Practice Listening English Exercises for A2 – The Lost World

1 lizard   2 two   3 velociraptors   4 trees   5 one   6 cave

7 chicken   8 woman   9 spear   10 pteranodon   11 claws

Audioscript

The Lost World

      Professor James Kearns opened his eyes, and everything was different. The air felt heavy and wet. Thick green forests and huge piles of rocks surrounded him.

      Suddenly a giant lizard ran from the forest and tried to attack James with its sharp claws, but he was able to dive out of the way. Then another appeared, and another. They all walked on two feet, had long tails, and their heads were like those of alligators. James had only seen these creatures in books before. They were called velociraptors, and they were dinosaurs which liked to kill in groups. Soon, six of these angry-looking creatures were circling him, making horrible growling noises.

      He screamed for help, but he only heard his own voice echo through the air. The velociraptors were about to attack when a huge tyrannosaurus broke through the trees. It must have been fifteen feet in height. Two of the velociraptors tried to attack the tyrannosaurus, but the enormous creature grabbed one, killed it with his huge jaws and dropped it on the ground. The others ran away in fear.

      Later, James found a cave to hide in. It was a deep, dark cave, but he stayed near the front where there was light coming in from outside.

      All of his memories were unclear. He and Dr Applebaum had been walking home from the university where they both taught. The doctor had been talking about an experiment he had been working on for quite a long time. “I have seen things you can’t imagine,” he had said. Then everything went black. James looked at the notebook he always kept in his coat pocket. The last entry said:

      “It’s as if you are falling. You feel nothing, then, boom, you’re in another time period.”

      Had the doctor said that? The professor’s head hurt and he felt weak. He lay down for a few moments, and soon he was fast asleep.

      The roar of a dinosaur woke him up. It was night-time, and nothing was visible. There was only the sound of something breaking through the trees, then gradually it faded away. He took a lighter from his pocket and used this to start a fire. Then he began writing in his notebook, keeping a record of all his thoughts and feelings.

      The next day, James left the cave to pick fruit from the nearby trees. While he was out he saw a small baby dinosaur, no bigger than a chicken. It had yellow and green stripes on its back and white legs. It looked so small and harmless that he tried to touch it. Suddenly, something moved in the bushes. A woman, dressed in animal skins and carrying a spear, pushed him out of the way. She looked at him as if he had done something wrong, then, to show him what she meant, she held her spear near the dinosaur’s mouth. The baby dinosaur took a large bite out of it, then ran away quickly. James was shocked at the dinosaur’s viciousness.

      “Can you speak?” he asked her.

      The woman seemed confused by his voice. She made a grunting noise, then pushed him away from the fruit trees with her spear.

      They were standing in an open area, when a huge shadow covered them both. The woman looked up, then jumped out of the way. A flying pteranodon swooped down, picked James up with its sharp claws and flew away.

      James looked down and saw the woman staring up at him, but there was nothing she could do.

      “Somebody help me!” he yelled horrified, but his voice just echoed over the hills and valleys of this prehistoric land.

1 world   2 60   3 1/2   4 runner

5 Europe   6 fish   7 small

8 Asia   9 45   10 large

11 North   12 6   13 heavy

Audioscript

Guide:   … and this is where we keep the dinosaurs. Now, this little fellow over here is Compsognathus. They lived all over the world except in Antarctica. Notice his sharp teeth – that means he ate meat.

Child:   Did he eat dinosaurs?

Guide:   No, just insects and lizards. This one is an adult, and as you can see he’s about as small as a chicken. This one is sixty centimetres tall and weighs five and a half kilos. Notice his back legs too; he was a very fast runner … Up there you can see a Pteranodon. Many years ago they lived in Europe, Asia and North America. They preferred to live near water because they ate fish. They had very small bodies – about the same size as a turkey. They were very light, too.

Child:   Look at its beak! It’s very long, isn’t it?

Guide:   Yes – it used that to catch its dinner!

Child:   What’s that?

Guide:   That’s a Velociraptor. Velociraptors lived in Asia and ate small animals. They were medium-size dinosaurs and weighed about forty-five kilos.

Child:   Were they strong?

Guide:   Oh yes, and very fast runners. Look at his large claws, they used them to catch their food … Now this big one here was the king of the dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurus – probably scarier than any other dinosaur. They lived in North America and East Asia where they used to eat other big dinosaurs. They were tall, about six metres and very heavy too.

Child:   Could he run fast, too?

Guide:   Well … he had very strong legs, but, like I said, he was very happy, and look at that long tail – so, he probably could run, but not as fast as Velociraptors.

65

Theory A:   hit, sunlight, froze

Theory B:   a lot, hotter, colder

Theory C:   plant

Audioscript

Child:   So what happened to the dinosaurs then? I mean, why aren’t there any dinosaurs around now?

Guide:   That’s a good question, but, unfortunately no-one knows for sure. The dinosaurs were around for about 150 million years altogether, but about 65 million years ago they all disappeared quite quickly, along with quite a few other land and sea animals. Now there are three main theories about why they disappeared. Most scientists today believe that a giant meteorite from space hit the earth. They say that this caused huge dust clouds to rise up and block the sunlight. As a result, all the plants died and the dinosaurs soon starved or froze to death.

Child:   What about the other theories?

Guide:   Now, others believe that the climate changed a lot because the continents were moving around, so that the summers got hotter and the winters colder. They think that the dinosaurs had such big problems with these changes in temperature that they died.

Child:   And the last one?

Guide:   Well, we’re really not sure about this one, but I suppose it is possible. Some people think that a new, poisonous plant appeared which skilled dinosaurs. As a result, of course, the meat-eating dinosaurs had no food either, so they died too.

Child:   Well I think it was a meteorite.

Guide:   Maybe they were attacked by aliens!

Child:   Don’t be so silly … (fade)