Listening

trees. Other countries build long canals to bring water to the desert areas.
 Well, that's all for my talk. Thank you for listening.
Unit 10: ENDANGERED SPECIES
For a long time the image most people had of a gorilla was a dangerous-looking animal with big, bared teeth. But researchers studying gorillas show a very different picture of mountain gorillas. The animals are peaceful, gentle, sociable, and mainly plant-eating creatures.
Gorillas live in family groups. A typical group is led by the biggest and strongest grown-up male gorilla. He is called a silverback because the hair on a male's back turns from black to silvery grey as he grows up. A silverback's group usually includes one or two sub-adult males and a few females and their young.
Mountain gorillas spend much of their time eating. Their food includes a variety of plants, along with a few kinds of insects and worms. At night the animals make a nest to sleep in. Many lightweight gorillas nest in trees. The heavier ones may nest in grasses on the ground. Babies sleep with their mothers at night.
Life for mountain gorillas is not always peaceful. They are endangered and threatened by civil wars in the smaller parts of Africa. Hunters kill them for food. Their forests are cut down for farmland, fuel, and housing. But many scientists, forest rangers and other concerned people are working hard to protect mountain gorillas and their habitats.
Unit 11: BOOKS
 	 I recently read The Incredible Journey by Sheila Bumford, a book about three animal friends who travel across the Canadian wilderness looking for their owners. It is a fascinating story that describes some of the incredible things animals can do.
 	When a Canadian family goes to England for a long trip, they leave their three pets with a friend who lives 300 miles away. Though well treated by the friend, the pets miss their family. One day, they are able to leave the friend's house unnoticed and begin the long journey to find their owners. The central theme of the book, a problem the animals must resolve, is how to survive life in the wilderness in order to arrive home. They never could have completed the journey alone, but they take care of one another, and all the three make it and are reunited with their owners.
Each animal has a distinct personality, but they care for one another almost as if they were a family. The most impressive of them is the old dog. The journey was the most difficult for him, hut amazingly he found the strength to make it.
 	The author didn't try to turn the animals into people, speaking and acting like humans. Instead she was faithful to her characters as animals and showed us their journey through animal eyes. That made the book interesting and unbelievable.
 	I would recommend the book to anyone who likes animals. I think that anyone who has ever had a pet or wanted one would enjoy it.
Typed by Le Ngoc Thach, Thong Linh High School.
Unit 12: WATER SPORTS
SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING
The great Australian swimmer, Annette Kellerman, student at the University of Wisconsin, planted the first seed of what was to become synchronized swimming when she performed a water ballet in a glass tank in New York in 1907.
 	Katherine Curtis, an American woman, was very inspired by the new water sport. So she tried to get synchronized swimming added to the physical education programme for female students. In 1923 she founded a water ballet club at the University of Chicago and sixty swimmers of the club attracted national and international publicity.
 	The sport quickly became popular among young women in Chicago. Curtis developed the competition rules, based essentially on the scoring methods used in gymnastics and diving.
The first recorded competition was held on May 27, 1939, between Chicago Teacher's College coached by Curtis and Wright Junior College of Illinois.
 	Shortly afterwards, the Central Association of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) staged the first multi-team competition on March 1, 1940. The following year, the AAU officially accepted synchronized swimming as a competitive sport for team events. In 1946 the first formal national championships were conducted by the AAU.
 	Synchronized swimming became an Olympic event at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
Unit 13: THE 22nd SEA GAMES 
The first newspaper article:
Only Amnat won a gold in the Southeast Asian Games Pole Vaulting yesterday. Nobody else could clear the bar. While he was the only one who stood alone on the podium, Amnat was among the Thai athletes who won 10 gold medals in early events yesterday. He won the gold in the Pole Vaulting Final after clearing 4.80 m. Meanwhile four other pole-vaulters missed their attempts at the heights ranging from 4.40m to 4.80m. Amnat has proved a lonely winner in this event, but his points were still below the SEA Games record of 5.05m.
