Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. synthetic
    • ex. Is that real leather or synthetic leather?
  2. a cell
    • ex. I like to look at the pictures of different cells in my science book.
  3. get rid of (something)
    • ex. No, I don’t have the sofa anymore. I got rid of it last week.
  4. a greenhouse gas
    • ex. Greenhouse gases cause global warming.
  5. a fertilizer
    • ex. I bought a few types of fertilizers for my garden.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently suggested that rich countries should eat only synthetic or plant-based meat. Synthetic meat is grown in a lab from animal cells, while plant-based meat is created from plant and other non-animal ingredients. Gates added that the world’s 80 poorest countries should still eat real meat.

In Gates’ new book, he says that it’s impossible to completely get rid of the greenhouse gases that come from cows and the fertilizers used for the grass that they eat. In the US, 10% of the total greenhouse gases come from farming. To lessen them, Gates believes that countries should switch to eating only synthetic or plant-based meat.

According to Gates, the taste of synthetic and plant-based meat is different from real meat, but manufacturers are trying to improve it. Some plant-based meat companies have also made their products more affordable and easily available. Impossible Foods now offers a set of two burger patties for $5.49 (about ¥600) and a 340-gram pack of ground beef for $6.99 (about ¥765). A similar company, Beyond Meat, has partnered with Walmart to sell its products in more than 2,400 stores.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Synthetic and Plant-based Meat

  • Do you think your country should stop eating real meat? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Imagine you can only eat synthetic meat or plant-based meat. Which one will you choose? Why? Discuss.
  • Do you think that synthetic and plant-based meat will ever taste 100% the same as real meat? Why or why not? Discuss.

Greenhouse Gases

  • To lessen greenhouse gases, Gates believes that rich countries should switch to only synthetic or plant-based meat. Do you think his idea is reasonable? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Other than farming, what other human activities cause greenhouse gases to increase (ex. cutting down trees, driving cars)? Why? Discuss.
  • Do you think it's still possible to fix the world's greenhouse gas problem, or is it too late? Why? Discuss.