dateline: 20 September 2017
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Cyclist Makes it Around the World in 78 Days
Pre-Listening Vocabulary
- cyclist: a person who rides a bike
- smash: to break with a lot of strength
- route: the planned way to go
- goal: a hope and plan for the future; a personal challenge
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Cyclist Makes it Around the World in 78 Days
Comprehension Questions
- Where did the cyclist begin and end?
- Why does the report mention a novel?
- Approximately how much sleep did Beaumont get each day?
Discussion Questions: Describe the last personal goal that you set for yourself? Did you achieve your goal? How did you stay motivated/lose motivation?
show Answers
7 comments
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Ale says:
Curious*
Can*
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Ale says:
Hi Tara,
Wow, that’s a very interesting record.
But I’m courious, did he go in all the continents?
I think that if he didn’t go around the whole globe he didn’t make a new record.
Con you tell me?
Bye
Alessandro -
Tara Benwell says:
Great to hear, Alberto! Congrats!
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Tara Benwell says:
Hi Bijan!
So, the cyclist actually did it in 78 days, 14 hours and 14 minutes. So, that is just under 79 days, but actually a bit longer than 78 days. I used 78 in the title, though because for a title it would sound a bit odd the other way. His goal was to do it in 80 days because of the novel. Amazing what you can do when you set a goal, right? He did it 44 days faster than the last cyclist who held the record for going around the world. I hope that makes sense!
Cheers!
Tara -
Farhad says:
Big men do important things
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Alberto says:
My last goal was to pass the CAE exam. I did it in June. I stayed motivated because I needed it in order to get a better job in the future.
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Bijan says:
Hi Tara,
First, thank you for this week’s audio news report.
Second, wow!
It’s very hard to cycle around the world in 78 days, but the cyclist did it in the best way.Third, you have said in the title of the news “Cyclist Makes It Around the World in 78 Days” while you have also said in the news “…just under 79 days”.
In addition, I read in the news that Beaumont beat the most recent record by 44 days.Why does the news present three different dates (78, 79 and 44 days)?
Fourth, about the meaning of the word smash you have said ‘to break with a lot of strength” while the Cambridge Dictionary presents a few meanings of the word that it looks like the following meaning is proper with this news (maybe, I don’t know exactly):
“to do much better than the best or fastest result recorded previously”.
Example:
Petersen smashed the 400 metres record by over half a second.Teacher Tara,
Thank you for your beautiful pronunciation.
It’s nearly nine months that I listen to your news reports for an hour every day.
Now, I can understand your news reports well.
Thanks to you and English Club for helping the students free of charge.I hope to be the best translator for you in my country one day and take you to historical places of Iran like Persepolis.
Have a great weekend and best wishes,
Bijan from the Persian Gulf