The second newspaper article:
The Vietnamese Milk Company (Vinamilk) has offered jobs to the 27 members of Vietnam's Women's Football Team after they won the Games' second title. Perhaps they are going to be milkmaids when they retire. It is not an odd proposal because the majority of the footballers will become unemployed when the Games are over. And they now have to struggle to make ends meet Vinamilk has promised to train their new employees as soon as the deal is signed. The goalkeeper of Vietnam's Women's Football Team is dreaming to run a café after doctors have said her injuries would stop her from playing ever again. At the moment, she is short of money, so the Vinamilk offer looks tempting to her.
Unit 14: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
In 1945 leaders from 51 countries met in San Francisco, California and organised the United Nations (often called the UN). World War II had just ended. Millions of people had died and there was destruction everywhere.
People hoped they could build a future of world peace through this new organisation.
The United Nations has four main goals and purposes:
 1. To work together for international peace and to solve international problems;
 2. To develop friendly relations among nations;
 3. To work together for human rights for everyone of all races, religions, languages and of both sexes.
 4. To build a centre where nations can work together for these goals.
Today almost every country in the world is a member of the UN. Each count signed an agreement that says:
 • All members are equal.
 • All members promise to solve international problems in a peaceful way.
 • No member will use force against another member.
 • All members will help the UN in its actions.
 • The UN will not try to solve problems within countries except to international peace.
Obviously, the United Nations has not been completely successful in it. There have been several wars since 1945. However, the organization has helped bring peace to some countries that were at war. It has helped people who left their countries because of wars. It has helped bring independence to colonies.
Unit 15: WOMEN IN SOCIETY
Women hold up half the sky. This is an old Chinese saying. However, research shows that perhaps women do more than their share of “holding up the sky".
Fifty percent of the world's population are women, but nearly two-thirds of all working hours are done by women. They do most of the domestic work like cooking and washing clothes. Millions also work outside the home. Women hold forty percent of all the world's jobs. For this work they earn only 40 to 60 percent as much as men, and of course they earn nothing for their domestic work.
 	In developing countries, where three-fourths of the world's population lives, women produce more than half of the food In Africa, 80 percent of all agricultural work is done by women.
 	In parts of Africa, this is a typical day for a village woman. At 4.45 am, she gets up, washes, and eats. It takes her half an hour to walk to the fields, and she works there until 3.00 pm. She collects firewood until 4.00 pm then comes back home. She spends the next hour and a half preparing food to cook, then she collects water for another hour. From 6.30 to 8.30 she cooks. After dinner, she spends an hour washing the dishes. She then goes to bed at 9.30 pm.
Unit 16: THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
Mr. Hung: What are you doing? It’s so late. Why don’t you go to bed?
Nga: I’m trying to finish my essay about the culture and religions of the ASEAN countries. I’ll have to submit it to my teacher tomorrow. May I ask you something, Dad?
Mr. Hung: Yes? What’s that?
Nga: Do you know how many people in Southeast Asia speak English?
Mr. Hung: I'm not sure. But the ASEAN region has the third largest number of English speakers -just after the US and UK.
Nga: Really? Exactly how many people speak English? 
Mr. Hung: Around 50 million, I think, … mostly in the Philippines. 
Nga: Do you know anything about religions?
Mr. Hung: The ASEAN countries include three main religions. They are Islam, Buddhism and Catholicism.
Nga: What is Islam?
Mr. Hung: A religion based on a belief in one god and the teaching of Muhammad. It's the religion of the Muslims.
Nga: Can you tell me something more about the Muslims?
Mr. Hung: It's an interesting question. The ASEAN countries have more Muslims than any other geo-political entity.
Nga: But how many Muslims, Dad?
Mr. Hung: Oh, let me try to remember... about a quarter of a billion, mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Nga: And what about the other religions?
Mr. Hung: Other main religions of the various countries in the region include large numbers of Buddhists, and Catholics in the Philippines.
Nga: What is the main religion in Vietnam? 
Mr. Hung: It's Buddhism. Many people go to pagodas.
Nga: Well, and now I think I've got all the information I need for my essay. Thank you very much, Dad.
Mr. Hung: That's all right. Finish your writing and go to bed. I'm afraid you'll get up late tomorrow morning.
Typed by Le Ngoc Thach, Thong Linh High School.