Exercise
You will hear a series of numbers mentioned in five different situations. Click the Exercise Link and write the numbers you hear while you listen. Each Listening passage will be played only once.
Listening
Number 1: Whole numbers
Transcript
Whole Numbers
What we find that is really confusing about population studies is that while the Earth has well over 7 billion people living on it today, estimates by the United Nations for the next 100 years are quite varied. Low growth statistics could have the population decrease by 250 million in 100 years, yet medium growth would see it rise to over 10,850,000,000. And high growth, well, it would over double to a staggering 16.64 billion. Quite a range.
Number 2: Decimals
Transcript
Number two, decimals. Of the 118 known elements of the periodic table only 98 occur naturally and all others are synthesized. Technetium rarely occurs in nature and was the first element to be created artificially. It has an atomic weight of 98.9072 compared to hydrogen whose atomic weight is 1.00794 and has a density of 11.5 grams per cubic centimeter while hydrogen has 0.0000899 grams per cubic centimeter. When expressed in terms of atomic volume, that is, the ratio of the cubic centimeters to mole, a chemical unit of measurement, Technetium sits at 8.5 whereas hydrogen is 14.4.
Number 3: Fractions
Transcript
Although the number of smokers in Canada has dropped in recent years, it is still a prevalent problem for provincial and national health care systems.
Today, over one-fifth of Canadians smoke, which is nearly 6 million people, and of those four-fifths are from low- to middle-income households.
Smoking accounts for just over a fifth of all deaths in Canada for men, yet for women this is only one-tenth of all deaths.
Of these deaths from smoking, half resulted from cancer, one-quarter from cardiovascular disease and one-fifth various respiratory diseases.
Number 4: Dates
Transcript
The actual time when acupuncture as a form of medical treatment began is unclear. Some evidence in China from between 1600 and 1100 BC point to some of its first documented use for healing. From that point its history is much clearer and in the 2nd century BC metal needles replaced stone and bone ones. Some of these metal ones were found around 113 BC in a Han dynasty tomb, and the first written documentation dates from around 200 BC. An interesting fact is that a frozen body found in Austria that dates from 3000 BC has a series of tattoos on it that match modern Qi acupuncture points, so perhaps it's much older than we think.
Number 5: Percentages and Ratios
Transcript
Number five, percentages and ratios. Doctors continue to try and find different cures for cancer, yet it seems to have proved very difficult to do. The risks of developing and dying from cancer remain high. In the U.S., males have a 48.81 percent chance of developing some form of cancer. That's nearly five in every ten men. This drops for women to around 38.17 percent, just above one in three. But the more interesting statistic, which does not work in men's favor, is that of those who get cancer in the U.S., 23.08 percent of males will die of it, while only 19.39 percent of females will.