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Deserts

Learn the First Conditional

Date: Nov 30 2011

Themes: Travel, Weather

Grammar: First Conditional

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Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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No place on Earth looks more like another planet than the desert. Whether it’s the Sahara with its miles and miles of sand dunes or the Grand Canyon with its dramatic red cliffs, deserts are beautiful and strange.

Deserts also might not be what you expect. For instance, not all deserts are hot. Much of Antarctica is covered in “cold desert,” where temperatures are often freezing and where you can find “snow dunes” instead of sand dunes.

Hear a conversation between Jason and Ella about deserts.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Ella

Jason

Ella: I’m not a fan of heat, but I’m definitely a fan of deserts.

Jason: Wow, OK. So you go to cold deserts then?

Ella: Yes!

Jason: I mean, deserts are really cold, especially at night.

Ella: I know, I love it. I mean, it’s just straight up heat. I hate humidity, and in the desert, there’s no humidity.

Jason: Not likely to rain, and if it does, it’ll last about five minutes.

Ella: Yes.

Jason: You know, I like the desert because it seems kind of spiritual. Like somehow all the space and the lack of life, just makes it sort of magical in some way. I guess it’s that cliche of like Jim Morrison going out into the desert to find truth, and he was sort of imitating the Native Americans. It seems like there’s something to that to me.

Ella: I mean, mirages occur there a lot, I hear.

Jason: Right!

Ella: And you can do lots of sand boarding. That’s why I like deserts.

Jason: Oh, so you like to get on the dunes and ride down?

Ella: Yeah! It’s so fun.

Jason: Would you ever want to live in the desert? It’s kinda sandy.

Ella: If I’m close to a lake, like Lake Tahoe, I’d be totally OK living near the desert.

Jason: Gotcha. You need a place to cool off and wash off the sand.

Ella: Exactly.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Discussion

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Ella tells Jason that she loves the desert. She hates humidity, so she appreciates how dry the desert is. She also likes sand boarding in the desert. Sand boarding is like surfing or skate boarding, but on sand dunes.

Jason also likes the desert. He thinks it is a magical, spiritual place. But he thinks that all that sand would get annoying if he actually lived in the desert. Ella says she could live in the desert as long as there was a lake nearby where she could cool off.

Have you ever been to the desert? Do you think the desert is magical, or too hot?

Comments

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abu jana

United States

there is a big desert in saudi arabia which is live more people there , because they are used to living there . the desert is very dray so i don’t like it looooooooooool

abu jana

United States

so fun, thanks alot

The Last Joke

Yemen

I have never been in a natural place and felt that was a waste of time. I never have. If I’m walking around a desert , every second is worthwhile.

Joy900

Japan

I never been in desert before , but my friend told me this :

In the desert , I should not see the desert simply as some faraway place of little rain. There are many forms of thirst.

idrnouel

Dominican Republic

I never been to the desert but I think this kinds of place are too hot. When you see a cowboy movie you can see a lack of life.

julito

Argentina

Nomads, plants and animals had to adapt themselves in order to live and survive under the extreme conditions existing in the desert. we might have a good chance of surviving in the Antartica wearing worm clothes and food , but the merciless heat and the danger of dehydration in the desert leave us with few chances to survive a long time