods for its propagation.
     (NOTE: "propagate" = make more of something)
                 ---            All of them are dying. Soon there will be none left.  We thought there was almost no chance of success.          By paying some money to help people do something good.          There's a possibility that all of them will die.          We've invented new ways of doing this.          We'll take the seeds into a natural environment and plant them there.     The last word means 'all the examples of this thing in the world'.      We need to do something now. We can't wait.      We can save them at the last possible moment.      We close them very tightly, so no air can get in.      

f) We'd almost given up hope.
                 ---            All of them are dying. Soon there will be none left.  We thought there was almost no chance of success.          By paying some money to help people do something good.          There's a possibility that all of them will die.          We've invented new ways of doing this.          We'll take the seeds into a natural environment and plant them there.     The last word means 'all the examples of this thing in the world'.      We need to do something now. We can't wait.      We can save them at the last possible moment.      We close them very tightly, so no air can get in.      

g) Half are kept in the country of origin. We seal the other half in glass jars.                  ---            All of them are dying. Soon there will be none left.  We thought there was almost no chance of success.          By paying some money to help people do something good.          There's a possibility that all of them will die.          We've invented new ways of doing this.          We'll take the seeds into a natural environment and plant them there.     The last word means 'all the examples of this thing in the world'.      We need to do something now. We can't wait.      We can save them at the last possible moment.      We close them very tightly, so no air can get in.      

h) By giving a small donation.
                 ---            All of them are dying. Soon there will be none left.  We thought there was almost no chance of success.          By paying some money to help people do something good.          There's a possibility that all of them will die.          We've invented new ways of doing this.          We'll take the seeds into a natural environment and plant them there.     The last word means 'all the examples of this thing in the world'.      We need to do something now. We can't wait.      We can save them at the last possible moment.      We close them very tightly, so no air can get in.      

i) By clubbing together to save an entire species.
                 ---            All of them are dying. Soon there will be none left.  We thought there was almost no chance of success.          By paying some money to help people do something good.          There's a possibility that all of them will die.          We've invented new ways of doing this.          We'll take the seeds into a natural environment and plant them there.     The last word means 'all the examples of this thing in the world'.      We need to do something now. We can't wait.      We can save them at the last possible moment.      We close them very tightly, so no air can get in.      

j) We really can bring plants back from the brink.
                 ---            All of them are dying. Soon there will be none left.  We thought there was almost no chance of success.          By paying some money to help people do something good.          There's a possibility that all of them will die.          We've invented new ways of doing this.          We'll take the seeds into a natural environment and plant them there.     The last word means 'all the examples of this thing in the world'.      We need to do something now. We can't wait.      We can save them at the last possible moment.      We close them very tightly, so no air can get in.